Creating Studio-Quality Sound at Home

You can record studio-quality podcast audio from your home without professional equipment. This episode shares practical tips for eliminating reverb and creating an optimal recording environment.

• Check out this article at Aqousticfreq.com for DIY acoustic panels that can be made with mineral wool or fiberglass wrapped in breathable fabric.
• You can find all of the links to the soundproofing materials we use for our Buzzsprout Studio in this blog post!
• Buzzsprout's Magic Mastering can help enhance recordings in less-than-ideal conditions, check out this episode of Podcasting Q&A for more details, Level Up Your Audio with Magic Mastering.

If you have questions about setting up your home recording space, email us at support@buzzsprout.com. 

Keep podcasting!

Transcript

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Introduction to Home Recording

Cara Pacetti 0:00

Welcome to Podcasting Q&A brought to you by the people at Buzzsprout . I'm your host , cara Passetti , and I'm bringing you the best tips and strategies to keep you podcasting with confidence . Today we're answering the question how can I have studio quality audio from home without a professional recording space ? I want to encourage you . It is absolutely possible to record a great sounding podcast from your home . Many podcasters do it . It takes a little bit of work up front , but I'm going to go through some tips in this episode to help you get set up , and I'm going to explain one of the telling signs that will allow your listeners to know you are not in a studio and how to avoid it .

Understanding Reverb and Its Impact

Cara Pacetti 0:46

One of the most apparent indicators of a subpar podcast is a roomy , reverberant sound . This effect is called reverb . So I want to start off . What's reverb ? Simply put , reverb is a sound reflecting off of a surface . Think about those old cartoons when you see a character walk into the Grand Canyon and they scream hello , hello , hello . That is reverb , also known as an echo . What's fascinating about the way our brains work is when your brain hears reverb and they hear that tail end of what you're saying , dragging on and on . It actually tells us how big of a space you are speaking in . So the brain hears the echo and recognizes oh , that is a very large empty void . While that is a fascinating brain fact , that is not great for podcasting , so reverb has got to go . So now that we know what reverb is and why it matters , let's talk about how we can prevent it .

Choosing the Right Recording Space

Cara Pacetti 1:52

First , you'll need to select a room inside of your home that is fairly small . Larger rooms tend to allow for noise to travel and you guessed it bounce off of the surfaces inside of the room , creating that reverberant sound . Think about it this way If you walked into an empty auditorium and recorded your podcast , it would sound very echoey and hollow and your listeners would recognize that you are in a large space . Some of the best rooms to record in inside of your home would be a home office , maybe a smaller spare bedroom . So we want to avoid kitchens , living rooms , anything that is hard to sound , treat and is a very open and large space . Okay , hear me out , this might sound crazy , but another great option for a recording space inside of your home is actually your closet . A closet is a great space because they tend to be fairly small and typically there is a lot of soft surfaces within a closet . You want to make sure it's not an empty closet because if it is , those hard walls will allow the sound to travel and you will almost sound boxed in , so kind of the opposite of that big auditorium feel . So choose a closet that's packed with clothes , snug yourself in there , set up your mic and your headphones and get to work . Pro tip on this if you decide to record inside of your closet , we recommend it being a solo podcast and an audio-only podcast . It might look a little weird if you're trying to fit your guest inside of a small closet and the backdrop might not be the best for video .

Cara Pacetti 3:36

Once you've selected the room you want to record in , the

Sound Treatment Tips and Solutions

Cara Pacetti 3:39

next step is to make sure that room is sound treated . I mentioned in the closet that it's helpful if there's clothes hanging in there , because the soft surfaces help to deaden the sound and cancel out that reverberant noise that we're trying to avoid . Think of it this way when absorptive material is placed between a sound source and a reflective surface like a wall or hard flooring , the sound has to travel through that material , bounce off of the hard surface and travel back through the material in order to make it back to your microphone . So that's what I mean by we are deadening the sound so as soon as it enters your mic , that's where it stops . We don't want it bouncing all over the walls and then bouncing back into your microphone . When listeners are hearing a crisp , cut sound , it's a much better listening experience and your listeners are likely to stay for the entirety of your episode because it's just easy to listen to .

