#1 Error: Thinking “I’ll figure out where to put my script later”. You’ll need to see your gain indicator next to your script—commonly, the lights on your preamp. So design your studio around where the mic and preamp go—ideally, next to each other on a copy stand.

Most of the best mics for voiceover are directional. These mics create their directionality and proximity effect (you sound warmer when you are closer) by utilizing sound signals from the back of the microphone.

Therefore, if you put baffling material on the back of your microphone—and you should—you may want to leave 1/2-1 inch of room for sound to reach the back of the microphone directly. Don’t leave much more room, though! For side-address microphone designs, you can wrap two loops of plastic tubing around the mic to leave an air gap on the back.

The main thing you will notice if having material covering the back of the mic with no air space is you will sound less “boomy” when getting very close, which can be desirable. Absorbing some of the sound of your voice and absorbing some of the echoes before they reach the mic is beneficial—and material on the back of the mic is the best way to do that, because it brings sound absorbing material very close to your mouth (your voice is the primary source of undesirable reverb and flutter).

“Directional” means rejecting some off-axis sound (stay in front of the mic. Proximity effect is a kind of side effect of directionality that decreases low-frequency rejection when you get closer, compared to being farther away.

Directional polar patterns (cardiod, supercardioid, hypercardioid or figure-8), manipulate the phase differences between the front and back of the diaphragm, either through vents on the back (common on single-diaphragm mics), or in a two-or more diaphragm design, by combining the signals from a front diaphragm with a back diaphragm out-of-phase.

The most important thing you can do to improve your home studio acoustic baffling: Absorb your voice before it can echo. Absorb as close to the mic as you can. You need to absorb the sound of your voice because of two types of echoes: flutter and room modes.

The ideal space is deep enough that you can place the mic directly under the door frame, and the doors are wide enough that you can stand inside and wave your arms around a bit without hitting things. Some double door reach-in closets are too shallow, and so you can’t back in as far as is ideal. This means the mic will pick up echoes (“reflections”) from the wall around the outside of the door, and you will benefit from absorbing some of those echoes with pillows around the door frame, as shown below.