The difference between having the mike closer or further to the reader was pretty big. For the close recording, the mike was about 14 inches away from the face, varying slightly as the reader looked down at the laptop. For the second recording, it was about 3-4 feet away from the face. The sound was far smaller from further away, and my direction, in the background of the original uncut track was hardly noticeable because I was even further away. There was a lot more pickup in the high range than the low range in the Farther recording, while in the Close recording the pickup was much more balanced. When I was testing the mike, There seemed to be a greater tendency for pops and clicks the closer you were to the mike and were much harder to get after a certain distance. I think the humorous emotions in the reader came through much better in the closer recording because of the better pickup of range and the higher volume. It seemed harder to hear the subtleties in the voice when the mike was further away because you missed out on the frequencies that were not as prominent.