I’ve been thinking about microphone position for years. I see singers and voice actors behind the mic and can’t help thinking to myself – talking next to the mic would save time in post production instead of talking directly into a microphone. That’s based on most microphone design: a pick-up element surrounded by a metal cage and screen. Also inside that cage is a wind screen, a mesh designed to reduce wind noise from interfering with the desired audio input. In this discussion, voice. In addition to the microphone’s windscreen, many performer’s sing or speak through a pop-filter, the metal mesh disc between performer and microphone. The purpose of the pop filter, like the wind screen, is to prevent unwanted sound being captured by the microphone. They are designed for similar purposes, but perform differently. The pop filter is designed to block plosives, the wind screen is design to deflect a steadier form of air movement, like wind or a human exhale or intake of breath. With certain mic technique, you can eliminate the pop filter.
The Takeaway
The goal is to make your project as easy to listen to as possible. Having a program with different voice levels between participants, one loud and one soft, one local versus one sounding distant, those issues make the project hard to listen too. For podcast, radio, or field reporting, keep the microphone close to your mouth and talk or sing ACROSS it, not into it.
The reason to talk across the mic is plosives.
When you witness a recording session, especially in voice-over, and the talent is talking directly into a mic, there is often a thin screen mesh filter between the voice actor and the mic. It’s that disc between the talent and the mic, and it is designed to stop plosives from hitting the mic. Its called a pop filter, and many times it does more than deflect the plosive, it can infinitesimally redirect sound.
What’s a Plosive
Briefly, what is a plosive? A plosive is a puff of air. Place the palm of your hand flat in front of your face and say out loud anything with “P” in it – “Peter Piper Picked A Pail of Pachyderms” or similar. With every “P” you said you should have felt an exhalation of air hit your palm. That puff of air is a plosive, and it will bottom out the pick-up element (what actually collects the sound) on a microphone. You won’t hear a plosive in normal conversation, but you may hear it in recorded conversations due to the voice talking INTO the mic.
How to Eliminate
So how to eliminate the plosive? For years, with limited success, it has been the pop filter. But with improved mic technique, the plosive sails right past the microphone, never to be heard in recordings.
How? Here’s the better technique:
This may vary by mic, but (with your engineer’s permission) position the microphone to your cheek. Again, place your flat hand in front of your face. I use my left hand as I like the mic on my left. Hold your hand about an inch from your lips and place the pick-up end of the mic about an inch off your thumb (or closer, if you like). Just make sure the microphone is NOT in front of your mouth.
With the mic at your cheek, the exhalations from speaking will pass the microphone without striking it, yet the sound will be picked up. You’ll have a cleaner recording and fewer pops (plosives) to remove in post.
For Field Recordings/TV Stand-up, etc.
OK, you may feel silly on TV with the mic at your cheek. No worries, you can still achieve a similar removal of plosives with your hand-held mic. Simply hold the microphone so the top (the pickup area) is about your chin level. This way, when you talk, the plosives pass over the top of the mic, not into it. For headset/microphone combos keep the mic from being in front of your mouth, either to the side or below your lower lip. In summary: do NOT speak or sing directly into a microphone, speak or sing with the mic to the side or under your mouth so the plosives never hit the mic and its pick-up element.