How to do sounding

What is Sound Design: Creating the Best Sounding Stories with Sound

Sound is an integral part of any video. Even if you watch a silent film, you will have various sound elements in the video, like background sounds. Generally, which element of film generally draws the audience to the movies?

Visuals, of course, play the lead part, but sound chips in to complete the equation. Together they give meaning and coherence to any subject and helps the audience grasp the situation playing out in the scene. You may ask, how does an audience process visual and sound elements in a film?
Well, the audience processes the sound and visuals together to create a sense of reality and connect with what’s happening on the screen. Sound often functions separately from the visual image, conveying things that are not seen.

Think of the hooting of an owl in a horror movie that conveys a sense of eeriness and fear. You may not see the owl on the screen, but the sound does the job of creating a situation of dread.

The management of sounds for any moving sequence plays an important part in telling the story of a movie, game, TV series, live performance, and theaters. Collectively the process is given the name of sound design.

In this post, we will explore sound design and learn how it can create a great video.

Let’s Define Sound Design

We should define sound design before proceeding with our discussion.

Sound design is the process of creating sounds for a variety of purposes. It involves various steps to acquire, record, create and use sounds for use in movies, videos, dramas, and so on. Elements of sound design may include-

● Dialogue
● Silence
● Background sounds
● Background score
● Sound effects

Now, let’s check out what is sound design in detail.

What is Sound Design

Imagine a scene from any movie. Let’s say two characters are taking a walk by river Thames in London during the evening. What sounds can you expect from the audio track?

Obviously, there will be dialogues and maybe, some background music. But that’s not all. You will also hear the sounds of cars passing by, birds chirping on the trees by the pavement, voices of other people talking nearby, sound of the water of the river- the list is almost endless.

Now, someone has to plan, collect, and manage all the sounds that will be used in the video or film. He literally has to design or plan the whole process, just like the manager of a company. This is sound design, and the person doing the job is a sound designer.

Sound design is crucial for any video unless you are recording an interview or doing an explainer video. In such cases, having a clear dialogue is enough. However, films, YouTube videos, documentaries, and anything depicting an event or incident needs sound.

Sounds Perform Many Functions in Film Including:

Convey Message of the Video

Sound elements like dialogues convey the main message of the video and help the audience follow the story. Without dialogues and necessary sounds, your message or purpose of making the video may be compromised.

Create a Sense of Realism

Sounds perform many functions in films, including creating a sense of reality. Think about the scene we used as an example. Would you be able to connect with the scene if it misses sounds like passing cars, the sound of the river, voices of other people, and other ambient sounds?
These sounds come from a source outside the world of the movie and are heard only by the audience. They help the viewers generate a sense of realism and connect with the plot.

Builds Situational Emphasis

Some situations or scenes cannot be imagined without sound. Imagine a fight scene from any movie. You will have sounds when somebody punches or hits another guy. There will be sounds of people hitting the ground, drawing heavy breaths, movements of hands or legs in the air, and more!

An effective sound design adds to the plot and helps build up a scene.

Provides Hints and Cues

Sounds can provide cues about a scene or situation even when the visual show something different. Let’s think of a scene inside a dark room. You cannot see anything other than a faint light and movement of shadows. However, you hear sounds of stabbing, shrieks, and people hastily moving around.

Even if the visual is concealing, you can make out what is happening through the sounds. You know that someone is being attacked even when the screen is dark.

Creates Impact

Stories with sound effects create a far greater impact compared to videos without sound. The audience can get a wholesome experience of watching something and can relate to the content in a much better way. That’s the reason movies spend a considerable part of their budget for hiring a sound designer to create the perfect soundsphere for the audience.

Now, we will get to one of the most important roles of sound design, i.e., conveying emotions.

Let’s say a couple is going through a hard time and discussing things between themselves. How would an audio recording most likely convey the characters’ emotions during this scene? Let’s find out!

How Would an Audio Recording most likely Convey the Characters’ Emotions During this Scene?

Well, you may hear a lot of «sighs» and «sniffs» that tell you the people in the scene are sad and distressed. You may also hear footsteps as someone starts pacing the floor in tension.

