Audio latency is one of the most frustrating issues to deal with when tracking digital audio. Head a delay in monitoring is incredibly distracting for the performer and can be terribly annoying for the audio engineer to fix. Let’s talk about the methods of fixing microphone audio latency. How To Fix Microphone Latency: In this…
We’ve likely all heard the sound from a microphone amplified through loudspeakers. This often happens at all sorts of events and performances. A speaker or singer will project their voice into a microphone, and their voice is sent through speakers at a much higher volume. How is this audio amplified? Does a microphone amplify sound?…
Microphone feedback is one of the most unpleasant sounds we’ll encounter in the world of audio. Though mic feedback is most often heard in live sound reinforcement situations, it can easily happen on your computer, too. Here are step-by-step instructions to stop a microphone feedback loop in a computer: In this article, we’ll get into…
When studying microphones and audio, the topic of unbalanced and balanced audio is sure to come up. Unbalanced and balanced audio are the two common ways to send audio from one audio device to another (for example, a microphone to a mic preamplifier). Do microphones output balanced or unbalanced audio? The vast majority of professional…
We’ve likely all heard ourselves in a recording before and thought, “do I really sound like that?” How we hear ourselves speak is often vastly different from the way our voice actually sounds. Does a microphone change your voice? Microphones, like all audio equipment, will alter the sound of your voice. Some microphones capture voice…
When dealing with analog audio, there are a few signal levels to be aware of: mic level, instrument level, line level (consumer), line level (professional), and speaker level. It’s critical to know the differences between these nominal signal levels when working with microphones and other audio equipment. Do microphones output line level signals? No, microphones…
Microphones act as transducers, converting sound waves (mechanical wave energy) into audio signals (electrical energy). The movement of this electrical energy is called current, which happens in one of two ways: alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC). Are microphones AC or DC devices? Some microphones require DC voltages to power their active circuitries (internal…
Before my career as an audio technician, it was magic to me that by speaking into a microphone, my voice could be recreated at a much louder level through a loudspeaker. The technical reasons why would come to me years later. It all starts with the audio signal created by the microphone. So what is…
Recently, I was setting up a public address system for a presentation and was thinking about the importance of microphone gain. I decided I’d research a bit to improve my knowledge of gain and share the details with you all! So what is microphone gain, and how does it affect mic signals? Microphone gain increases the…
The Locrian Mode is the seventh mode of the Diatonic Major Scale. Let’s look and listen to it with a bit more detail. The Locrian mode is often described as the white keys on the keyboard from B-B’. This gives us the following intervallic series: h-w-w-h-w-w-w *w=whole step // h=half step* The Locrian Notation Looks Like…
The Aeolian Mode is the sixth mode of the Diatonic Major Scale. Let’s look and listen to it with a bit more detail. The Aeolian mode is often described as the white keys on the keyboard from A-A’. This gives us the following intervallic series: w-w-h-w-w-h-w *w=whole step // h=half step* And the notation looks like…
The Mixolydian Mode is the fifth mode of the Diatonic/Major Scale. Let’s look and listen to it with a bit more detail. The Mixolydian mode is often described as the white keys on the keyboard from G-G’. This gives us the following intervallic series: w-w-h-w-w-h-w *w=whole step // h=half step* And the notation looks like this:…
