Most people think they need expensive equipment before they can start creating audio content. So they spend weeks researching microphones (often on Reddit or YouTube!), buy gear they don't understand (and return to those places to get help setting up or buying more gear), and still end up sounding like they're recording in a bathroom.
The issue is usually and primarily the SPACE you're sitting in. A cheaper microphone is just fine.
In this episode, I explain how to use your bedroom closet for killing that amateur-sounding echo and the proximity technique that radio broadcasters have used for decades. Your setup is probably simpler than you think.
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About Jen
Host: Jen deHaan has a background of almost 30 years in tech, education, & instructional design and 10 years in improv and performance.
Made and produced by Jen deHaan in British Columbia, Canada.
Transcripts
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The best way to sound professional is to think about where you record. This is a lot more important than spending a lot of money on your gear, like your microphone or your camera.
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Many people starting podcasts or other forms of online content think that you need a really fancy setup before you can start creating audio content or video content.
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You might be researching equipment for a really long time and then buy things that you just don't need and you still sound like you're recording in a bathroom.
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I've read about this a lot on Reddit.
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Now that room that you record in is the main issue here, much more than whether or not you got, say, a Blue Yeti instead of a Shure or an AT2020 or some expensive 4K camera.
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If your office ends up sounding really echoey, it's going to remind you of amateur recordings
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that you've probably heard.
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You've probably seen them on YouTube.
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And that thing that you're hearing is really the room tone.
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Now, the fix for this is pretty low tech.
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You want to record in a small space, a space that's full of like really soft materials.
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You may have seen people set up recording booths in a closet.
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That works really well.
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Closet full of clothes is perfect.
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Or you can really cheaply fabricate a structure that you hang moving blankets on.
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I had a lot of old grid walls from when I used to sell things at a market.
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And then I hung a whole bunch of moving blankets around that.
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And it works great.
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That fabric absorbs the reflections of sound and it sort of kills that hollow echoey quality.
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Before you start recording, you definitely want to turn off fans in the room or like a really loud external hard drive.
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That's my thing. I always need to remember to turn that off.
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Then you want to get really close to the microphone.
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It might be closer than feels natural to you.
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You want to think about maybe a fist distance away.
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If you have a windscreen, that's like a big foam thing for your microphone, you can get even closer.
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And this proximity effect, what it's called, adds a real richness and warmth to your voice.
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Radio broadcasters have used this sort of technique for a very long time.
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A USB microphone in a quiet closet will do a lot better for you than really expensive gear in an empty room.
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Every time. It'll win every time.
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I'm Jen DeHaan. This is the Credibility Minute.
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Find more episodes or get in touch with me and subscribe at stereophores.com slash minute.
