How to get a good sound
- Try to exclude any unwanted sounds and focus in on the sound you’re trying to capture.
- If you’re interviewing someone, your microphone should be equally spaced between you and the person you’re interviewing, to ensure even sound levels. Maintain the same distance from the microphone throughout your interview. Speak across the microphone. Point it at the person speaking, but maintain the same levels.
- Try not to put the microphone too close to someone’s mouth as this can sometimes cause distortion. Ideally, a microphone should be around 30cm from the person speaking. Keep it slightly to one side of the speaker’s mouth and slightly below.
- Avoid getting too close to the microphone as this can cause popping sounds. If this happens, move further away from the microphone and turn your recording levels up a bit higher.
- If you get too far away from the microphone you run the risk of picking up more background sounds than you want.
- Sometimes when someone speaks you may pick up the wind of their breath as they’re speaking. To cut this kind of sound down, you will need a windshield. Putting some foam rubber around the head of the microphone works very well.
- Don’t hold a microphone in your hand unless it is specifically designed for this. To prevent the cord from knocking against the microphone while you’re holding it, wind the cord round your hand or the bottom of the microphone. Don’t play with the cord while you’re recording but keep it as still as possible. It can be tiring holding a microphone, so it’s a good idea to rest your arm on a steady surface if you can. Also, don’t grip the microphone too hard or your hand will get tired. Try not to move the microphone around in your hand as any sounds you make will be picked up.
- Remove any jewellery as it can cause unnecessary noise.
- Keep your microphone cables away from other cables.
- Make sure that people don’t kick the table legs and make sure that you don’t move cups, glasses or pens, or rustle paper.
Mono or stereo?
Think about the purpose of your recording. Recording in mono will take up less space on your computer. Professional recordings are done in stereo, but use up more memory. Memory is an issue if you are planning to store your sound files on your computer or place them on a server.
Next: Handheld devices
