Audio

When you listen to a podcast, it’s often a very close experience. You are literally in someone’s ear. It should feel as if you are in the room, chatting with the podcast host and guest, like you are overhearing their conversation.

In this article, we will cover a few things you can easily do to create this intimate experience with your audience. 

Your environment

Sound reflects off of hard surfaces.

The more sound reflects, it becomes tinny and creates an echo. You want to avoid creating these sound artifacts as much as possible as it takes the listener away from that “in your ear” experience. You don’t want to sound like you are talking on one of those old school candlestick telephones. 

Your choice of room is the first important step.

Think of the places you would enjoy talking on the phone. Places like a bathroom with so many hard surfaces create an echo with little effort. Lightly furnished rooms with hard floors are also not great options.

Conference rooms in an office are often a terrible option to choose unless someone has given thought to soundproofing, too many hard reflective surfaces. A walk-in closet full of clothes may be a better option. 

The hard surface of your desk and the wall behind your monitor can reflect sound, and once it reflects, it can bounce and reflect again. Think of how you might build a pillow-fort around your computer. Don’t make it too enclosed though, it can get hot quickly. 

Can you drape a towel behind and underneath your computer, or the area you are talking into? The surface of the towel will help absorb the sound. 

Pillows can also be useful. If you have an external microphone, you can nestle pillows around your mic to reduce the reflection of your sound. Here is one of my local radio hosts with her home setup:

My last-minute debut hosting @kqedforum from my house! Kudos to Michael for toughing it out after he lost his voice, and the whole team as we cobbled together a workaround (didn’t have time to change out of my jammies) pic.twitter.com/TI8REDYqSW

— Mina Kim 김미나 (@mkimreporter) February 5, 2020

The one other spot you may consider is your car, depending on your surroundings. If your car is parked in a quiet shaded area, it may be an ideal spot to record from. Sure there is glass, but many of the surfaces are covered in upholstery and potentially prohibit any echo.

Shade is important here as it can get hot very quickly sitting in a car with all the windows up. Rolling them down invites wind noise. 

If your car has squeaky leather seats, or the gardeners come by with a leaf blower, this location isn’t as desirable. But for some, this might be a good option. 

Choosing your microphone

You might never have realized that you have a selection of headphones around you. Your laptop probably has something basic built in, and most headphones also come with a microphone option.

Some are better than others. At this stage, you should collect everything you can find (gaming headphones, Rock Band USB mic, etc…), and be ready to test with your buddy. 

When you launch the application you plan on using, locate the settings or preferences for audio and video.

You might have to select the microphone input you want to use, and you want to be sure it’s not defaulting to the internal microphone when you are testing another. You can always tap a mic to see if it’s working, just watch the audio levels. 

Most applications also have some kind of input audio level display to help you see how loud or how far away from the microphone you should be, see it in Zoom in the image below. 

Notice in the drop-down above the Input Level you can select which available microphone the application can recognize. 

Wired microphones are typically better than bluetooth. There can be a slight delay with some types of bluetooth headsets. This can give the appearance of badly dubbed audio if you are recording a video interview. Just another reason to it’s so important to test your setup. 

Types of Microphones

The two really common types of microphones the average person will come across are Dynamic and Condenser mics. There are other types of mics, but they usually require more hardware and are not simple USB plug in types of mics. 

You can find a selection of microphone options ranging in price from $20-200, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for. For an entry level mic, you might get lucky with one of the $30 models. Realistically, you are probably looking at $50-70 for a decent every level mic. 

Dynamic Microphones

These types of microphones work like speakers in reverse. It’s the type of mic you have attached to your headphones, and likely what they built into your computer. 

These types of mics are the workhorses of the microphone world. They are typically cheaper and more durable overall. If you are in doubt which type of microphone you have, this is likely the type. 

A Dynamic microphone is probably going to be better than anything that came with your headphones or built into your computer, but it’s always good to do a comparison test. 

Condenser Microphones

Condenser mics are larger and heavier, something you’d see it more of a proper studio type of setup. Often they need to have an external power source, but some work off USB power. 

While these are more desirable for recording vocals, and make for a better spoken word recording, you don’t need this type of mic unless you are planning on doing a lot of recording and are looking for a higher quality sound product. For your average one-off interview, this might be overkill. But, if you are planning on doing interviews often or hosting your own, getting some quality equipment is worth the investment. 

Do you need a Pop-Filter?

Some microphone bundles come with a pop-filter. This is usually a cloth covered circle or disc positioned in front of the microphone. If you have one, use it. It won’t hurt your performance. 

When you are testing your microphone with your buddy, try the Peter Piper tongue twister. If your buddy is hearing a lot of glitchy popping noises, it may be beneficial to invest in an inexpensive pop-filter. It can also help with breath noises into the mic (accidentally blowing on the mic while you talk). They aren’t too pricy, and they look really cool.