The number 1 factor for professional quality audio - Part 1 - Professional Sound Series

Professional Sound Series

Author

Master Editor
November 24, 2024

Everyone hopes for pro-quality sound at the start of their audio journey. But that hope fades in a short time.

At first, people have no idea how to make pro-quality recordings. Once they gain some knowledge, it seems like an uphill task.

In today's info-rich world, people get too much incomplete content. It makes the goal of professional quality sound harder than it is.

You need to do some things correctly, but they are not complex tasks.

Once you get it right, the system will produce pro-quality audio by default. You have to work hard not to get good-quality audio.

Yet, some beginners think they need an engineer's skills or a pricey studio. In reality, you do not need those.

Watch some successful voice-over artists on YouTube. They are neither tech-savvy nor do they have a high-end studio. 

Still, they are doing well. They are, on their own, making high-quality voice-overs. They do it consistently.

What is the secret, then? 

There is no secret, they are just following some steps correctly.

In this professional sound series, I will discuss all the steps you need to be aware of. I will give tips on some actionable items for each step.

To identify where to start, we have to know the answer to these 3 simple questions:

  1. What does actually professional sound mean?

  2. Who needs professional-quality audio?

  3. What is the first step toward it?

Let's define "professional sound." 

It is a subjective term. In short, it means the audio is properly loud and noise-free.

A professional sound gives the listener a smooth experience. But all these are subjective measures.

How can we measure it objectively? What criteria define professional-quality audio?

For pro-quality audio guidelines, see the ACX audio requirements.

If your audio meets ACX's rules, it is professional quality.

But, do not think that ACX's rules apply only to audiobooks. If high-quality audio is your goal, ACX requirements act as a pointer.

It will direct you to the proper path you should follow. If I answer question 2 from above, "Who needs professional-quality audio?", then it will be clear to you.

ACX requirement is set for audiobook narration. It's obvious that audiobook narration needs professional-quality audio.

Professional voice-over needs professional-quality audio. Professional voice-over means you are getting paid for your voice-over work.

Many people make mistakes when it comes to professional voice-overs. 

You won't be paid immediately for your voice-over work. First, you have to make some demo voice-overs.

Regardless of whether it is your paid voice-over or demo voice-over, you will need professional-grade audio.

In fact, your demos have to sound perfectly professional than your paid works. Why?

Because on you paid works, you will get feedback if it is not up to the mark. For the demos, it is about if you are getting selected or not.

There is no second chance of better demos once you submit an audition.

For podcasts, you should have professional grade audio if you have control over the recording setup. Better quality audio position you as an expert of the topic.

If people have a hard time listening to your podcasts, they will not return for other episodes.

For content creation, professional grade audio was not that important 5 years ago. But now the situation is different.

Now a days you will not find any sucessful content creator who has bad audio. It may not need to be 100% compliant with ACX standards, but the closer it is, the better.

In summary, professional-grade audio is a must for audiobook narration and voice-over work. The better your audio is, the greater your chance of success for podcasts or content creation.

Now let's deal with the 3rd question: "What is the first step toward it?". 

Most people who fail to produce high-quality audio make a mistake here. Which one do you think is more important for better audio?

  1. Room or recording environment

  2. Microphone

  3. Audio processing or the software

If your answer is 1, you are correct. If you think 2 or 3 are more important for professional audio, you are in the wrong mindset.

2 and 3 is important, but if the room is not okay, it does not matter.how expensive your microphone is or which software do you use.

Imagine you are recording in a bathroom with the most expensive microphone and hired the best audio engineer. 

Your audio will sound bad, and there is no way to fix it. 

On the contrary, recording in a closet with a decent mic and using basic audio processing will give you much better audio.

You also should not get the wrong idea that 1 needs to be fixed first before 2 and 3. All 3 things come together, and they give feedback about each other.

If you are using a decent microphone and basic processing, but the sound is still bad, you must fix the room.

If your room is fine for recording, and you did basic processing, but the sound is bad, then it's the microphone.

If the room is okay and the mic is good, it's the audio processing technique.

You must think of those 3 things as a unit. Use them to find out what is preventing you from getting professional-grade audio.

My YouTube channel is about the no 3, audio processing. I can help you with some tools for basic processing.

You don't even need to understand audio basics well to use my tools. You install them and use them and observe how your audio is sounding.

If it doesn't sound ideal, the issue is your mic, room, or recording technique.

My tool does the standard processing for high-quality voiceovers and audiobooks.

You may already have the tools. They are called Macros (Audacity) or Presets (Adobe Audition). If you do not have it, I strongly suggest you grab this low priced tools (only $67) to find out your audio issues.

In the next post, I will talk about the microphone. Microphone selection is tricky, but you need to know some basics about it. 

The expensive mic does not guarantee the best audio quality. The next post will discuss what it is then.

For now, grab the Macros or Presets from the following links: