The proximity effect is not always a bad thing. You can take advantage of it by placing the unidirectional microphone closer to the kick drum or the guitar amp to have a better boosted low end.

Thus, a more powerful and punchy bass. The same can be applied to podcasting or broadcasting, in which the big radio sound is one of the most prominent features.

Where it might become a disaster is in the application of spoken words and vocals. Those scenarios require brighter high ends. But when you put the mic far away from your mouth, your voice will be thin. And could be worse, be more like the sound from an internal camera mic. Vice versa, you will sound boomy.

The best practice is to test out a sweet spot where you do not hear much of the proximity effect, but maintain a decent amount of volume before you get started. Usually, such a distance is around 5 inches.

And keep in mind that the last thing you want to do during use is to constantly change the distance between the sound source and the microphone. If it is connected to an advanced audio mixer, you can even use the EQ dial on the panel to adjust the tone on the fly.

If you do not want to bother, the best option seems to be to use omnidirectional mics. But unless you are in a well-treated room to do the audio project, the recording could get even worse. Because those types of mics do not isolate much background sound. It is kind of a trade-off.

But our suggestion would be to stick with the rules mentioned above to get hold of proper audio skills. Otherwise, there could be more jobs waiting to be done to have a decent recording if you chose the wrong mic in the very first place.