Getting into podcasting? Here's your handy tech setup guide

Podcast getup guide: What is an EQ, Compressor, Noise Gate and De-Esser?

If you're starting out with a new podcast, looking to increase the quality of your existing show, or even work as a freelance audio editor, then here's your handy guide for the best tech in audio podcasting:

Having a good condenser microphone to record podcasts does only about 50% of the job in getting quality sounding audio. The other 50% comes from how you process that audio afterwards. And that processing comes from 4 key elements: EQ, Compression, Noise Gate and De-Esser.

As podcasting remains a powerful marketing tool, here, Ryan Davies of RCD Audio explains what each of those 4 elements do to your audio and how they work on a basic level. First off:

What is "EQ"?

EQ'ing your vocals will make a massive difference to the tone of your voice. If you've ever listened to a podcast where the volume is turned up and the sound is loud but you still can't clearly hear the words being spoken, then the chances are there is an issue with the EQ.

EQ is often referred to as either a number (i.e. something between 0 and 20000hz) or on a much simpler level as bass, middle and treble. Bass will give your voice fullness and depth or too much and it will sound muddy. Middle is very important as this is predominantly where the human voice mostly sits - It will either bring forward the voice or if there isn't enough the voice will sound 'scooped' and far away. Treble adds clarity but too much and it adds harshness.

What is "compression"?

Compression will help maintain consistent volume levels. On a basic level it can make the quiet sections louder and the louder sections quieter, meaning if someone whispers you should still hear what they say as clearly as if they were to shout it. Compression is a vital ingredient and will instantly give your podcast a more professional radio-like sound.

What is a "gate" or "noise gate"?

When a microphone is on it is constantly working and picking up hums, pops and background noise. A noise gate will turn off your microphone when the sound goes below a certain threshold. In other words, the gate only opens when it is pushed! This means that your audio will be nice and clean when someone isn't talking.

What is a "de-esser"?

Sibilance is the "Sss'' or "sh" sound we hear when we say words with an "s" in them. These "s" sounds actually spike in loudness when we say them and so they can hurt our ears a bit. We use words like "harshness" if we hear them on audio. If you are listening to a podcast and turn it up to hear it better you might often complain that something is "piercing" your ears - this is sibilance and it can ruin audio.

On a simple level you can use an EQ tool to remove a lot of sibilance, either by turning down the treble or by reducing the frequencies around 7000 to 12000hz. However you will probably find that in doing this you will remove a lot of nice frequencies that are adding clarity. That's where a de-esser can help. A de-esser is essentially a specific compressor that focuses on those higher frequencies, ensuring that they don't peak too high.

A slight word of warning: a de-esser sometimes takes a little while to configure your voice. You may find at first that in maximising the de-esser effect it changes the tonality of your voice - some people say it can sound like it has added a lisp to your voice. Take your time and play with the threshold and settings until you have it just right, and you'll be glad you did.

Whether you're just using your phone's microphone or a more costly condenser microphone the elements above are still really important. And in fact, many people can get decent quality audio from a phone's microphone using the above tools afterwards. So if you can, spend a little time getting to know those tools. These tools are often built into podcast or audio editing software as plugins. In the old days (before podcasts!) we used big hardware units to do these jobs. Now thankfully, it's a lot easier on both our brains and bank balance!

This post was written by Ryan Davies an Audio Engineer at rcdaudio.co.uk who specialises in helping independent artists, bands & podcasters get a professional sound from their audio without breaking the bank.