How to Position Microphones for Spoken Word

[@Word_Nerd]

I've been enjoying your videos now for a good while, and have always intended to comment on how great they all are. I appreciate the information of course, but the humor, and the practicality combined with a person who so obviously is experienced is a real bonus. Not to mention that you are a 'real' person and that comes through. Great channel, excited to see what comes next! (oh, and thank you!)

[@TheRecordist]

Hey thanks so much, @Word_Nerd! That really means a lot! And I’m so glad to see you comment! I hope I can entertain as well as impart some of what I know! My only worry is that I run out of funny ideas. Haha. Thanks again!

[@Chris-Paris]

I've watched a lot of videos on microphone placement, and this one far and away helped me the most. You explained everything clearly, and also demonstrated the effects you talked about. Your pairing the heard experience with the explanations was gold for me. You really nailed the point about the challenge of consistent volume that you assume when you mic extremely close to a moving head.

[@TheRecordist]

Oh thanks, Chris! I’m glad it helped you! Thanks for watching!

[@glenallan815]

Yay!!! Another TPS video!!!

[@TheRecordist]

Haha. Woo hoo! I hope it was ok. I can get long winded sometimes. Hahaha. Thanks for watching!

[@glenallan815]

@@TheRecordistyour videos are always awesome - information, practice, very helpful information. I have learned a lot since you started this channel. Can’t thank you enough!

[@TheRecordist]

@@glenallan815 thanks very much for saying so, Glen!

[@adam-fanaberium484]

Great stuff as always! Thank you!

[@TheRecordist]

Thanks so much!

[@ian.austen]

An excellent, nay, definitive guide for beginners and not so beginners - well done!

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. Thank you, kind sir!

[@J.Livermore]

Montoya, thank You for another brilliant Master Class!!

[@TheRecordist]

Haha. You’re very welcome! Not sure how master it is, but it sure is some kind of class! Haha.

[@J.Livermore]

@@TheRecordist Maestro, you are humble.. thank you!

[@TheRecordist]

@@J.Livermore I’m just some guy! Hahaha. Thanks so much for watching!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

And I thought on this channel you were pointing the 416 at your heart. Now my world is shattered. Great video.

[@TheRecordist]

Hahahaha. Mostly my butt, but that’s another story all together. 🤓 Cheers, Mark!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

@@TheRecordist LOLOLOL See, that's what you should do with your NT1 since it sounds like ass anyway.

[@YTHalilo]

Hey Mark, another great youtuber on microphones. Good to see you on this channel :)

[@Rounder-One]

Wonderful to have my suspicions on these recording methods confirmed. And it seems the goal is to have one's recorded sound consistent in tone and perceived loudness or intimacy to the mic. But enough about that. This time we were treated to animation! and holy mackerel, you squeezed (no pun intended) in a fart joke. Amazing!

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. Sure did! I like to do that every once in a while. Hahaha. Fart jokes are awesome. Hahaha. Glad to confirm your suspicions! Cheers, man!

[@Rounder-One]

@@TheRecordist Yes! Amazingly, fart jokes are always funny and never get old. Somehow, that section of our brains (the fart joke section) stopped developing at age five.

[@TheRecordist]

@@Rounder-One hahaha. That’s right! Hahahaha

[@idontmindatall]

I love your channel, thanks so much for the refreshing videos!

[@TheRecordist]

You’re so very welcome!

[@MigranteKorea]

Gold 👍👌

[@TheRecordist]

Cheers! 🍻

[@JimiCanRead]

Thank you professor. This is even useful for me as a photographer since sound makes up 23% of a photo. (Joking I’m not a photographer, I have a very boring customer service job)

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. Nice! Hahaha

[@heeeeey1121]

great video.. for sure your channel is underrated, i thjink there is many people need your channel 10:11 but at the end of the day i will still use my nt1-a and talking exactly infront of it.. idc what u say hahaha

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. To each their own!

[@untraumatizer3647]

I don't know why I don't get notifications when you upload, and you don't even come up on my youtube home page, even tho I'm subbed and have the bell on! Anyways great to see your new videos

[@TheRecordist]

Oh wow. Sorry about that. Well you can always check back when you think of it! And thanks for the wonderful compliment! Cheers!

