EIGHT (8) MICROPHONE MISTAKES- Part 1.

1. Not using a pop filter, don’t ever  think you’ll be all clever and fix it without buying a pop filter. You decide to angle the microphone 30-40 degrees to the side, that way the singer isn't singing directly into the diaphragm.

Well, this does help with the plosives, but now you've got to deal with the fact that microphones tend to have a lot of off-axis coloration. They’re designed to sound their best when aimed directly at the source. By angling it, you could be drastically affecting the sound of the mic, just get a pop filter.

2. Singing into the wrong side of the mic.

3. Miking too close, since noise is a common issue with home studios, we try to compensate for it by miking the instruments/vocals as closely as possible. The idea is that the closer the mic is to the source, the less noise it will pick up. Right? It is Wrong.

As it turns out, placing the mic really close to the instruments doesn't pick up any less noise, and you have to deal with proximity effect.

Your recordings will sound much more natural if you move the mic back from the source by 6-12 inches.

4. Miking too far away, obviously, you can go too far in the other direction, too. If you place the microphone so far away from the musician that you’re picking up everything in the room (computer, hard drive, your growling stomach, etc.), then that’s certainly not ideal.

You need to find a middle ground. It will be different for every mic, every room, every musician,so play around with it a bit.