So glad you asked! Our friend Tom Kelly from Clean Cut Audio has written an extensive article about why sound matters, highlighting a study from the University of Southern California with evidence to prove it.

A natural conversation flow, free from distractions and unwanted sounds, with properly tuned EQ, compression and levels transforms audio from amateur level to broadcast quality. Let us help you sound professional and concise!

It starts with the room you’re in. It should have little to no echo or ambient reverberation. Smaller rooms with carpeted floors and plush furniture work best. Large glass windows and other hard surfaces should be minimized as much as possible. Close any curtains and use blankets or textiles to help absorb echo and reverb. And of course your recording environment should be as silent as possible. Close windows and doors, turn off any fans, the ringer on your phone, the tv etc. Anything that makes any noise at all should be removed or turned off. If you can hear any noise outside such as lawn mowers or other neighborhood sounds, choose a recording time when these sounds are minimal.

Use the best quality mic and headphones you have access to.

You’ll need to record yourself locally (Garageband is a popular choice) or via a podcast recording service such as Riverside.fm or Squadcast.fm.

We’re happy to recommend equipment for any budget. Contact us to learn more!

We edit both content and sound.

For content, this includes removing excessive umm’s and ahh’s, awkward pauses, restarts and so on. We don’t necessarily remove all of them, but enough to maintain a natural sounding conversational flow.

For sound, some editors deceptively just use generic online automated mastering services. We don’t do this. With us you get our full human attention and treatment of YOUR audio. This includes removal or reduction of background hum, hiss or other unwanted sounds, mouth clicks, room reverb, plosives and so on. We then apply equalization and compression to produce a consistent and intelligible sound that is pleasing to the ear. Finally we set the overall loudness level to the industry standard of -16LUFS.

Finally, please be aware that not all audio problems can be fixed with post-production software. Or some problems can be partially fixed but may cause a noticeable degradation in the sound. If we encounter a situation like this we will offer suggestions on how to prevent future occurrences at recording time.

We use Descript, Audacity, RX Advanced and Logic Pro. We use plugins from Izotope such as Nectar, Ozone, Insight and several RX modules for cleaning up unwanted noises. We also use Waves Vocal Rider to help keep levels consistent and sometimes Soothe2 from Oeksound to smooth out harsh harmonics. We also use Sonarworks to get a true flat response curve from our Sennheiser HD660s headphones.

We’re a small shop, so we can set up a schedule that gives us the lead time we need for editing that also works with your publishing objectives.

We use Dropbox and we’ll provide you with a folder to save your audio files within. We can also retrieve files from other services that you may be using, such as Google Drive; just let us know.

All prices are in USD.

US clients can use bank transfers, Apple Pay and all major credit cards.

Canadian clients can use Interac e-transfer, PayPal, Apple Pay and all major credit cards. We use the mid-market rate to convert to CAD on your invoice.

Payment is due within 10 business days of when we send your invoice. All sales are final.

We can do one or a few episodes at a time to suit your needs. Just request a quote for your custom project.