Phantom Power

[Haine]

I am in the process of getting a higher quality mic than the one I own and I was looking at a MXL MXL 990 Condenser Microphone with Shockmount. I looked up information about it and it said that it requires phantom power. What is phantom power and how do I know if I have that or not?

[CeruleanAsh]

Condenser microphones require a certain type of electrical current, DC, to power it. How are you connecting your microphone to your computer? If it's through an interface, then it might already have phantom power as an option. Normally you'll see a switch where you can turn it on and off. If you don't have an interface that has phantom power then you can either buy one or purchase a phantom power supply. I have the one linked below:

Phantom Power Supply


You connect it with an XLR cable to the input of your interface and to the microphone.

[Haine]

right now I am using a USB mic.

[CeruleanAsh]

Your USB mic shouldn't need phantom power. Since you are using a USB mic now and wanting to switch to a more professional condenser mic you're going to need to purchase a preamp or other type of interface that includes phantom power.

[reteo]

To answer the question, you need to understand there are two kinds of microphone: one that generates electricity and one that holds external power.

Dynamic microphones are electrical generators; vibration of metal between coils of wire cause these microphones to generate micro-pulses of electricity which are turned, using a pre-amp, into a usable audio signal.

Condenser microphones, also known as "capacitor" microphones, are like a filled cup. If you continue to fill it at a specific rate, water will leave the cup at the same rate. If the cup is bumped, squeezed, or otherwise disturbed, the leaving water will increase as there's not enough room, and then stop as the cup returns to its original shape, providing room enough for the cup to fill up again.

Like our filled cup, the capacitor needs to be filled with a specific form of electricity, called phantom power, in order to work at all. Phantom power is usually provided at 48 volts, and is almost always supplied by the preamp or the audio interface.

For most USB condenser microphones, the phantom voltage is often suppled by the USB interface; the only time you'll need to consider phantom power is if you get a microphone with a TRS (the classic "quarter inch" plug) or XLR interface, which means you will also need at least an audio interface with phantom power capability.

Since it doesn't have the mechanical resistance from generating power, condenser microphones are much more sensitive to noise than dynamic microphones, so there is a trade-off; if you get a condenser microphone, you will likely also need to work hard to minimize noise in your environment, including some form of room treatment. Heavy, loose cloth can help with this.

To summarize:
* A condenser microphone requires phantom power, but if you plan to get a USB condenser mic, you can safely ignore the requirement. Either way, you'll need more soundproofing in order to prevent room noise from being picked up.
* A dynamic microphone not only doesn't need phantom power, it can be damaged if you plug it into a preamp with phantom power turned on, and it has better noise control (and is preferred by many big-name podcasters for this reason).

Regardless of what you're looking for, if you get a USB microphone, you may not be able to use analog mixers or filters, but you don't need to worry about buying a separate audio interface, or whether or not phantom power is required or enabled.