that is analogous to the air pressure waves of the sound. That may sound complicated, but it is actually very easy to understand. Sound is waves of air molecules. Analog audio is a representation of the intensities of those waves in a different form, such as voltages on a wire or magnetized particles on a cassette tape. The Basics of Sound Sound is nothing more than the movement of air. For example, the sound of a firecracker going off is actually an experience of shock waves that move through the air due to the rapid expansion of the firecracker. The firecracker expands, the molecules of air get pushed towards you, your ears sense the movement of the air molecules and your brain interprets that as sound. When the air molecules move, there are points in the wave when they are all bunched up together (this is high pressure) and there are points when there are relatively few air molecules (this is low pressure). HOW SOUND WAVES ARE RECORDED To record analog audio of a sound today, we use a microphone, which has a diaphragm.The diaphragm in a microphone is connected to a device called a transducer. When the diaphragm is vibrated by the sound of a voice, the transducer converts those vibrations into electrical energy. The portions of the sound that are high pressure cause the transducer to create positive voltage, and the portions of the sound that are low pressure cause the transducer to create negative voltage. TRANSDUCER IT IS A DEVICE WHICH CONVERTS ONE FORM OF ENERGY INTO ANOTHER FORM. A MICROPHONE CONVERTS SOUND PRESSURE WAVES INTO AN ELECTRICAL SIGNAL. A SPEAKER CONVERTS ELECTRICAL SIGNAL INTO SOUND PRESSURE WAVES. MICROPHONE INVENTION When people wish to communicate to a large crowd or when they want to record sound, a microphone is a valuable piece of equipment. The microphone (sometimes called a "mike") was first invented by Emile Berliner in 1877. However, Alexander Graham Bell was the first person to develop it and make it useful. Today, microphones are used in telephones, hearing aids, radios, tape recorders, and television broadcasting. What is a microphone? A device for turning acoustic power into electric power is called a microphone. Acoustic power is real sound waves. In other words, it changes sound into an electric signal. These signals are usually sent to an amplifier or recording device. There are many different brands and also different types. Still, they all have one thing in common: they all use a diaphragm.
This diaphragm is a thin part, sometimes made of metal, that vibrates when sound goes to the microphone. When the diaphragm shakes, it causes the other parts of the microphone to create signals. TYPES OF MICROPHONES DYNAMIC MICROPHONE CARBON MICROPHONE CONDENSER MICROPHONE ELECTRET MICROPHONES RIBBON MICROPHONE GUN MICROPHONE LIP MICROPHONE LAPEL MICROPHONE WIRED AND RF
DYNAMIC MICROPHONE The dynamic microphone has a thin diaphragm that is hung by suspension wires. It can break if the wires become damaged. One bad thing about this kind is that because it is less sensitive, it does not pick up sounds as well. But it is great for live performances and recordings that want to sound like live performances. CARBON MICROPHONE Carbon is the next kind of microphone. It is an old fashioned design, used on the first telephones. It uses carbon dust which is compressed into the middle of the diaphragm. It makes electrical signals when the sound waves pass through the dust. It is still used on many telephones. CONDENSER MICROPHONE Basically, the heart of any capacitor mic is a pair of conducting plates, one fixed and the other in the form of a moving diaphragm. When the spacing between the plates changes (as it does when the diaphragm vibrates) the capacitance varies, and if a fixed electrical charge is applied to the capacitor, an electrical signal is produced which faithfully represents the diaphragm vibration. ELECTRET MICROPHONES There is another type of capacitor microphone, known as the electret mic. Despite inauspicious beginnings, these have now been developed to the point where they can rival true capacitor quality for a much lower price. Instead of applying an electrical charge to the microphone capsule via an external power source, electret mics use a diaphragm made from an insulating material that has a permanent electrical charge. A preamplifier is still needed, but this can be built very cheaply, and will run from a battery in some cases. Electret mics made in this way don't offer any real advantage over dynamic mics, because the diaphragms have to be quite heavy in order to carry the permanent electrical charge . RIBBON MICROPHONE The ribbon is another variety of microphone. Ribbon microphones use a very thin metal wire that is suspended in a magnetic field. When the sound waves or vibrations hit the ribbon, the ribbon vibrates and sends waves through the magnetic field creating electric signals. Ribbon microphones are very sensitive and usually used for special recordings. They are very fragile and can break easily when dropped. GUN MICROPHONE IT IS SUITABLE FOR