TheatreTechie said:
For the most part I agree as well, but there are certain mics where you don't want it as close as possible. Recording is another story as well. I think it all boils down to the sound you're trying to achieve. No matter how far away the mic is (within reason) you can still create a great sound with a little experimentation at the board. Closer (for the most part) just makes your job easier. My opinion
Jeremy Lyon
Yes there are mics that this doesn't hold true for, but I thought it was pretty obvious we were talking about
hand held vocal mics. Yes recording is another story, because you really don't want your vocalist touching the mic in any way shape or form when recording.
I think it all boils down to the sound you're trying to achieve
It seems like most sound engineers should go for the cleanest mic
pick up as possible. It is far easier to make a clean signal sound bad than to make a bad signal sound good. And one of the easiest ways to get a clean signal is to get the mic as close to the mouth as possible. If you are using a handheld vocal great, the
cardioid pick up pattern allows it to not
pick up much else from
stage. As for body mics, if you can get them right next to the mouth do it. Sure it looks funny, but when you are strapping an
omnidirectional mic at someone's hairline you are picking up a lot more than that actor's voice.
On top of that every mic has a
pick up pattern. You really want your sound source in that
pick up pattern. If you start leaving that target area the frequency respnse of that mic starts changing a little here and a little there. Sure you can fix this at the board, by goosing this frequency a little here and this frequency a little there.
No matter how far away the mic is (within reason) you can still create a great sound with a little experimentation at the board. Closer (for the most part) just makes your job easier. My opinion
Sorry if I disagree, but part of the job is knowing proper mic placement and instructing the performers when they are doing it wrong. A lot of sound guys find it easier to fix it at the board then try to interact with the performer. And personally I would rather spend the 3 minutes walking to the
stage and fixing the problem at the source than tweeking for an entire show, because it just isn't perfect.