Engineering Acoustics/Microphone Design and Operation

Part 1: Lumped Acoustical Systems – 1.1 – 1.2 – 1.3 – 1.4 – 1.5 – 1.6 – 1.7 – 1.8 – 1.9 – 1.10 – 1.11

Part 2: One-Dimensional Wave Motion – 2.1 – 2.2 – 2.3

Part 3: Applications – 3.1 – 3.2 – 3.3 – 3.4 – 3.5 – 3.6 – 3.7 – 3.8 – 3.9 – 3.10 – 3.11 – 3.12 – 3.13 – 3.14 – 3.15 – 3.16 – 3.17 – 3.18 – 3.19 – 3.20 – 3.21 – 3.22 – 3.23 – 3.24

Introduction

Microphones are devices which convert pressure fluctuations into electrical signals. Two main methods of achieving this are used in the mainstream entertainment industry today - dynamic microphones and condenser microphones. Piezoelectric transducers can also be used as microphones but they are not commonly used in the entertainment industry.

Dynamic microphones

Dynamic microphones utilise 'Faraday’s Law'. The principle states that when an electrical conductor is moved through a magnetic field, an electrical current is induced within the conductor. In these microphones the magnetic field comes from permanent magnets. There are two common arrangements for the conductor.

Figure 1: Sectional View of Moving-Coil Dynamic Microphone

The first conductor arrangement has a moving coil of wire. The wire is typically copper and is attached to a circular membrane or piston usually made from lightweight plastic or occasionally aluminum. The impinging pressure fluctuation on the piston causes it to move in the magnetic field and thus creates the desired electrical current.

Figure 2: Dynamic Ribbon Microphone

The second conductor arrangement is a ribbon of metallic foil suspended between magnets. The metallic ribbon moves in response to a pressure fluctuation and an electrical current is produced. In both configurations, dynamic microphones follow the same principals as acoustical transducers.

Condenser Microphones

Condenser microphones convert pressure fluctuations into electrical potentials by changes in electrical capacitance, hence they are also known as capacitor microphones. An electrical capacitor consists of two charged electrical conductors placed at some relatively small distance to each other. The basic relation that describes capacitors is:

$Q=C\times V$

where Q is the electrical charge of the capacitor’s conductors, C is the capacitance, and V is the electric potential between the capacitor’s conductors. If the electrical charge of the conductors is held at a constant value, then the voltage between the conductors will be inversely proportional to (a) the capacitance and (b) the distance between the conductors.

Figure 3: Sectional View of Condenser Microphone

The capacitor in a condenser microphone consists of two parts: the diaphragm and the backplate. The diaphragm moves due to impinging pressure fluctuations and the backplate is held in a stationary position. When the diaphragm moves closer to the backplate, the capacitance increases and a change in electric potential is produced. The diaphragm is typically made of metallic coated Mylar. The assembly that houses both the backplate and the diaphragm is commonly referred to as a capsule.

To keep the diaphragm and backplate at a constant charge, an electric potential must be presented to the capsule. There are various ways this can be achieved. The first uses a battery to supply the needed DC potential to the capsule (figure 4). The resistor across the leads of the capsule is very high, in the range of 10 mega ohms, to keep the charge on the capsule close to constant.

Figure 4: Internal Battery Powered Condenser Microphone

An alternative technique for providing a constant charge on the capacitor is to supply a DC electric potential through the microphone cable that carries the microphones output signal. Standard microphone cable is known as XLR cable and is terminated by three pin connectors. Pin one connects to the shield around the cable. The microphone signal is transmitted between pins two and three.

Figure 5: Dynamic Microphone Connected to a Mixing Console via XLR Cable

48V Phantom Powering

The most popular method of providing a DC potential through a microphone cable is to supply +48 V to both of the microphone output leads, pins 2 and 3, and use the shield of the cable, pin 1, as the ground to the circuit. Because pins 2 and 3 see the same potential, any fluctuation of the microphone powering potential will not affect the microphone signal seen by the attached audio equipment. The +48 V will be stepped down at the microphone using a transformer and provide the potential to the backplate and diaphragm in a similar fashion as the battery solution.

Figure 6: Condenser Microphone Powering Techniques

12V T-Powering

A less popular method of running the potential through the cable is to supply 12 V between pins 2 and 3. This method is referred to as T-powering. The main problem with T-powering is that potential fluctuation in the powering of the capsule will be transmitted into an audio signal because the audio equipment analyzing the microphone signal will not see a difference between a potential change across pins 2 and 3 due to a pressure fluctuation and one due to the power source electric potential fluctuation.

Electret Condenser Microphones

Finally, the diaphragm and backplate can be manufactured from a material that maintains a fixed charge, known as 'electret' (from electric+magnet, because these materials can be seen as the electric equivalents of permanent magnets). As a result, these microphones are termed electret condenser microphones (ECM). In early electret designs, the charge on the material tended to become unstable over time. Advances in science and manufacturing have effectively eliminated this problem in present designs.

Conclusion

Two types of microphones are used in the entertainment industry.

Dynamic microphones, which are found in the moving-coil and ribbon configurations. The movement of the conductor in dynamic microphones induces an electric current which is then transformed into the reproduction of sound.
Condenser microphones which utilize the properties of capacitors. The charge on the capsule of condenser microphones can be accomplished by battery, by phantom powering, by T-powering, and by using 'electrets' - materials with a fixed charge.