Author: Chris Curran

I just heard about Krisp and I hope to try it soon. (Available on Mac, Windows and iOS)

FYI, Justin Brown from Primal Video made a really nice video showing how it works and demonstrating how it sounds.

From their website:

• Mute Background Noise During Calls with Krisp App
• Speak Without Noise: With a single button, the background noise going from you to other call participants will be removed.
• Listen Without Noise: With a single button, the background noise coming from the call participants to you will be removed.

Krisp Supports:

• Any device: Microphone, Headset, Speaker
• Over 600 apps: Conferencing, Voice Messaging, Streaming, Recording

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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In my upcoming episode with audio engineer Chris Williams, he told me that this Aquamarine 4 plugin suite was probably his all-time favorite because it sounds so good.

So, after recording with him I downloaded the trial of this plugin suite and Holy Moly I was extremely impressed with the sound quality. It’s been a while since I heard a vintage-gear plugin sound this awesome. Going forward I’ll probably use Aquamarine on my vocal subgroup (so it affects all the voices in each episode).

The Aquamarine 4 suite is made up of:

• Aquamarine 4 (standalone Mastering discrete/optical compressor)
• Aquamarine 4 EQ (standalone Vintage Passive Equalizer)

I believe it normally sells for around €199 Euro, which equates to around $220 USD.

But the best news is that you can try this plugin for free 😉

A bit more info:

It includes a monster compressor that we sampled from one of the most highly regarded – and not exactly cheap – units on the market – featuring a smooth and warm sounding opto comp section and a super punchy, discrete VCA-style dynamic processor which can go from a subtle 1.2:1 ratio – for a gentle dynamic massage – to savage ‘Flood’ limiting, for more creative compression effects.

The discrete VCA section can invariably suit many different scenarios, plus the attack time has been exaggerated to reach almost zero. Aquamarine also features a high-pass filter allowing you to control the compressor’s response to bass frequencies and a mix control which builds on the original unit’s functionality by providing onboard parallel compression.

A ‘BRAND NEW’ VINTAGE PASSIVE EQ FROM THE 1950s: Aquamarine 4 now features an astoundingly precise recreation of an American ultra-rare passive equalizer from the 1950s. And when we say ‘ultra-rare’ we say it for a reason. The owner of this unit, which we sampled in Berlin, explained how only a few of these beasts – possibly less than 5 – can still be found in good working order. We don’t know how the others sound like compared to the one we are bringing you this time and if they present any differences due to component variations or simply due to maintenance. What we know, though, is that the DNA of Aquamarine’s EQ is the exact same one as its hardware counterpart and we like to consider it a tribute to this iconic piece of engineering.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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I’ve heard amazing things about O.C. White’s microphone boom arms.

Their Podcast Pro Boom Arm will be available soon.

The package includes a black mic arm, a table edge c-clamp, and a pre-terminated cable (9” of cable at the front and 6’ at the end) with a male and female XLR connector. Arm holds mics that weigh approximately between 1.4 and 2.5 lb. Just clamp to your table and attach your microphone, and you’re ready to go.

Have you tried their boom arms yet?

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This microphone is coming soon, and it’s already making waves throughout the podcasting world.

It’s a cardioid dynamic microphone with both XLR _and_ USB outputs. The USB signal can be recorded up to 24-bit/96kHz. It also has zero-latency headphone monitoring.

For more details you’re welcome to read Allan Tépper’s article: https://www.provideocoalition.com/samson-launches-q9u-dynamic-hybrid-studio-microphone-at-ces/

Would you like to try this mic?

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Before. Always.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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SoundID is a paradigm shift in sound technology, delivering listeners perfect audio through personalization.

Try to get it asap if you want to try it.

How it works:

SoundID is created in a simple app-based test anyone can take in less than 90 seconds. The technology has three level machine level optimisation based on device calibration, hearing ability and sound preference. SoundID is visualised with a personal and unique pattern that is AI-based representation of the frequency response graph developed as an end result of your test.

Here’s an article with more details.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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In case you ever wanted to make sure your episode notes display properly, James Cridland of Podnews wrote this helpful article: https://podnews.net/article/html-episode-notes-in-podcast-rss

And if you’re not subscribed to the Podnews daily email and/or podcast, it is really great and you’d enjoy it so you may want to subscribe.