OUT DOOR COVERAGES LIKE REPORTING, SHOOTINGS ETC. LIP MICROPHONE IT IS A HIGHLY DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE.IT IS USED IN MATCH COVERAGES BY COMMENTRATORS. LAPEL MICROPHONE A lapel microphone is a very handy tool for those speaking in public. It attaches to clothing and takes the place of a more static-position microphone. The lapel microphone can amplify a voice and ensure quality communication with very little extra equipment. By its very nature, a lapel microphone is quite small. It has a powerful reach and yet is small enough to be held between two fingers. It doesnt have an unlimited range, however, and must be attached to clothing within a foot or two of the mouth. A lapel microphone is most often placed on the flap of a button-down or Polo Shirt or to the top part of a blouse or other kind of shirt or top. What is Impedance? Impedance is an electronics term which measures the amount of opposition a device has to an AC current (such as an audio signal). Technically speaking, it is the combined effect of capacitance, inductance, and resistance on a signal. The letter Z is often used as shorthand for the word impedance, e.g. Hi-Z or Low-Z. Impedance is measured in ohms, shown with the Greek Omega symbol . A microphone with the specification 600 has an impedance of 600 ohms. Microphone Impedance When dealing with microphones, one consideration which is often misunderstood or overlooked is the microphone's impedance rating. Perhaps this is because impedance isn't a "critical" factor; that is, microphones will still continue to operate whether or not the best impedance rating is used. However, in order to ensure the best quality and most reliable audio, attention should be paid to getting this factor right. If you want the short answer, here it is: Low impedance is better than high impedance. What is Microphone Impedance? All microphones have a specification referring to their impedance. This spec may be written on the mic itself (perhaps alongside the directional pattern), or you may need to consult the manual or manufacturer's website. You will often find that mics with a hard-wired cable and 1/4" jack are high impedance, and mics with separate balanced audio cable and XLR connector are low impedance. There are three general classifications for microphone impedance. Different manufacturers use slightly different guidelines but the classifications are roughly: Low Impedance (less than 600) Medium Impedance (600 - 10,000) High Impedance (greater than 10,000) Which Impedance to Choose? High impedance microphones are usually quite cheap. Their main disadvantage is that they do not perform well over long distance cables - after about 5 or 10 metres they begin producing poor quality audio (in particular a loss of high frequencies). In any case these mics are not a good choice for serious work. In fact, although not completely reliable, one of the clues to a microphone's overall quality is the impedance rating. Low impedance microphones are usually the preferred choice. Matching Impedance with Other Equipment Microphones aren't the only things with impedance. Other equipment, such as the input of a Sound Mixer, also has an ohms rating. Be aware that what one system calls "low impedance" may not be the same as your low impedance microphone - you really need to see the ohms value to know exactly what you're dealing with. A low impedance microphone should generally be connected to an input with the same or higher impedance. If a microphone is connected to an input with lower impedance, there will be a loss of signal strength. In some cases you can use a line matching transformer, which will convert a signal to a different impedance for matching to other components. Impedance Matching In the early days of high fidelity music systems, it was crucial to pay attention to the impedance matching of devices since loudspeakers were driven by output transformers and the input power of microphones to preamps was something that had to be optimized. The integrated solid state circuits of modern amplifiers have largely removed that problem, so this section just seeks to establish some perspective about when impedance matching is a valid concern. As a general rule, the maximum power transfer from an active device like an amplifier or antenna driver to an external device occurs when the impedance of the external device matches that of the source. That optimum power is 50% of the total power when the impedance of the amplifier is matched to that of the speaker. Improper impedance matching can lead to excessive power use, distortion, and noise problems. The most serious problems occur when the impedance of the load is too low, requiring too much power from the active device to drive the load at acceptable levels. On the other hand, the prime consideration for an audio reproduction circuit is high fidelity reproduction of the signal, and that does not require optimum power transfer. In modern electronics, the integrated circuits of an amplifier have at their disposal hundreds to thousands