Likewise, we have separate sounding stories when the scene deals with happiness or anger. You will generally hear laughter, chuckles, and shouts of joy. If the scene deals with anger, you may hear swearings, heavy breathing, talking under the breath, and so on.

Look out for sound cues that convey emotion next time you watch a movie. You will get a more clear idea about film sound design.
Next, we will provide a glimpse of the sound design process.

A Look Into the Sound Design Process

A sound designer has to assess a video and determine the sounds that will go into it. Of course, you may do the job yourself if you are making your own video. The job of sound design begins by analyzing the script.

Script Analysis

The script is the foundation of sound design. The job of writing sound effects in a story begins from the script. You can look at the script and determine the sounds required for a scene. A sound designer generally notes down the sound he needs and sets out to collect or create them.

Collecting the Sounds

Dialogues

The dialogues are recorded during the scene. In cases the dialogues are not audible, then the actors are called again for ADR or Automated Dialogue Replacement session. It’s always best to record your dialogues while the scene is going on, as ADR can lead to syncing issues.

Ambient Sounds

Have you wondered which of the following film sounds are typically recorded during production?

All the background sounds and noises you hear are recorded during the production. The film crew may also record ambient sounds separately and sync them with the track during post-production. The sounds may include the noise of cars, the environment, animals, people, and anything shown in the scene.

Foley Sounds

Foley sounds are sounds that are created and recorded «wild» and then edited into the film. For instance, a person may record the sound of footsteps in a studio and add to the scene. The Foley artists perform the sound effects and time it exactly with the event on the screen. They create a range of sounds, including running, walking, handling objects, wearing clothes, and more.

Sound Effects

Some sound effects may not be available readily. You may not also create them using Foley artists. We are talking about sounds like an alien spaceship taking off, or Jedis of Star Wars using their lightsabers to fight.

Sound designers mostly take the help of digital solutions to create unnatural sound effects. Earlier, filmmakers got innovative and used a range of everyday objects and musical instruments to create sound effects.

Sound Editing

Sound designers can use a plethora of sound editing tools to make the sounds appear as they want. They can add multiple sound layers and create multiple tracks to be used for a scene.

Sound Design for YouTube Videos

Designing sound for your YouTube videos is more simple than you think. Most YouTubers use their mobile phones to record both the audio and sound. However, if you can shell out a bit of money, you can go for a-

● Good quality microphone
● A boom microphone
● A reliable sound recorder

The above tools are more than enough to create a rich audio experience for your viewers. For simple videos, your mobile phone can do the job successfully.

Final Thoughts

A good sound design will make your video highly watchable. To help your videos reach more people, consider Viboom. You can promote your music video, short film, product videos, personal videos, or any video you want. Just copy your video URL on Viboom and start getting more views and subscriptions in no time!

Sasha Lerman

Copywriter, writer, editor. Development and promotion on YouTube and Instagram, as well as many other exciting topics.

Sounding 101: Your Guide To Urethral Sounding & Best Sounding Kits

Are you ready for a completely new way to pleasure yourself?

Urethral sounding is not for the faint-hearted…

In fact, the appeal comes from the fact that it’s too extreme for most guys.

But done safely sounding is the most direct way to reach the prostate and moving sound through the urethra feels extremely nice once you get used to it!

The other side-benefits to sounding are:

In this guide, you’ll get your perfect introduction to sounding — whether you are a total beginner or just looking to take it up a notch and find the proper sound for yourself.

After you’re done the reading you’ll know why people do it, how to do it and will even have a community to turn to for support and inspiration.

Here’s how this guide is organized:

What Is Sounding & Why Men do it?

The reason why men do sounding is that there are tons of nerve endings on the top of the head and in urethra itself giving intense pleasure with the right tools

Mostly men explore this kind of play since they have a lot longer urethra (especially if you’ve got a long penis), and it’s safer for them to do it compared to women.

Also, the urethra has direct access to the prostate, while through prostate milking you’re only pressing the external P-spot, which is not direct stimulation.

Finally, there is a big psychological thrill that some men find exciting. It’s taking the word taboo (like anal play for men) to a whole new level.

Does Sounding Feel Good?

When all is done right, this comment describes the best how sounding feels like:

“I’ve only recently started out with sounding but the only way I can describe it is like you’re being touched inside in a way which you will never have experienced before…

…which you can’t experience any other way and which feels totally unnatural but also strangely good.

