How Close Is Too Close; Problematic Pronunciation; Putting It All Together - PRESONUS revelator Owner's Manual

8 Resources
8.2 Microphone Tips and Tricks
8.2.2

How Close is Too Close?

8.2.3

Problematic Pronunciation

8.2.4

Putting it All Together

recording made from a quiet location, handling noise becomes a distraction
from the primary sound source. And in this case, that source is you.
Revelator's sturdy desktop stand is designed to reduce handling
noise by holding the microphone for you, so use it!
Microphones are designed to pick up sound; that's their job. When folks
are first learning to use a microphone, there is a natural tendency to speak
too softly or too loudly. We've designed Revelator to just let you be you,
so speak in your normal voice and adjust your seating position until your
voice sounds natural and reproduces well. This is where monitoring yourself
through headphones is especially helpful. As a general rule, if it sounds
good in your headphones, it will sound good in your recording.
A good starting point is to position your mouth about four inches from
the microphone. If you project your voice naturally, you may need to sit
a little further back. The good news is that good microphone technique
quickly becomes muscle memory once you get the hang of it, so the
more you practice, the less awkward it becomes. But if you want to
remove Revelator from its base, you can do that. Check section 8.2.5.
Depending on your natural speaking style, additional adjustments may be necessary:
• Plosives. Plosives are bursts of air that are picked up by the microphone
that sound like a sort of low thump or booming sound when recorded. They
can occur with any consonant, but occur most commonly when you say
'P' or 'B' sounds. The audio industry has battled these natural speech events
for so long that there is a specialized hardware tool to combat them: pop
filters! A pop filter sits between your mouth and microphone and slows
down and disperses these bursts of air, shielding the microphone from
picking them up. The other advantage of a pop filter is that it they can be
used for maintaining a fixed position in front of your microphone, and
are especially useful when recording with a condenser microphone.
• Sibilance. Sibilance occurs when you make a consonant sound by directing
your breath to the back of your teeth using your tongue. The most common
examples of problematic sibilants are 'S' and 'Z' sounds. Depending on
your speech pattern, you may naturally exaggerate these sounds without
noticing—and this may be a habit that you wish to alter while you're
recording. Luckily, if this is a habit you cannot or do not want to break, you
can fix most sibilance issues in post-production as long as you are multi-
tracking your podcast using a dynamics effect called a de-esser, which your
Revelator microphone happens to have onboard! See Section 4.2.3 for more
information. Professional DAW applications, like PreSonus Studio One,
are also equipped with a de-esser plug-in especially for this purpose.
Power User Tip: If you are recording a several speakers at once with your Revelator,
using a de-esser can cause more problems than it solves, because over-using a
de-esser or putting one where it is not needed can turn all your 'S' sounds to "Th"
sounds, and you can easily give someone a lisp they don't have, which they are
unlikely to appreciate.
Once you've practiced your microphone placement and technique, do some
practice recordings to find out what works for you and what doesn't. Just
sit in front of the microphone and talk as you would if you were chatting
with a friend. The more natural you feel behind the microphone, the
more engaging your performance will be. Letting your natural charisma
and charm come across is the best way to engage your audience.
Revelator
Owner's Manual
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