Right off the bat, we should tell you that this article is intended for podcasters who are just starting out. In this article, we’re going to stick with fundamental approaches and tips to getting a professional sounding podcast. We will also suggest great options for those with time constraints or limited audio production skills. Of course, research and practice will still be required after reading this article. But we’ll at least show you all the available tools to help you get started.
For podcasting post-production, you can take one or a combination of the following approaches:
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Editing, mixing and mastering solely on a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). This is the most time consuming, but cheapest approach.
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Using AI technology to do all the work for you. This is the fastest and easiest way to achieve professional results. But it can have limitations if not used wisely.
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Adding AI and intuitive software plugins to your DAW to do most of the heavy lifting in the most efficient way possible. This provides the best balance in terms of speed, creative control and thoroughness.
The first section offers the most basic tips and terminology needed to mix and master podcasts in a DAW. After this, we will explore some more efficient tools to speed up the post-production process.
Mixing and Mastering on Your DAW
Ripple Editing / Delete Gap / Delete and Move
We’re going to assume that you already know how to split tracks and cut out regions. And if you’re in the process of cutting out all the silences and “ah” and “um” fillers, a key timesaving editing tool is ripple editing. This feature is called different things depending on which DAW you’re using. But let’s take the most basic and commonly used DAW on the market, Garage Band, as an example.
When you’re cutting out portions of your track(s), rather than clicking on the track and dragging it left to fill the space, you can use the Garage Band editing feature, “Delete and Move”. (Again, this function is available on any DAW, though it might have a different name). In using this feature, you’ll be able to delete and move the track to fill the empty space all in one shot. And if you’re working with multiple tracks, you can select them all and use this command to delete and move these tracks simultaneously so they all stay in sync. More importantly, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to this command to further expedite the process.
Fades and Crossfades
Once you have put all your pieces together, you’ll want the transitions to sound smooth and contiguous. At this point, it’s time to find the fade and crossfade tools in your DAW. These soften or fade in/fade out the start and end points of your regions, so that when you connect two split regions of speech it won’t sound like it has been cut together. There are a few tricks to making it sound natural, and you can take a look at our 7 Tips for Mixing Stellar Podcast Vocals for some more detail on the topic.
EQ
A good place to start after doing your basic chopping and fading is with the EQ. An EQ plugin, which is available on every DAW, can adjust the frequency response of your audio. It’s a great way of building the foundation for further mixing because it can begin to address the most basic problems we find in an audio recording.
Getting Rid of Bumps and Plosives
Since the human voice doesn’t get any lower than 80-100 Hz, you can use a “high pass filter” at this frequency point to remove any low frequency rumbles, bumps, plosives etc. A high pass filter simply means that frequencies above a set level (80 Hz in this case) get to “pass through,” while anything below that frequency is attenuated. A “low pass filter” does the opposite, letting the low frequencies pass through while removing the higher frequencies.
Identifying the Sweet Spot
The sweet spot for human speech is around the 100-120Hz range, which brings out the fullness and warmth of the voice. So, this is the frequency area that you want to remain prominent.
Reducing Boominess
If you’re looking to reduce the boominess of a voice or trying to lighten up the tone a bit, you may want to tweak the 100-250 Hz range. Especially with respect to male voices, making a slight cut here could be helpful.
Reducing Room Reflection
Particularly if you’ve recorded your podcast in a spacious area, you’ll probably hear some reverb and reflections that take away from the professional vibe you’re trying to achieve. To make your recording sound firmer, as if it was done in a small studio space, you could try reducing the levels in the 300 Hz to 1Khz range.
Making Speech Clearer
Human ears are more sensitive to hearing speech in the 2 to 3kHz range. So, especially if you have a speaker who sounds slightly muffled or less intelligible than you’d prefer, try raising the levels a bit in this area.
Getting Rid of Esses
Sibilance can be not only distracting, but also unpleasant to listen to. These sounds tend to happen in the 5-15 kHz area. You can reduce the levels here to improve the problem, but typically, a “de-esser” will do a more thorough job, which we will discuss below.
Reducing Harshness
If you’re experiencing a bit of harshness in the high end, try reducing any frequencies from 15 kHz and up.
