How to Improve Audio Quality: 12 Tips That Actually Work

Key takeaways

• Using a good microphone in a soundproof, acoustically treated room is the single biggest gain for recording clear audio.
• Record locally to prevent internet connection issues from harming audio quality.
• Record in WAV to preserve audio detail for editing.
• Editing can improve a bad recording, but not rebuild it.

Bad audio quality can make people trust you less and listen for less time.

Fixing bad audio starts before hitting record. The key is an optimal recording environment and a high-quality microphone. Editing can improve a bad recording, but rebuilding it fully is often difficult, if not impossible.

As a podcaster with 15+ years of experience, here is my guide on how to improve audio quality. This guide covers 12 tips on your recording environment and gear, mic techniques, and best recording settings and practices.

12 tips to improve audio quality

1. Soundproof your room

When setting up a home studio, soundproof the room to keep outside noise, like footsteps and traffic, from reaching your microphone. Sound travels through air and passes through thin surfaces, so seal gaps and add mass wherever you can.

Start with your door and fit a perimeter seal around the frame and along the bottom. 

If you've got a hollow door like mine, hang a sound blanket in front of it. I mounted mine on a swivel arm because the blanket was too heavy for the door to hold. Now I close the door, swing the blanket across, and it cuts the noise coming from the rest of the house.

To add mass, put up a second layer of drywall or install mass-loaded vinyl over thin walls and windows.

If renovating your space isn’t an option, consider recording in a quieter, more isolated environment. An interior room away from exterior walls and the street will likely give you cleaner sound and less to fix afterward.

2. Treat your room to minimize echo

Treat your room to minimize echo, which happens when your voice bounces off hard surfaces and back into your microphone, making you sound hollower and boxier than you should.

Acoustic treatment methods include installing acoustic panels or foam tiles on the walls in front of and behind where you’ll be speaking, and placing bass traps in your room’s corners. You can also bring in soft furnishings, like a sofa, thick curtains, carpets, and rugs, which will help absorb reflections.

If you can’t do any of these, try recording in your clothes-filled bedroom closet. I’ve tested this myself, and my clothes worked well to reduce echo. See for yourself in this video:

3. Invest in a good microphone and mic stand

Invest in a good microphone to capture more of your voice and less room noise.

You might be tempted to use the microphone built into your laptop, phone, or iPad. But it sits too far from your mouth for a clear recording, and it picks up sound from every direction. Built-in mics also run automatic noise suppression and gain adjustment you can't switch off.

There is a wide range of podcast microphones available, from USB microphones to professional XLR ones. If you’re just starting out, I suggest using a USB microphone like the Samson Q2U or the Rode PodMic USB, which plugs right into your computer without a separate audio interface. They also have a cardioid polar pattern that focuses on picking up sound from the front, where your mouth is.

Holding your microphone for long periods can lead to uneven levels and occasional drops, so get a stand or boom arm to mount it on. Attach a shock mount to the stand as well, to minimize vibrations entering your recording.

4. Wear headphones

You and your guests should wear headphones so your microphone doesn't pick up sound coming from the speakers, causing feedback or echo. Monitoring through headphones also lets you adjust your volume and mic angle as you go along.

Make sure your headphones are closed-back rather than open-back. Closed-back headphones minimize sound leakage from the ear cups, which your microphone may pick up.

I also suggest wearing headphones while editing your recording, too. This way, you’ll be able to hear small audio issues that need adjusting, like breaths and background noise, which may be inaudible on speakers.

Check out our guide to podcast headphones to learn the best headphone models on the market. 

5. Use a pop filter

Use a pop filter to stop plosives, which are the harsh popping sounds that hit your microphone whenever you say words starting with hard consonants, like “p” and “b.” Saying these letters generates a burst of air, and when this air hits your microphone, it registers as a low thump in your recording.

Pop filters are disc-shaped screens that sit a few inches in front of your microphone. They have a mesh that breaks up the bursts of air from plosives before they reach your mic, without affecting how your voice sounds.

Pop filters are generally inexpensive and cost as little as $10. If you don’t have one yet, putting a (clean) sock over your microphone works as a quick hack. Here’s how I sound before and after using one:

6. Position your microphone correctly

Position your microphone about 4–6 inches away from your mouth to record your speech clearly. If you’re too far from your mic, your voice can come across as faint, and what you say may not be captured clearly in your recording. Too close, and you can sound distorted.

Once you’ve found the ideal microphone distance, don’t drift out of it as you talk. Leaning forward or back in your chair too much during recording will cause the mic to pick up more and less of your voice, respectively. As a result, you’ll need to do more editing to even out your levels.

Also, if you aren’t using a pop filter, angle your microphone about 45 degrees away from your mouth. This way, plosives are less likely to hit your mic directly and introduce distracting breath sounds to your recording.

7. Add the right amount of microphone gain

Add the right amount of microphone gain so your levels sit in a healthy range without hitting the top of the meter. Gain is the amount of amplification added to a microphone’s signal, and too much or too little of it can cause you to sound distorted or too quiet in the recording.