Thank you, James!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Auphonic offers a very important and handy dynamic range control which will ensure all your audio is heard above the listeners background noise, and will avoid causing people to turn off your podcast because they can’t hear it well enough. Check out the graph here showing the results of a study which basically discovered at what dynamic range listeners will turn up the volume or turn off the audio, etc. (btw, problems start once the audio gets to around 6dB of dynamic range and above)

Full article: https://auphonic.com/blog/2019/08/19/dynamic-range-processing/

You could use it on full episodes in your final mastering step, and/or on individual tracks before mixing.

In my experience and research, I believe around 4-5 dB of dynamic range is a good average to aim for.

What do you think?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Simply put, if an Umm adds something valuable to the listener’s experience, don’t remove it.

Value could come in the form of:

• Information – sometimes when a guest is pensive and thinking hard about what to say next, you may want to keep that umm in the episode so the listener can feel the guest thinking/struggling, etc.
• Content – Sometimes the word umm can be part of a joke or punchline, so you wouldn’t want to remove it.
• Natural Pacing – if you want the pacing of the guests speech to be slower and true to their actual delivery, you could leave some umms in.

Can you identify other examples when you shouldn’t remove an umm?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Regardless of where you got your show’s theme music from, you may want to EQ that music a bit so it sounds better alongside (and/or under) the hosts/guests voices on your show.

Most royalty-free or stock music tracks sound fine and don’t need any EQ’ing, but some tracks will simply be too bright or too bassy and boomy, etc. compared to the hosts/guests voices.

If the music is too bassy and boomy, it will make the hosts/guests voices sound more small, weak and wimpy.

If the music is too bright and sharp, it will make the hosts/guests voices sound more dull, unclear and muddy.

*Always keep in mind that small tweaks go a long way, for instance removing as little as 1/2 of a dB of some frequencies will make a world of difference.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Of course this is optional, but if your HVAC system is causing significant noise (from air blowing through the vents, or from the unit itself) you may want to turn it off completely when recording. And turn it back on when you’re done.

Personally, if I’m recording any voiceover-type audio I will definitely turn off my HVAC unit.

Also FYI, from personal experience, in the winter if you keep it off for too long your living space will start to get cold!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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If a guest connects over the internet using a bad quality microphone, be sure to ask them if they have any other microphones!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Acustica Tan is a free VST compressor based on Acustica’s unique and comprehensive modeling technology. Tan has a fat VCA compression sound and additional control for modulating the shape of the attack curve.

I haven’t tried it yet but Acustica is a very good plugin company.

*To get this plugin free, you have to use their plugin installer program called Aquarius. Download and install Aquarius, then find TAN within Aquarius and click “install.” It’s easy.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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There are tons of options when it comes to acoustic panels/foam that will absorb reflections in your studio.

Here are a few I’m aware of: (also, please comment if you know of any additional companies/options)

• The eggcrate foam that I use in my studio (very good price for the size) – http://www.thefoamfactory.com/acousticfoam/eggcratefoam.html
• Audimute – https://www.audimute.com/
• GIK Acoustics – https://www.gikacoustics.com/

And don’t forget about thick curtains, soft furniture, thick carpeting, etc. 😉

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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I was watching Glenn Beck’s episode 60 on YouTube and his guest Jeff Brown keeps tapping/swiping/slapping the table, and since the mics they’re using are large diaphragm condensers (??!!) ALL that noise is very prevalent and very distracting.

This seems to be a good example of using the wrong mics, but then again it’s video and video people mostly only care about the look. The mics do look kinda cool, each dangling from a wire!

FYI, they must have paused at some point and told the guest to stop doing that because after about 1/3 of the way through the episode he stopped making all that noise.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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A harmonic is any member of the harmonic series.

The term is employed in various disciplines, including music, physics, acoustics, electronic power transmission, radio technology, and other fields. It is typically applied to repeating signals, such as sinusoidal waves. A harmonic of such a wave is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the frequency of the original wave, known as the fundamental frequency. The original wave is also called the 1st harmonic, the following harmonics are known as higher harmonics.

For example, if the fundamental frequency is 50 Hz, a common AC power supply frequency, the frequencies of the first three higher harmonics are 100 Hz (2nd harmonic), 150 Hz (3rd harmonic), 200 Hz (4th harmonic) and any addition of waves with these frequencies is periodic at 50 Hz.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Do you realize how much you have learned this year by reading these Daily Goody’s everyday and listening to The Podcast Engineering Show every week?

A fish-ton! A truck-load!

Sincere congratulations to you!

Plus, you’ll receive your yearly audio exam in your email shortly….……..hehe, just kidding.

And BIG Thanks to everyone who commented on the Daily Goody posts, sent me emails, contacted me on social media, guested on my show (!)…..

I appreciate you all 🙂

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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