It’s important to note that while these EQ approaches are generally useful, they often have their limitations in practice. For this reason, there are a bunch of other available tools for fixing many of the podcast recording problems mentioned above. So, keep reading.
DE-Essing & DE-Clicking
The natural sibilance, breaths and mouth sounds that occur when a podcaster speaks are usually unavoidable during recording. Still, they will drive listeners crazy and distract them from the conversation. Luckily, there are plenty of reasonably-priced noise reduction plug-ins that will get this crap cleaned up for you, like the Waves Sibilance Vocal De-Esser or the more advanced iZotope’s RX Elements 11, which takes care of vocal clicks in addition to a ton of other things that we’ll discuss below.
Noise Gate
A noise gate is DAW plugin that automatically mutes unwanted audio. Most DAWs come with this plugin. If you have background noise, bleed (from other podcast speakers) or distant interference, like a truck passing outside your window. The noise gate “closes the gate” on the fainter sounds, and “opens the gate” for your vocals to be heard. This works according to the “threshold” that you set at any given level. Set the threshold in such a way that it sits just above the quieter portions of audio but below the louder portions (i.e. the speaker’s voice). Depending on the type of noise gate plugin you own, this process will take some trial and error.
Compression
Compression reduces the dynamic range. That is, it tightens the range between the quietest and loudest sounds. So, if your podcast speaker goes from whispering to loud laughter, for example, the listener won’t have to constantly adjust the volume. It also helps you to avoid distortion in your mix. Again, you should be able to find a least one stock compressor available on your DAW.
Audio Normalization
Audio normalization is a way of applying a certain amount of gain to the audio file. There are two types of normalization: loudness normalization and peak normalization. Loudness normalization applies a fixed gain in perceived loudness of the audio to a specific target level, which is most measured in units called LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale). It’s different to decibels because it accounts for how the volume subjectively sounds to a human ear. The target number for perceived loudness in podcasting is -16 LUFS. Peak normalization, on the other hand, works strictly with the peak decibel levels of a track. So, the loudest points of your podcast will be shifted, primarily to avoid distortion and make sure the sound doesn’t go above the target level. -1dB peak loudness is where you want to be for podcasting.
Is There Software That Can Do All of This for Me?
Yes! There is. So, if you’ve been freaking out about the countless hours that you’ll have to spend each week mixing and mastering your podcast, you can chill out. You’re not the only one with a life. Turns out there’s a large population of podcasters who exclusively use AI to get a professional sounding podcast within the space of 20 minutes. All the editing and mixing challenges mentioned in this article can be solved using software, like Auphonic. You simply load your audio files onto the software, and let it take care of everything from cutting out silences, fillers and noise to EQ-ing and normalizing your audio tracks. Usually, the result is a broadcast ready podcast. However, from time to time, you can run into problems with this approach; sometimes, the audio processing can go too far and make the final product sound artificial. In this case, you would have to adjust the strength of some of the algorithms to make the recording feel more natural.
If you prefer a little more creative control, you can invest in iZotope’s RX 11 Audio Restoration and Enhancement Software, which gives you a host of audio repair tools such as mouth de-clicks, breath control, voice de-clicks and more. It even features a Repair Assistant that can further expedite the clean-up process. RX 11’s other powerful features include loudness optimization and a Streaming Preview function that lets you to hear how the track will sound on streaming service before you publish. This is just a fraction of what RX 11 can do, and be warned, especially with the more advanced versions, there is a learning curve. But in the end, software like this will save you countless hours of time in post-production.
Finally, many seasoned podcasters recommend using a combination of all the above approaches to balance maximum efficiency with maximum flexibility and creative control. So, if you have the cash, we recommend trying it all.
Take a Breath
We know, this all sounds like a ton of work. But again, if you don’t have the time or patience, take advantage of the AI tools available to you. And if you’re still intent on getting your hands dirty with mixing and mastering your podcasts on your own, just give it some time. After a few tries, you will get accustomed to a toolbox of techniques that will speed up your process. Our advice is to start slow and practice recording and mixing your podcasts for a month or two before you begin streaming. That way, you’ll relieve a little pressure and give yourself enough time to release a beautifully produced and professional sounding podcast from the get-go.
For more information about the products mentioned, including additional features and highlights, be sure to check out the detailed product pages. Or drop us a line below, and we’ll do our best to answer all your comments and questions.
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