It’s like you’re being touched way down deep, from INSIDE the very core of the parts that make your orgasm happen.

The sensations from those parts are coming at the wrong time in the arousal cycle so the stimulation feels intense but…out of place.

It’s like you’re feeling a sensation that you SHOULDN’T be able to enjoy but you do and you can’t help wanting just a LITTLE bit more.”

Here is a very helpful video explaining the urethral sounding fetish (why what and how):

How To Do Sounding Safely?

It will take time and patience.

More time than with anal play even.

Once you’ve got the tools and everything is clean here’s how you do it:

First of all, you gotta get the right sounding rod that’s not too big, not too small for you.

Getting the right size and taking your time are two of the most important things to keep it safe.

Usually, the best beginner rod is a silicone penis plug (I’ll cover them later).

Here are the steps:

The goal for most men is to actually get in deep enough to directly stimulate the prostate.

That’s why you’ll notice that longer rods are in shape. 🏒

There’s even term for it: prostatic urethra (check Wikipedia for more explanation and visuals).

That’s what you’re in the end trying to reach to get ultimate stimulation.

However, it’s also pretty dangerous, especially if you’re new.

This is just an introductory guide and you’ll probably just stay at the straight entrance part and move the rod up/down there to gain the insane pleasure.

Here’s a good comment on safety from one sounding practitioner:

“As someone who’s done it for over 8 years.

I can safely tell you that unless you actually go around the J curve or enter your bladder it’s totally fine.

I do neither of those since it can damage things quickly.”

What Are The Best Penis Plugs, Sounding Rods, and Kits?

After reviewing over 46 urethral sounding kits, here’s the best of the best:

Disclosure: This site is reader supported. Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. In no way and shape it affects my judgement — there’s no way to weasel your way on this guide.

⚠️ Vital: Don’t buy sexual wellness products on Amazon. You won’t get a warranty and chances are high you’ll get counterfeit product that is lower quality and from possibly toxic materials (especially dangerous with sounding where safety is crucial!).
Instead buy from original creators or from trusted sources we’ve identified.

Hegar 8 Urethral Dilator Sounding Kit — Author’s Pick 🌟

This is a great set of 8 sounding rods made from chrome-plated brass.

And since each end is a bit different size you get essentially 16 size choices from 3mm to 18mm.

It’s actually recommended to get something like this than just one urethral dilator because you might not guess the size right.

Also, it’s sometimes better to go with a bigger dilator instead of a smaller one if your urethra is bigger.

This is the same stuff doctors use.

Hegar sounds are lighter than Pratt and people worry that inside is hollow (no easy way to check)… which is why pros choose more expensive Pratt sounds that have great quality and weight.

Pratt Urethral Sounding Kit ( Most popular between pros)

This is another popular sounding kit with 8-pieces that range in diameter from 0.17″ to 0.75″.

Each sound is 12″ long and made from stainless steel. It’s also chrome plated, slick and shiny.

Since the sounds are heavy, it helps with getting them in — gravity does the job for you.

But of course, it comes with a price.

Don’t get these as a newbie, once you know you like sounding a lot…this will be the ultimate upgrade.

There are two styles you can choose from Rosebud (buds at the ends) and Pratt.

Comes together with a sexy black case with a red “velvet” lining.

ElectraStim Urethra Probe (For Pros)

If you want to take the sounding to the next level, you might want to try how it feels to have gentle electro stimulation in your urethra.

It’s made from 316 stainless steel, a high quality piece, but quite expensive.

Master Series Silicone Urethral Sound Set (3 Pieces) — (Budget Option)

If you want to dip your toes with something gentler, silicone urethral sounds are body-safe and very affordable (these are in 30–40$ range).

Only note is that silicone sounds will require you to push it in more, gravity won’t do the work like with stainless steel options.

(IMPORTANT!) Surgilube Surgical Lube For Urethral Sounding ($9.70)

You must get a specialized lube for your urethra if you want to avoid infections.

Please don’t skip it.

Also, be very cautious around hygiene and cleaning the sounds after using thoroughly every time.

Other People Best Tips & Experiences With Sounding

Now I tried to collect most people common questions and found the best answers to them.

