Audio
Record clear speech with a close microphone, a quiet room, conservative gain, and a simple headphone test.
Viewers will tolerate a soft image longer than they will tolerate muffled, echoing, or distorted speech. Prioritize a quiet room and a close microphone before upgrading the camera.
Choose a small room with soft furnishings when possible. Curtains, rugs, upholstered chairs, and bookshelves reduce reflections. Turn off fans and loud HVAC cycles, close windows, silence notifications, and move away from appliances. Hard, empty rooms create the roomy echo that noise reduction tools often struggle to remove naturally.
- Put the microphone close to the speaker. A dedicated microphone roughly 6–12 inches (15–30 cm) away is a practical starting point.
- Use wired headphones when monitoring or joining a remote session. They prevent the speaker output from feeding back into the microphone.
- Record a 20-second test at the loudest natural speaking level. Listen for clipping, plosives, room echo, keyboard noise, and electrical hum.
- Keep input gain conservative. Speech should be clear without the meter constantly hitting its maximum.
- Speak across a sensitive microphone rather than directly into it if plosives are a problem, or use a pop filter.