This content is brought to you by Audiocourses dot com
While most manufacturers look to refine their manufacturing processes and tighten their quality control, most microphones on the market today are based on technology that is decades old. In fact, the basic design for most large diaphragm condenser microphones dates back to the 1930s. And although Crowley and Tripp incorporates a ribbon element similar to those used in microphones from the 1940s and 1950s, the company is also forging ahead into completely new designs based on entirely different areas of transducer technology.
In the late 1980s, Crowley and Tripp developed Intra-Vascular Ultrasound, or IVUS, as part of a method to more fully evaluate the condition of arteries in medical patients. IVUS is a catheter-based acoustic imaging method that uses a tiny transducer to scan the inside of a blood vessel to map the vessel wall, show plaque (hardened arterial blockages) and to guide therapies such as drug coated stents. An IVUS transducer is like a very high-frequency microphone/speaker arrangement.
Today, Crowley and Tripp is on the forefront of experimenting with new microphone materials, and have come up with even sensitive technologies that will eventually be used in studio recording microphones. The new developments involve the use of nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and thin films. "We hope to use this same microphone technology in developing a sensor that will detect vulnerable plaque in arteries," states co-founder Bob Crowley. "Today, there is no way to detect it. We think that we have found a way to listen for the sound signature specific to vulnerable plaque so that clinicians can do something about it before it causes a potentially fatal heart attack."
In terms of applying such technology towards professional microphone development, Crowley describes that one of the advantages of ribbon microphones is that they have a low acoustic impedance and thus "go with the flow" of the sound energy from the source. The thin-film membranes and carbon nanotubes can be made to operate in a similar manner. But it goes further than that. According to Crowley: "Carbon nanotubes can be grown onto a silicon substrate, almost like grass on a lawn. The resulting structure is not unlike the inner ear."
This relationship to the design of the human ear has special importance to Crowley. "There are only certain things about sound we can analyze with test equipment, but many more things that we can hear. Interestingly, the ear is only the first half of the hearing apparatus, with the brain being the other half." Crowley and Tripp is currently analyzing how such new materials and structures can translate sound into signal, with at least the same fidelity, bandwidth and low noise as current designs. Along with this, they are studying how the direction and other aspects of sound have an impact on the way these materials respond.
This brings up an important consideration when looking into the future of microphones. Crowley believes that our views today regarding which microphones are "classics" is determined largely by culture. In other words, as Crowley puts it, "great recordings were done with these microphones decades ago. In fact, the four main types of microphones haven't changed very much in nearly 50 years. So the question becomes, 'what will the new technology bring to the table?' And the answer will only come once musicians and engineers have a chance to hear the new designs." And more and more, as Crowley points out, "artists are in control of the process of recording production, determining not only the methods used to make their recordings, but also, in many cases, the tools."
Responding to artists' needs, Crowley and Tripp provides custom modifications to their existing microphones to tailor the sound. In some cases, these tweaks are done to eliminate problem areas such as excessive sibilance or otherwise unappealing quality to the sound. And in other cases, the modifications are more about fine-tuning a positive aspect of the sound.
Bob Crowley's outlook is quite positive, and based on the idea that, "It hasn't all been done yet." And despite the smaller industry that pro audio represents, when compared to medical technology, work in the area of microphones suits his passion. "The scale is getting larger, with 5.1 and other surround systems getting common, with MP3 players everywhere, and audiophile systems getting even better. Now we have sharper lenses with which to look at the sound signal. There's a lot more to it than just frequency and amplitude," states Crowley. And his bottom line about microphones and pro audio: "It provides food for the soul."
Crowley and Tripp ribbon microphones are hand-built in the company's Ashland, Massachusetts USA laboratory by people who know the art and science of acoustics, and who have years of experience with high output, low noise instruments used in medical and professional audio applications. Models include the Naked Eye, Studio Vocalist, Soundstage Image, Proscenium and SPLx Custom.
www.soundwaveresearch.com