Hope these stories and tips help you in your sounding process:

“Sounding is pleasurable. “

“The penis becomes more sensitive with the sound in the urethra.

Some use long sounds that reach the prostate and stimulate it.”

“Urethral sounding is a bit out of the norm but it is pleasurable. “

“The idea of it being taboo is what turned me on about it.

I haven’t progressed into anything bigger but I have a rouge plug not too big or too small.

Taking small insertions instead of fully inserting is more pleasurable in my opinion.

It may sound weird but watching it go in is equal in pleasurable.”

“What’s the best lubricant for sounding?”

“Ignore the coconut oil suggestion for sounding.

Surgical lube or sterile ultrasound lube for sounding.

Extremely cheap and safe (10$ per liter) if you order from a medical supply website.

Optilube, Surgilube, any kind of sterile surgical lube is fine.

Optilube you can buy a hundred satchels for around 10 euros.

Do not use any home items for sounding. Never. Ever.”

“Sounding Experience”

“I’ve done it and if done right it feels quite good.

Surgical steel sounds (aka “urethral dilator”) are typically what you would use.

I’d advise a great deal of caution and research before you try something like this..

The best way to describe it is it transfers the sensation of stroking into your urethra.

Have you ever had an itch in your urethra and felt pleasure when you rubbed it?

Also, when you pee and have a nice strong stream there is a pleasant sensation especially if you gently pinch or squeeze the bottom of your penis.

That’s one aspect.

The other is the sound that is inserted deep puts pressure on the base of your penis and likely jabbing a bit into the prostate.

If you press a finger or two hard into the base of your cock between the shaft and the balls while masturbating you get a small sample of what it kind of feels like.

As the sound shifts around when you masturbate, it can be quite intense.

Finally, during orgasm, there’s a pressure build-up behind the sound that draws out and intensifies the actual orgasm.

Allowing that pressure to build up and slowly push the sound out is both an intense sensation as well as visually stimulating, watching your cum launch the sound out. 🙂

Again, I’m only providing a description of why it’s appealing but it needs to be layered with caution.

It is not for the faint of heart or someone not willing to do the research.

No, it should never hurt.

You should use plenty of lube and gradually allow the sound to sink in with just gravity.

Some people actually use larger and larger sounds to make the urethra larger in diameter.

This can cause some pain and soreness but it is more extreme than you need to take it.

Why is it safe to do this?

Well, there is always some risk. The main risk is an infection.

That can be mitigated by sterilizing and making sure your lube is sterile.

Individually packaged single-use surgical lube is what I’d recommend.

Bottled lubed can contain preservatives and could cultivate bacteria.

Another, less likely, the risk is perforation which is usually caused by using sound that is too small/thin/narrow.

It’s actually safer to use the largest diameter sound that will fit comfortably.”

“Does it hurt afterward when urinating? In general, how does sounding feel?”

“At first urinating afterward did burn a bit, but as I’ve done it more, it burns much less.

It’s gotten to the point now where it only burns for a second or two the first time I pee after sounding.

As far as in general, it feels amazing!

One of my favorite things to do is insert it all the way and then slowly rotate the bit that sticks out at the end.

The sensations deep inside as the whole sound rotates are indescribable.”

Bringing It All Together

Finally, if you’re looking for a like-minded community with nice videos, photos of how it actually looks like, check Sounding SubReddit.

You can easily message some of the members and I’m sure they will be more than happy to help further with the advice.

10 Tips for a Great Sounding Podcast

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If you’re producing your own podcast of your own, I’m willing to bet you’ve got a champagne-quality idea and a beer-money pocketbook. Here’s some good news: getting quality audio is easier and cheaper now than it’s ever been—so you can handle that piece of the puzzle, even with basic equipment that won’t break the bank.

However, as necessary as quality audio is to podcasting, you must keep other considerations in mind. Keep the following tips to employ when trying to launch a successful podcast—successful, at least, when it comes to sound quality and consistent deliverables.

In this piece you’ll learn:

Pro Tip: Start a free trial of iZotope’s Music Production Suite Pro to get access to audio mixing and mastering plug-ins discussed in this article, including RX Pro, Neutron, Nectar Pro, and Insight Pro.

