How Microphones Prevent Interference

If you know more smart engineering tricks, make sure to leave a comment. I read them all! Love,
Aldo

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- Aldo

[TheEvester]

Hearing that interference sound just gave me nostalgia

[Amolosgatos-obte]

THIS IS SOOOO A SIMPLE AND SMART SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM THAT LOVE IT

[leoooo]

And that's called a balanced signal, often used in professional audio equipment.

Edit: Called it symmetrical, was corrected to balanced. But apparently balanced is wrong and symmetric or differential would have been right. So here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:"Lines carrying symmetric signals (those with equal amplitudes but opposite polarities on each leg) are often incorrectly referred to as "balanced", but this is actually differential signalling. Balanced lines and differential signalling are often used together, but they are not the same thing."

[wizpig]

i've heard 'balanced' audio a thousand times but this animation actually explained it to me in a way i've never understood it before

[lucky-segfault]

The same concept is used all over the place in computers, even USB cables have their data wires in pairs for this reason

[Erik-vruu]

I was just taught by my engineering professor that we prefer digital over analogue partially because digital signals are affected much less by high-frequency interference than analogue. I will have to ask him about this, thanks!

[RoachDoggJr]

As a student of audio for many years, I will never stop marveling at the fact that it’s literally just magic

[Manny]

Also how headphone noise cancellation works. No, they dont make an airtight seal around your ears.

Edit: before you say something, please look at the previous replies for context

[GreatPepega]

This is so simple yet I would never think about it

[tubeo]

Not just microphone, if instruments need to be patched far away, we also do this using a small box call DI box.

[juicyrave]

Quick and easy explanation of topics not often talked about
These are the shorts I'd love to watch every day, thanks for the lesson today

[JadeNeoma]

This is also how humbucker and noiseless coils in guitars work as well. The interference will be picked up by both coils (in a humbucker) and one is wired the inverse to the other and then the inverted one is flipped before they are combined. This is actually done basically in the coil as the coils are wrapped in opposing directions and the magnets are inverted on one set so the two affects cancel out and produce a normal signal but the inteference won’t be cancelled and will remain inverted. Its v cool

[IRFine]

Error correction technology is so goddamned smart. every time I learn something new about error correction it blows my mind

[cd-zwtt]

For anyone interested in further reading, this is known as common-mode versus differential signal

[shayhan]

This is how balanced output such as XLR cables work. USB microphones dont do this since they convert the signal to digital within the microphone itself. Digital signals arent really affected by interference.

[paulstelian]

This same principle is used by all kinds of signals. USB as other commenters pointed out is an example. Ethernet (at least the twisted pair kind) is another one. It both helps to be less affected or not affected by interference, and it also helps in not _causing_ it.

[theblackbaron]

That's why all modern copper network cables are twisted pairs(screened and sometimes shielded as well)

[Averagetendy]

this is the greatest channel ever, the voice, the simpleness, humor, sound design, video design, effectiveness. i could go on and on for hours

[scarecrow]

This is how balanced audio works! A inverted signal is sent down the - wire, seperately with each speaker. It also helps with other stuff, like soundstage, as it helps seperating each channel further due to not sharing a ground channel anymore. Balanced TRRRS still has a ground point, just not sure where it goes.

[deatheternal]

phase inversion is awesome. i use it all the time in my music