To find a suitable gain, talk into your microphone at the volume you’ll speak at while recording. As you do this, use your microphone, recording interface, or computer sound settings to raise your gain starting from the lowest setting.

Keep increasing the gain until your levels peak at about -12 to -6 dB, which gives you some headroom in case you laugh loudly or raise your voice.

If you’re recording with Riverside, you can check each speaker’s levels in the studio by clicking “People” in the right sidebar and looking at the mic level indicator under their name:

Riverside’s mic level indicator uses colors to represent volume, with green levels being healthy. If anyone’s levels are turning yellow or red too often, they should lower their gain.

8. Speak with good diction

When recording, pronounce your words well, and try to keep your pacing and volume consistent. Doing this will give others a more pleasant listening experience. Avoid whispering or muttering.

Listen to a recording of yourself speaking to identify areas for improvement. For example, you might find you rush through certain words or say them much louder than others. Alternatively, you may realize you tend to speak too softly in places.

Analyzing how you speak can feel awkward, but you’ll get valuable learning points for sounding clearer in future recordings.

9. Use quality recording software

Use quality recording software that can capture crystal-clear audio, so you reduce the amount of editing you need to do to improve audio quality later on.

There are some great recording platforms out there, which we cover in our guide to the best audio recording software. Riverside is one of them, offering features like:

• Audio recording at a sample rate of 48 kHz and a bit depth of 16, for a bitrate of 1,536 kbps.
• Local recording to each speaker’s device to maintain quality even if anyone’s internet connection is poor.
• Recording dedicated tracks for each speaker, making it easier to edit each person’s speech separately later on.
• Audio exports in compressed MP3 or uncompressed WAV formats.
• Host controls for adjusting guests’ audio settings.

10. Record locally

Use local recording software so your audio quality doesn't depend on anyone's Wi-Fi. Local recording (also known as double-ender recording) captures each speaker on their own device instead of streaming over the internet, so a slow or dropped connection won't degrade the file. 

For example, Riverside records all tracks locally, but uploads those files to the cloud in the background while you record. You get local quality without waiting on a large transfer at the end, and your audio is safe if someone's browser crashes mid-session.

In contrast, some recording software options record to the cloud. You can still save the recorded tracks to your local device later on, but connection issues during the recording session may have already compromised their quality.

11. Record and edit uncompressed audio

Record and edit in an uncompressed audio format like WAV, which retains all original audio data. This way, you get a higher-quality final product than recording and editing in MP3, a lossy format that discards data from recordings to reduce file size.

Riverside records each speaker as separate WAV files and lets you export edited recordings in WAV or MP3 format. Exporting in WAV is useful for sharing high-quality edits with team members for feedback.

Once everyone is happy with the edit, export it as an MP3 file. Its smaller file size means it’ll upload faster. It’ll also stream more smoothly for listeners, who might not notice quality issues through their earbuds or car speakers.

Read more: For more information, check out our article comparing WAV vs MP3 file formats.

12. Record room tone

Record room tone, which is the ambient background noise in your recording space when no one is speaking or moving. This noise comes from sources like your air conditioner and electronics.

Beginners often skip recording room tone, but having a clip of it gives you filler for patching over distorted audio, a cough, or a cut segment. Otherwise, replacing these audio sections with complete silence can sound unnaturally quiet and jarring to listeners.

To record room tone, set up your microphone as usual. Then, record about 30 seconds of general sounds in the space before you start your actual recording. That’s it. Don’t talk or move anything while recording to keep your sample clean.

If you forget to record room tone, you can still get a clip by recreating your setup afterward. But your room tone sample may not blend perfectly if your room sounds different now.

How to fix bad audio

If your audio sounds bad due to background noise, echo, or uneven volume, here’s how to fix the issue with editing software:

Background noise

Background noise is any kind of sound in your recording that distracts listeners from your speech. It includes hums from electronic equipment, the sounds of other people having a conversation nearby, and traffic noise.

Here’s how to reduce background noise if you’re editing in Riverside, Audacity, or Adobe Premiere:

Reducing background noise in Riverside

If you’re editing in Riverside, you can remove steady background noise (like electronic hums or air conditioner sounds) from a clip just before exporting it. Navigate to your clip in your projects, and then click “Share” > “Export.”

Enable the “Remove background noise” toggle. Then, export your clip as usual.

Alternatively, you can activate the editor’s Magic Audio feature. This uses AI to filter out all kinds of background noise (including transient ones, like bursts of static) and enhance your speech, among other audio improvements.

I recorded this video to show how I sound in noisy environments before and after using Magic Audio to clean up my recording:

Reducing background noise in Audacity

To remove background noise in Audacity, highlight a section of audio that contains ambient noise. Select “Effect” > “Noise Removal and Repair” > “Noise Reduction” > “Get Noise Profile” to tell Audacity this is the sound of noise you want to remove.

Then, highlight the entire audio recording from which you want to remove noise. Select “Effect” > “Noise Removal and Repair” > “Noise Reduction.”

Adjust the noise reduction parameters to your liking and click “OK.”

