Location, Location, Location
Nobody likes noise, unless it’s white noise, and even then, you’d hope it was coming from something other than your T.V. But noise has been public enemy number one for audio engineers since audio could be recorded.
There are classically a few methods of reducing noise in a curative fashion, but, as I’ve been preaching (I guess I’m doing that now), prevention is always better than a cure. With this in mind, be aware of your surroundings before you press that little red button for you next podcast recording.
If you are hosting a conference, see if you can find a location for your panelist or speaker that’s NOT beneath the air conditioning vent. If you are doing a solo thing, try to stay away from your computer fan, open windows or other noise generating machinery. Keeping a close proximity to the microphone will help as well, but don’t forget the potential for clipping at that distance.
A cleaner, less noisy recording will come out sounding infinitely more professional and you will have fewer sonic anomolies if doing any processing to the sound and when you compress your raw sound file to an MP3 or AAC, etc.
August 1st, 2006 at 12:31 pm
[…] In my post Location, location, location, I expounded upon how the environment in which you record can make all the difference to sound quality. Luckily for the individual podcaster, being located in a noisy room doesn’t have to make you cancel your latest show. […]