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[772pilot]

I used to have the H2, but I don't recall it having phantom power. Sounds like yours has some weird mojo

[eyore]

It has a selection in the menu to power a mic with 2.5v DC and that's built-in to it and normal for the H2 model. I have to admit that, if you didn't know it was there, you probably wouldn't know it existed.
When I first got mine my heart fell as it appeared to need a powered mic (which I didn't have). I read that bit I quoted in the manual and voila, the mic worked (I'd bought a Griffin lapel stereo mic). Didn't ask any more questions.
Looking on the web, it seems they don't really advertise this fact and many say it doesn't have it (until someone posts a picture of the manual - as I'm doing here) . 

[772pilot]

Oh, I think I misunderstood you. Plug-in power isn't actually the same as phantom power.

[eyore]

I wasn't too sure about that myself but everyone talking about it calls it phantom power (including the site I got the pic from). The wiki says
"Phantom power, in the context of professional audio equipment, is a method for transmitting DC electric power through microphone cables to operate microphones that contain active electronic circuitry. It is best known as a convenient power source for condenser microphones"
That's what the plug in power selection does. How does this differ? This setting supplies 2.5v DC to power a microphone.

[772pilot]

I've always understood it to be a 48v power source for microphones (e.g., condenser mics) that need it. More or less the same principle.

[pixelated]

The much lower voltage from digital recorders is called plug-in power to distinguish it from the 48 V phantom power.  772pilot, do you remember if plug-in power had to be enabled on your Zoom H2 to make an induction microphone work?  That's the part I find wacky.

[772pilot]

I did not. I also find that wacky.

[eyore]

The induction mic works via the external mic-in regardless of the plugin power setting (off or on, it matters not one jot) and I have an induction recording from Rex's bottom in Toy Story Playland to prove it 

[pixelated]

Color me confused .  You're saying to use an unpowered mic (like an induction mic) on the Zoom, you have to enable 'plug-in power' on the Zoom?

Correct. There is a "plug in" option in the menu. If you use a standard non-powered mic (like binaural phones or a lapel mic, for instance) this option needs to be "on" or they don't work. The manual is very misleading.

I think I see where the issue lays.  Small mics like lapel mics and ear-mounted binaural mics *are* electret condenser mics so they need power to work.

[eyore]

I'm guessing that all the older mics must take power from the equipment then and were the standard thing over many years. All my ancient mics work with the zoom - some dating back to the 60's.
I suppose logic dictates that there must be some power source involved or I could plug in a tin can on a piece of string and use it
"Unpowered" is really a mis-nomer then and we should be talking about "self-powered" mics and non-self powered mics" . ALL mics need power from somewhere, don't they.
Amazing the things one never thinks about in depth but just accept "it works".

[pixelated]

Dynamic mics are self-powered because they have a wire coil attached to the diaphragm and that assembly is next to a permanent magnet.  So when the diaphragm is displaced by sound waves, that moves the coil in the presence of the magnetic field from the magnet and that induces an EMF (electromagnetic field) in the coil.  When the mic is connected to a circuit like a recorder input, the EMF becomes an electric current (because now the electrons have some place to go ) and that current is converted into a voltage by resistance in the circuit.

The coil and diaphragm need to be a certain minimum size to generate a decent amount of current to get a good signal-to-noise ratio, so that's why dynamic mics are not small.  One exception is bass drum mics because there is plenty of volume to drive the mic .

If all or most of your older mics are electret condenser mics (you can usually tell by their smaller size compared to dynamic mics), then yes, they would need plug-in or phantom power to work.

I think you may need a bigger postage stamp now but that is A Good Thing.

[eyore]

Having  dismantled many mics (usually to make use of the magnet after the diaphragm has failed) I'm familiar with the diaphragm types in which the movement generates the current.
I note they were invented (the electret one) in 1962 and were able to be mass produced. That accounts for why all my mics are of this type (ie read skinflint won't pay more than he has to). Other types back then were very, very expensive and way beyond a teenager's ability to buy.
It has, at least, made me read up on microphone types (many of which were invented long after I started making recordings on a tape recorder and so have passed me by).

[pixelated]

I've thought about getting a boundary layer microphone to record shows when the speakers are too far away for even directional mics to reduce the amount of echoes.  Has anyone tried this?

[eyore]

Google working overtime 
Seriously though, anyone ever tried making one of these. Strikes me a small version would be very handy for those ou of reach speakers.
I did make one using a parabolic plastic fruit bowl and some wire to hold the mic many, many years ago and it did work (used for bird song recording) reasonably well.

[jmercer25]

Has anyone tried wireless recording?  I want to record in a few more public areas and it must look pretty suspicious at times.  If I could wrap the cord around the pickup and plug it into a transmitter and sit a few feet away, that would make things easier.

From what I've read, no one does this, so is it a quality issue, a cost issue, or something else?