MUCH ABOUT MIKES

Microphones--An Anthology of Articles from the Pages of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 127 (1953-1979). Audio Engineering Society, New York, 1979, $22.00. This book is one of the continuing series of anthologies published by the AES. Others include Loudspeakers, Sound Reinforcement, Quadraphony, and Disc Recording--Volume 1.

Microphones includes most of the important papers that have been published on the subject since 1953. Prior to that year, AES articles were published in Audio Engineering magazine which, of course, later became AUDIO. A reader interested only in present-day microphone technology will find Microphones a comprehensive reference that includes ample historical background. Our file of microphone articles from 1953-1979 shows that AUDIO is the best alternate reference source. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and the IEEE publications have carried relatively few articles on microphones in recent years.

Virtually all of the history of electret microphones, miniature microphones, and microphone electronics is contained in Microphones, because recent developments have concentrated in these areas. The reader, who has some interest in microphone history from earliest days to the present, will find that Harry Olson's historical articles in Section C, "Directional Microphones," provide sufficient information. For more details on the microphones of the '30s and '40s, consult the references in the Bibliography. Important papers by such authors as Bauer, Olson, Wente, and Thuras are noted, but the list is too brief. Additional contemporary articles should have been included. For instance, Bob Pacquette's 1979 article in AUDIO is an excellent source of information on microphones of the '20s and contains many photographs. The patent literature which provides a 100-year history of microphones shows details of construction and technical descriptions of microphones which may not be found elsewhere. A representative list of patents should have been included in the Bibliography.

The quality of the articles in this anthology is generally excellent. Most of the papers apparently have been refereed and are consistent with the present-day level of articles in the Journal.

The early articles from 1953 are written in a different style, and probably were not properly refereed. For instance, Souther's article on page 73 contains some remarks comparing moving-coil to ribbon microphones which are written in a style resembling advertising copy, and some of the claims are erroneous.

Present day Journal articles are divided into "Papers" and "Engineering Reports." Product development and other less "scholarly" articles appear as "Engineering Reports." In earlier years, this distinction was not made, so there are quite a few "report-type" articles in Microphones mixed with the more scholarly papers. For example, the early article by Burroughs is a one page item that describes how to make a windscreen. Other examples include Kaufman on a wireless microphone, Schulein et al. on an amplified microphone, and Burwen on a capacitor microphone system. The Schulein-article format appears to be similar to present day "reports" but is not so labeled.

Many readers of AUDIO will enjoy the report-type articles because they are less technical and therefore easier to read than the "Papers." Aside from these few remarks about editorial organization, I find little to criticize in this book.-It is the best collection of information on microphones that has been published since Olson's Acoustical Engineering. As the latter was published in 1957, Microphones makes an excellent companion volume.

-Jon R. Sank

(adapted from Audio magazine, Sept. 1982)

Also see:

Microphone SENSITIVITY Ratings (Dec. 1976)

The Compleat Microphone Evaluation (April 1977)

Miking the PRO Way (Nov. 1977)

= = = =