Handling screams is easier than one may think. When anticipating a scream, the mic gain should be kept low. Whatever the gain of your preamp for spoken dialogue, bring it down by at least 12 dB for screams. While this may seem too thin compared to the original, do not worry: at 24 bit recording resolution, the scream can be brought back up to a healthy level in the mix. The important thing is to avoid distortion and clipping.
If the mic is positioned at the proper distance, there shouldn’t be any distortion at the microphone’s diaphragm. You may also ask the actor to move back a few inches, or alternatively you can use a “scream mic”, as discussed above.15