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Learn from the pros

Ever wonder why professional broadcasts sound so much more polished than the ones you create with your Mac? In addition to years of voice training, these pros also have the benefit of special gear that makes their voices sound as rich and smooth as possible. Here are some of their secrets:

The Mike Makes It Mellifluous as your voice may be, you can do things to improve its quality in recordings. The first is to purchase a decent microphone. The simplest option is a microphone that plugs directly into your Mac’s USB port, such as Samson’s C01U-USB Studio Condenser Microphone ($80) or Blue Microphones’ Snowball ($159). The Snowball has an advantage—you can switch it from cardioid, where one side of the microphone picks up audio, to omni, where both sides can record audio. Having an omni mike is useful for live interviews where you and a guest sit facing each other.

For even better results, consider investing in a professional microphone, such as those made by Shure or Sennheiser. However, because these mikes don’t offer a USB connection, you’ll also need a USB audio interface such as M-Audio’s MobilePre USB ($180).

Stop the Pop Regardless of the kind of mike you use, you should add a pop filter to your microphone setup. This nylon mesh screen, which you can usually pick up for around $20, attaches to a microphone stand and helps cut back on plosives —popping consonants such as B and P—by absorbing some of the wind generated by these sounds.

Manage Compression If you compare the sound of your voice to what you’ll hear on commercial radio, you may notice how much more even the volume is on the latter. This is due not only to a host’s vocal technique but also to the aid of a compressor, an external hardware device or effect plug-in that evens out an audio signal’s dynamic range. GarageBand includes a compressor effect, but you can apply it only after you’ve recorded your track. To give your podcast professional polish and prevent clipping (which creates an ugly distortion sound), you might also consider investing in an external compressor, such as DBX’s 166XL Compressor/Limiter/Gate ($360).