When it comes to the microphone usage, even without much of the audio knowledge, the first thing that comes to your head would be making the sounds as clear and detailed as possible. So that the rich information contained can be conveyed accurately.
But if we couldn’t use the microphone correctly and as efficiently, the audio quality may be far below our expectations. And with the following tricks, you won’t have to resort to heavy post-production to improve the audio quality.
1. Find the Mic that Fits You Better
To pick up different voices, in the ideal cases, you’d better use different microphones - "Opposites Attract" can be used in this regard.
Sensitive condenser mics are good at actively seeking out any sound in their polar pattern sphere, it could be utilized to record soft or deep voices to better retain the details of the original sound source. But it is inevitable to capture more background.
When the environment is too noisy and there is a budget crunch on setting up the acoustic room, the alternative dynamic microphone can be a must-have.
2. Comprehend Your Microphone, Especially the Pick-up Direction
The polar pattern determines which directions the mic will pick up the most sound from, such as the well-known cardioid, which focuses on front-facing sound pickup, the bi-directional mic incorporates sound from both the front and the back, and omnidirectional and stereo patterns never ignore the sound from all directions.
The most common one is the cardioid microphone. When speaking to the front of the capsule, the microphone will actively respond and pick up your voice, and any sound from its side and back may be decreased in volume. But which direction is the rigging front of your mic’s capsule? If possible, a polarity diagram about the specific mics you have can give you an idea of where you need to feed sound into your mics.
Usually, the "top" is the "front" of a dynamic mic capsule, and it’s also the most sensitive direction of the AmpliGame AM8. You can take advantage of it and speak to its top to gain a high-quality recording. But if it’s the front of the mic body facing towards the sound source when using AM8, just like the positioning of a condenser mic, you may hear it protesting at a very low volume from the headphone.
3. Find the Best Recording Distance
As a rule of thumb, the closer the sound source is to the mic, the less background noise will be picked up.
However, there’s more to it than just eating into the mic. The more powerful plosives will hit the capsule, the negative result of the proximity effect, and a strong analog signal will start to show as you’re talking closer to it.
Thus, you have to find the sweet spot by sound testing and playback before recording. You may swing your body while gaming, but don’t forget to make sure that the microphone is in a suitable position when you’re back in normal form.
Ideal Distance of FIFINE AM8
For FIFINE's dynamic microphone AmpliGame AM8, 5 inches is the ideal distance. Talking in a palm-length will neither drown out the mic with the overwhelming sound source nor feed it with too much background.
Being a sensitive dynamic mic, 45° off-axis usage still renders a good level of clarity from the AM8. The airflow output from the mouth will not severely friction the pop filter and vertically impact the capsule, so the P, T, and other pops will be weakened, and less vibration will be brought to the ears. But a sense of space and the enjoyment of comfortable listening will be preserved by the deviation angle.
Using a Boom Arm
If the AM8 with a low-profile desktop stand doesn’t provide much help in microphone positioning, a boom arm is something that you can’t miss, which is good at increasing convenience. There’s also a solution when the budget is tight: don’t throw away the packaging box, but put it underneath the mic to shorten the talking distance. That’s the easy pull-off coup for the sound clarity.
4. Take Off the Pop Filters
The pop filter is quite useful to reduce plosives. You definitely want it to be with your mic all the time. But if none of the above methods work, taking off the anti-pop cotton can improve the high-frequency sound quality and increase the sense of air.
So that you will not sound like the "voice in a box" but will be clearer in the hearing aspect. Note, however, this unconventional advice only applies to some dynamic microphones.
5. Speak Loudly and Adjust the Volume or Gain to An Appropriate Level
If the pre-amp is not adjusted properly, you may have to boost the signal through the rear-end device. In this way, the self-noise levels all add up in your recording, or the VU meter keeps peaking.
Because of different structures, the self-noise of the analog device is relatively higher. If you obstinately increase the gain of the XLR microphone connected to the sound card or some USB mics with preamps to 100%, the self-noise of the microphone will be amplified, and the audio will become oversaturated until it distorts.
Real Example of AM8
Take the example of AmpliGame AM8 that can output analog signals through XLR and digital signals through USB. Properly adjust the input gain on a connected interface to 80% to pick up a loud but still pleasant voice. The reproduced audio will be clear and clean.
Since the self-noise of digital devices is lower, you can adjust the input volume to even 100% in the computer sound settings, but still add much less noise to the audio than analog devices do.
6. Run A Sound Test
After deciding the use position and distance of AM8 and setting the ideal gain and volume, don’t forget to run a sound test to see whether the full scale meter peaks only at the appropriate 12dB through the software. With the very last step done, you are ready for a recording or streaming at a pleasant volume level.