How to make a cheap mic sound better for podcasts

In the unbalanced world we live in, not everyone can afford to spend a $1000 on a shiny new vocal microphone. I get it. 

In fact, I think we can get decent audio quality by using something relatively cheap.

The content is all that matters; presentation just helps kick it up a bit. 

Listeners won’t be like “Ooh, I won’t listen to that show because he’s not using the new Neumann mic.” No, they care about the value of the content more than what was used to make the content.

Nevertheless, they are owed a good-sounding tone for their loyalty. Do not underestimate the power of a good presentation. But remember that a good presentation is not always an expensive presentation.

The use of a $100 microphone is no excuse for a bad echo and noisy podcast. No, that's something to hide behind.

In fact, great songs and popular podcasts have been recorded on a $99 Audio Technica AT-2020. 

So how do you increase the quality you get from the mic you already have, or the budget one you plan on buying.

These are 9 of my best tips.

Don’t buy condenser Mics:

I have recommended condenser microphones to dozens of people, and I still do, but if you have a small budget, it is better to get a dynamic microphone.

Here’s why: Condenser Microphones are built to capture all the fine details of your voice. That’s why they are used in professional studios.

With this power come insane disadvantage for home studio podcasters: It doesn’t work well in untreated rooms.

If your room has a lot of hard surfaces that bounce around sound a lot, then condenser mic will sound horribly for you. 

Even if you don’t have a lot of hard surfaces, your audio won’t sound good.

Why do you think professional studios spend thousands of dollars to get the most out of their already expensive microphone?

Stick to Dynamic Mics like the shure sm58. It’s around a $100 and it sounds great.

Get a Mic Stand:

Unless you do it for stylistic expression, always use a microphone stand.

       Cheap microphones are cheap because of the sacrifices they have had to make to keep costs down, and handling noise isn't good on cheap mics.

I know it’ll drive up how much you spend, but it’s better than getting uneven sound and noise from moving your microphone around a lot.

And it’s more comfortable. Your hands are now free to move around.

I recommend this Te Bo Suspension Boom, because it’s cheap and relatively light weight.

I can’t say this enough. You need to get a pop filter.

You see Consonants are produced by push of air in the vocal cords and this air (especially for hard consonants) get picked up by the Microphone and it’s unpleasant to listen to.

Pop shields are cheap. They can be gotten for around $7 on Amazon and they are incredibly useful as well.

If you really care about the listening experience of your show, you need to get a pop filter. No. You HAVE to get a pop filter.

Get a Cardioid Polar Pattern mic:

Polar pattern, explained simply, is just how your microphone picks up sound. Some mics pick up sound from all around it. Some Microphones only pick up sound that’s directly in front of it. Those are called Uni-directional Mics or more commonly, Cardioid.

If you’re recording in an untreated room, you want all the help you can get. Making sure your microphone pick only your voice and not the leaves rustling outside is a massive plus.

Cardioid Mics are not any more expensive than Omni-directional Mics, so there’s no reason not to get them.

Find a Good Recording spot:

 I think we’ve already established that where you record your sound is as important as what you use to record it.

But let’s talk about that a little bit more.

See, if your listeners can hear sounds of Children crying, Pan sizzling or even cars moving, it’s going to be distracting for them.

SO find a spot or time where you can record for hours without being disturbed. That might be recording late at night when your household members are asleep.

If you live in a busy city like New York and getting a quiet time is next to impossible, consider renting a studio space. 

Always try to give your listeners the best listening experience so they will listen carefully to what you have to say.

Edit the Heck out of it:

I love editing. In fact, it’s my favorite part of creating. I can take away, fix or add almost anything. It’s fun.

EQing and Compressing can improve the sound you’re getting out of your cheap microphone. Pay a lot of attention to where sound is too high or too soft and fix that in the edits.

If, unlike me, you don’t like editing, there are freelancers/services online with the audio skills to help you bring your podcast to the heights of what it can be.

Here are some of the tools I recommend:

• Fiverr 

• Auphonic

But if you want to edit them yourself, Youtube is a great place to learn how to use the tools you use to edit them.

Ooh, you don't have editing software yet? Here are my top recommendations:

• Audacity 

• Garageband (for IOS and Mac Users)

• Logic

• Pro tools

Dozens of YouTube videos cover how to use these tools and I bet you’ll find something that will help you out.

Get Decent Headphones:

You might be like, “wait, aren’t we talking about improving what’s going in?”

Well, yes but hear me out. 

If you’ve been podcasting for a while, you know you need to track what you’re recording and make sure it sounds good. But if you do that over loud speakers, your microphone will pick up the sound coming from your speakers again, causing unpleasant echoes. 

So if you want to avoid that, get decent headphones. It doesn’t have to be a $200 headphone. As long as you can accurately hear what’s going into your DAW, you should be good.

Headphones are also good for editing the audio you have recorded. They help you hear things you would have otherwise missed when listening on loud speakers.

If you follow the tips written in this Post, you would drastically improve the quality of your podcast audio. 

I’ll say though, if you can afford to spend more money on a Microphone, please do, it’ll really improve your sound quality overall. Check out my top mic recommendation. 

Remember, the world needs to hear what you have to say. So, keep pushing.

Happy Podcasting.