Watch Those Levels

We mentioned earlier in the book that learning audio compression is one of the best things you can do to make yourself sound better. Compression brings your peaks a little lower to even out the sound. Still, while recording, make sure your levels aren't going through the roof. Compression can only do so much.

The one problem with this comes when you are reading your podcast from a script, a website, a news story, a book, or whatever pulls your eyes away from your audio program. In that case, do a good bit of practice to learn where you should be in regard to your microphone (as we mentioned earlier) and get comfortable with your mic and how your voice sounds. Recording with headphones should also help you keep track of your levels. If you hurt your own ears, it's likely your listeners will suffer as well.