Mics: practical listening exercise (a): mic quality

So far, we haven't considered the ‘listening’ aspect of the job. On location, the most practical method is to use headphones (the ubiquitous ‘cans’ – you'll find more information on them in Section 19, Single person operation: use of headphones). This is the part of the job which, for the best results, you can only gain through experience – listening constantly to your mics. That is the only way you can actually tell that you're obtaining the correct sound.