Parts of a Microphone – Grille, Capsule and Diaphragm

All 11 parts on the diagram

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Start here: 6 main parts 6

Grille The metal mesh round the head. It protects the capsule and lets sound through.
Windscreen A layer of foam inside the grille. It softens puffs of breath and wind before they reach the capsule.
Capsule Turns sound into an electrical signal. It is the working heart of the microphone.
Body The handle you hold, which carries the signal down to the connector.
XLR connector The three-pin plug at the bottom, the usual connector on professional microphones.
Cable The cable that carries the signal to a mixer or preamplifier.

Inside the capsule: 4 3

Diaphragm A thin, light skin at the front of the capsule. Sound waves make it move back and forth.
Coil A coil of wire fixed to the diaphragm. As it moves in the magnet's field, it makes a small electrical signal.
Magnet A permanent magnet whose field the coil moves in.

A condenser capsule: 2 2

Condenser diaphragm In a condenser microphone, the diaphragm is one plate of a capacitor. Sound moves it closer to and further from the backplate.
Backplate The fixed, perforated plate behind a condenser's diaphragm. Together they form a capacitor.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-27. Wikipedia, Microphone, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone : the dynamic microphone uses a coil of wire, attached to the diaphragm, suspended in the field of a permanent magnet; sound entering through the windscreen moves the diaphragm and the coil, making a voltage; in the condenser microphone the vibrating diaphragm is a capacitor plate; foam hats shield wind into the grille; the male XLR connector is the most common connector on professional microphones; microphones typically connect to a preamplifier. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site by script, 2026-09-27. Own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a microphone on a handheld dynamic mic with its head cut in half, and a condenser capsule beside it. Start with the 6 main parts.

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How a dynamic mic works

Sound passes through the grille and foam windscreen to the diaphragm, which moves back and forth. The coil fixed to it moves in the magnet's field and makes a small electrical signal.

A condenser mic

A condenser capsule has no coil or magnet. Its diaphragm is one plate of a capacitor and the backplate is the other; as sound moves the diaphragm, the gap between them changes.

Compare the speaker page: a speaker has a diaphragm, coil and magnet too, and can even work in reverse as a microphone.

Questions and answers

What is the part of the microphone that picks up sound?

The diaphragm, a thin skin inside the capsule. Sound waves move it, and the capsule turns that movement into an electrical signal.

What is the mesh on a microphone called?

The grille. It protects the capsule and lets sound through, and on a handheld mic there is usually a layer of foam windscreen inside it.

What is the difference between a dynamic and a condenser microphone?

A dynamic mic uses a coil moving in a magnet's field. A condenser mic uses its diaphragm as one plate of a capacitor, with a fixed backplate behind it.