Reducing background noise in Adobe Premiere

To remove background noise in Adobe Premiere, select “Window” > “Essential Sound” to open the Essential Sound panel.

Click your audio clip in the timeline. Then, tag the clip with “Dialogue” in the Essential Sound panel.

Click the “Repair” dropdown menu to reveal its settings. Enable the “Reduce Noise” toggle, and drag the slider left and right until noise is removed from your clip without compromising your speech.

Echo

Echo, or reverb, is a sound that bounces off a hard surface and reflects back into your microphone. It’s present in your recording when you hear your words repeat themselves slightly after you say them.

Here’s how to reduce echo if you’re editing in Riverside or Adobe Premiere:

Reducing echo in Riverside

To reduce echo in Riverside, turn on our echo cancellation feature before you record. In the recording studio, click “People” in the right sidebar, followed by the dropdown icon next to a speaker’s name.

Next, enable the “Echo Cancellation” toggle.

Reducing echo in Adobe Premiere

To reduce echo in Adobe Premiere, select “Window” > “Essential Sound” to open the Essential Sound panel.

Click your audio clip in the timeline. Then, tag the clip with “Dialogue” in the Essential Sound panel.

Click the “Repair” dropdown menu to reveal its settings. Enable the “Reduce Reverb” toggle, and then drag the slider left and right until echo is removed from your clip without compromising your speech.

Uneven volume

Uneven volume can happen when one speaker is noticeably louder than others, among other situations. It forces listeners to keep reaching for their volume control and is a quick way of losing them.

One solution for fixing uneven volume is to normalize your audio, which raises or lowers each clip’s audio by a fixed amount until it reaches a target level. This level could be around a loudness of -23 LUFS or a peak level of -3 dB, depending on your editing software’s normalization settings, so you have headroom for adding music later.

Here’s how to normalize audio if you’re editing in Riverside, Audacity, or Adobe Premiere:

Fixing uneven volume in Riverside

If you’re editing in Riverside, you can normalize your clip’s audio just before exporting it.

Navigate to your clip in your projects, and then click “Share” > “Export.”

Enable the “Normalize audio levels” toggle. Then, export your clip as usual. In the process, Riverside will normalize its audio to -23 LUFS.

And just like the above fixes, Magic Audio can normalize audio as well.

Fixing uneven volume in Audacity

To fix uneven volume in Audacity, highlight a section of audio that needs fixing. Select “Effect” > “Volume and Compression” > “Normalize.”

Adjust the normalization setting to around -3 dB and click “OK.”

Fixing uneven volume in Adobe Premiere

To fix uneven volume in Adobe Premiere, right-click one or more audio clips in the timeline > “Audio Gain.”

If you’ve selected one clip, choose “Normalize Max Peak to:”.

If you’ve selected multiple clips, choose “Normalize Max Peak to:” to raise each clip by the same amount, which keeps quieter speakers quieter and maintains the balance between them.

Alternatively, choose “Normalize All Peaks to:” to individually increase each clip up to the target, and even out speakers recorded at different levels.

Adjust the normalization setting to around -3 dB and click “OK.”

AI audio enhancement

Using editing tools with built-in AI audio enhancement features, like Riverside, Auphonic, and Adobe Podcast, can speed up your efforts to improve audio quality.

For example, Riverside’s AI-powered Magic Audio feature removes background noise and echo, fixes uneven volume levels, and improves speech clarity, with just one click. 

Using it is easy: open your recording in the editor and click “AI tools” in the right sidebar. Next, enable the “Magic Audio” toggle.

Then, use the slider under each speaker to adjust the enhancement’s intensity until their track blends well with the overall recording.

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FAQs

Can audio quality be improved?

Yes, audio quality can be improved by taking steps like soundproofing your room, investing in a good microphone, and speaking with good diction to capture a clean sound. If you discover quality issues with your recording afterward, like background noise, echo, or uneven volume, your editing software may offer tools for fixing them.

How do I fix bad audio quality?

To fix bad audio quality, use your editing software's built-in repair tools. Audacity has Noise Reduction, Adobe Premiere has the Essential Sound panel, and Riverside's Magic Audio uses AI to handle background noise, echo, and uneven volume in one pass.

How do I make my recorded audio sound clear?

To make your recorded audio sound clear, start by building a conducive recording setup. Soundproof and apply acoustic treatment to your room to minimize outdoor noise and echo. Next, invest in good recording gear, like a quality microphone, and speak with clear diction while recording. Finally, use recording software that records in WAV format to retain all original audio data.

What is the best audio enhancer?

The best audio enhancers include Riverside, Auphonic, and Adobe Podcast. They enhance your audio by removing background noise, reducing echo, and balancing uneven volume, in just one click.

Is MP3 or WAV better?

Whether MP3 or WAV is better depends on your stage of production. Use WAV when recording and editing, because it’s an uncompressed format that retains all original audio data, giving you higher-quality tracks to work with. In contrast, MP3 is a compressed format that discards data to reduce file size. So, using it is best when you’ve finished editing your recording and want to export it for distribution.