I’ve been listening to audio podcasts and watching videos that people have recorded recently.  With the high growth of social media and more people realizing the importance of audio and video content to supplement their blogs and books, I’ve started finding that many people rush into podcasting and don’t’ fully understand how to get a great sound.

If you want to really step up your podcast, video blog, or next live streaming event, here are some things to consider when setting up.  There’s a saying in the audio industry:

TV without picture is radio. TV without sound is useless.

Take your sound seriously. Other people are listening.

Set Your Gain Correctly.

This is hands down the most important stage of your signal chain.  If it isn’t correct, it compromises everything thereafter.  If you set your gain on your mic preamp to low, you’ll have a very low signal overall, resulting in a quiet and frustrating recording.  You’ll risk losing listeners or viewers.  However, if you have it set too high and it’s what would be considered “hot”, you’ll have clipping and will distort your signal.  This can be even more frustrating that a level that is too low.  It sounds harsh and unprofessional.  It sounds like an amateur recorded it in their garage without a clue.

So find a happy medium.  A gain setting that isn’t too low, but not so high that if you or your guest gets loud or excited it won’t clip. Do a few tests, record the same phrase each time, and then listen to them back to see which sounds the best.

Use a Compressor.

So you’ve set your gain at an appropriate level.  But it’s still not quite as loud as you’d like.  It doesn’t sound like “the pros” sound.  You know what I’m talking about.  Listen to the radio.  The DJs have that big, full, “pro” sound to their voice.  It’s not weak, thin, or tinny sounding.  It never clips, and you can always hear them over the background music.

I’ll let you in on an audio engineers secret weapon.  Compression.

Okay, so a compressor is not a secret.  What it does and how to use it correctly, though, is often a mystery to people.  Even in my line of work, I come across other “engineers” that admit they don’t fully understand how a compressor works.  Unfortunately, if you don’t understand how a tool works, you can’t maximize its potential.

Compressors basically hug your audio signal.  With the left arm wrapping around, it’s keeping the low signals from being too low.  Then, with the compressors right arm, it’s pulling in the signals that might be too loud.  What it’s doing is keeping the fringe signal levels in a more controllable, appropriate, and enjoyable dB range.  When used correctly, it truly helps polish a vocal signal.

You have a couple choices when looking to start using a compressor.  You can go with a nice little hardware version like the dbx 266XS 2 channel compressor.  This is a two channel compressor, so if you have a guest, you can run two mics through it and have a great sound.  In this setup, you’d plug your mic into the compressor, then run a line from the compressor to your existing audio interface.

Most audio recording software suites will have a plug-in that would also work just as well.  The nice thing about the software versions are the presets and the ability to save your settings for particular guests and scenarios.

It is very easy to get the settings wrong on your compressor and wind up peaking your signal.  I’ll be posting an article on how to use a compressor correctly following this post.

Maintain Proper Position.

One of the most simple things to do to improve your sound for your audio or video podcast is to use correct positioning of your mic.  In the audio engineering world, we call this proximity.  Maintaining proper distance from your microphone goes a long way.  If you’re too close, you’re using a bad mic, and you’ve got your gain set too high, you might as well light it on fire.  If you’re sitting too far from it and your gain is set too low, you’ll only be pulling your hair out when you listen to it back.  Or, if you’re too far away, you might boost the gain so that it picks up your voice.  The down side to this is what’s called the noise floor.  The noise floor is the ambient sounds in your surrounding environment.  For instance, you are recording in your office.  There is a dog barking outside, cars driving by, the HVAC pumping air, and a loud fan on your PC.  All of these noises, while not terribly distracting to us individually, when added together create a noise floor that you can’t get rid of.  If you boost your gain on your mic pre, you’ve made your mic more sensitive, thereby picking up all of these little noises even more and creating an unprofessional sounding recording or live stream.

So, stay close enough to the mic that you’re the only thing it’s picking up, keep your gain at a manageable level, and invest in a compressor.

Thanks for reading and as usual, I’m looking forward to your comments below.

Cheers,

Josh