What does a condenser microphone do?
Condenser microphones span the range from inexpensive karaoke mics to high-fidelity recording mics. They generally produce a high-quality audio signal and are now the popular choice in laboratory and studio recording applications. They require a power source, provided either from microphone inputs as phantom power or from a small battery. Power is necessary for establishing the capacitor plate voltage, and is also needed for internal amplification of the signal to a useful output level. Condenser microphones are also available with two diaphragms, the signals from which can be electrically connected such as to provide a range of polar patterns, such as cardioid, omnidirectional and figure-eight.
