All microphones have proximity effect. This means that the closer your mouth is to the mic, the more bass frequencies it captures. If you move away from a mic, the bass diminishes. Professionals know how to use the proximity effect to their advantage. It's almost a way of "tuning" a microphone.
For instance, if you naturally have a thin voice like I do, you might want to stand closer to the mic to add bass. If you already have a bassy voice, too much proximity effect will create a muddy sound.
It's important to note that the further you are from the mic, the more ambient or room noise will be recorded. So it's important to find a happy medium. If you need to get really close to the mic in order to defeat room noise, you might want to invest in a mic that has a bass roll-off switch. This allows you to cut out the extremely low bass frequencies that would be enhanced by the proximity effect while still working close to the mic.
Different mics have different amounts of proximity effect so experiment with various mics to see which ones work for you.
For more information on podcasting, visit my site podcastingtricks.com.
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Comments (8)
Read More Entries by Scott Bourne.
Thanks for your comments Tim. I'm the first one to admit I'm not Class I engineer. So if my descriptions weren't technical enough for some that may explain why.
As you noted with figure 8 patterns, "how" the pattern is formed impacts proximity effect. Most of the figure 8 patterns I have worked with, when properly approached, exhibit LESS proximity effect than most directional mics. I am merely speaking from my own experience. If yours is different, so noted.
If folks follow the advice in the last paragraph of my post which is to experiment with various mics to see which ones work for them, the minutia won't matter. But I do appreciate your comments. I particularly liked your notation of the distinction regarding distance effects and proximity effects.
I could have (and based on the turn the discussion has taken,) maybe should have noted that earlier. Since I wanted the article to be more about HOW proximity effect impacts podcasters and not so much WHICH mics are so impacted, I left that out.
Thanks for reading.
Scott Bourne wrote:
"While we're at it, I could mention that mics employing a figure-8 pattern show little proximity effect."
Actually, figure-8 patterns have greater proximity effect than cardioid patterns. It all has to do with how the patterns are formed.
It is important to understand the difference between distance effects and proximity effects. Distance effects deal with losses in the air. Proximity effect is an electronic phenomenon as much as it is an acoustic one.
True Omni mics do not exhibit Proximity effect.
This may be just minutia, but it is important in order to understand which microphones to choose for a particular purpose.
I suggest that everyone interested find and read "The Microphone Handbook" by John Eargle.
It seems the debate here has taken the thread off topic. It looks
like Mr. Bourne was attempting to introduce the concept of proximity
effect, not have a debate over which mics suffer from it. The way I
understand it, any mic will record more bass frequency when the
source is close to the mic. You may not hear it but that doesn't mean it isn't there. That technically makes Bourne's statement that "all mics" have proximity effect true. But since he clearly indicated in his follow up comment that the point of the article was to talk about how proximity effect impacted podcasters, it seems sort of pointless to me to debate the minutia. That's just my two cents.
Mr. Anonymous - I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Thanks for reading.
Scott Bourne said...
Technically, omni mics tend not to show evidence of proximity effect. Depending on the size and quality of the omni-mic, there is almost always some degree of proximity effect, you just don't hear it. ...end of quote
Actually, *by definition*, an omni mic probably wouldn't have a proximity effect because most omnis are pressure microphones - the proximity effect is a characteristic of pressure-gradient microphones (AKA directional microphones). And it's not so much a function of the quality of the mic. I.e. the cheap omni that's mounted in my laptop is probably a electret pressure microphone but so is the very cool (an costly) DPA 4006.
Scott Bourne said...
While we're at it, I could mention that mics employing a figure-8 pattern show little proximity effect. ...end of quote
This is not correct. Figure-8s are pressure-gradient microphones. See above.
For more info on pressure-gradient vs. pressure microphones see John Woram's great book on recording "Sound Recording Handbook"
Dear Anonymous...
Thanks for reading and responding. You raise a good point. Technically, omni mics tend not to show evidence of proximity effect. Depending on the size and quality of the omni-mic, there is almost always some degree of proximity effect, you just don't hear it. While we're at it, I could mention that mics employing a figure-8 pattern show little proximity effect. But I think that we're getting pretty granular here.
My intention was primarily to discuss how proximity effect works and how it impacts podcasters. Unless you spend all your time in the field doing NPR-style interviews, it's highly unlikely that you'd want to use an omni directional mic. Most podcasters use directional mics and accordingly, those mics are most likely to display proximity effect. Thanks for your clarification.
Only mics using a directional polar pattern have proximity effect. If an omni polar pattern is used then there is no proximity effect.
O’Reilly’s Daniel Steinberg did some interesting microphone comparisons for his Distributing the Future podcast. You can really hear the proximity effect—and room noise.