This week, we began to look at Microphones and Polar Patterns. On Monday, we started to look at the the most common types of microphones - Dynamic and Condenser Microphones. We made notes about each microphone, for example, what they are most commonly used for and what sounds they are sensitive to. In addition to learning about these microphones, we also looked at different Polar Patterns and what they are used for. There are multiple different polar patterns, such as, Omnidirectional, Cardioid, Hyper-Cardioid, Bidirectional and Shotgun. All of these polar patterns are different shapes and are each used to record different angles of sound.
On Tuesday, we put these new techniques into practise when recording our own sounds on the Zoom Microphone recorder and our phones. We recorded these sounds in contrasting areas - indoor ambience and outdoor ambience - so that we could compare the recorders capabilities. After doing this, we then analysed each recording and consequently found that each device recorded the same sounds but at different volumes, making different noises stand out.
Furthermore, on Wednesday, we continued to use our new skills when completing another audio task. This time, we were challenged to record multiple sounds related to a word, e.g, Nature. We once again used the Zoom Microphone and had to ensure that the levels were correct so that the audio was neither too loud nor too quiet. After completing this task and listening back to our audio, I was pleased with the results, however, I would like to learn more about audio levels, going into more depth about why they are important.
Overall, I found the tasks this week very useful and know that they will prove handy in my future work. I now understand the importance of audio and sound, and the safe ways to use it correctly. It is very important to adjust the volume before listening back to any audio, as high volume can cause severe damage to the ears.
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