How To Set Up a Home Recording Studio in 7 Days Flat - Day 3

Having your own home recording studio is one of the biggest advantages you can provide for yourself as a musician. In this 7 part report on setting up your own home recording studio, we are discussing some of the technical specifications and advantages to necessary recording equipment. As we roll into Day 3, it is time to discuss microphones and how to choose the right one for your home recording studio.
For the home recording studio, there are three basic microphone types you need to be concerned with. Each type will have it's own unique set of advantages and disadvantages so choosing the microphone that best suits your needs involves carefully considering these factors.

The Dynamic Microphone

This microphone is the most commonly used microphone in the music industry for a few specific reasons. The dynamic microphone is extremely rugged and relatively inexpensive. What does this mean to the home recording artist? Basically, if your recording rig is portable, the dynamic microphone is the most likely candidate to fit your needs and survive the abuse.

The dynamic microphone has inherent flaws in its design that result in a less than optimal frequency response. With the high volume and the close proximity of the microphone to the instrument in live performances, this limitation is not a problem. For the recording studio, where you may want to capture true sound and higher frequencies, however, the dynamic microphone just won't be up to the task.

The Capacitor Microphone

This is the microphone class that was built for studio recording. These microphones will reproduce the full spectrum of sound with nearly perfect quality. By choosing capacitor microphones with different sized diaphragms, you can customize the microphone to match it's intended purpose and enhance the quality of the sound. For vocal recordings, use a larger diaphragm size. For precision recording of instruments, the smaller diaphragm sizes produce an extremely accurate recording.

Now for the bad news. The capacitor microphone is an excellent choice for a home recording studio with an unlimited budget and a fixed location. Why? With increased quality, you also encounter increased cost,( read double or triple the cost of a top notch dynamic microphone) and the capacitor microphone requires its own power source so you are buying even more equipment right out of the gate. If your recording needs take you outside of the studio very often, the capacitor microphone isn't as durable as the dynamic microphone so your investment could be lost.

The Electret Microphone

Somewhere in between the capacitor microphone and the dynamic microphone, the electret microphone was born. This microphone is able to reproduce sound with nearly the same quality as a condenser microphone while retaining the cost effective strengths of the dynamic microphone. Improvements such as the invention of the back electret microphone, these microphones are capable of producing excellent audio quality that rivals the capacitor microphone for the budget friendly price of a top quality dynamic microphone.

Make sure to check back for the next installment of the series when we discuss amplifier options.