of active transistor elements which can with appropriate creative use of feedback make the performance of the amplifier almost independent of the impedances of the input and output devices within a reasonable range. On the input side, the amplifier can be made to have almost arbitrarily high input impedance, so in practice a microphone sees an impedance considerably higher than its own impedance. Although that does not optimize power transfer from the microphone, that is no longer a big issue since the amplifier can take the input voltage and convert it to a larger voltage - the term currently used is "bridging" to a larger image of the input voltage pattern. On the output side, a loudspeaker may still have a nominal impedance of something like 8 ohms, which formerly would have required having an amplifier output stage carefully matched to 8 ohms. But now with the active output circuitry of audio amplifiers, the effective output impedance may be very low. The active circuitry controls the output voltage to the speaker so that the appropriate power is delivered. Matching Amplifier to Loudspeaker The maximum power transfer from an active device like an amplifier to an external device like a speaker occurs when the impedance of the external device matches that of the source. That optimum power is 50% of the total power when the impedance of the amplifier is matched to that of the speaker. But modern audio amplifiers are active control devices, and the impedance matching of the amplifier to the loudspeaker is no longer considered best practice. To emphasize the over simplification involved in the above model, it should be noted that the loudspeaker is not a simple resistor - it contains a coil or coils with significant inductance, and is typically composed of two or three speakers with a crossover network that has capacitance and inductance. So the impedance of the loudspeaker will inevitably vary with frequency. Note that it is safer in terms of total power to go to higher impedance speakers (series speakers), but more typical practice is to put speakers in parallel, lowering the impedance. Matching Microphone to Input While impedance matching of a microphone to an audio amplifier is not the problem it was in the early days of high fidelity sound reproduction, there are some considerations that still apply. In practical terms, the modern microphone needs to deliver optimal voltage to the preamplifier, and not necessarily the optimum power that would require impedance matching. Considering the microphone as a voltage source, the voltage delivered to the input of the preamplifier is given by where Vsource is the signal generated by the microphone mechanism, Ri the impedance of the microphone and RL the input impedance of the preamplifier. The actual signal power delivered to the preamp can be expressed in decibels of loss compared to the microphone's generated signal . Assuming a resistive circuit so that the power if proportional to the square of the voltage: As long as the microphone has enough signal strength to provide the minimum signal input to the mixer, it can be an advantage to connect a low impedance microphone to a moderately higher impedance input. From this point of view, current practice for "low impedance" inputs to audio mixers typically have impedances from 1000 to 2000 ohms.As a rule of thumb, a signal loss of 6dB is acceptable. Use of Digital Delay To maintain the perception that the sound is coming from the front of the auditorium, it is necessary to use digital delay to speakers under balconies, etc., where they are much closer to the listener than the main speakers. The signal to the speaker from the microphone travels at the speed of light, and the sound to the listener would arrive first from the closest speaker. Precedence has a strong localizing influence, and all the sound would seem to be coming from the nearby speaker. With appropriate delays, the sound to all listeners seems to come from the main speaker. PICKUP PATTERNS OF A MICROPHONE Omnidirectional. This kind of microphone picks up sound from all directions. These are used for group vocals and recordings. Unidirectional microphones pickup sound from only one direction. They are good for recording single voices. This makes them good for interviews in places that are loud. Because they can pickup from long distances, they are also great for surveillance. Bi-directional. It gets sound from two places. It is great for recording two voices at the same time. Carotid is the last type of pickup pattern. It is very unusual, because it picks up sound in a heart shaped pattern. These are actually a very commonly used microphone. They are great for talk shows, because the audience sound will not be picked up as much as the people on stage. This also makes it very good for live music performances. Directional microphones are referred to as cardioids because a graph of their sensitivity at different angles looks 'heart-shaped'. The least sensitive spot of a cardioid microphone is right behind it, with the most sensitive spot being 