1. Find a quiet room with plenty of space around you for recording

I can’t tell you how many times it’s happened. I’ll call an actor for an audio drama, or an interviewee for a podcast, and they’ll tell me they have the perfect recording setup—in their closet. They get in, huddle under a blanket, and shut the door, thinking this is the best option for quality sound.

“Don’t do that!” I always say, “Find a bigger room!”

Hard and flat surfaces reflect sound much like a mirror reflects light—and you’re bound to jammed up against hard and flat surfaces in a closet. Furthermore, random blankets meant to act as “room treatment” do actually constitute room treatment. For any benefit you might see, you’re probably adding untold drawbacks, such as weird resonant buildups caused by the cover’s material, or its billowing proximity to the microphone.

Stay out of your closet and set up on a carpeted space, near bookcases, but away from walls and windows. This arrangement, paired with speaking close to a cardioid mic, usually engenders better results than home-closet recordings.

Speaking closer to a cardioid mic can often “overwhelm” the capsule with direct vocals, rather than pesky room reflections; however, you must be mindful not to distort the microphone with loud noises or plosives—which we’ll cover in the next section.

While we’re at it, make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep the room itself quiet. The mic has the possibility to pick up literally anything, from the click of a mouse to the whirring of your computer fan. Using headphones to monitor any audio you’re recording, find a place to set up far away from any noise you can’t manually power off (such as a computer fan).

Turn off all ACs, or anything else that makes a background noise. If you must turn the page of a script—or flip to the next section of a PDF on your tablet—do not talk when doing so, as you’ll want to edit those noises out later, in post.

2. Experiment with indirect microphone placement

Plosives—the burst of air that exits the mouth when we make “P” and “B” sounds—are like giant gusts of wind to a microphone. The best tool to fight plosives is a pop filter, which you can buy easily, or fashion out of a coat hanger and a nylon stocking. However, sometimes pop filters are impractical, or they can muffle the sound to an undesirable degree.

In these cases, you can experiment with speaking diagonally into your microphone, rather than straight on the capsule. When you speak at a 45-degree angle to the mic, bursts of air don’t go directly into the diaphragm. This results in fewer plosives.

Don’t speak at too extreme of an angle, however, or you’ll be talking into a null in the pickup pattern of directional microphones (Translation: it will sound bad). You should notice a much more natural sound for your voice. Experiment with your microphone placement, and then record test audio to find what sounds best for your voice. Do this with headphones, note what settings, arrangements, placements, and environments got you the best results.

3. Be conservative with your input levels

Most audio interfaces, recorders, or USB microphones let you set an input level for your microphone. Since the advent of high-quality digital recording, there’s really no reason to set input levels too “hot.” You can always make things louder later on.

For interviewees and actors, when judging their microphones from afar for remote recordings, I ask them to say “one two three four” at varying levels, from whisper-quiet to as loud as they want. Then, I ask them to deliver a hearty fake laugh. This helps me judge whether or not their levels are too loud, and also helps me understand their environment.

4. Record a high-resolution audio file

You should at the very least record a 24-bit / 48 kHz WAV or AIFF file. Anything less is very annoying to edit (well, 44.1 kHz is fine, but 48 kHz is the broadcast standard for various and boring historical reasons).

What you don’t want is to record an M4A, AAC, or MP3 file. They restrict the high-frequency range, cutting off airy frequencies that help performances sound and feel natural. They also add compression artifacts from lossy encoding, and these artifacts can compound over time with processing. So, recording a high-quality WAV or AIFF file is the way to go.

If you have one of these new-fangled interfaces that can capture a 32-bit recording, I recommend availing yourself of that feature. You should still record at the healthy levels described above, but the 32-bit format can be thought of as a bit of an added safety net against distortion, for reasons outside the scope of this article.

5. Work from an outline, and take time to get a great delivery

No matter how nice your microphone is, there is no substitute for a confident read and great content. Only a few professionals boast an innate ability to do it live, but luckily, podcasting is not a live medium. You can practice!

Editing a script is much easier than editing audio, and it gives you the advantage of having all your ideas laid out in a format that’s easy to see—and easy to use for further media, such as transcripts, blog posts, or the eventual book.

