Focusrite Audio Engineering vocaster one studio User Manual page 14

EXAMPLES OF USE
Microphone Dos and Don'ts (cont)
• Understand the microphone's pick-up
pattern. The Vocaster DM1 is an 'end
address' microphone; you need to speak
into the end of the microphone and not the
side. If you point it the wrong way, it will
sound odd.
• Experiment with the angle of the
microphone. Recording with the
microphone pointing directly at you
can work great but if the sound is too
'breathy' or you hear plosives, angling the
microphone slightly 'off-axis' can reduce
these. (Plosives are the popping sounds you
sometimes hear with the letters like 'P' or
'B'.) Try different angles to see what works
best for you.
focusrite.com
• Experiment with your distance from
the microphone. Speaking close to the
microphone (about the length of a fist)
reduces the effect of the room's acoustics,
but increases the bass response, so your
voice might start to sound a bit boomy.
This can be good for voiceover work but
for a more natural voice sound, move away
from the microphone slightly (15-30 cm).
If the room you're using doesn't have
great acoustics, the further you are from
the microphone, the more aware you'll
be of room sound when you listen to the
recording. Natural reverberation from a
room is neither good or bad, but often
inappropriate for spoken word recordings.
Tell the world
• Don't blow into a microphone to test it!
Lightly rub or scratch the end instead.
• Don't forget a microphone will pick up any
other sound source in the room: a clock, air-
con, heating, a creaking chair etc.
You might not notice these sounds at the
time, but the microphone will, and you'll
hear them on the recording.
Use Vocaster's Enhance feature or a High-
Pass Filter (HPF) in your recording software
to reduce any unavoidable low-frequency
rumble.
14