Convention Paper
Microphone Transient Response Measurement
AES Convention 42 · Paper 846 · May 1972
Abstract
This paper is intended to tie together some measurements and observations made on transient response of professional microphones carried out from time to time over the past few years. We will define transient response used in studying microphone characteristics as the ability of the electrical output of a microphone to track the sound pressure wave of a non-recurring function. When two microphones have the same basic frequency response curves, impedance, level and polar response but sound different to the user, another parameter is sought to explain the difference. One such parameter mentioned quite frequently is transient response. So, like other experimenters in the microphone field, we started making transient response measurements to compare microphones used in sound recording, broadcasting and sound reinforcement.
