What is the main difference between a cheap microphone and an expensive microphone?
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If it’s been told once, it’s been told a thousand times: for filmmakers and video professionals, your projects are only going to be as great as your audio. All the post-production tips and tricks in the world will never truly deliver poor audio. That being told, there seem to be several schools of opinion on the importance of the microphone’s quality. One states that the microphone is the only most important piece of audio devices on a shoot, while the other claims that the difference between top-of-the-line and prosumer-level options values very little compared to choosing the right device for the job.

Also, the testing process in cheap microphone and expensive microphone is quite different. You can check cheap microphone using mic test online tools. But if you want to test expensive microphone, you need to carry on standard process which is quite expensive.

Let’s take a calculated approach and watch how some expensive microphones correspond with their cheap matches in a controlled situation — as well as the nine main aspects to think about when picking the microphone for your next audio project.

In the video by professional musician and vlogger Andrew Huang, we get to understand a controlled experiment between a $22 microphone and a $3,600 one (also a few others for some middle price range). While this video concentrates on audio recording for music, you can observe and hear the differences between expensive and cheap alternatives in terms of crispness, tonality, and frequency responsiveness.

However, this does not quite provide us the complete picture for recording audio on a video production set — or out on location. Let’s glance at the most essential considerations.

Polar Pattern

The microphone polar pattern is the responsiveness to sound related to the direction or angle from which the sound arrives, or simpler worded how great the microphone “hears“ sound from various directions. The most known types of directionality are: Cardioid, Omnidirectional, and Supercardioid. (Shure)

Let’s begin with the basics of audio recording: every microphone has a polar pattern that defines its coverage. For example, A cardioid is most sensible in the face and has nearly no pick-up in the back. On the other hand, an omnidirectional microphone is equally responsive in all directions and picks up sound from every angle. For filmmakers, most shotgun microphones utilized to catch one source of sound are commonly cardioid or super-cardioid, while omnidirectional microphones are more beneficial for things like room tone.

Dynamic Range

Dynamic range measurements are used in audio devices to specify an element’s maximum output signal and to rank a system’s noise level. As a reference point, the dynamic reach of the human ear, the difference between the quietest sound we can perceive and the loudest, is nearly 120 dB.

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While studying the differences between cheap and expensive microphones, one of the most important points will be the dynamic range of the microphone. Especially, how reliable a microphone can be while recording between its largest (max SPL) and smallest (noise level) signals. As with dynamic reach in a video (and, state, the difference between footage shot on a low price DSLR and a high-end movie camera), with a higher range of capture, the less information you miss, so more extra will be available to work within a post.

Frequency Response

Frequency response is the test of any system’s output to an input signal of altering frequency (but same amplitude). Frequency sensitivity is typically identified by the measurement of the system’s response, measured in dB, and the state, measured in radians, versus frequency.

If you see different microphones online, you’ll often notice a range, like 20Hz to 20kHz. These figures symbolize the frequency response range. Simply, the best the microphone, excellent the range. However, for those thinking of cheaper audio options, it’s necessary to note that the human ear can only listen in the 20Hz to 20kHz limit (although that doesn’t imply that capturing the higher and lower frequencies isn’t necessary).

Other Factors difference between cheap and expensive microphone.

Along with dynamic range, polar patterns, and frequency response, here are some excellent resources to read up on for other factors like impedance, sensitivity, S/N ratio, and maximum SPL that affect the price of different microphones.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity, the proportion of the analog output voltage or digital output value to the input pressure, is a fundamental specification of any microphone. Mapping units in the acoustic domain to units in the electrical domain defines the magnitude of the microphone output signal, given a known input.

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Max SPL

A standard specification for microphones, max SPL intimates the highest sound pressure floor a mic’s electronics can manage before the onset of distortion. Usually, this spec is referenced to 0.5% distortion at 1 kHz. Remember that the presence of an attenuator switch on the mic may enable a rise in the volume level the mic can receive before distorting.

S/N "Signal to Noise ratio"ratio

SNR (Signal to noise ratio) also abbreviated to S/N) is the ratio of signal power to the noise power violating the signal.

The ratio matches the level of the required signal to the floor of the background sound. The higher the ratio, the less clear the background noise will be.

Signal to noise levels is often stated in the measurement of dB SPL. The greater the number the bigger the difference is between the audio signal and the noise level, so the lower the recognized noise.

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Impedance

Microphones normally come with two impedance specs i.e., output impedance, and load impedance

Output Impedance

As you might know, electrical audio signals are AC electric charges. Simply put, impedance is a type of AC resistance. Microphones typically come with an output impedance of fewer than 200 ohms. Such low impedances concede for very long cable runs without sound degradation. This is a huge improvement over, say, electric guitars, whose high impedance capture lose quite a bit of top-end with cable runs of just 30 ft.

Load Impedance

The load impedance is the input impedance of some devices, In tech-talk, a low input impedance describes a high load to the previous part of the gear. That’s because its output circuit needs to work harder to drive a low impedance input. A consequence could be audible distortion, mainly at higher levels. To bypass this we need low output impedances driving light loads, i.e high input impedances.

Obviously, this is an essential spec for many purposes – if the mic is going to give its life in front of a screaming Marshall stack, or in a kick drum, it must be able to appropriately deal with the volumes it will be seeing…

You may also need to consider other points into account, like weight and dimensions (can your microphone perform with your audio recording set up?) and problems with power supplies.

Finally, several microphones arise with accessories to make them plain to use, so have a look at what you receive for your money. If you’re starting from the beginning, opting for a complete audio recording package can be an excellent way to get going, but if you’ve created out your gear a bit, choosing only a top-of-the-line microphone can be worth it.

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