Recording Audio
Last updated
August 25, 2021
Massive, like many other outlets, dabbled in podcasting for a bit. We've since started to use an AI tool that reads the articles out loud on its own because we found that recording audio was challenging and time-consuming. These are some guidelines and best practices we put together for our internal editorial team.
Preparing yourself:
Read the article out loud to yourself. Practice any words you have trouble enunciating clearly. This is also a great technique for catching last-minute typos and odd phrasings that need to be reworked.
Look up pronunciations of proper nouns. If they're from a language you're not familiar with, do not look them up on those YouTube pronunciation guides. Find a native speaker or a good primary source.
Do some vocal warmups, drink some water and gargle a bit too, just to clear your throat.
Preparing your space:
Try to minimize the number of hard surfaces available for sound to bounce off of. I record in my closet. I hang a blanket over the door and try to pile as many pillows around as I can while still being able to sit comfortably.
Anything that can crinkle or make noise accidentally, especially plastic, should be moved out.
Once you're settled in your "recording booth," record a few sentences and play them back immediately, just to check that there's no terrible background noise. You don't want to do a whole article and then find out you can hear someone mowing their lawn the whole time.
If you have a tripod for your mic, use it. If not, find a spot for it that sounds good and don't move it. Try not to rest the mic on your computer — you might pick up the sound of the computer fan whirring.
Recording:
Remember to record 5 to 10 seconds of dead air before you start, which will be very useful for adding pauses between words, sentences, and paragraphs. Also useful for papering over swallowing, lip-smacking sounds, or other extraneous noises you may not notice you're making.
I have found it easier to record everything in one long take, rather than try and record each individual paragraph into their own file. It makes organization a lot easier and sound more consistent.
Move as little as possible in general. Your feet might fall asleep, but that's a hazard of the trade.
Try to record at least two takes of every paragraph, just in case. And pause after each paragraph.
A paragraph is an easy unit to focus on, but editing together individual sentences isn't difficult. If you do a long paragraph and then mess up the last sentence, just re-record the last sentence. It'll be fine.
Speak more slowly than you think you should.
This is a performance. Perform. Add emotion and varied tenor to your voice. Think about what sentences need what kind of sound from you. If you feel slightly ridiculous, you are doing it right.
Your breath makes noise. Either breathe away from the microphone or inhale and wait a second before speaking to add a moment of dead air to cut out the sound of your breath.
Editing:
No matter how carefully you record, you'll most likely have to do some editing,
Audacity is a free and powerful audio tool, and relatively simple to get started using right away. There are lots of good guides to Audacity available online, too.
You can also use GarageBand on a Mac, there are also plenty of tutorials online.
About 1-1.5 seconds of silence between paragraphs is a good benchmark. Individual sentences should also have a gap between them, though you'll likely need to listen and adjust on a case-by-case basis.