How To Get Great Sound Quality For Your Podcast On A Budget
From essential equipment to zero-cost hacks, we share how to achieve better sound quality for your podcast on a budget.
Even if you have an amazing idea for a podcast, poor sound quality could be enough to make listeners switch off. But that doesn’t mean you need to invest thousands in your podcast setup to see success.
From knowing what’s essential (and what isn’t) to learning zero-cost hacks, we outline how you can achieve great podcast sound quality, even on a tight budget.
Essentials vs. extras
If you’re working with a small budget, you’ll need a good understanding of what’s essential to achieving good sound quality, and what isn’t. According to the pros, here is the list of necessary equipment for recording a podcast with good-quality sound:
- Podcast microphone
- Pop filter
- Audio editing software
- Headphones/earphones
- Computer
Assuming you already have a computer or laptop and earphones, these essentials shouldn’t cost you more than £200. You can reduce this price even further if you buy your equipment secondhand.
Extras
If you find you have some budget left over after purchasing the essentials, you might look at getting extra equipment. While this gear isn’t essential to achieving good sound quality, it can give you more control:
- Over-the-ear studio headphones
- Audio interface
Essential equipment recommendations
Good-quality podcast microphone
Your choice of microphone will have the biggest impact on your podcast’s sound quality, making it the most essential piece of equipment. For this reason, we recommend investing in a good-quality podcast microphone, even if it means not spending money on anything else.
That said, a decent podcast microphone doesn’t have to break the bank – you can pick up a quality USB microphone for under £100. Plus, it’ll be even cheaper if you can get one secondhand.
Expert product recommendation:
The RØDE PodMic is a dynamic USB microphone with excellent reviews. It comes recommended by many seasoned podcasters as a great start-up/budget microphone, with a price point under £100. Its built-in pop filter also makes it perfect for those who want to achieve great sound quality without investing in a lot of equipment. It also offers dual connectivity (USB/XLR), giving you the option to plug it into an audio interface.
Dynamic vs. condenser mics – which is best for podcasting on a budget?
The main difference between dynamic and condenser microphones is the amount of sound detail they pick up.
Dynamic microphones are very forgiving when it comes to background noise. On the other hand, condenser mics pick up everything for greater audio detail and therefore require some acoustic treatment for your recording space. For this reason, Dynamic microphones are more suitable for podcasters with a lower budget or makeshift home studio.
Using a built-in phone or laptop microphone
Some people would argue that you can start a podcast using just your phone or laptop microphone. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
You only get one chance to make a first impression with your listeners, and bad sound quality could be an instant turn-off. As this article is all about achieving great sound quality, we don’t recommend using your built-in phone or laptop mic to record your podcast.
Don’t cheap out on your microphone
There are pieces of equipment on this list where even the cheapest of options will do a decent job, but this isn’t the case for your microphone. In most cases, you’re better off recording with your built-in phone or laptop mic than buying a very cheap microphone. If in doubt, search for reviews of the model on forums like Reddit before making a purchase.
Pop filter
Unless you’re hosting an ASMR podcast, you’ll need a pop filter to reduce the plosive sounds you’ll make while speaking.
Plosive sounds are produced when you pronounce hard consonants like ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘t’ and ‘k’. Without a pop filter, the bursts of air produced through these sounds are picked up by the microphone and sound very noisy. A pop filter diffuses these bursts of air before they reach the mic, dampening the noise for smoother sound quality.
Expert product recommendation:
Budget podcasters will be pleased to know that a good pop filter won’t break the bank. In fact, seasoned podcasters would argue that there’s barely any difference between cheap and expensive models. For that reason, we recommend InnoGear’s Microphone Pop Filter, which costs just £10.99 and can be easily clamped onto your microphone or podcast setup.
High-quality over-ear headphones
A good pair of over-ear headphones is one of the most important pieces of equipment for editing and producing your podcast. You should look out for headphones that have a close to flat frequency response. This essentially means that the audio signal going into the headphones matches the signal coming out as closely as possible.
Expert product recommendation:
Across the board, podcasters love the Sony MDR7506 Professional Headphones. They’re the industry standard and have been repeatedly ranked as one of the top monitoring headphones for over 30 years! While the headphones will set you back £85, they’re great value for money and are still considerably cheaper than competitor models.
Using standard headphones or earbuds
It is possible to edit your audio using regular headphones or even wireless earbuds – just keep in mind that you may not be getting the truest representation of the sound. That said, as long as your existing headphones offer good sound quality, they should do the job until you feel ready to invest in a more professional pair.
Do I need an audio interface?
To work out whether you need an audio interface, let’s first cover what they actually do. An audio interface takes analogue signals from two separate mics and mixes them together before sending them to your computer. This makes them an essential piece of equipment for those who want to host podcasts with more than one person in the room.
Audio interfaces also open the door to using professional microphones, so they’re something you might want to consider if you’re interested in exploring sound design or sound engineering.
That said, an audio interface won’t be necessary for majority of budget podcasters or anyone else who hosts their podcasts solo. USB microphones already have an audio interface built-in, which works perfectly when only one person in the room is being recorded.
