[Elecraft] Yamaha Headphones

[John Marvin]

Proximity effect has nothing to do with the technology of the 
transducer, i.e. dynamic, condenser, electret, ribbon, etc.

Proximity effect is due to the type of transducer, i.e. whether it is a 
pressure transducer or a pressure gradient transducer or a mix of the 
two. That determines the pickup pattern, and that also determines the 
amount of proximity effect the mike has.  A pure pressure transducer has 
an omni-directional pickup pattern and absolutely no proximity effect.  
A pure pressure gradient transducer has a figure 8 pickup pattern (i.e. 
bidirectional cardiod) and the highest level of proximity effect.  One 
of the most common pickup patterns is the cardioid pattern, which is a 
directional pattern and has a decent amount of proximity effect.

Your experience with dynamic vs. condenser mics was probably more to do 
with the pickup pattern. There are a variety of "cardioid" patterns, one 
of them being hyper cardioid, which is more prevalent in condenser 
mikes.  It is more directional than a cardioid and has further "reach", 
which would allow a vocalist to be further away from the mike and still 
be picked up well (but would fall of quicker if they moved off to the 
side).  That further distance could significantly reduce or eliminate 
proximity effect.

Another possibility is a sub cardioid pattern which is less directional 
than a standard cardioid pattern, which would also have less proximity 
effect at the same distance from the mike.

John
AC0ZG

On 11/21/2022 2:56 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
> An electret mic is much easier/cheaper to manufacture than an
> equivalent dynamic capsule.  With the built-in FET follower,
> the electret output is some 20-25dB higher than the dynamic
> making RFI and hum reduction much easier to manage in consumer
> electronics.  In addition, the electret does not suffer as
> badly from the proximity effect that is common with all dynamic
> mics (a benefit of using condenser mics for studio vocals -
> particularly with vocalists that don't know good mic technique!).