Stop blindly buying microphones! In this paper, distinguish all microphones and avoid 90% radio stepping on the pit.

Almost everyone needs a microphone to brush short videos, do live broadcasts, record songs, explore outdoor stores and hold online meetings. Many people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment, and in the end, the noise is heavy, the voice is vague, and the accompaniment is harsh and screaming. The root of the problem is never that the equipment is cheap, but that the microphone is not suitable for the scene and does not understand the basic use logic. In this paper, the core classification, logic selection and pit avoidance skills of microphone are disassembled from scratch, covering all the use needs of ordinary people.

First, the two core wheat varieties: capacitive wheat and dynamic wheat, choose the right half to solve the problem.

There are two types of household and commercial microphones in the market: capacitor and moving coil. There is no advantage or disadvantage between them, only depending on the use environment.

1. Capacitor microphone
Core features: extremely high sensitivity, capable of capturing the subtle breath sound and timbre details of human voice, transparent treble and strong sound reproduction.

Advantages: recording songs, audio books, podcasts, indoor professional recording, full voice and texture, with a delicate air sense; The large diaphragm condenser microphone is suitable for lyric singing, and the small diaphragm is suitable for musical instrument recording.
Short board: zero tolerance for the environment, air conditioning wind, traffic outside the window, keyboard tapping, fan rotation will be fully included; The fuselage is delicate and fragile, and it is easy to be damaged by bumps and dampness; Professional XLR models need a sound card to provide 48V phantom power to work.
Suitable scene: quiet and sealed recording studio, well-insulated study, and pure indoor silent and noisy recording creation.
Not suitable for: bedroom live broadcast, street shop exploration, multi-person noisy conference room, stage live K songs.
2. Moving microphone
Core features: low sensitivity, only picking up close-range voices, automatically weakening long-distance environmental noise, and the structure is resistant to building and falling.

Advantages: self-contained noise reduction property, no need to deliberately close the room; The middle and low frequencies are rich, and the voice has its own broadcast texture; Without power supply, the handheld wireless dynamic microphone can be directly matched with audio, which is stable outdoors and noisy indoors; The price threshold is lower and the novice's fault tolerance rate is high.
Short board: the voice will be thin when the distance is more than 10 cm, and it needs to be used close to the mouth; The expressive force of details is weaker than that of capacitive wheat, and the delicate singing lacks a sense of transparency.
Adaptable scenes: family K songs, live broadcast room with goods, stage performance, home recording without sound insulation, outdoor speech, multi-person meeting.

Two or six commonly used microphone forms correspond to your real needs.

Aside from the internal sound structure, according to the appearance and usage, there are six types of microphones that can be bought every day, so you can sit in the right place as needed, and you don't have to blindly follow the trend of online celebrity.

1. Wireless collar microphone (preferred by media)
Small size, clip fixed on the collar, wireless transmission, mobile phone, camera universal, divided into one for one, one for two for two.

Advantages: the radio distance is not limited, and the human voice is always stable when walking; Concealed and not grabbing the camera, the noise reduction ability of outdoor noisy environment is outstanding; The battery life is generally 6-12 hours, and it comes with a charging storage box.
Disadvantages: the friction of close-fitting clothes will produce rustling noise; The voice is thin and lacks a sense of low-frequency atmosphere, which is not suitable for professional recording.
Suitable for: Vlog shop exploration, short video location shooting, online class recording, double interview, outdoor oral broadcast.
2. Set-top gun microphone (for camera shooting)
Installed in the hot shoe of the camera, pointing in a super heart shape, only picking up the sound in front of the lens.

Advantages: sound and picture synchronization, follow the camera to receive the sound, without additional wiring; Bring your own windproof wool cover to resist the wind outdoors; No need to charge, plug and play.
Disadvantages: the effective radio distance is only 1-3 meters, and the voice of long-distance shooting is weak; The noise reduction effect of indoor multi-person scene is average.
Suitable for: single location short video, travel shooting, short story shooting, small-scale activity follow-up.
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Schematic diagram of three kinds of pickup directions of microphone

3. Desktop USB microphone (home office/podcast)
Vertical desktop microphone, USB plug-in computer, mobile phone, built-in sound card, no need to purchase additional audio equipment.

Advantages: zero threshold operation, out of the box; Equipped with shock-proof frame to isolate desktop knocking and mouse vibration noise; Heart-shaped points to filter noise on both sides.
Disadvantages: the wireless model has a high delay and is not suitable for real-time K songs; The upgrade space is small and the upper limit of professional creation is insufficient.
Suitable for: online conference, game voice, single podcast, recording audio books at home, and online teaching.
4. Hand-held wireless dynamic wheat (K song/stage)
KTV, outdoor audio standard, heart-shaped pointing, strong anti-howling ability.

