Wired Microphones

Choose a dynamic mic for live vocals and a condenser for recording. Chord lists its dynamic 173.855UK as capable of withstanding high SPLs on vocals and acoustic instruments, and its 173.857UK with high SPL tolerance for percussion. Condensers such as the Citronic ECM20 pair need 9-52V phantom power and suit studio recordings and drum overheads.

They describe the directions a microphone picks up sound from. A cardioid mic such as the Citronic 173.461UK focuses on sound from the front and reduces sound from behind; a hypercardioid such as the Chord 173.855UK narrows that pickup further; and an omnidirectional mic such as the Adastra CBM20 hears the whole room, which suits a ceiling or boundary position.

The Citronic handhelds here come with a lead in the box. The 173.461UK, 173.468UK and 173.865UK include a 4.0m XLR to 6.3mm mono jack lead (unbalanced), and the 173.863UK a 5m XLRF to 6.3mm jack lead. The QTX 173.853UK and 173.856UK also come with an XLRF to 6.3mm jack lead, ready for a mixer or amplifier with jack inputs.

A USB microphone is the simplest option, because it connects straight to a computer as a plug and play audio device. The Citronic 173.634UK is a cardioid condenser with a stand and USB lead for podcasting and vocal recording, and the QTX 173.637UK is a mini desktop mic with a live/mute button and USB-C, made for web conferencing and video calls.

A shotgun microphone picks up sound from the direction it points, which suits video and camera work. The QTX 173.638UK (short) and 173.639UK (long) have a battery compartment in the body, an integral XLRM connector and switchable cardioid or hypercardioid patterns, and they come with a lead, clip, foam windshield and hot-shoe camera mount.

Use the call station made for your PA system, as these units are system-specific. The Bosch F.01U.512.629 selects zones on a Plena voice alarm system, the CIE Group RM8000 broadcasts to the zones of an Inter-M PX8000 matrix over Cat5e/6 cable, and the Clever Acoustics CRMIC09 is a push-to-talk desktop mic with chime for the ZM 102 mixer.

Fit a microphone to a camera or recorder that has an audio input. The Dahua HAP100 is a small omnidirectional condenser for hidden installation beside cameras or storage devices with audio, and the i-PRO WV-PM500 is an external microphone unit for network cameras that mounts on walls or ceilings, indoors or outdoors.

It is a low-profile microphone mounted on a ceiling or panel to pick up voices across a room. The Adastra CBM20 is phantom powered and omnidirectional, with uses from induction loop pick-up to CCTV audio recording, and the Penton BCM201B and BCM201W boundary mics serve intercom and classroom speech monitoring in Penton school sound systems.

It measures background noise so a sound system can raise or lower its volume automatically. The Bose Professional 808932-0210 sense microphone mounts in the ceiling and gives Bose AutoVolume compensation a continuous room noise reference, and the Penton DNM2-ETH detects background noise and adjusts loudspeaker output to keep announcements intelligible.