I read approximately the first half of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I did my first recording with the microphone maybe a foot to a foot and a half away, then had several scrapped attempts close up, and then finally got a good recording wiht the microphone maybe three or four inches in front of my face. Between the recordings I adjusted the gain on the microphone so they are approximately the same volume, I think the close one is in general a little louder. But I could definitely hear that the close up recording was richer and captured a better picture of my emotions and what I was going for. I think part of it may be because I had a bunch of failed recordings between the far and close recordings so I was naturally getting better at it, but still I think the close up recording created a better overall representation of my soudn.