RECORDING

CONTROLLING WHAT THE MIC HEARS

Yes placing and pointing lets you control WHERE the mic is listening, but you can also control WHAT the mic hears by working with the room acoustics to improve isolation, control “runaway bounces and sounds”, and otherwise shape how the environment will affect the sound the mic will pick up.  You may place sound absorbing materials between sound sources so they have more exclusive use of a certain area, or hang blankets to keep part of a room from reflecting cymbal sound too much, or even choose unconventional environments such as bathrooms or stairwells.

Of course this means you will need to listen carefully to unique acoustic environments and even consider what makes them unique.  A clothes closet is quiet and still because all of the sound is absorbed by soft clothing.  A bathroom is reverberant because of the dense and irregularly shaped hard surfaces the sound is bouncing off of.  If you want to control sound you have to be aware of how sound is affected by the materials around it.