For recording with microphone farther from me: https://soundcloud.com/tsedgwic/king-lear-long-distance

For recording with microphone closer to me: https://soundcloud.com/tsedgwic/king-lear-short-distance-1

The recording in which the microphone was closer to me is much clearer, and has a crisper sound to it (in addition to being loud). The recording in which the microphone was farther away was smoother and more quiet. This gives a different quality. Since the monologue (which is one of the more famous monologues in King Lear, the play by William Shakespeare) is dramatic (Lear is shouting at a storm that's raining on him), the closer microphone version actually sounds much better, because that crisper sound accentuates the fact that Lear is in distress better.