Expert product recommendation:
If you plan on hosting a podcast with more than one person in the room, you will need an audio interface. Priced at around £80, the Behringer UMC202HD is a great entry-level audio interface with 2 XLR/TRS inputs to achieve amazing sound quality when you’re hosting guests.
Editing software
The editing process is just as important for achieving great sound quality as the recording itself, helping you improve the audio through things like:
- Noise reduction
- Volume control
- Cutting
- Adding effects
The good news is that there are lots of editing software options to choose from. Some are free, some are affordably priced, and those with more advanced capabilities are more expensive.
Beginner, hobbyist, and budget podcasters will find the most value in the free or lower-priced editing software, so we’ve listed our top two recommendations below:
Audacity (Free)
Audacity has been around since the year 2000 – its longevity proving its unwavering popularity over 2 the past two decades. The software is completely free to download and offers all the basic tools you need to edit, normalise, and compress your podcast.
One of the downsides of Audacity is that it’s a destructive editor. That means if you cut a section of your audio file and follow that up with other actions, you can’t retrieve the deleted part without also undoing everything else you did. This could prove very frustrating, especially if you’re working on long or complex audio files that require a lot of cutting down.
That said, Audacity is a still fantastic option for beginners, editing short or simple episodes, and for podcasters on a budget. It’s the most accessible audio editing software out there, with plenty of podcast editing tutorials available on YouTube to help you get started.
Reaper ($60 One-Off Fee)
Reaper is one of the most popular podcast editing tools and comes highly recommended by lots of seasoned podcasters. It’s visually appealing, relatively easy to use, and great value for the power it offers. Aside from the basic podcasting editing tools you’d expect, Reaper offers tons of extra features and effects (with more effects available through plugins).
Perhaps the biggest advantage Reaper has over Audacity is that it’s a non-destructive editor. This means you can add and remove effects freely without changing the audio clips at source, making it much less risky for editing large or complex files.
Although there is a slight learning curve when you start using Reaper, many podcasters say it’s absolutely worth the switch. The best thing is you can try Reaper risk-free with a 60-day free trial.
Tips for achieving better sound quality on a budget
Buy your equipment secondhand
Just because you’re working with a budget doesn’t mean you should avoid buying high quality equipment. You can check eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Reverb for used equipment that’s still in perfect working condition. Even better, you should be able to sell the equipment for a similar price you paid for it, making it less risky than buying new gear.
You don’t have to buy everything at once
Don’t worry if your budget isn’t big enough to purchase everything we’ve mentioned in this article. Most people acquire and upgrade their podcast setup over time, rather than all at once. The most important things you need are a microphone, a computer, and editing software, so make these your priority and get everything else when your budget allows.
Reduce echo with soft furnishings
While podcast pros invest in elaborate acoustic treatment for their studios, you can achieve similar results with stuff you already have. Soft furnishings help absorb background noise and reduce tinniness, meaning carpets, curtains, and cushions are a great alternative to expensive wall panelling.
It may not be the ideal recording space, but your bedroom (or even your wardrobe) can provide fantastic acoustic deadening and give your sound quality a huge boost.
Practice speaking into the microphone
Maintaining good microphone technique is trickier than might think and you may need some practice before recording. Here are some tips to follow when speaking into your microphone:
- Maintain a steady distance from the mic – 6-8 inches is usually far enough to avoid distortion and close enough to reduce ambient noise.
- Use a pop filter – or if you don’t have one, tilt the microphone to a 45-degree angle to stop any ‘popping’ sounds hitting the microphone directly.
- Control your breathing – breathe through your nose where you can, and avoid heavy breaths that the microphone could pick up.
- Avoid handling your microphone – holding your microphone in your hand can cause a lot of unwanted noise.
- Speak clearly – avoid speaking too quickly. Enunciate your words and speak at a steady pace without rushing. Asking friends and family for feedback could be helpful too.
- Maintain good posture – good posture can aid your breathing and vocal clarity.
Use a script or Teleprompter app
It may not directly influence sound quality, but using a script or Teleprompter app can reduce pauses and mistakes in your recording, cutting your editing time. Having your script to refer to can also help you feel more confident in your delivery, allowing you to come across as more professional and engaging.
A Teleprompter app can also help you talk more slowly and enunciate your words better through timed scrolling of your script. Before recording, you can try out a few different tempos and see which one sounds most professional.
Record in a consistent environment
Maintaining consistency in your recordings is one of the most important elements of keeping listeners engaged. It also makes for a seamless transition from one episode to the next.
It’s very easy to pick up on sound changes such as background noise and volume, and it’s very hard to not get distracted by those changes.
To keep things seamless and professional, make sure you record in a consistent environment. Here are a few ways to stay consistent:
- Take pictures of your studio and setup to make sure everything’s in the right place.
- Keep your microphone at a consistent distance and angle from where you record.
- If you use Reaper as your audio editing software, save your settings as a preset to apply them to future projects.
- Create a pre-recording checklist – this can include things like closing windows or turning off appliances that might cause background noise.