The quality of your podcast audio can make all the difference when it comes to how enjoyable your podcast is to listeners. This is where both pre- and post-production comes into play.

For pre-production, there's a great tool called Podcast Grader that shares the four key metrics of great-sounding audio, and how to achieve it. Here's why you should use it.

Check out Podcast Grader

Podcast Grader audio quality tool

Products I use for One Minute Podcast Tips

Note: these contain affiliate links, so I may get a small percentage of any product you buy/use when using my link.

My equipment:

• Shure SM7B dynamic mic
• Rodecaster Pro II audio production studio
• Sony MDR-7506 Studio Monitor Headphones
• Elgato Wave Mic Arm Low Profile

Recommended resources:

• Captivate.fm
• Substack
• Boomcaster remote interviewing

Mentioned in this episode:

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(upbeat music)

I'm Danny Brown,

and you're listening to One Minute Podcast Tips,

the show that helps you be a better podcaster

in just a minute a week.

If you want more specific tips just for you in your podcast,

check out the Magic Mic membership

at oneminutepodcasttips.com/support.

And now, this week's episode.

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I've spoken on here before about the importance of editing

and how good editing and post-production

can really make a difference when it comes to the quality of your audio.

However, while editing and post-production are great ways to ensure the audio quality is as good as it can be,

there's also a cool little tool called Podcast Grader

that can help you get the best settings before you record your episode.

Podcast Grader looks at four key metrics.

Loudness, peak, noise floor and dynamic range.

If your audio is too loud, that can lead to clipping.

Clipping distorts the audio and makes it really uncomfortable to listen to,

and it's really hard, if not impossible, to fix in post-production.

Peak shows you where the audio is getting close to being too loud,

so it's important to make sure your loud parts aren't leaking into distortion.

Noise floor tells you if there's too much noise in your room.

This can come from a fan, air conditioning, your computer fan,

street noise outside, anything like that.

The quieter you can have your recording space, the better.

And dynamic range really helps the listening experience.

Ideally, you want to ensure that the loudest and quietest parts of your audio are balanced.

By getting these four metrics right,

you can really make a difference

before you even start recording.

You can check out Podcast Grader

at oneminutepodcasttips.com/grade.

Until the next time, happy podcasting.

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Thanks for listening.

If you enjoy One Minute Podcast Tips,

be sure to share with your friends and other podcasters

so they can enjoy it too.

Until the next time, happy podcasting.

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