So far we’ve gone over how to record your first podcast, how to edit a podcast, and now we’ll look at the workflow to make your voice sound better before saving it and uploading to your media host.
Using Equalisation to Make Your Voice Sound Better
EQ is an easy effect to apply and a quick win to make your recorded audio sound better. You can access it in Window > Effects Rack. Click the white arrow on effect number 1 and then select Filter and EQ > Parametric Equalizer…
The parametric equalizer is a great way to play with adding or removing frequencies from your voice. Listen back using high quality headphones to ensure you make accurate changes and then drag the points 1 to 5 to change the low, mid and high end frequencies. Have a play and find a setting that works for the particular voice your working on.
Using Compression to Level Audio
Compression is a truly overused feature at radio stations. The voice of the host, music, promos and pretty much everything you hear on the radio is heavily compressed. The reason for this is that compression lifts up quite sound and reduces loud sounds to create an almost “flat line” waveform. This was good for radio which can be listened to on the move, in noisy workplaces and as background noise.
Podcasts are almost always consumed directly into an ear using headphones. That means you don’t want to go nuts with compression otherwise you’ll end up giving your listener a headache!
With that said it is good to add some light compression to your audio.
Access compression from Window > Effects Rack and select the white triangle by effect 1 then choose Amplitude and Compression > Dynamics Processing…
You can create your own preset for compression. I usually start with the Boomy Kick preset and alter the compression settings from there under the Settings tab.
You’ve got Look-Ahead Time which is how far you want the compressor to work in advance to level out your audio. Attack will determine how quickly the compressor kicks in and Release decides how soon the audio should return back to a pre-compression level. You’ll also want to reduce the Output Gain level by 3-6 dB to make sure your new compression effect does not end up distorting your audio.
Learn More Adobe Audition
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to make your podcast sound better. If you’d like to learn more check out my YouTube channel containing hundreds of free Adobe Audition video tutorials at https://www.youtube.com/musicradiocreative
Update October 2020
Watch Mike’s latest video on how to make your voice sound better here.
