Distance

The golden rule of microphone placement is get the distance right. In general, place the microphone as close as practical to the sound source without getting so close that you introduce unwanted effects (see below).

The aim is to achieve a good balance between the subject sound and the ambient noise. In most cases you want the subject sound to be the clear focus, filled out with a moderate or low level of ambient noise. The desired balance will vary depending on the situation and the required effect. For example, interviews usually work best with very low ambient noise. However if you want to point out to your audience that the surroundings are very noisy you could hold the mic slightly further away from the subject.

It is possible to get too close. Some examples:

• If a vocal mic is to close to the speaker's mouth, the audio may be unnaturally bassy (boomy, excessive low frequencies). You are also likely to experience popping and other unpleasant noises.