Obviously, you can’t script interview segments and co-host interactions. But having a solid outline with prepared intros, questions, transitions, and closing statements can help make for a smooth podcast, and show your guests that you know what you’re doing.

It can also be helpful to give your listeners an outline of what you’ll be talking about upfront, as well as a summary of takeaways at the end. This can set the context for your episode and wrap it up nicely—a great idea for presentations and pitch meetings, too!

6. Record remote guests and co-hosts separately, if possible

When working with guests and co-hosts who can’t be in your studio, you can turn to VoIP services, such as Skype, Zoom, or the age-old telephone. The audio quality is not always the greatest—actually, it’s downright terrible—but it makes for good insurance in case anything goes wrong.

Recording in Zoom is very easy: you just hit the prominent record button, and the video is saved as a QuickTime file that you can easily import into most DAWs.

You have another option: the good old-fashioned tape sync, as outlined in this article. Basically, you record yourself, and you ask your remote guest to record a high-quality WAV/AIFF file on their end to send to you. You sync up the files in post, and that’s that.

From experience, I can tell you that fifty percent of the people I work with do not know how to record themselves, and of that fifty percent, 10 percent are unteachable. I have to help them. It takes trial and error, and time. Lots of time.

If you’re not a tech-savvy person, or if you’re just getting started, you may have to live with the compromised quality of VoIP recording. But honestly, depending on the material, that can be fine.

7. When working remote, try to get multiple passes for insurance

I can’t tell you how many times things get garbled in remote recording. Gear malfunctions all the time—and in a remote setup, you’re not there to monitor the other person’s gear. If you’re using a cloud-based capture, like Zoom or Skype, audio can become instantaneously lossy on a given word, phrase, or passage of time.

To combat this unfortunate eventuality, rely on two concepts: Redundancies and Insurance.

By redundancies, I mean always having a backup recording of some kind. If I’m capturing someone remotely, I’ll try to record their audio in whatever way the session dictates (i.e., with zoom, with Zencastr, etc), but I’ll also try to log a second device onto our conference and record a cloud-based backup there. Furthermore, if the actor or guest can swing it, I’ll ask them to record themselves on their end. Some companies I work with send out USB mic packages, and then book an hour of my time to coordinate the guest—that’s how much they want to nail the audio down.

With three different recordings, one of them is likely to have usable audio. However, sometimes that just isn’t the case: sometimes the internet connection on their end might get iffy for a second, and we’ll lose words. So, if I find the guest has said something important that I know I’m going to need, I’ll ask them to repeat it; this is my insurance.

You can’t always do this in a conversational interview. But if you’re doing something more produced, like an investigative show or an audio-drama, getting multiple takes of key answers or passages will save your behind.

8. Budget twice as much time as you need for mixing and editing

A good rule of thumb for producing a podcast, whether it’s for yourself or for someone else, is to give yourself twice as much time as you think you need at every step.

Other than scripting and recording, podcast production entails editing, mixing, and quality check. QC is the final step, where you check your work; it should take, at the very least, as long as it takes to listen to the podcast. So, by this rule of thumb, budget time for at least two complete listen-throughs.

Regarding editing: the listener’s time is precious, so make your message clear, concise, and professional when dialogue editing. Limit dead air, remove duplicated topics, and fix the occasional “um,” “ah,” and false starts. Editing can be overdone, however, so challenge yourself to get the best possible read in one segment. You don’t want to edit the audio to death, but brevity is always appreciated by listeners!

This article references a previous version of Neutron. Learn about Neutron 4 and its powerful features including Assistant View, Target Library, Unmask, and more by clicking here.

9. The less you do in the mix, the better

Podcasts are usually mixed, which means applying processing to each vocal track and balancing the levels.

When you process a track, you are adding something to it that wasn’t there before—this is true even with a subtractive effect, such as notching out problematic resonances. It always leaves a mark.

This is especially true in podcasts, which feature the voice and little else. Podcasts are so spare that it’s easier to hear every little thing you do in the mix, which means excess moves will stand out, leaving their stamp on the audio signal.

Now, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t process a problematic vocal. EQ, compression—its cousin, de-essing—and noise reduction are all your friends. But a light touch trumps all here.

