MICROPHONES and SOUND Book: “Modern Radio Production” by Hausman, Benoit, Messere, & O’Donnell: Chapter 5 Pertemuan 4 Matakuliah: O Dasar-Dasar Produksi Siaran Radio Tahun: 2010

Bina Nusantara University 3 THE BASICS of SOUND Microphone is a transducer. It changes the energy of the motion of sound into electrical energy; it is the instrument that transforms sound into something usable by the record and playback units hooked up to a radio console. Sound itself a vibration-a specific motion-of air molecules. When molecules are pushed together, they are said to be in compression. Where molecules are pulled apart from one another, are called rarefactions. The microphone also transduces the motional energy into electrical energy. That energy then might be transduced into electromechanical energy (storage on audiotape), or it might be transcduced back into motional energy by a loudspeaker.

Bina Nusantara University 4 THE ELEMENTS of SOUND A pure tone sound is represented by a sine wave. CYCLE: Each time a wave goes through its pattern and returns to its starting point, it has completed one cycle. A cycle passes through a complete rotation every 360 degrees. The time it takes for a wave to make a complete cycle is called an interval. FREQUENCY: was measured in cycles per second (cps). In recent years, the term cycles per second has been replaced by the term hertz (Hz) AMPLITUDE: the height of the sine wave. It indicates the volume of the sound. The higher the amplitude, the louder the sound.

Bina Nusantara University 5 OTHER CHARACTERISTICS of SOUND PITCH: A term commonly used to describe sound, is not the same as frequency; it’s the ear’s and mind subjective interpretation of frequency and loudness, signifying the way we hear a frequency. DURATION: is the amount of time a sound exist and to the amount of time individual harmonics exist within a complex waveform. VELOCITY and DISTANCE

Bina Nusantara University 6 THE MICROPHONE: HOW IT WORKS Three types of mike most common in radio: 1.Moving Coil: The diaphragm in a moving coil mic is attached to a coil of wire. The diaphragm, a thin membrane, vibrate as it is driven by the sound waves. The electrical wave produced now carries the imprint of the sound wave by mirroring both the frequency of the acoustical energy, and the amplitude of that energy. Moving coil mics are sometimes reffered to as dynamic mics.

Bina Nusantara University 7 THE MICROPHONE: HOW IT WORKS 2. RIBBON: It has a thin (usually corrugated) metal ribbon suspended between the poles of a magnet. It responds to a difference in pressure between the front and back of the ribbon. It refers to pressure-gradient mic. 3. CONDENSER: Is actually an old-fashioned name for a capacitor. A capacitor stores an electrical charge. A charge is applied to the side of the condenser known as the black plate.

Bina Nusantara University 8 PICKUP (POLAR) PATTERNS of the MICROPHONE Omnidirectional: –it picks up sounds equally well from all sides. (Remember the glitch at 180 degrees, simply because the mass of the microphone gets in the way of the sound waves!) Bidirectional: –accepts sound from the front and rear and rejects it from the sides. (Typical of ribbon mics that have the ribbon open to air on both sides)

Bina Nusantara University 9 PICKUP (POLAR) PATTERNS of the MICROPHONE Cardioid: –it means “heart-shaped”. It often called unidirectional, meaning that it picks up sound from only one direction. –Supercardioid: tighter curve in front and a lobe in back. –Hypercardioid: narrower front angle and a bigger rear lobe.

Bina Nusantara University 10 FREQUENCY RESPONSE of MICROPHONES RANGE: the amount of the frequency spectrum a mic can hear. SHAPE: is a graph of frequency response. It is the characteristics of the response curve. Flat Response: a mic that capable of responding equally well to all frequencies in the whole audio spectrum; it’s also called high fidelity or high accuracy. Proximity effect: cardioid mics tend to boost bass frequencies as the sound source moves closer to the mic.

Bina Nusantara University 11 PHYSICAL TYPES of MICROPHONES HAND-HELD STUDIO, MOUNTED HEADSET –HEADSET MICS LAVALIER SHOTGUN

Bina Nusantara University 12 MICROPHONE SELECTION and USE 1.Selection by Mic Type - Depends on Quality and Either Applications 2.Selection by Pickup Pattern - Depends on the Event 3.Selection by Element - Depends on the certain elements that do various tasks better than others do 4.Selection by Frequency Response - Depends on the mic range and the curve shape. 5.Selection by Personality - Depends on the announcer.