Stop eating the mic! Do you close your eyes when you sing? Look at your guitar? Your pedals? Or have trouble staying close enough? Did you know that where you are in front of the mic affects what people hear? We can talk about the PROXIMITY EFFECT, PLOSIVES and INVERSE SQUARE LAW, but at the end of the day... eating the mic causes muddy vocals. Mic Trainer helps to keep you in the right spot without having to put your lips on the mic. You'll sound better and probably come in contact with fewer germs! Fits most performance microphones. Sound characteristics will change significantly depending upon how close or far away you are from the microphone. This is called proximity effect. As you get closer to the mic, an increase in low frequency response can occur, causing your voice to be overly bassy. High frequencies are very directional, meaning that if you turn your head away from the microphone at any point during recording, the recording captured by your mic will sound very dull. Almost all mics, used at live performance venues, are what are called top addressing unidirectional mics. This means that they are designed to pick up sound from directly in front of the microphone (top) versus from the sides or from behind to minimize background noise being picked up by the microphone. So, rule number one rule is to sing directly into the top of the microphone. Plosives are your enemy! Plosives are the popping sounds that happen when you sing hard consonants like P, T, K, B, D and G. The closer you get to the mic, the more of a problem they become. That's why they make pop filters and why most dynamic cardioid mics are designed to increase the bass and decrease the treble the closer you get (aka the Proximity Effect). Of course, this also makes your lyrics harder to understand. Oh, and do you know who was using that mic before you? Are you sure you want to put your lips on that grille? Prioritize soundcheck and work with your sound engineer to find the right mic placement and monitor levels. Then make sure to stay in that spot during your performance. The Mic Trainer can help with that! Singing and the Inverse Square Law Ever noticed how your voice changes when you move closer or farther from the microphone? It's all thanks to the Inverse Square Law! Let's talk about how this law affects singing into a microphone and how it can enhance your performances. The inverse square law states that: the intensity of sound drops by 6 dB for each doubling of distance from the source. The opposite is true when you move closer to the source. Ok, what? As you move closer, your voice gets louder, and as you move away, it gets weaker. Duh. But, it’s a wider range than you might think. That’s the whole 6 dB thang! If you start with your lips on the mic, you will experience more fluctuation in volume (in addition to the proximity effect and more plosives). Movements away or side to side will decrease your volume proportionate to the amount of distance you move. If you start at too far a distance from the mic, you might not achieve the volume needed to rise above your bandmates (we're looking at you, drummer!). You'll also be left floating in front of the mic, unsure whether or not your angle and distance are the same as during soundcheck. So vocalists are left with the choice of "eating the mic" and suffering the consequences of the proximity effect and plosives, or, floating in front of it and hoping they stay in position. Mic Trainer helps you find the sweet spot and keep that consistent distance and angle for the duration of your performance.
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