Cara Pacetti 4:39

The best solution for treating an untreated recording space is honestly to fill it with stuff . Start with the stuff that you have around the house . If you have a full bookshelf , if you have furniture , maybe a rug , make sure you add blackout curtains . All of those soft surfaces will help prevent that sound from bouncing back into your microphone . So if you need to take a tip from your kiddos on creating a pillow fort , this is actually where it will really come in handy for setting up your recording studio . If you want to take it a step further and actually create your own acoustic paneling , you can frame fiberglass or mineral wood and wrap it in a breathable fabric . We've seen recommendations of making the size about four by two foot and making sure that the mineral wood or the fiberglass is two inches thick , and then you would put these panels on your wall and again , that will help to absorb that sound . Acousticfreakcom has a great article that actually teaches you how to build your own acoustic panels . If you are interested in that , I'm going to go ahead and link their article in the show notes .

Cara Pacetti 5:52

If what you're working with at home still isn't providing your ideal audio quality and you're just not in the mood or have the time to do a DIY project to create your own , I have some recommendations for a more professional soundproofing option . These include bass traps , pyramid acoustic foam , blackout curtains , and these can range anywhere from about $60 upwards of $200 , depending on how big your space is and how much paneling you will need to treat your entire recording space . We actually use bass traps and pyramid acoustic foam pieces in our recording studio at Buzzsprout . I'm going to link those below . These soundproofing options can be found on Amazon , so they should be really easy to grab when you're ready . So now that you've found the perfect room to record in , you have filled it with all of your stuff in order to treat it for the best audio possible .

Cara Pacetti 6:48

There's one more thing I want you to consider . You will want to make sure the recording studio you've decided to use has the ability to be undisturbed for the duration of

Avoiding Interruptions While Recording

Cara Pacetti 6:58

your recording . Along with treating your room , it's also important to reduce interruptions during your recording sessions . This means you will need to schedule your recording times to avoid interferences . Take into consideration , if you are recording from a front room with a window and the lawn service is scheduled to come at 10 am , you want to make sure that either it is treated enough where you can't hear that outside noise , or that you make your schedule fit around interruptions that could be heard by your listeners . You'll also want to make sure that the door can be locked or that you can put up a sign that says do not disturb recording in process , so that your family members know hey , we can't go in there right now . There's recording going on and you want to avoid interruption . If you are doing a remote recording with a guest , you also can share some of these tips with them . If you get on the video call and you can hear the echo in their sound , or maybe you see that they're in a big , wide , open room say , hey , can you jump off and go log back on from within your closet . That might really help help . They may look at you like you're crazy , but they may be really grateful in the end that their audio quality is matching your level and that you guys both sound super professional .

Cara Pacetti 8:18

In our last episode of Podcasting Q&A , we mentioned a feature that we offer here at Buzzsprout called Magic Mastering . If you are in a pinch and

Final Encouragement and Resources

Cara Pacetti 8:28

you are recording from somewhere that just isn't an ideal studio setup , I recommend giving Magic Mastering a try . I'll link to that episode in the show notes and you can hear a little bit more about how that works . But try to get your recording space as ready as possible and then let us help you with the rest of it by running Magic Mastering on your next upload . I want this episode to encourage you to go ahead and set up that recording space .

Cara Pacetti 8:55

Don't let the idea that , since you don't have a professional studio to go to , that you can't start your podcast . Like I said in the beginning , you absolutely can . You can record an amazing sounding podcast right from your home , and the more work you do in the beginning to set up a great space , the less work you'll have to do in post , and so it will help to reduce the editing . Go ahead and get that studio set up and then you will be good to go .

Cara Pacetti 9:27

If you have any questions about setting up a home recording space and you just want to get our opinion or maybe our recommendation with your specific situation , please reach out to the Podcaster Success Team . You can email us at support at buzzsproutcom and we'd be happy to help you and offer ideas or solutions to get you set up with a great studio so that you can go ahead and start recording your episodes . If you have any questions about your podcast or podcasting in general , click the send us a text link in the show notes . I'd love to feature your question on a future podcasting Q&A episode . Thank you so much for tuning in today and be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week . Have a great week and , as always , keep podcasting .