This episode shows you how to quickly and easily improve the audio quality of your podcast, voiceover, audiobook, videos, and even singing.  And while you can do this like right now - no mater what microphone you have - doing this solves one large problem (audio quality) while creating a few new MINOR issues.  Also, doing this is free! Or at least it CAN be. Especially for short recordings. But if you plan to regularly record like this, you'll want to make some changes. And I lay out the recommended "things" in the episode.  You'll need to learn SOME editing. But you can likely do it with whatever audio recording program you already use. If you DON'T already use recording software (some podcasters record only on web applications), you can do the things I talk about in Audacity, which is free and easy to use.

I spent about a month playing with and testing a different kind of microphone for review. It's called the SP15 binaural microphone by SonicPresence. The purpose of this mic is not to record yourself (typically), but rather to record what YOU are hearing. It records your surroundings in sometimes startlingly accurate surround sound type audio.  The idea is that you would go out to an event, a party, a pub with live music, or just outside in nature. And whoever listens to the audio you recorded will hear what you heard in the way that you heard it. I have several examples in this episode for you to listen to. But make sure you use headphones! If you don't, it might sort of be like trying to watch a 3D movie without the special 3D glasses. I recorded my trip to a pub with live music and lots of people having a good time. I also tested how well the SP15 would pick up stereo music versus mono with a test in my studio with mono and stereo acoustic guitar. And finally, I used it for a selfie video and compared that to the audio quality with just an iPhone and also with a RODE Wireless Go II mic, which is designed for that purpose. I think the SP15 sounded the best of all of those. But you can listen and be the judge. If you want to find out more or buy one from B&H, here are a couple of links (they are affiliate links to help fund this podcast): For the SP15C - for mobile devices - https://homerecording.click/sp15c For the SP15V - for DSLR type cameras or camcorders - https://homerecording.click/sp15v

I spent a couple of weeks really testing out the RODE NT1 5th Generation Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone. There is a lot to love. But I have a few quibbles as well. Unlike previous versions of the well-known NT1, the 5th generation is a "hybrid" mic. That means it is BOTH/EITHER a standard XLR mic OR a USB mic!  Pretty much every quibble I had was with the USB mode, like not having a headphone jack on the mic, and having issues getting Windows 11 to recognize it while also being able to use the RODE Connect software. This podcast episode was primarily about the highlights - how it sounds, and my personal favorite thing about it - 32-Bit Float!  But I do go into more details about my quibbles, plus the use of the on-board effects that you can use in USB mode, controlled by RODE Connect software (free) in the YouTube video I did on the mic, which you can find here: https://youtu.be/tn0IxGA1-XI

I put the  RØDE NT-USB+ USB Microphone through its paces. After all was said and done, I have decided this is my new favorite USB mic. When I recommend a mic to folks who are on a budget (heck, even if you are NOT on a budget), this is the mic I'll recommend. It used to be the Blue Yeti. But that has now been dethroned :-). There are some audio samples in this episode. And it would be best to listen at least to that part with headphones to get the detail. Bottom line - this mic sounds really close to the same quality as mics costing 3 times more. The NT-USB+ goes for $169, BTW.

What is a Click Track? And what is it good for? I explain what it is and give several reasons for using one. I use Reaper, which makes it easy to use a click track and to toggle the metronome off and on.  Reaper also has MIDI capability, so it's easy to just put a basic drum pattern on a track instead of using the official "click track." The result will be the same in that the beats will all fall onto the project tempo grid lines. But it can be easier to feel the rhythm of a song with drums instead of clicky-clacky sounds inherent to a default metronome sound in recording programs. Also, I use single-hit drum samples in this episode. I didn't mention where I got those. I have a virtual instrument (VSTi) called Storm Drum that I bought from Native Instruments years ago. I just loaded that up on a track and used the MIDI editor to trigger those drum sounds.

Reaper has a noise reduction tool, as do all audio editing and recording programs (I'm assuming. I've never seen one without that tool).  HOWEVER, the tool is not called Noise Reduction. Oddly that function is part of a tool/effect called ReaFir. The links I mention in the episode are: For the blog post: https://www.homebrewaudio.com/9603/reafir-madness-hidden-noise-reduction-tool-in-reaper/ For the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HEY9XIYJtGg

You may think it's obvious what "zero" means. It means "nothing," right? Actually, in audio recording, 0dB usually means the exact opposite. I mean, why would the audio world start making intuitive sense now? I explain in the episode.

Last time I recorded my episode with no content editing. So while I did treat it for noise reduction, plosives, and avg volume, I did NOT edit it for content. That means that all of the umms, uhs, ahs, repeats, mistakes, long pauses, even burps in one case (:-P) were left in. This time I took 5 segments from last episode and played them first as they were - no edits. Then I edited them so you could hear the before-and-after.

I wanted to talk a little bit about podcast editing. So I decided NOT to edit myself on this episode :-). I did do some noise reduction, plosive removal and finished volume stuff. But that isn't really the bulk of editing. What really takes the time when editing a podcast is cutting out all of the ummms, ahhhs, ya-knows, and long pauses. Also people tend to repeat themselves a lot, and I (as an editor) usually cut those out as well.  But all that stuff was left in on my recording in this episode because I thought it would help illuminate what editing is by hearing when something isn't. I hope that made sense :-P.

I had the excellent fortune to be able to interview Daniel Rowland, Oscar-winning, Grammy-nominated Engineer/Producer & Head of Strategy & Partnerships at LANDR Audio. He is also a professor at MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) in Nashville. He's worked on projects as varied as Nine Inch Nails, Seal, Meek Mill, Phillip Glass, Gwen Stefani, and The Sandbox (metaverse/game), along with dozens of Disney properties such as Star Wars and Marvel. Daniel is wealth of information on all things audio recording and has some amazing information to share. And LANDR (landr.com) is a service you WILL want to use, not matter what kind of recording you do - music, voiceovers, podcasts - anything. Get your projects mastered by their AI. But then have it distributed to the major streaming platforms. And check out must-have DAW plugins and royalty-free sample packs. If you don't learn something helpful in this episode, it's probably because you didn't listen to it ;-).