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Microphones and You
Mon, Feb. 18th, 2013 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherMy friend Dave Ocho O'Connell and his friends came up with some microphone tips and gave me permission to reprint the text from Facebook. I've made some edits to the text base on comments.
Public Service Announcement: Microphones and you!
1. Hold the microphone by the base, not around the head. Likewise, don't cup your hands around it.
2. Try to stay about 3 inches from the mic in general. When you sing louder, INCREASE the distance between yourself and the mic to maintain a consistent volume. When you get quieter or use very little breath, get closer.
3. DON'T swing it around by the cord or drop it on the floor! Likewise, don't wrap the cord around your hand as this stresses the wires. When you unplug the cable (when you unplug ANYthing), keep your hand as close as possible to the source of connection. XLR cables are handy like that, because you usually need to push the release (right next to the source of the connection) in order to unplug it. If there's a length of cord between your hand and the connection (or outlet or whatever), you are putting stress on the wires, pulling apart solder joints, etc.
4. If you point the mic at the speaker where your sound is coming out, it will make a loud shrieking sound known as feedback. It's the audio equivalent of being kicked in the shins. This will likely happen even if you just hold it in your hand and drop your arm to your side, because that will likely effectively point the mic at your monitor speaker.
5. It can help to project your sound OVER the surface of the mic rather than INTO it, particularly when you are making aspirated sounds, like P, B, and T. Because you are basically shooting air out of your mouth when you make those sounds. Also you can get a pop filter. And turn the bass down to a minimal level. The human voice doesn't really occupy those low frequencies (not like a bass or a kick drum), so if you have bass on your vocal mic, you're really just getting unwanted noise. I'd maybe leave a bit of bass to a broadcaster or a spoken word performer, but I wouldn't turn it up.
6. Vocalizing too close to the mic (like putting your mouth on it and keeping it there) will give your voice an unnatural, muddy sound. You will lose articulation and have too much bass. Also that thing is crawling with germs! Don't kiss the mic or cough on it. It's gross; also it makes an unpleasant sound. If you want to mic the sound of a cough with a regular ol' dynamic mic, you'd want to keep a good distance (because coughing is LOUD), and project across the mic, not into it (because coughing is also an aspirated sound).
7. When you are really checking to see if it's on, it's best to talk into the mic, rather than tapping on it. The tapping may stress your speakers in the same way that unplugging a non-muted connection might. If you tell a joke that no one laughs at it, DO NOT tap on the mic and say "Is this thing on?"
8. If you have a drink, hold it in the opposite hand away from the mic. No mic eating. No smoking around condensor mics. Also, chewing gum and/or food is kind of ridiculous.
9. With all of this, getting along with the sound person is all you need...
With thanks to Dave, DeAnn Emett, Hanna Krezza, Jesse Brannan, Logos Ironpaw, Chance Dale, and Al Fack.
Public Service Announcement: Microphones and you!
1. Hold the microphone by the base, not around the head. Likewise, don't cup your hands around it.
2. Try to stay about 3 inches from the mic in general. When you sing louder, INCREASE the distance between yourself and the mic to maintain a consistent volume. When you get quieter or use very little breath, get closer.
3. DON'T swing it around by the cord or drop it on the floor! Likewise, don't wrap the cord around your hand as this stresses the wires. When you unplug the cable (when you unplug ANYthing), keep your hand as close as possible to the source of connection. XLR cables are handy like that, because you usually need to push the release (right next to the source of the connection) in order to unplug it. If there's a length of cord between your hand and the connection (or outlet or whatever), you are putting stress on the wires, pulling apart solder joints, etc.
4. If you point the mic at the speaker where your sound is coming out, it will make a loud shrieking sound known as feedback. It's the audio equivalent of being kicked in the shins. This will likely happen even if you just hold it in your hand and drop your arm to your side, because that will likely effectively point the mic at your monitor speaker.
5. It can help to project your sound OVER the surface of the mic rather than INTO it, particularly when you are making aspirated sounds, like P, B, and T. Because you are basically shooting air out of your mouth when you make those sounds. Also you can get a pop filter. And turn the bass down to a minimal level. The human voice doesn't really occupy those low frequencies (not like a bass or a kick drum), so if you have bass on your vocal mic, you're really just getting unwanted noise. I'd maybe leave a bit of bass to a broadcaster or a spoken word performer, but I wouldn't turn it up.
6. Vocalizing too close to the mic (like putting your mouth on it and keeping it there) will give your voice an unnatural, muddy sound. You will lose articulation and have too much bass. Also that thing is crawling with germs! Don't kiss the mic or cough on it. It's gross; also it makes an unpleasant sound. If you want to mic the sound of a cough with a regular ol' dynamic mic, you'd want to keep a good distance (because coughing is LOUD), and project across the mic, not into it (because coughing is also an aspirated sound).
7. When you are really checking to see if it's on, it's best to talk into the mic, rather than tapping on it. The tapping may stress your speakers in the same way that unplugging a non-muted connection might. If you tell a joke that no one laughs at it, DO NOT tap on the mic and say "Is this thing on?"
8. If you have a drink, hold it in the opposite hand away from the mic. No mic eating. No smoking around condensor mics. Also, chewing gum and/or food is kind of ridiculous.
9. With all of this, getting along with the sound person is all you need...
With thanks to Dave, DeAnn Emett, Hanna Krezza, Jesse Brannan, Logos Ironpaw, Chance Dale, and Al Fack.