Basic Microphones Needed for a Home Recording Studio

Let’s take a look at what kind of microphones you need for your home recording studio. There are a wide variety of mics you will need to properly accomplish your project. Just like speakers, different microphones respond to different frequency ranges. The types of microphones you will need will depend on your project.

Voice Over Microphone

These are microphones used in recording commercials for radio, audio books, or any project where talking is the focus of the session. They have a wide frequency response range, and a warmer presence than a vocal, or singing, mic. Their equalization is set to help reduce pops and hiss to make a smooth sounding recording.

Vocal Microphone

Vocal mics have a crisper sound. This helps them cut through the instruments on the track without using volume to do the work. Quite often, studio vocal mikes are a condenser style microphone with a cardioid pattern.  While these work well in a studio situation, they do not perform well for live applications. There is often a windscreen placed in front of them to reduce the pops and hiss.

Instrument Microphone

This mic is set up in front of the speaker cabinet of an amplifier. Again, these are wide frequency response mics. They are designed for loud input sources. They work equally well for guitar, bass, and even horns and wind instruments. The shape of the microphone has a certain importance because some shapes work better with wind instruments where the mic is mounted on the horn.

The tricky instrument to record is the acoustic guitar. Condenser microphones have better high frequency reproduction than dynamic mics. You may even want to use two mics, set up in stereo, to get the best sound.

To mic a piano, use a condenser mic. The sound box needs to open, whether it is an upright, or grand style piano. This is another situation where you can use one or more microphones to get the job done.

Percussion Microphone

A drum kit will require the most extensive microphone array. You will need a mic for the snare, each tom, the hi-hat, and the kick. On top of that, a couple of overhead mics will be needed for cymbals. Condenser mics can be used for the snare, hi-hat, and overhead mics. It is also possible to buy mic sets for drums. This is nice because you get mics in the necessary ranges to get the most out of your drums. The tom and kick mics have a lower frequency response because they don’t need the higher frequencies. These mics will have a fairly tight pick-up pattern to minimize the crossover from other drums in the kit.

The same set of microphones can be used to mic other drums as well. Other drums may have different nuances, but operate in similar frequencies, and sound patterns.

To complete a recording project, there is the need for a variety of microphones to accomplish the job properly. There is a variety of price ranges for each style of mic. This makes it possible to fit the appropriate microphones into almost any budget.