On EQ: First, you can consider employing a high-pass filter, which only allows sounds above a certain frequency to pass through. Everything else will be filtered out. Because most speaking voices don’t generate any fundamental frequencies below about 85 Hz, you can set a high-pass filter around 80-100 Hz to help remove both rumble and plosives that your listeners won’t want to hear.

You can achieve high-pass filtering with your DAW’s stock EQ plug-in, or with iZotope’s Relay plug-in.

Other kinds of equalization—such as the EQ modules found in Neutron and Nectar Pro—can compensate for resonances in your room, or they can alleviate certain frequencies that might seem to “stick out” or “resonate” when you hear your voice through your microphone. It’s often better to cut frequencies rather than boost them. Again, moderation is your friend: use too much EQ in either direction, and it will be distracting.

Simply speaking, compression takes sounds you deem as too loud and turns them down. This is done to even out the differences between loud and quiet passages of audio. After compressing louder sounds, you can turn up the vocal track without fear of distorting the mix, making everything seem louder overall. This can be helpful when people are listening to your podcast in noisy situations like a subway, car, or bus. Compression is especially useful on the ends of phrases, which often dip in volume as a speaker runs out of breath.

Like EQ, compression shouldn’t be used in extremes. Start with a ratio of 2:1 and lower the threshold of the compressor until it activates only on the loudest sounds.

Even better, use parallel compression, which Nectar Pro and Neutron both allow through the use of global mix sliders.

Parallel compression is great in podcasting, as it sounds very natural; when it’s successfully implemented, the louder sections sound the same as before, but the quieter ones sound reinforced, and often thicker in tone. I use parallel compression frequently in the fiction podcasts I mix for Voyage Media, such as Let Me Tell You About My Murder and Otzi the Iceman Must Die.

You can think of de-essing like a compressor, only for sibilant, spitty frequencies. It will dynamically duck the voice, but only when triggered by the sibilant range (typically 4 to 9 kHz).

Many voices exhibit an unpleasant sibilant sound when speaking into a microphone. Subtle de-essing can make your voice easier to listen to for a long period of time. Try the De-esser module for wide-band de-essing in Nectar Pro, or a dynamic EQ setting in Neutron.

Be careful not to overdo de-essing, though, or you could lose intelligibility in your voice.

Most DAWs have LUFs and Peak meters built in these days. But really, iZotope’s Insight is perfect for all your metering needs. It has goodies that really help in podcasting, such as the Intelligibility meter, which can show you, in a plain visual way, if words will be intelligible against a high noise floor.

10. Take your project to common listening places for quality control

In the quality control pass, you should listen to your podcast outside of your working environment at least once. Remember, you’re the only one with your unique listening situation—and your podcast needs to sound good to everyone.

I have a car stereo, and I have a pair of really bad earbuds. I listen to a podcast on both before I turn it in. I take general notes in the car and specific notes on earbuds. Then, I apply them, bounce the podcast, do one more QC pass, and upload it.

Taking the time to do this will ensure you have a quality product to show off to the world. Don’t skip this step. If you only have one listening system, do invest in a secondary pair of cheap headphones, or listen to the podcast on your monitors. It can also help, at this stage in the game, to reference another podcast in a similar genre or space, to see how you stack up. Sometimes I’ll play my podcast and another on Spotify at the same time to see who wins the loudness and fullness war. That can have its uses too, in short bursts.

Produce your next podcast

The tips given in this article represent a “best-case scenario” approach. This guide assumes you’ll follow the recording steps above, so you can adequately mix and budget time with the other applicable tips. However, sometimes you’re not in control of the recording process, and you wind up with bad audio. For those situations, I heartily recommend trying out the tips in this article. And if you’re in control of your audio, consider trying a free trial of Music Production Suite Pro to get a professional-sounding podcast with these tips.

How to Sing Better: 40 Tips from a REAL Vocal Coach

Everyone wants to learn how to sing better.

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been on the road for 20 years or you’re just starting out.

Here’s the bottom line:

You can improve your voice and learn how to sing better.

Learn More: The Top 10 Mistakes Singers Make and how to fix them in only 20 minutes.

So, if you just googled “how do I begin to sing?” or “h ow do I know if I’m a good singer?”, this post is for you!

