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5 tips to sound great with ANY microphone – TAP081

May 21, 2012 by 12 Comments
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Simple mic technique can fix your podcast from sounding cheap and amateur to far more professional. Apply these five simple tricks to sound better podcasting!

Demo podcasting microphones

1. Get close to the mic

A big mistake early podcasters make is talking too far away from their microphones. This makes the audio more susceptible to room noise, reverb, and harsh tones.

Get closer to your mic and turn down your gain (the sensitivity of the mic).

This even works with internal mics, when you combine with other techniques.

2. Don’t get too close to the mic

On the flip side, getting too close to your mic can be bad, too. This will pick up excessive breathing, mouth noises, and pops from letters like P and T (call plosives).

Depending on your mic, the optimal distance is about four fingers’ width away.

3. Talk past the mic

Pointing the mic directly at your face causes the most plosives as the puffs of air some letters make will go straight from your mouth.

Pivot the mic around your mouth so you are talking past the mic instead of into the mic.

4. Don’t touch the mic

Unless you have a noiseless overheard boom arm LINK and shock mount, never ever touch your microphone, stand, or anything touching the mic or stand while you’re recording. The creates loud booms in the recording.

5. Avoid noise around the mic

What you do away from the mic is just as important as in front of the mic. Avoid loud keyboards, squeaking chairs, cracking knuckles, whispered conversations, background noise-makers, and more.

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5 tips to sound great with ANY microphone TAP081

As an award-winning podcaster, Daniel J. Lewis helps others launch and improve their own podcasts for sharing their passions. Daniel designs websites; offers one-on-one consulting; speaks on technology, social media, and theology; and Daniel hosts a network of podcasts covering how to podcast and use Audacity, clean-comedy, and the #1 unofficial podcast for ABC’s hit drama Once Upon a Time.

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  • http://twitter.com/thepbandjshw Brian Caruthers

    Did you write this for my wife? :)

    • http://About.me/DanielJLewis Daniel J. Lewis

      Ha ha!

  • http://ryanrampersad.com Ryan Rampersad

    My co-host occasionally forgets to get close to the microphone despite hearing himself through headphones. I can hear the difference so I’m frequently directing my co-host and other guests to get back in there and talk into it.

    Note: eating is a noise you can try to hide from the mic by being far away but the best solution is to eat before and or after the show.

    • http://About.me/DanielJLewis Daniel J. Lewis

      I struggle with this on my other podcasts, too. The others aren’t as comfortable with a mic or as conscious of their positions.

      Eating sounds nasty through a recording! Drinking soda (not recommended for voice) can also be noisy.

  • Keeper Dan

    Great episode, Daniel. I’ve been using this version of the SP-1 mic, and I love it:
    http://www.amazon.com/Nady-SP1-Microphone-Stand-Package/dp/B003E2X3PU/ref=pd_cp_MI_0

    The mic stand works well for someone seated as I can swing it down from the side of my desk.

    • http://About.me/DanielJLewis Daniel J. Lewis

      Yup! Same thing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1405935954 David A. Dufour

    Rule #4 can be expanded to “No Table Tapping.” That’s the rule we have at Theatre Geeks podcast. There are generally three (sometimes more) of us around a table we’ve padded with a thick cloth, but tapping on the mike stand does happen as well. (We don’t use the fancy mike arms.) Good tips about mikes here. I just had someone recommend to me a Blue Encore mike that runs around $150. It’s a dynamic mike, but it uses phantom power to run a built-in pre-amp so you can run at lower gains on your mixer. Nice because some lower-end mixers will inject hiss into the recording when you have to turn up the gain. I’m thinking of giving one a test.

    PS: did you post the video of this episode?

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      Yes! That’s a great rule.

      Unfortunately, the video recording didn’t work right and wasn’t the quality I had expected.

  • http://twitter.com/intlQuest iQuest Intl Solution

    Thanks for the tips on event coverage, Derrick! For the past few years I have volunteered to run the photo team for our church’s Arts Camp. We need group photos of each class as well as candids and, in order to ensure that each class is covered more than once during the 5-day camp, I have to coordinate and schedule multiple photographers (myself and 2-3 others). I’ve done many of the things you suggested, but also appreciated learning from your experience.

    http://www.addvalue.com.au/

  • http://twitter.com/intlQuest iQuest Intl Solution

    I just finished covering a big 3-day event in Petaluma, CA called the Artisan Cheese Festival. There were so many things going on at once, we needed two other photographers (Rick Roellke and Frank Filice) to help cover all of the action. In this week’s episode, I share 5 tips for successful event coverage. Plus, I talk about the event itself, which was a real eye-opener for this “not really a foodie type” of guy…

    http://www.addvalue.com.au/

  • Jeremiah Miller

    I got a noiseless overhead boom thing and shock mount for Christmas!!!!

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      Great! I’m sure you’ll love them.