[@YTHalilo]

Fantastic video! Thank you for sharing your expertise :)

[@TheRecordist]

Thanks! And you’re very welcome! Cheers!

[@richardsisk1770]

Great tips as always! Thanks

[@TheRecordist]

No worries! Cheers!

[@The-Logician]

Downloading this so i can watch on my flight. Can’t miss tape measure stories on account of a flight with no internet connection.

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. That’s really cool! Where you flying?

[@The-Logician]

Hopefully the whole way😂

[@TheRecordist]

@@The-Logician hahahahaha

[@AlexUtreras]

So, it's best to use 45 for everything, right? 45º to 45 cms. away, recorded with the tamron 45mm lens 😝😝btw a great lens, and a great video!

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. Imagine? I’m actually using almost a 45mm lens for my videos myself! Hahaha. It’s a 30mm but with the crop factor of 1.6 it works out to 48mm. Haha. Thanks for watching!

[@m.sabir21]

Thanks for excellent videos on the subject. Is it possible that we fix the gain or audio level and audio level automatically adjust to the same sound level if we change distance between the mic and source. Similarly like autofocus do in cameras.

[@TheRecordist]

Hey there. Well, there are interfaces with auto gain. This works to set a gain but it doesn’t keep adjusting it. The reason is the background noise would also get louder and quieter. It would sound awful.

[@JeffStewartAuthor]

Every time I see a video from you, I click on it so fast I get click burn.

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. Well that’s very nice to hear! Thanks so much, Jeff!

[@BogdanRaczynskiMusic]

how do you not have 3 million followers yet?

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. I get that a lot. I have no idea. One day maybe! Thanks so much! Cheers!

[@g.macfadden3223]

Good stuff as always, and I love the humor! I use a Sennheiser 415 for commercial and elearning work, and a Neumann for audio book narration. I have the Neumann set up pretty much like you had the LA-320, with a Stedman pop filter, and I do try to consistently work about 8" to 10" from the pop filter. I'm not concerned with camera frames, so I was wondering where you would position your 416 if keeping it out of a camera frame wasn't necessary. Would you still point it at your chest, or would you move in closer, but still have it off axis?

[@TheRecordist]

Hey thanks! Ok, for spoken word without a camera, would normally use a 416 much closer and pointing on axis but to the side of my mouth (45 degrees) with the foam filter on. It’s great at about 6 inches but don’t move closer or away too much or you’ll have level fluctuations. My advice in this video referred to on-camera talking head or drama stuff. I really should have said something about VO work but I was going to long in time that I had to end the video. Haha. Hope this helps!

[@northcoaststudios]

One of our biggest jokes on set is "Just fix it in post." It's particularly funny when something really crashes on set. This way everyone gets a good laugh just before panic sets in. Audio is certainly harder to fix in post than video, in my experience, but then again I am not an audio master. With audio, removing a spurious sound can be easy enough with today's tech, but if the recording just plain sucks there isn't enough "there" there to fix. I Direct, DP, Camera Op, and more, so I can confirm the importance that there is in understanding camera lenses and framing. When I am operating a camera I always have the sound person lower the mic into the shot, and then I tell them how much to raise it to be out of frame. This way they actually have a point of reference instead of having to 100% guess what is out of frame. Recording sound myself, I know how you want to get in as tight as possible.

[@TheRecordist]

All very true and real things on set! Yes indeed! I was going to spend more time on all the mic outside the frame stuff and some other on-set tricks but it was already getting so long. I had to end the video. Haha. Thanks so much for watching and for commenting with your film set expertise!

[@northcoaststudios]

@@TheRecordist - I saw in another video where the sound guy put a thin strip of yellow tape around the tip of the foam windscreen of the shotgun mic so that it is easier for the Camera Op to see when it is in the frame. I thought that was pretty cool. It's easy to miss the mic in the shot when it is in front of a dark or black background. Yes, your experienced tricks and tips in this area would be greatly appreciated.

