3rd Ward (Venue Partner)
195 Morgan Ave
718.715.4961
This event has passed.
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Microphonia
- When
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Tuesday Feb 14 (7–10pm)
- Where
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Directions: L to Grand Street or Morgan Avenue
- Price
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$250
Everybody knows what a microphone is. However, not everybody knows that there are many, many kinds of microphones, each with a unique ability to pick up different kinds of sound waves. Most microphones, the kind you sing into, pick up vibrations from the air molecules around us. But sound can travel through any medium, and a whole world of sound is waiting to be heard inside solid objects, radio waves, and even light beams. This three-session course is a survey of all the different ways to capture sound. Students will explore the less ubiquitous kinds of microphones, learning how they work and how to use them. We will cover the piezo (contact microphone), which can amplify otherwise inaudible vibrations found in solid objects. From there, we will move to electromagnets, most commonly utilized in guitar pickups but capable of amplifying all sorts of information, from motor noise, your hard drive’s oscillation, or radio waves. We will branch off into hydrophones, stethoscopes, magnetic tape heads, photo-pickups, and finally conclude with the most obvious kind of microphone, the basic sing-a-song condenser microphone, ready to launch forward your karaoke performance art project. In addition to studying the science and history of these devices, we will also learn how to build our own durable listening tools. As a part of this workshop, students will have the opportunity to build from scratch and take home their very own contact microphones, electromagnetic coils, and condenser microphones.
