What is a condenser microphone?

A condenser microphone is, in simple terms, a powered mic. They are much more sensitive than a dynamic mic, picking up the slightest nuance in sound waves crossing their path, but they put out very little signal as a result, and require a power supply to amplify this signal to something we can use. Usually powered by Phantom Power from a mixer/DI etc., but they can occasionally be battery powered too.

Are condenser mics better than dynamic mics?

They're used for different things! A condenser is perfect for picking up subtle sources like speech in a quiet room, or a stereo application like a quartet. A dynamic is more useful for powerful sources, like close micing a guitar amp speaker, live or studio vocals or close micing a drum kit.

When would you use a condenser microphone?

When picking up the subtleties of nuances of a source are important to the context with as little extra signal noise as possible. So, it's perfect for clear, defined speech, ambient noises and field recordings, and as a pair of mics to achieve a stereo recreation of a source.

What makes a good quality condenser microphone?

The most important quality of a condenser mic is how transparent and sensitive it is, as this ensures the most high-fidelity translation of your sound source to your recording medium.