Hi Kit.

I like your "guerilla" recording tactics, using anything on-hand to make a better recording.

I just wanted to comment on the distance from the mic. Proximity effect is a term used to describe what happens to the sound at various distances from the mic. The closer you get to the mic, the more bass your voice will have in the recording.

This is good for some things when you want a certain sound, but usually it is not good for vocals to be recorded in very close proximity of the mic. Getting too close can make your vox sound muddy and bass-heavy. It also increases your chances of overloading the mic and creating distortion. It's very hard to control peaks when you get right up on the mic.

One of the only times I will record someone closer than 8" is if the song is a very soft one and I want to get a very intimate vocal. Depending on the characteristics of the singer's voice, I will usually remove some of the "muddy" frequencies to minimize the proximity effect. Usually this would be in the area of -3dB with the center frequency being between 200-300 HZ.

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Chris

Chris

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/6/chrisgarrettmusic.htm