The Microphone Book, Second Edition: From mono to stereo to surround - a guide to microphone design and application

391 Pages·2004·8.44 MB·English

by  John Eargle

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THE MICROPHONE BOOK
Second edition
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THE MICROPHONE
BOOK
Second edition
John Eargle
AMSTERDAM (cid:127) BOSTON (cid:127) HEIDELBERG (cid:127) LONDON (cid:127) NEW YORK (cid:127) OXFORD
PARIS (cid:127) SAN DIEGO (cid:127) SAN FRANCISCO (cid:127) SINGAPORE (cid:127) SYDNEY (cid:127) TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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Focal Press
An imprint of Elsevier
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
30 Corporate Drive, Burlington MA 01803
First published 2005
Copyright © 2005, John Eargle. All rights reserved
The right of John Eargle to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 02405 1961 2
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CONTENTS
Preface to the First Edition vii
Preface to the Second Edition ix
Symbols Used in This Book x
1 A Short History of the Microphone 1
2 Basic Sound Transmission and Operational Forces on
Microphones 7
3 The Pressure Microphone 22
4 The Pressure Gradient Microphone 50
5 First-Order Directional Microphones 66
6 High Directionality Microphones 91
7 Microphone Measurements, Standards, and
Specifications 105
8 Electrical Considerations and Electronic Interface 117
9 Overview of Wireless Microphone Technology 142
10 Microphone Accessories 152
11 Basic Stereophonic Recording Techniques 166
12 Stereo Microphones 184
13 Classical Stereo Recording Techniques and
Practice 194
14 Studio Recording Techniques 217
15 Surround Sound Microphone Technology 243
16 Surround Recording Case Studies 271
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vi Contents
17 A Survey of Microphones in Broadcast and
Communications 290
18 Fundamentals of Speech and Music
Reinforcement 301
19 Overview of Microphone Arrays and Adaptive
Systems 322
20 Care and Maintenance of Microphones 334
21 Classic Microphones: The Author’s View 338
References and Bibliography 367
Index 373
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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
Most sound engineers will agree that the microphone is the most
important element in any audio chain, and certainly the dazzling array
of current models, including many that are half-a-century old, attests to
that fact. My love affair with the microphone began when I was in my
teens and got my hands on a home-type disc recorder. Its crystal micro-
phone was primitive, but I was nonetheless hooked. The sound bug had
bitten me, and, years of music schooling not withstanding, it was
inevitable that I would one day end up a recording engineer.
About thirty years ago I began teaching recording technology at vari-
ous summer educational programs, notably those at the Eastman School
of Music and later at the Aspen Music Festival and Peabody Conservatory.
I made an effort at that time to learn the fundamentals of microphone per-
formance and basic design parameters, and my Microphone Handbook,
published in 1981, was a big step forward in producing a text for some of
the earliest collegiate programs in recording technology. This new book
from Focal Press presents the technology in greater depth and detail and,
equally important, expands on contemporary usage and applications.
The Microphone Book is organized so that both advanced students
in engineering and design and young people targeting a career in audio
can learn from it. Chapter 1 presents a short history of the microphone.
While Chapters 2 through 6 present some mathematically intensive
material, their clear graphics will be understandable to those with little
technical background. Chapters 7 through 10 deal with practical matters
such as standards, the microphone-studio electronic interface, and all
types of accessories.
Chapters 11 through 17 cover the major applications areas, with
emphasis on the creative aspects of music recording in stereo and sur-
round sound, broadcast/communications, and speech/music reinforce-
ment. Chapter 18 presents an overview of advanced development in
microphone arrays, and Chapter 19 presents helpful hints on microphone
maintenance and checkout. The book ends with a comprehensive micro-
phone bibliography and index.
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viii Preface to the First Edition
I owe much to Leo Beranek’s masterful 1954 Acoustics text, A. E.
Robertson’s little known work, Microphones, which was written for the
BBC in 1951, as well as the American Institute of Physics’ Handbook of
Condenser Microphones. As always, Harry Olson’s books came to my
aid with their encyclopedic coverage of everything audio.
Beyond these four major sources, any writer on microphones must
rely on technical journals and on-going discussions with both users and
manufacturers in the field. I would like to single out for special thanks
the following persons for their extended technical dialogue: Norbert
Sobol (AKG Acoustics), Jörg Wuttke (Schoeps GmbH), David Josephson
(Josephson Engineering), Keishi Imanaga (Sanken Microphones), and in
earlier days Steve Temmer and Hugh Allen of Gotham Audio. Numerous
manufacturers have given permission for the use of photographs and
drawings, and they are credited with each usage in the book.
John Eargle
April 2001
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PREFACE TO THE
SECOND EDITION
The second edition of The Microphone Book follows the same broad
subject outline as the first edition. Most of the fundamental chapters
have been updated to reflect new models and electronic technology,
while those chapters dealing with applications have been significantly
broadened in their coverage.
The rapid growth of surround sound technology merits a new chap-
ter of its own, dealing not only with traditional techniques but also with
late developments in virtual imaging and the creation of imaging that
conveys parallax in the holographic sense.
Likewise, the chapter on microphone arrays has been expanded to
include discussions of adaptive systems as they involve communications
and useful data reduction in music applications.
Finally, at the suggestion of many, a chapter on classic microphones
has been included. Gathering information on nearly thirty models was a
far more difficult task than one would ever have thought, and it was
truly a labor of love.
John Eargle
Los Angeles, June 2004