The power supply for my new microphone comes in today! When I had bought the mic a week ago, silly silly me (and the guy who sold it to me) didn't know a power supply was necessary for the mic. Kind of thought plugging it into a computer would be enough. And surely something necessary to run a mic would come in the box? Ha! Of course not. Also had to buy an interface so I could plug the mic into my computer for some recording action. An interface is a device that's a lot like an adaptor. I can plug the interface through a USB into my computer and plug the microphone into the interface. But I can also adjust input volume, plug headphones into it, plug in a midi (like a small keyboard used for recording), and also have one more microphone input. The microphones I had been using before were my regular computer microphone and a Rock Band mic. Rock Band mic's plug right into the USB port since they're made for gaming. PERFECT! It provided me with happiness for awhile, but I could not get a very good sound quality from it. I had to adjust the mic sensitivity and bring it down low so I didn't get sound distortion from being too loud. This made my music come out much more quiet than what you might hear on the radio. The mic also picked up a lot of fuzz. Again, I went through some adjustments and was able to minimize the fuzz, but it was still there. It's one of those sounds that enters my nightmares and screws with my head. It had to go.
So I took a look at what the pros use. The most affordable was an Audio-Technica AT2020 Cardioid Condenser Microphone. A condenser mic relies on amplification through vibration. This means that you can get a clearer, more precise sound because it won't pick up fuzz, but it will pick up faint tones. This is what makes them so fantastic for radio and recording. Cardioid refers to the shape of the area it picks up sound in; cardioid being a heart shape, for anyone who suffered through pre-calc. If the mic is facing forward and three people are singing in front of it and one person snapping right behind it, it will pick up best the person directly in front of the mic. It will pick up the other two in front just fine as well, and the person snapping behind it will only be faintly picked up. There are other mics that record with shapes such as an hourglass, and/or a full circle spectrum recording all around it. Those are ideal for a group recording session. This video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qahZ-whM6o ...showcases many kinds of microphones. The mics that are half silver and half black are used a lot in recording, called AKG414, the skinny silver ones are Shure 57's and there are also some other condenser mics that I'm not sure of the names.
The condenser mic was developed in 1916 by E.C. Wente who worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories located in BA, Michigan.
My mic -- http://www.sweetwater.com/images/closeup/750-at2020_img_lifestyle.jpg
front and back of the interface -- http://www.joegiampaoli.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/FTP_front+back.jpg
the phantom power supply -- http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/brand,zzounds/at8801-307cbe360e3772dff535627c46d965c6.jpg
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