Microphone what is gain

So your 16 bit recording becomes a 14 bit recording, or 12… or Once upon a time, maybe 10 years ago, the whole setup was different. The mic was analog and had a XLR connector. This went into a separate preamp or a mixing board. You may also have an analog mic and an interface box m-box, focusrite, etc.

If you have a USB mic, things may be tricky. The newer, better mics actually have a gain control knob. And the oldest, least expensive mics have, well, nothing. For these your only recourse is to adjust the level in the computer control panel or in your recording software. And they can only turn the level down, not up. So give you a little bit for levels.

If it is too low it will be closer to the noise level in the console or the digital audio workstation DAW. This means that the signal-to-noise ratio would be too low and you would end up with more noise in the output than you want.

If the gain is too high, you could end up with clipping, which results in distortion. Thus, whenever you get clipping, you always solve it by lowering the gain, not the fader or something else. The signal is clipped at the gain control and adjusting anything after that is already too late. Once you have the gain set correctly , you should not need to adjust it again, unless you make changes to the sound source, microphone position, etc.

Microphone boost also amplifies the signal from a microphone , but it is a setting found on a computer, not a preamp or a mixer. Usually, when you plug a mic into the computer, the volume is not loud enough for voice chat programs like Skype. You can find the boost setting in the sound menu of the control panel. You can also use the volume setting above the boost to fine tune the sound volume.

Thank you for this clear explanation. Other websites got right into frequencies, etc, which makes my eyes glaze over. Fortunately it's a piece of cake. A result of getting it right is higher resolution recordings with lower noise floors, more clarity, more headroom, and a cleaner and greater dynamic range in regards to amplitude. Let's jump right in so you can apply these lessons to your mixes and recordings, pronto. Before we can effectively compare these two properties of audio, we need to make sure we understand what each is separately.

Keep in mind that both modulate the amplitude of a signal, which translates into a change in loudness. No wonder people are confused. In the image above we have two knobs right next to each other that seem to do the exact same thing.

Not quite! Volume is exactly what you're probably thinking and used to dealing with. You turn the knob on your car radio and the speakers get louder. You push up the fader on a mixing console and that track gets louder. There's no real, practical mystery here. Volume is a measure of the output of an audio system as measured in decibels dB. You can think of a sound system as a set of speaker monitors, headphones, an airplane, a chainsaw, or someone whispering in your ear.

A "system" in this case can be anything that produces sound. And the volume can be measured on the decibel scale. The higher the decibels, the louder the sound is.

There's more to mention about sound pressure levels SPL and sound intensity, but let's not overcomplicate things for now. The thing to understand is you can adjust the volume of a sound system and it won't affect the quality or tone of the audio signal. Even if your speakers begin to distort, the audio signal remains the same. Volume happens at the output, making it incapable of affecting audio quality. Now, let's juxtapose that against gain, and the difference should pop out at you based on what I've emphasized about volume.

If it doesn't, don't worry. I'll do a direct comparison right after. Gain is the ratio between the volume at the input and the volume at the output of an electrical circuit. That's what it actually is, despite every other website telling you it's just "the volume at the input. It gets more complicated, dealing with voltage and current in electronics everything we use to record. Amplitude is measured in voltage, which is a direct corollary to volume.

These sites just want it to be easier for you to understand, because that makes gain the opposite of volume. It's an easier way to think about it, but it's not necessarily the full truth. The problems are that some people don't understand gain but think they do. Some professionals get it but don't care about misusing the term since everyone else does.

An example is on any gain-reducing plugin or hardware unit, they'll often label the output volume as "makeup gain," which is incorrect but a convention now. The following paragraphs will go into more detail about microphone gain and how to use it correctly.

The Ultimate Illustrated Guide! Analog audio signals are electronic signals. They are measured in dBu or dBV both measurements are decibels relative to voltage :. Microphones are inherently analog but can also output digital signals in some instances. Gain is generally applied to analog signals. Digital gain is essentially just a multiplication of the digitized value that results in a loss of resolution. Note that mic and line levels are both just average nominal values. Line level is often thought of as being around to 1, times stronger than mic level.

We need gain to boost these mic level signals up to line level so that microphones can be compatible with other professional audio equipment. From our general nominal values noted above, a 44 dB to 64 dB gain boost would do the trick.

Mic inputs expect mic level signals. If a mic input has a built-in preamplifier, the preamp should have enough gain to bring the mic signal up to line level. Plugging a line output into a mic input will run the extreme risk of overloading that input. Line inputs expect line level signals. Plugging a mic output into a line input will result in very low signal levels and a very poor signal-to-noise ratio. Gain works by adding energy to the signal. As mentioned, this can happen inside the microphones with active circuitry.

When happening with separate preamps, the microphone gain is applied to the signal coming in the mic input. Condenser mics and other active microphones have an active preamplifier within the microphone body. The audio signal produced by a microphone capsule is often too low in voltage and too high in impedance to be of any use.