If you want to create a professional voice for podcasts, videos, or other media, you can use a number of tools in Audacity,. free and open source audio software. In this tutorial, I’ll explain the steps you can take in Audacity to get the perfect professional voice.
I will also give some general advice on choosing a microphone and other equipment. Generally speaking, you’ll need to invest between $ 80 and $ 150 to get a microphone good enough for professional-style voice recording.
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If you already have audio equipment, skip the first section. After that, follow each step carefully to get the best quality results.
Selecting audio equipment for professional voice
Choose audio equipment for a professional sound
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There are dozens of great microphones available, but for budget options I would suggest getting the $ 50 Blue Snowball Ice condenser microphone, the $ 70 MXL Mics 770 cardioid condenser microphone for $ 70, or the $ 120 Blue Yeti
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Once you have chosen a microphone, you should also purchase a microphone stand. You can attach it to a table and make sure the microphone is right in front of your mouth while recording. They can be purchased on Amazon for between $ 20 and $ 50.
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Then don’t forget to get a pop filter – you can put it in front of the microphone to remove popping sounds when you speak. This can cut out harsh noises from the letters Ps, Bs, or other highly successful letters. Pop Filters can be purchased on Amazon for less than $ 10.
Once you have your gear, you can move on to the steps below to start creating a professional-sounding voice in Audacity
How to improve the quality of voice recording in Audacity
How to improve audio recording quality in Audacity
Before we start, you need to record your voice. There are several important steps you must follow when recording voice to improve the quality. If you don’t follow these steps, it will be difficult to improve your voice recording with the software.
First, make sure background noise is kept to a minimum. Sometimes it can be difficult to reduce every noise – you can remove very small background noises from, for example, your PC. However, try turning off appliances such as table fans or air conditioning while recording.
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After you’ve reduced the sound, it’s time to record your voice. I personally found that Windows 10 Voice Recorder app works great. Find “Voice Recorder” in the “Start” menu and click on the option that appears.
With the recorder open, it’s time to start recording. Press the microphone button to start recording. A picture appears to show that the sound is being picked up. Click the stop button to end recording. You can also pause if needed, but it’s easier for me to fix the bugs later in my video editing software.
Observe a 30 second silence period before each recording. This way you can match the sound profile of your surroundings and use Audacity to reduce it.
When you are finished recording, right-click the recording in the recorder and select Open File Location. You will need this location for the next step in Audacity
Download Audacity if you haven’t already. Once downloaded, install and open it.
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Click File> Import> Audio. Then go to the folder where your recording was saved and double-click it.
We will now follow these steps to accomplish the following tasks:
- Remove background noise.
- Align your voice for better sound.
- Use a compressor to reduce the dynamic range of your voice.
- Boost your voice to adjust after using the compressor.
- To remove background noise, click and drag the silence area that you recorded at the beginning of the voice recording. It will be highlighted when you drag it.
- Then click Effect> Noise Reduction.
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- In the Noise Reduction window, click Get Noise Profile. The window will close. Now press Ctrl + A to select the entire voice recording.
- Click Effect> Noise Reduction again. This time click OK to apply noise reduction based on the noise profile you just obtained.
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- After that press Ctrl + A to select the entire voice recording again. Click Effect> Alignment. You can click to add dots on the equalizer graph.
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- Add two dots at the lower end (left) at about 75Hz and 120Hz. Then drag the 75 Hz point to about the 4 dB mark.
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- Add two dots at the top end (right) at about 2500 Hz and 3000 Hz. Then drag the 3000 Hz dot by about 6 dB. You can click the preview button to preview the recording and make the necessary changes, but it should sound better already.
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- After following these steps, click Effect
- Next, we will use the compressor effect to lower the higher decibel areas and raise the lower decibel areas. Click Effect
- Next, we will use the compressor effect to lower the higher decibel areas and raise the lower decibel areas. Click Effect
- Threshold: -30 dB
- Noise level: -50 dB
- Ratio: 5: 1
- Attack time: 0.10 sec.
- Release time: 1.0 sec.
- 0dB teak enhancement after compression
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- Finally, click the “Gain Effect” again. This time, set the gain level (dB) to -2.8, then click OK.
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- You can now play the sound. You should hear a significant improvement in the default sound. To save the recording in MP3 format, click File
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