The Art of Listening to Microphones (A Special Technique for Building a Sense Memory for Your Mic Locker)

Image by Flickr user “nizzzat”.

A good microphone locker offers a vast array of possibilities, with blurry borders and intangible contours.

Knowing how to choose the right ones can often seem like a daunting task at first. But through a technique I’d like to share, which is based on deep listening and simple, intuitive experimentation, it is possible to discover—or re-discover—how to listen to and evaluate microphones for yourself.

By forgetting all your preconceived notions, whether from marketing, reviews, or second-hand opinions, and by starting from scratch afresh, it is possible to build deep sense memories and acoustic experiences that we can rely on, free from extraneous bias and noise.

How to Do It

What we are not going to do is go through an elaborate list of microphone types and technical characteristics, which explains why microphones sound the way they do. Instead, the point of this exercise is to concentrate on deep listening and building your sense memory through personal experience and discovery.

In doing this, it is important to be aware of just how much our brains tend to be dominated by visual processing. It is often estimated that 60% or more of our conscious sensory system is devoted to vision. By simply closing our eyes and focusing our attention onto listening alone, we can intentionally free our cognitive system from the burden of looking, allowing us to lose ourselves in sonic space.

Prior to experimenting with this focused listening technique, it would be wise to collect a wide range of microphones for the occasion that you’d like to try out or discover all over again.

If you can manage it, having a pair of each microphone model would be ideal, as our auditory system is even more capable of analyzing a microphone’s sound in stereo than in mono. For me, having stereo pairs makes this listening and memorization technique feel much easier. And auditioning pairs can be especially useful when comparing sensitive condenser microphones.

Remember that the goal of this particular exercise is not to create a clinical and scientifically perfect “shootout” for others to hear and compare later on. Rather, your goal is to develop an intimate, first-hand familiarity with the sound of each of the microphones in your locker for yourself.

The Setup

To get started, set up anywhere from two to five microphones of microphone pairs. If you’re able to access stereo pairs, use any of the three main stereo mic techniques: AB,  XY, or ORTF.

Ideally, you’ll be able to position these mics as close to one another as possible. You can do this by using multiple clamps on a single wide-based tripod stand, or by using several smaller stands.

To make sure that each microphone sounds equally loud, you can play a single sound source in the room to adjust their gain. Playing some pink noise through a speaker that is equidistant from each of the mics in this array is probably the most fair and reliable way of establishing a good baseline for level.

Next, organize a set of acoustic objects that you can manipulate and capture:

• Any object made of wood. (A cigar box, a drawer, a chair, etc.)
• Any object made of metal. (A set of keys, a can, a pan, cutlery, etc.)
• An acoustic instrument. (Acoustic guitar, piano, melodium, harmonica, flute, etc.)
• Your own voice, or that of a familiar person (Whispering, speaking and singing.)

Once you have your acoustic objects and microphones in position, get ready to record all of them at once.

Each microphone or stereo pair should be monitored on a familiar pair of headphones. Reference-quality circumaural headphones are strongly recommended for this.

Your acoustic objects can be used as percussive or resonant instruments. Use your hands, a bow, a mallet or even a toothbrush to strike. manipulate, and coax a wide variety of sounds from them.

Keep your eyes closed—or better yet—wear a blindfold for the entire experiment. This becomes even easier if you have a partner or colleague you trust to guide you in going through the microphones.

At this point, it is okay if you know which of the microphones is which. The idea here is to develop a conscious sense memory for each one, so you can try to recall them later on.

Spend some time getting to hear how each one responds to the same sounds. In order to make the experiment relevant and build sonic memories, spend up to 30 minutes with each mic or stereo setup, followed by 5-10 minutes of quiet break.

Listening Back

This is the part where having a partner can become especially helpful: Listening and naming each microphone, blind.

To do this, each microphone or stereo pair should be played back without you knowing which one you are hearing. Work to recollect the signature sound of each microphone, checking your results at the end.

Obviously, having a partner present makes this significantly easier, but if that is impossible, having a friend or colleague remotely re-name each track and audio file for you is an option. For those who are more tech-savvy, randomizing software is available.

While listening, try to evaluate what you’re hearing according to the following five criteria and write down your perceptions of each:

• Space: The perceived distance and width of each object or instrument, as well as your perception of the space surrounding it.
• Fidelity: The level of detail and accuracy: How closely the quality the sound approximates the real sound of the instrument or object in the room.
• Color: “Color” usually refers to the unique tonal character of a microphone—How it differs from straight reality. It may even be useful to assign a literal visual color or shape to each microphone pair at the end of the evaluation to help you recall their sound.
• Feel: The human traits (feeling, emotion and personality) that are conjured up in your mind upon hearing the microphone.
• “Truth”: The immediate “truthfulness” of the recording in a felt, rather than literal sense. Think of this as “intuitive realism” as opposed to straight “fidelity”. How natural does the recording seem through the headphones? How comfortable, how familiar?

Note your first impressions. Sense memory is all about experience and forming internal cues. It can be useful to write down or record your thoughts and impressions using a portable vocal recorder.

Results

When you follow through with this experiment, you obtain all of the following in just one listening session:

• A blind listening evaluation of some key microphones, without bias.
• An objective acoustic recording that you can reference in the future.
• A subjective sense memory for the feel and color of each microphone, linked in your mind to a visual cue.
• Written and mental notes of your acoustic memories.

In short, you will have built your own vocabulary and internal memory for microphones based on your own auditory experience. Compared to even the internet, this is easier to refer to, remember and trust.

Building your sonic library and road map

You can perform this experiment each time you would like to try a new microphone or compare to familiar microphones.

Changing your location can put your evaluation to even more of a test, forcing you to separate your perception of familiar microphones from your perception of the room.

Do not be surprised if your tastes evolve and your vocabulary or analysis expands with time. You will be building new and long-lasting relationships with your preferred microphones.

Keep on building on your experience and sense memory, and keep on writing down your perceptions on these notepads. Keep this this precious chart and library of microphone memories within reach! It will serve you well and expand your abilities and horizons.

At the very least, you will have taken some free time, and used it to engage even more deeply with your tools, your critical listening ability, and your craft.

Laurent Bonnet is an audio engineer, designer, acoustician and audio techniques lecturer who shares his time between France, Germany, Scandinavia, the Bay Area, and upstate New York.

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