Free · A Squaresmile app

Which mic goes there? Look it up the way you think.

Most microphone databases are 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.

Open MicSense free Browse 123 microphones

Free — 30-second signup, no card Maker specs, source linked on every page Compare up to four side by side

MicSense on a tablet, the Shure SM57’s page: its frequency response on the fixed MicSense scale with an instrument’s range shaded behind the curve — the snare’s body and attack, then the kick drum’s, a male vocal’s and an acoustic guitar’s — with the source note and the cardioid polar pattern beside it.

MicSense’s substitute finder on a phone: the rider asks for a Shure SM57, and the closest mics in published specs follow — the Sennheiser e 604 first — each with what matches (job, type, pattern, response shape, output) and what differs; always listen at soundcheck.

How it works

Four steps. The reference pages need no account; filtering and comparing happen in the app.

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.

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.

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.

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 with anyone signed in.

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 — for the mics whose published graph has been redrawn (28 of 123 so far). Two mics are comparable at a glance instead of being a patchwork of manufacturer screenshots at different scales.

Sourced, and it says so

Figures come from the maker’s own published documents. Each page links its source and says when it was last checked. An empty cell says why — “not published by the maker” or “not yet checked” — and is never filled with a guess.

“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

123 microphones, specs from the makers’ own documents.

Open any of them without an account. The filters, the comparison and the saved state live in the app.

AKG

Audio-Technica

Audix

DPA

Electro-Voice

RE20 45–18,000 Hz

Neumann

Sennheiser

Shure

beyerdynamic

M 88 30–20,000 Hz

sE Electronics

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, or spotted an error? Tell us.

FAQ

Quick answers.

Where do the specifications come from?

From the manufacturer’s own published documents for that model — a datasheet, spec sheet or product page on the maker’s site. Every page links the document it was read from and says when it was last checked. Nothing is copied from another database. A figure the maker does not publish is marked “not published by the maker”; one MicSense has not confirmed yet is marked “not yet checked”. Neither is ever shown as zero.

Are the response curves the manufacturer’s own graphs?

No image is copied. Where the maker publishes a response graph, its shape is read off and redrawn on one fixed scale — 20 Hz to 20 kHz logarithmic, −20 to +15 dB — which is what makes two microphones comparable at a glance. A redrawn curve is approximate: it is kept only while it stays within about ±2 dB of the maker’s graph. Where no graph has been redrawn yet, the page says so and draws no 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.

Why filter by application instead of by microphone type?

Because that is how the decision is actually made on a stage. Nobody stands at a drum riser thinking “I need a large-diaphragm dynamic” — they think “what goes in the kick”. Most mic databases are organised around studio categories; MicSense is organised around the job.

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.

Is MicSense connected to the manufacturers?

No. MicSense is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any manufacturer; product names are trademarks of their owners. MicSense sells no microphones and carries no affiliate links.

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.

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