How do you pick-up sound at long ranges or in environments with a lot of noise? You use a directional microphone—and the longer the required range or the greater the ambient noise, the more directive the microphone must be.
There are four types of directional microphones that can offer much greater directivity than ordinary studio microphones: the shotgun microphone, the parabolic microphone, the horn microphone, and the array microphone. Here you’ll find detailed information on how each of these microphones work, how well they work, and even how to build them.
If you’ve looked for long-range listening devices on Amazon or eBay, you’ve no doubt come across a cool-looking small parabolic microphone for just 40 dollars. Often marketed under the Hausbell, Podoy, YaeTek, or other brand…
Shotgun microphones (which are typically about a foot long) are used to pick up sounds at ranges of up to several feet, while parabolic microphones (which are typically about two feet in diameter) are used…
As with many devices, today’s shotgun microphone wasn’t a single invention, but was rather the cumulative result of several innovations over time. Four of these innovations stand out in the history of the shotgun microphone:…
How exactly does a shotgun microphone exploit the principle of destructive interference, and how does shotgun microphone design determine performance? Read on for the most detailed explanation on the web. The purpose of a shotgun…
Most people know that a special type of microphone is needed to pick-up sounds at long ranges. But how do such long-range microphones work—and how well do they work? Read on for detailed answers to…
Here’s everything you need to know before building or buying a parabolic microphone, including key design considerations and the kind of performance you can realistically expect. I cover all that—and a lot more—in this post….
Not many people have ever heard of horn microphones (much less know how horn microphones work), but they’re potentially great alternatives to parabolic and shotgun microphones. They offer some unique performance advantages (but also have…
An array microphone, sometimes called a microphone array, consists of multiple microphone elements whose outputs are electronically processed to provide a greater Signal-to-Noise Ratio SNR) and a sharper polar pattern than the individual elements. There’s…