[@TheRecordist]

@@northcoaststudios oh yes. I usually put a ring of white tape around the end of the 416 for set shots. You’re absolutely right, it’s so easy to miss on small monitors on set. This is a common practice on large sets. I was going to go into all of that but I was blabbing too much. Haha. I’ll be sure to revisit some other cool set tricks in the future. Also, in case you’re interested, there’s a great book called The Location Sound Bible by Rick Viers, which features a lot of great stuff to learn for on-set sound practices-especially if you’re a beginner or even if you’re a veteran filmmaker but are usually on the picture (visual) side of things. Cheers!

[@northcoaststudios]

@@TheRecordist - I will look into that book. I do record sound, but I am never going to be a sound technician. I was just talking with one of those today, and he has enough equipment that almost costs as much as my house!!! I find Directing, DPing, Camera Op, and Lighting to be more my interests, along with various Editing. I learned how to do sound out of necessity. I'm good enough for the Indie stuff we do, but I would not be "the guy" for a major studio feature film or pro sports, or anything like that. "A man's gotta know his limitations."

[@TheRecordist]

@@northcoaststudios understood!

[@daniel635biturbo]

Dr. Schtinetey is very slick, staying away from the imperial VS metric, but deep down he itches to use metric. 😬 Q: Does one ever use two shotguns recording in mono for capturing an animated person that cant sit still ?

[@TheRecordist]

Hahahah. Oh man. I, too, itch to use metric but my American viewers are like 69% and many have a hard time understanding metric. Hahaha. That’s ok. Two shotgun mics for the same person? Not usually. A wider SDC cardioid is usually preferred for that. Something like a Sennheiser MKH 50 or even a lot cheaper like a Line Audio CM4 or Oktava MK-012 with the regular cardioid capsule installed. Hope this helps!

[@SmokeDaJitt]

I noticed you mentioned the NT1A with a bit of dislike. What mic would you recommend condenser wise around that price point? 👀

[@TheRecordist]

Hahaha. It’s kind of a running joke on my channel. I dislike the NT1a for sure but it’s not fully as bad as I always make it out to be. Haha. Honestly, the black Røde NT1 (without the a) is a hell of a lot better for not much more money. The NT1a is so bright that it gets harsh and it’s very hard to work with. The NT1 is much more flat and forgiving. Hope this helps!

[@SmokeDaJitt]

@@TheRecordist That's why I said a bit, I've noticed in other videos as well the pattern of the joke. Figured I'd ask as genuine question as to what you'd go for around that price range condenser wise. That helped tremendously thank you! 😅- Antics

[@TheRecordist]

@@SmokeDaJitt oh is it on other channels as well? Fantastic! Haha. I guess others agree! Honestly, the Bai Fei Li C-414 28mm capsule mic found on Ali Baba for $50 is a far better mic, IMO. But no one can go wrong with the Røde NT1. It’s flat and can take some EQ. Thanks for the chat!

[@SmokeDaJitt]

@@TheRecordist No I meant throughout your videos, but during my "study" time (as I like to call it) I have noticed people mentioning the same thing. I absolutely loved you Bai Fei Li videos! Anyways, I love to nerd out so actually thank you!

[@SomeKindaHero117]

My friend linked me this video but I don't understand more than half of what is being explained

[@TheRecordist]

Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. What are you looking for specifically?

[@SomeKindaHero117]

@TheRecordist I honestly think they were telling me to fix my audio settings but what you're talking about sounds like a foreign language. I would like to understand but I feel my brain smoothing over lmao

[@TheRecordist]

@@SomeKindaHero117 hahaha. I made this video a while ago. I just watched it again. If you know absolutely nothing about audio then this might be too much. So: 1. Make sure the room you’re in doesn’t have echos and reverb bouncing around. You can add blankets and other soft absorbent material around you to stop some of that echo. 2. Pick a distance that’s about 8 inches to a foot away from the mic and try to stay within that distance while you’re talking. 3. Keep the mic off to the side but still pointing at your mouth. This allows air to move past your mic and not INTO your mic. That’s about it!

[@SomeKindaHero117]

@@TheRecordist Well shoot, I appreciate you!

[@TheRecordist]

@ haha. Thanks very much!

[@jackgriffith8120]

Promo*SM 😳

[@TheRecordist]

Haha. What do you mean?