01
Filter by the job
Tap the applications you are actually miking. Chips combine as “any of these”; type, pattern and the rider toggle narrow it further.
Free · A Squaresmile app
Which mic goes there? Look it up the way you think.
Every microphone database is organised like a studio catalogue — large-diaphragm condenser, small-diaphragm condenser, ribbon. Nobody at a drum riser thinks that way. MicSense filters by the job: kick in, monitor vocal, wireless capsule. Specs, response curves and polar patterns for the mics that actually turn up on riders.
Free — 30-second signup, no card
Every spec traced to the manufacturer datasheet
Compare up to four side by side
How it works
Four steps, no account needed to read.
02
Open the mic
Full spec table, the frequency response on a fixed scale, a polar diagram per listed pattern, and a short factual note per mic — no marketing copy.
03
Stack the candidates
“Add to comparison” fills a tray at the bottom of the screen. It survives a reload, so you can wander off and come back.
04
Compare up to four
One spec table with a column each, the response curves overlaid in four colours, the polar diagrams side by side. The URL is shareable.
Why it is different
Built from the rider backwards.
Tagged by application, not taxonomy
Nineteen live applications, from “kick in” to “wireless bodypack capsule”. The mic type is still there — it is just not the thing you have to search by.
One scale for every curve
Every response chart is drawn 20 Hz–20 kHz logarithmic, −20 to +15 dB. Two mics are comparable at a glance instead of being a patchwork of manufacturer screenshots at different scales.
Sourced, and it says so
Every figure comes from that manufacturer’s own datasheet and each page links to it. Where a manufacturer publishes no number, you get a dash — never an invented one.
“On the rider”
A curated flag for the mics that turn up again and again on real technical riders. One toggle cuts the library down to what a house engineer will actually have.
Honest about the diagrams
The polar plots are generated from the directivity formula for the pattern type. They show what supercardioid means. They are not measurements of the individual model, and the page says so.
A public page per mic
Each microphone has a reference page that needs no login — linkable, printable, and something you can send a promoter mid-advance.
The library
110 microphones, every spec from the manufacturer.
Open any of them without an account. The filters, the comparison and the saved state live in the app.
Electro-Voice
Neumann
Sennheiser
- MD 21-U 40–18,000 Hz
- MD 42 40–18,000 Hz
- MD 421-II 30–17,000 Hz
- MD 431-II 40–18,000 Hz
- MD 435 40–20,000 Hz
- MD 441-U 30–20,000 Hz
- MD 445 40–20,000 Hz
- MD 46 40–18,000 Hz
- ME 2 50–18,000 Hz
- ME 3 50–18,000 Hz
- ME 4 50–18,000 Hz
- MK 4 20–20,000 Hz
- MK 8 20–20,000 Hz
- MKE 1 20–20,000 Hz
- MKE 600 40–20,000 Hz
- MKE Essential Omni 20–20,000 Hz
- MKH 416 40–20,000 Hz
- MKH 8020 10–60,000 Hz
- MKH 8030 30–50,000 Hz
- MKH 8040 30–50,000 Hz
- MKH 8050 30–50,000 Hz
- MKH 8060 50–25,000 Hz
- MKH 8070 45–20,000 Hz
- MKH 8090 30–50,000 Hz
- MM 435 40–20,000 Hz
- MM 445 40–20,000 Hz
- MMD 835 40–16,000 Hz
- MMD 845 40–16,000 Hz
- MME 865 40–20,000 Hz
- MMK 965 40–20,000 Hz
- SL Headmic 1 20–20,000 Hz
- XS Lav 50–18,000 Hz
- e 602-II 20–16,000 Hz
- e 604 40–18,000 Hz
- e 608 40–16,000 Hz
- e 609 Silver 40–15,000 Hz
- e 614 40–20,000 Hz
- e 825 S 80–15,000 Hz
- e 835 40–16,000 Hz
- e 845 40–16,000 Hz
- e 865 40–20,000 Hz
- e 901 20–20,000 Hz
- e 902 20–18,000 Hz
- e 904 40–18,000 Hz
- e 906 40–18,000 Hz
- e 908 40–20,000 Hz
- e 914 20–20,000 Hz
- e 935 40–18,000 Hz
- e 945 40–18,000 Hz
- e 965 40–20,000 Hz
Shure
- Beta 181 20–20,000 Hz
- Beta 52A 20–10,000 Hz
- Beta 53 20–20,000 Hz
- Beta 54 20–20,000 Hz
- Beta 56A 50–16,000 Hz
- Beta 57A 50–16,000 Hz
- Beta 58A 50–16,000 Hz
- Beta 87A 50–20,000 Hz
- Beta 87C 50–16,000 Hz
- Beta 91A 20–20,000 Hz
- KSM313/NE 30–15,000 Hz
- KSM353/ED 30–15,000 Hz
- KSM44A 20–20,000 Hz
- KSM9 50–20,000 Hz
- PGA27 20–20,000 Hz
- PGA48 70–15,000 Hz
- PGA52 50–12,000 Hz
- PGA56 50–15,000 Hz
- PGA57 70–15,000 Hz
- PGA58 50–16,000 Hz
- PGA81 40–18,000 Hz
- PGA98D 60–20,000 Hz
- SM35 40–20,000 Hz
- SM57 40–15,000 Hz
- SM58 50–15,000 Hz
- SM7B 50–20,000 Hz
- SM81 20–20,000 Hz
- VP83 LensHopper 50–20,000 Hz
- VP83F LensHopper 50–20,000 Hz
beyerdynamic
sE Electronics
- BL8 20–20,000 Hz
- BL8 omni 20–20,000 Hz
- RN17 20–20,000 Hz
- RNR1 20–20,000 Hz
- V BEAT 30–19,000 Hz
- V KICK 20–19,000 Hz
- V3 50–16,000 Hz
- V7 40–19,000 Hz
- V7 MC1 40–19,000 Hz
- V7 MC2 40–19,000 Hz
- V7 SWITCH 40–19,000 Hz
- V7 X 30–19,000 Hz
- VR1 20–18,000 Hz
- VR2 20–18,000 Hz
- X1 A 20–20,000 Hz
- X1 R 20–16,000 Hz
- X1 S 20–20,000 Hz
- sE2200 20–20,000 Hz
- sE7 20–20,000 Hz
- sE7 sideFire 20–20,000 Hz
- sE8 20–20,000 Hz
- sE8 Supercardioid 20–20,000 Hz
- sE8 omni 20–20,000 Hz
The library grows by hand, a datasheet at a time — depth on the mics that turn up on European riders beats breadth across thousands of studio microphones nobody here is choosing between. Missing one you use every week? Tell us.
FAQ
Quick answers.
Where do the specifications come from?
Each microphone’s figures are taken from that manufacturer’s own published datasheet for that model, and every page links to the datasheet it was read from. Nothing is copied from another database.
Are the response curves the manufacturer’s own graphs?
No image is copied. The coordinates are read off the published graph and re-drawn on one fixed scale, which is what makes two microphones comparable at a glance. Points between the entered coordinates are interpolated; no data is invented to smooth a curve.
Are the polar diagrams measured?
No. They are generated from the standard first-order directivity formula for the pattern type. They show what cardioid, supercardioid or hypercardioid means — they are not a measurement of the individual model, and every page that draws one says so.
Is MicSense free?
Yes. Free with a free Squaresmile account, which also unlocks every other free Squaresmile browser tool. The public reference page for each microphone needs no account at all.
Ready when you are
Settle the argument at soundcheck.
Create a free Squaresmile account and you’re in — one login unlocks MicSense and every other Squaresmile app.
