In recent years, we’ve seen new large diaphragm condenser microphones popping out in the market like mushrooms on a soggy springtime lawn. Which ones really sound tasty? Which could prove deadly in a crucial project? And which preamps work with which mics—in which applications? Veteran audio journalist and equipment reviewer Ty Ford traces the roots of today’s mic mania, and offers helpful guidelines for making the best of a confusing situation.

Ty Ford

If you could hold me still long enough to ask every question you could think of about mics and preamps, we'd probably be talking until sometime after the next millennium. Over the next couple of months I've been given the opportunity to use this site to separate the known from the unknown—and the unknowable—about mics and mic preamps. This will be an interactive forum. Your comments and questions are encouraged and invited. I only ask that you stay on topic and not make personal attacks on others who post. If you want to rumble, take it outside.

Meanwhile, back inside, what we'll be trying to do is get to the bottom of the constantly changing sea of mic and preamp technology. I've been reviewing pro audio gear since 1986, but I still don't have all of the answers, because the technology continues to evolve. I'll be calling in favors from people who are responsible for that evolution. These are the scary-smart folks whose passion it is to make circuits through which our precious audio flows. The things they have shared with me over the years have enriched my knowledge of mics and preamps and allowed me to be a better listener—and a better judge of what's good and what's not.

I've also learned from them that I must be constantly vigilant and open to new ideas. Some revelations are instantaneous; others -- like determining how a mic or preamp truly sounds -- take more time. Although I've learned how to tell a lot from a brief listening, I know that no one can thoroughly know a mic or preamp in 5-10 minutes. As an equipment reviewer, one of my biggest challenges is finding simple ways to test gear to determine if it's doing what it should be doing, and if it's the right piece for the job. I'll be covering some of those techniques in upcoming articles here.

As a studio operator, one of your biggest challenges is having the right tools on hand for a particular job, having a backup plan for when they aren't doing what you thought they'd do, and then having a backup-backup plan for when the backup plan doesn't work. Another of your challenges is accepting the fact that what has worked for you in past may not work for you today. That's when theoretical knowledge becomes very important. We'll try to give you just enough to help you, without making your eyes glaze over.