The type of microphone that you choose should be decided by its application – Live or Studio. Beyond that, trying out as many different microphones as you can to find the one most suited to your voice and style of music is the best way to find the best vocal microphone for you.
If you have been following my Microphones 101 series of articles, you would have read about 4 of the most important microphone types. These were: Dynamic Microphones, Condenser Microphones, Ribbon Microphones, and Carbon Microphones. This last update will cover a couple less used mic types. Laser Microphones, lavalier mics, contact microphones, and parabolic microphones. If you jumped in on this article without reading the first two, here a little re-cap of how microphones work.
This article provides an overview on five important measures that are typically listed in microphone specification sheets: frequency response, sensitivity, impedance, self noise level, and signal to noise ratio. Understanding these specs can help when trying to decide on the best microphone to purchase for a specific application.
