From the course: Microphone Techniques: Essentials

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

The proximity effect

The proximity effect

From the course: Microphone Techniques: Essentials

Start my 1-month free trial

The proximity effect

“

- [Narrator] The proximity effect says that if you get closer to a microphone there's more bass content and as you move farther away from the microphone there's less bass content. Some microphones are very, very prone to problematic proximity effect. With other microphones it's not so much of an issue. Most of the proximity effect has to do with the polar pattern. Omnidirectional microphones don't suffer from the proximity effect. With a cardioid microphone the proximity effect becomes an issue. And with a bidirectional microphone the proximity effect is at its max. As long as we know those differences we can compensate with our mic technique. As we go through these different microphones I'll be mentioning how the proximity effect comes into play. You can even tell with this microphone that I'm using right now, if I move in really, really close there's more bass content. If I move farther away there's less bass content. So the trick is to find a happy balance where the sound is just…

Contents