Ken's microphone height

Michael4000

I just watched "Rosanna". Ken sounds great on it, but why is his mic position so high? If I were singing with that mic position, I think I might feel like I was "reaching up" to high notes

doc_ramadani

And I wonder why he doesn't need a pop filter?

highmtn

The mic has a built-in windscreen, as most mics do. It's not as effective as a nylon windscreen, but it can be sufficient. I have encouraged Ken to either reposition the pop filter to keep from obscuring him from the camera, or to do without it altogether. He doesn't always agree with me, but that's life. If you get the right angle from the mic, you don't need a pop filter so much. If the mic is straight-on you will have a greater need, because the air hits the mic diaphragm head-on. But if you slightly angle the mic or yourself, then it's more of a billiard bounce off the diaphragm and it tends to pop less.

KTVA gets so many complaints about "Couldn't see her face" from videos where the pop filter is in the way, blocking the view of Sara Loera or Tori, Ken, or whomever. Even the mic itself, without a pop filter, sometimes covers the face of the artist. When they are working so hard to get a good take of the song on the recording, they often lose track of the importance of getting a good video shot of the artist AS they perform. It's hard to get everything completely right all of the time. The height of the mic is for basically the same reason. Line of sight to the camera. But if you want to know why there isn't a pop filter, or the mic is away from their face, you can blame me.

doc_ramadani

Hi Bob, @highmtn

thanks for this explanation. I thought so, but it is amazing how good it works. And the most amazing is for me that Ken and all the other students are able to present a song from start to end and put it directly to a video. As you told us in a comment of a discussion started by @Michael4000, the audio goes into the recording rig while the video is caught by the camera. You put it together later. My question is if a lot of editing on the audio is necessary? - Or are Ken and the studios that perfect that nearly no editing is necessary. I re-watched the videos of Kati Cher. I can hardly believe that you can be so perfect.

Doc

Michael4000

@highmtn I think you are getting so many complaints about "can't see her face" because Ken puts so many gorgeous women in his videos LOL

highmtn

Capturing the audio through a studio mic and gear allows professional studio quality audio to be captured.

There is no overdubbing of mistakes. If a mistake is made, then they start over. You do get the luxury of setting the audio levels of the voice to the music, plus any background voices that may have also been recorded, after the fact. If the cameras had the capability to record and remix the levels, then it would would not be necessary to use a separate audio recorder. Most cameras have built-in limiters and poor quality audio compared to a DAW.

highmtn

A level head is best, but if it's going to tilt one way or another, it's better tilted back slightly than slightly forward, with tends to close off the throat the greater the tilt.

Klaus_T

@Michael4000 , @doc_ramadani , @highmtn , when I do my exercises in front of a (wall-mounted) mirror, I noticed the tendency to look up slightly, it seems easier to see the throat area at this angle. Reading this thread, I was wondering if that's bad, and if I should mount the mirror at an angle instead. Did any of you notice the same thing in exercising?

doc_ramadani

@Klaus_T, goof to mention that. The same for me. I tend to look upwards.

BarbieLynn

I'm always looking up, it seems.. maybe because I'm just 4'11" :-)