Mixers/Consoles What exactly does Phantom Power do?

[dattechie1]

I am pretty new to sound stuff, but I love doing it and want to know as much about it as possible. I am a sophomore in high school and very devoted to our theater program. I want to do sound as a profession and in order to do that I need to know as much as possible. One of the last questions I have is what exactly phantom power does? Any explanations possible will help! thanks so much.

 

[gcpsoundlight]

Basically: it provides power to microphones or other input devices that may need it. Check the wiki for more information (click on the words phantom power)

 

[Les]

Don't worry about asking questions -- that is what we're here for. I will say this: in your quest to graduate from "techie" to "Technician", the questions will (and should) go far beyond phantom power. ;-)

Welcome to the booth!

 

[Aman121]

Baisically, as the wiki states, phantom power supplies power to condenser mics and active direct boxes.
A dynamic mic, like a shure sm58, wot need phantom power. A condenser microphone, like a shure pg81, will.
Also, most studio microphones are condenser and will need to be powered.
The reason phantom power is called phantom power, is that it "hides" when not in use. IE any dynamic mic can be plugged into a mixer with phantom power enabled and they will essentially ignore it. This rule doesent apply to all devices however. Older ribbon mics won't take kindly to phantom power, the same holds true for some electronic devices like processors and other mixers plugged into the main mixer.

 

[JohnD]

Of course, there are the occasional dynamic mics that use phantom power.
The Fin ® | Heil Sound Pro

 

[ccm1495]

As others have already said there are many types of microphones that require a voltage to be applied to them for them to produce a signal. Phantom power is just the name that is used to describe a function on a sound console or other sound device that produces +48 volts and passes it down the line to microphones that may need it such as condenser that dose not have it own means of producing voltage. A sort of phantom power was is used to power telephones that get there power from the phone line and has been since the the days of rotary phones. The phantom power we know of today originated from radio stations that already had 48v available for other uses and decided to use it to power there new types of microphones. Wikipedia has a whole page of history and background on phantom power if you want to learn more.

Phantom power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia