ABSTRACT
Learning to love the microphone is something every successful broadcaster has to do. It is not the same as being in love with the sound of your own voice. Broadcasters who think they are God’s gift to the medium tend to be too self-obsessed to be truly great. But it’s worth investing time getting to know and understand this miraculous device that carries your voice from studio or location to the listener. The way you use it can make a considerable difference to how you sound. If you respect its properties and quirks, it will respect and cherish your voice. The first thing you need to understand is that although all microphones work according to similar principles, not all are the same. That is why you sound so ghastly on the little built-in microphones that come with most domestic-market audio equipment, or on your camcorder. The sound is thin and tinny because the microphone is cheap and basic, and does not respond to the full range of frequencies in the human voice. Broadcast microphones are designed to much higher standards. Yet these too differ from each other,
depending on the job they are expected to do. A microphone built for a singer’s voice belting out a rock song or rap will be different from a studio microphone designed for speech. Location sound microphones are different again, so that they will adapt to more difficult recording environments where there is more background noise. This chapter will get a little technical at times, but it is worth learning some of the sound recordist’s jargon so you can understand not only the right microphone to use in the right place, but also how to use it to get the best out of your voice.
