Before You Press Record

Before You Press Record:

Choosing And Creating The Best Recording Space

Achieving the best sounding audio all begins before you even press record. By choosing and setting up the best recording space you can vastly improve the sound quality of your podcast. Here are some suggestions and a few thing to consider to help you obtain a great sounding podcast.

Let’s start with choosing a quiet recording environment, this may seem easy, but there are many things to consider when picking the best quiet space to record. Most rooms have some background noise, but we aren’t aware of it because we are used to hearing it all the time. However, these noises can usually be heard in your audio and may lessen your audio quality or be distracting for your audience. I suggest after choosing a recoding space record a few minutes of “silence” and then listen to the recording. This can help you identify background noise that you may not of noticed.

Things to consider when choosing a quiet recording space:

• Outside noise (i.e. street noise, lawn mower, kids playing, barking dog)

• inside noise (i.e. people, appliances, pets)

  • appliances (i.e. refrigerator, fan, air conditioner)

  • miscellaneous noise (i.e. squeaky or noisy chair)

Next, let’s consider the sound absorption in your recording environment. Does you audio have an echo or sound like you are in a big empty room? If it does, it means you need to improve the sound absorption in your recording space. You need to make sure you have plenty of soft surfaces to absorb the sound. Things like hardwood floors, desks, tables, and bare walls can cause your voice to echo or give the “big empty room” sound. Somes people record in their walk-in closet or make pillow forts to create a better recoding environment. If that doesn’t work for you below are some ways to improve the sound absorption in your recording space. I recommend recording your self talking for a few minutes and listening back to how it sounds. Continue to do this this as you adjust the sound absorption of your space so you can tell what works and what doesn’t.

Ways to improve sound absorption:

• Cover hard floors with rugs or blankets

• Use towels or blankets to cover surfaces like desks and tables

• Sit in front of a curtain

• Hang blankets or curtains on the walls

Finding the best recording space doesn’t have to be difficult or costly, but it does take some consideration. Remember to choose a quiet recording environment, be sure you have plenty of soft surfaces to absorb the sound, make test recordings to hear how your podcast will sound to your audience.