Advantages: long battery life, stable signal, no obvious delay with portable audio; Fall-resistant and waterproof, durable for family gatherings and outdoor performances.
Disadvantages: the long-distance radio reception is poor, and the lip distance of 5-10 cm must be maintained; A large area of noisy environment will record background noise.
Suitable for: family KTV, square singing, wedding hosting, offline activity speech.
5. Goose neck conference microphone
Slender vertical long pole, omnidirectional pickup, placed on the conference table for fixed use.

Advantages: 360 includes all the speeches of the desktop, and no one needs to be equipped with one; The appearance is simple and suitable for office scenes.
Disadvantages: it is easy to pick up noise from air conditioners, projectors and windows, and it is easy to scream when turning up the volume.
Suitable for: corporate meeting rooms, offline lectures and multi-person round-table discussions.
6. Headphones (for hosts and lecturers)
Keep the microphone close to the corners of your mouth, free your hands and hide your face invisibly.

Advantages: the radio distance is constant, and the sound quality is not affected by walking and gesture interaction; Excellent ability to resist environmental noise.
Disadvantages: it is sultry to wear for a long time; The appearance has a strong sense of existence and is not suitable for short video appearances.
Suitable for offline lecturers, stage hosts and gyms.

Third, the purchase must see the three core parameters, and refuse the business's virtual standard gimmick.

Many businesses only promote "hi-fi, professional-grade". What really determines the radio effect is three sets of hard parameters, which are no longer fooled:

1, pickup direction
Heart-shaped/super-heart-shaped: only receive the front voice, shield the noise from the side and rear, be universal for live broadcast, K-song and recording, and have the best howling resistance;
All-directional: 360 radio, only suitable for multi-person meetings, and the noise of single use is serious;
Figure 8: before and after the sound is recorded, it is only used by professional double interviews, and ordinary people do not need to consider it.
2, signal-to-noise ratio
The higher the numerical value, the smaller the noise floor, with 75dB as the qualified household standard and above 90dB as the professional level. Microphones below 60dB will also have continuous current noise in quiet environment.
3. Interface type
USB: Beginner, plug and play, universal for computers and mobile phones, no need for professional sound cards;
XLR cannon mouth: professional recording, with sound card and mixer, with higher upper limit of sound quality, suitable for long-term deep-rooted audio creation;
3.5mm round hole: old-fashioned mobile phone and camera are adapted, which has great loss and is only used for temporary emergency.

Fourth, 90% people will make mistakes in the use of microphones, and improve the sound quality immediately after reading them.

Myth 1: Cover the wheat head and hold the antenna tightly.
When singing, the whole hand wraps the microphone metal mesh cover, which will block the pickup hole and make the voice dull and turbid; There is a signal antenna in the tail of the wireless microphone, which will lead to disconnection and frequent noise when the palm is blocked. Only grasp the lower half of the handle correctly.

Myth 2: The microphone is facing the stereo, and the whistle is harsh.
The essence of howling is that the sound of the speaker is picked up by the microphone for the second time, forming a sound cycle amplification. When the loudspeaker is used, the microphone should be kept at a distance of more than 2 meters from the speaker, and the microphone head should avoid the front of the speaker, with an included angle of more than 30 degrees, which directly reduces the howling probability by 90%.

Myth 3: Too close/too far away from the mouth
The best radio distance is 5-10 cm, and the "P, B" blasting noise will be produced when it is close to the mouth; Over 15 cm, the voice is thin, which can only increase the gain of the equipment and amplify the current noise synchronously. Adequate budget and blowout preventer can perfectly solve the problem of wheat spraying.

Myth 4: Test the microphone by tapping and blowing.
The diaphragm inside the microphone is light and thin, and the diaphragm will be deformed and permanently distorted in the later stage if it is slapped and blown vigorously. Test the volume and read the text directly and normally.

Myth 5: forced use of capacitive wheat in noisy rooms
Don't start with the large diaphragm condenser microphone in the bedroom and street-facing room that has not been soundproofed. Air conditioning, traffic flow and keyboard noise will all be recorded, so it's not as clean as the hundred-dollar dynamic microphone.

Five, the scene is minimalist, and the direct comparison is started.

Short video location shop, oral broadcast: wireless one-tow two-collar clip wheat
Camera travel, single location short film: top gun wheat+windproof wool cover
Live at home with goods, bedroom K song: USB dynamic desktop wheat/wireless handheld dynamic wheat
Recording songs, audio books and professional podcasts: XLR large diaphragm condenser microphone+sound card+shock-proof frame.
Corporate meeting rooms and online multi-person meetings: Goose-neck all-pointing conference microphone/desktop USB microphone.
Outdoor square singing, home KTV: U-section wireless handheld dynamic microphone set

The core of a good microphone is not to be expensive, but to match its own scene. Many novices blindly pursue "professional studio sound quality" and buy high-end condenser microphones in the noisy environment at home. The final recording is all noise, but it wastes the budget. First, make clear the place of use, the number of people appearing in the camera, and the equipment collocation, and then select the corresponding type of microphone. With the correct use habits, clear and clean human voices can be recorded without high budget.