So you're getting ready to jump start your first podcast. You have your concepts laid out, guests lined up, and release schedule ready to go, but wait, what are the procedures for recording the podcast? How do you get your podcast to sound professional? We're going to show you our process and workflows for getting this all figured out.
0.5 Booking the studio.
Do you want manage all of the audio yourself? Or do you want to let a professional studio handle the details? While weighing these options, the points below will help give you a better understanding of how the recording process works.
1. Choosing an appropriate room.
Have you ever tried to record something yourself and wonder why you hear so much "echo" and background noise in your recordings? It's probably because the room isn't treated for sound! Everything from the way the room is shaped to the types of materials that make up the room surfaces can affect the overall sound quality and tone. This includes the floor, walls, and ceiling. Lets use the bathroom as an example. Because of a bathroom's small size and the reflective sound of tile flooring, there is a very reverberate (or "echoey" sound). The sound of cement is also very reverberate. Adding a carpet to the floor in your sound room can help to alleviate these issues, as well as adding what we call "adsorption panels" to the walls. Even book cases full of books can absorb the sound that bounces off the walls. Some studios are lined with book cases full of vinyl! Adding these materials to the room can make it sound more tight and controlled. Other common issues that may come up when recording outside of a professional studio are things such as that darn air conditioner, the neighbor yelling, a car driving by and anything else you might tune out in everyday life that the microphone accentuates.
Here at Disher, our rooms are custom built to be acoustically pristine. To prevent sound leakage from adjoining rooms, we have two solid, double doors separating the audio engineer and the client. We use either of our tracking rooms, Studio C or Studio A, based on how many people are present for the recording.
2. Choosing the appropriate microphone
What constitutes a "good" microphone? The most common and widely used microphones in modern recording situations are condenser microphones. These are the types of microphones seen in the picture of studio A above. We typically use high quality condenser microphones here unless a client requests a specific microphone, such as the Electro-Voice RE20, which is also commonly used in broadcast audio and podcasting.
3. Recording the project
When everything is set up and ready to go, the recording engineer will set the mic levels, and monitor the session to make sure that the audio does not clip or distort. It is extremely important to have a knowledgeable engineer as many things can go wrong with microphone signal, level, and the mix board. By managing all of these things, the recording can proceed smoothly and worry-free.
When you come into Disher Sound, you can count on great microphones, purposefully built rooms, and a great engineer to manage your session so that all you have to worry about is performing great content! We can engineer your recording, and edit your podcast as well. Which brings us to point 3.
3. Editing the podcast
Editing the recorded podcast involves taking out the "ums" and "uhs" and removing pauses/ crafting content to create a smooth flow in the conversation throughout the episode. Most if not all podcasts are finely edited to ensure entertainment value and keep the conversation running smoothly.
Here at Disher we fine tune your audio signals using professional studio tools in order to get everything sounding its absolute best. We're extremely passionate about your content, and we feel it deserves the highest quality of attention.
If you have further questions about podcasting, you can send us an email at info@dishersound.com.
-Matt