I hosted a well-attended “Mic Night” at Voicetrax in Sausalito, and completed teaching a separate voiceover workshop in which we compared several microphone models on different types of copy – balancing technical options against performance choices.įor each take, students received multiple audio files recorded with these different microphones. While messing around with many microphones over the past few months, this showed itself clearly. I’m not saying we are all drawn to stand directly in front of the speakers at concerts (there’s probably a name for that compulsion… “Marshall Amp Syndrome”?), but when we listen to any audio – music or voice – we are more likely to prefer the one which has slightly more volume. In my classes and remote training sessions, I’ll generally mention the “Loudness Effect.” In simple terms, humans are wired to react positively to louder sounds.

That can cause us to prefer something which might now sound very good.

Whenever you compare audio, volume can be misleading.

When you want to compare audio, take the time to make sure you have balanced your playback levels – otherwise, you could be misleading your ears.

Ocenaudio increase volume