When recording the poems for Overhear I've tried to make sure we've recorded on location as much as possible so the listener gets a feel of how the place sounds and possibly lends something to the artists performance since they're in the space they're talking about. In this case it's been important to get a good balance of background noise to artists voice.
For this i've found the Heil P30 B is excellent as it is "super cardioid" which means it is less sensitive to "off-axis" noise. Which basically means sounds coming from anywhere but the very front of the microphone giving a good balance of the artists voice (which the microphone is pointing at) and everything else especially if its noisy like a cafe or bar (background noice and hubbub.)
This also makes it a good microphone if you want to capture a very quiet recording too of course, but in that situation you also have to consider the room you are recording in. If you don't want the recording to display any of the characteristics of the location your in you'll want to make sure the room is as "dead" as possible. The best way to ensure this is by picking a room with lots of soft furnishings and few bare walls.
You can hear the difference between a dead and live space by having a good old clap in your living room and comparing it with your bathroom, you'll want as little sound bouncing back as possible. DIY ways to help this are by hanging duvets or rugs on walls around the person being recorded.
So take away points from this: Pick a microphone with low off-axis sensitivity (AKA super cardioid) and record in a dead space if you don't want any location characteristics in the sound.
