MIc Placement Matters!

Audio

August 17, 2025

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In this week’s episode, we discover how much of an impact microphone placement can have on how your dialogue recordings sound. Is higher or lower better? To the side or straight ahead?! Let’s explore and find out!

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest courses cover Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini and an Intro to Izotope RX. See our school website for more info!

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Gear used or mentioned in this episode (the links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases):

Neumann U87 Ai Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone  

The outro music for this episode is from Musicbed - “Dynamo” by Virgil Arles. Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.

Copyright 2025, Curtis Judd

Show video transcript

You might think my microphone position looks wrong here, so let me explain. My voice has a lot of sibilance — saying "she sells seashells by the seashore" produces a lot of grating high-frequency energy. Where you position the microphone changes how pronounced that is.

With a large-diaphragm condenser like this Neumann U87Ai, you might expect the capsule should be in line with your mouth, but listen: positioned in line with the mouth, the sibilance is noticeably harsher; lowered slightly below mouth level, it's much smoother. Raised higher, with the mouth below the capsule (like a suspended studio mic setup), sibilance is reduced further, and you also pick up less chest resonance, so the sound is a bit less bassy overall. Moving back to the original lower/closer position brings back some of that bassier, chestier quality.

Foam windscreens can also help — they absorb some high-frequency content, which can tame sibilance further, demonstrated with an on/off comparison. If you're dealing with sibilance in voiceover or podcast recording, try adjusting microphone position and adding a foam cover before reaching for de-essing or high-pass EQ in post. A lot of people go out and buy dozens of microphones chasing the "perfect" sound for their voice — myself somewhat included, though I have an excuse as a microphone reviewer — but trying different mic positions first can often get you most of the way there without buying anything new. Hope that was helpful. Get out there and make some great sound. Talk to you again soon.