'on- axis'. Cardioids (or the more tightly-focused hypercardioids -- see below) are used extensively in live performance, because of the need to prevent spill and acoustic feedback. Hypercardioid mics, sometimes also known as supercardioids, are useful in situations where sound leakage is a real problem, but in the studio, they tend not to be used, as relatively small physical movements by the performer can cause the sound level to change significantly. PROXIMITY EFFECT The proximity effect comes into play when vocalists sing very close to a mic, and the effect is that the level of bass in the recorded signal goes up enormously. The proximity effect is all down to the laws of physics, and may be a benefit or a problem depending on what you do with it -- experienced live performers can use the proximity effect as a type of dynamic EQ, allowing them to alter the tone of their voice as they sing, simply by varying the mic-to- mouth distance. In the studio, mics tend to be used at a reasonable distance from the performer, usually with a pop shield in between, so the proximity effect doesn't affect the recording of vocals. When recording electric guitar or bass, the proximity effect is often deliberately brought into play, to help create a more punchy sound. WHAT TO USE: QUICK GUIDES VOCALS When it comes to recording vocals, there are no hard and fast rules about the type of mic to choose, because all that matters is the end result. For this reason, some top pop singers record using relatively inexpensive dynamic mics, rather than capacitor models, because the dynamic mic gives them a warmer, thicker, more punchy sound. On the other hand, a breathy, intimate voice can benefit from the detailed high-end of a capacitor mic. Not only do the different types of mic sound quite different, but you'll also notice that even similarly-specified mics of the same type but from different manufacturers will also sound noticeably different. DRUMS For drum work, the most common setup is to use dynamic mics for all the close mics (on the individual drums) and then augment these with capacitor mics for the overhead mics and the hi-hat. Dedicated kick drum mics are available (such as the AKG D112, currently retailing at 216), and these will produce a more powerful bass drum sound than general-purpose dynamic models. Some engineers also prefer to use capacitor mics on the snare drum for a crisper sound. GUITAR Electric guitar is less demanding on mics, because a typical guitar cab has a very limited high- frequency output, and in most instances, a dynamic vocal or drum mic will do fine Definitions of Wow and Flutter : A measurement of speed instability in analog equipment usually applied to cassette transports and turntables. Wow is slow-speed variations, and flutter is fast-speed variations. Lower percentages are better.
AUDIO SIGNAL IMPAIRMENTS 1 AMPLITUDE ERRORS 2 FREQUENCY ERRORS/FREQUENCY RESPONSE 3 PHASE ERRORS 4 THD+N 5 NOISE OR S/N 6 CROSSTALK 7 INTER MODULATION 8 WOW & FLUTTER AUDIO PRE-AMPLIFIER: Audio Input : Microphone /-70dB Input Impedance : 600 Ohms. Audio Output: 0dB SPECIFICATION FOR STEREO DISTRIBUTION AMPLIFIER: 1. GENERAL The stereo distribution amplifier will be used for feeding a stereo high quality programme to various destinations. The distribution amplifier should be solid state audio amplifier having one stereo input and 4 separate individually adjustable stereo outputs.
2. INPUT IMPEDANCE Input impedance shall be >=10 k ohm (balanced). 3. INPUT LEVEL (a) Nominal : 0 dBu (b) Maximum : +20 dBu 4. GAIN Shall have adjustable gain of 5 dB with respect to nominal setting. 5. OUTPUT LEVEL (a) Nominal : 0 dBu (b) Maximum ; +20 dBu 6. OUTPUT IMPEDANCE Output impedance shall be <= 50 ohm (balanced). 7. FREQUENCY RESPONSE 0.5 dB in frequency range of 40 Hz to 20 kHz. 8. TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION Less then 0.3% at nominal level (1 kHz) and less than 0.5% at maximum output level. (Terminated into a load of 600 ohm) throughout the audio frequency range of 40 Hz to 20 kHz. 9. SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO AT NOMINAL INPUT/OUTPUT, RMS UNWEIGHTED (22 Hz-22kHz) >= 90 dB 10. INTER OUTPUT LOADING (a) If one of the outputs gets short circuited, the level on the rest of the outputs shall not fall by more than 0.3 dB, (b) If two of the outputs got short circuited, the level on each of the remaining outputs shall not fall by more than 0.6 dB. 11. INTER-CHANNEL PHASE DIFFERENCE Not more than 5 degree in frequency range of 125 Hz to 10 kHz and 10 degree from 40 Hz to 20 kHz. 12. INTER-CHANNEL LEVEL DIFFERENCE
Within O.5 dB, from 40 Hz to 20 kHz. 13. INTER-CHANNEL CROSS TALK Equal to or better than 60 dB at 20 kHz at nominal level. 14. INPUT/OUTPUT CONNECTORS Input and all outputs shall be on 3-pin XLR connectors. 15. POWER REQUIREMENT 230 V 10%, 48-52 Hz single phase AC supply. 16. CONTROLS Following front panel controls shall be provided: (a) ON/OFF switch with ON LED indicator and power fuse. (b) Screw driver control for level adjustment for each output.