It just takes some simple and effective vocal exercises.

Rather than keep them secret, I wanted to share 40 proven singing techniques that will teach you how to sing properly today.

For organization, I’ve sorted them into 10 main sections.

How to Sing Better

They’re done in an order to take you from the practice room to the stage in no time flat.

Ready to get started? Read on.

By the way, if you want to watch a great step-by-step video that walks through all the exercises for how to sing better, for beginners and experienced singers alike, check this out:

Before we jump into the exercises, I think it’d be great to answer one of the most common questions I get: “Can you teach yourself to sing?”.

There are actually two parts to this question:

1) Is everyone physically capable of learning to sing? and…

2) Can anyone learn to sound good when they sing?

Let’s take the first part of this question first.

Is singing a talent or skill?

How can you learn how to sing in tune?

Studies show that, unless you’re part of 3% of the population that has tone deafness (aka “amusia”), then you can learn how to sing in tune.

So if you look at the statistics, basically there’s a 97% chance that you can learn to sing.

But I have to be honest:

I have taught over 1,000 students now and some of them were even assessed as “tone deaf” by their other teachers.

But here’s the crazy thing:

Every student I have worked with has been able to match pitch and tone after some simple exercises.

At what age can a child sing in tune? Usually starting around 3-4 years old.

Now, there are many people who will read this and think that it doesn’t apply to them or “I haven’t heard them sing.” But I promise you, you can learn how to sing naturally with the right techniques and instruction.

Which brings us to part 2:

Can you learn to sing if you have a bad voice?

Many students will ask me things like:

How can I sing beautifully?

Can I learn how to sing naturally?

Can I sing if I have a bad voice?

Can I change my voice?

These are all tricky questions to answer.

Because “sounding good” is a matter of opinion (just like some people think there’s an easy way how to sing good).

For example, if you’re asking “how can I sing like Ariana Grande?”, that’s a tough one. Full disclosure here: I can’t give you an easy trick for how to sing like Ariana Grande.

But consider this: does Bob Dylan sound good? You may say no, but at one time he was one of the most popular singers in the world.

Likewise, I have taught some people that sound amazing and haven’t sold any records.

A great voice does not automatically mean success. And success does not always require a great voice.

So, if you’re asking “how can I sing with a bad voice?”, cheer up! Lots of people have found success with less-than-perfect voices.

Yes, there’s a greater chance that, if you learn to use your voice better, you will be more successful than someone who is totally untrained.

As proof, I have worked with students who have ZERO natural ability in their vocal tone but they find gigs within just a few months of working together.

The more important question is “how do you define sounding good”.

Adele has publicly talked about hating the sound of her own voice. Can you imagine?

If that’s how Adele feels, it’s very likely that you may also not like the sound of your own voice at first.

How can I improve my singing voice?

As a beginner, it can be really frightening to think about how to learn to sing. But with the following lessons on how to sing, you CAN learn to find the voice of your dreams.

You CAN learn how to sing.

These tips for how to sing better are designed for consistent, regular practice. There’s no “how to sing better in 5 minutes” or “how to sing better in a week” tricks here.

As with all things in music, the key is slow, steady improvement. These are all great things to practice singing at home on a daily basis.

As an expert vocal coach, I want to help you get there with techniques I’ve used to teach 1,000+ singers.

So even if you’ve searched the “how to sing” wikihow article or “how to sing better” youtube channels, you’ll find tons of great techniques and tips here that you won’t find anywhere else.

Ready? Let’s get started…

How to Sing Better Section 1: Sing with the Right Posture

1. The Tall Posture

How can I sing perfectly? Well, here’s the truth:

Singing with the correct posture is one of the fastest and easiest ways of improve your singing voice.

I’ve seen students whose voices are totally transformed as soon as they find the correct posture.

But what is the right posture for singing? And how does it work?

Here’s what you need to know:

The correct posture for learning how to sing singing is called a Tall Posture.

The tall posture is the best position for singing because it provides your diaphragm and throat with the support you need to sing better.

Here’s how to find Tall Posture:

If you’re doing it right, you should feel like you’d be ready to jump on a train if you needed to.

Now, watch yourself in a mirror from the side and make sure you’re keeping your posture straight and tall.

2. Don’t Lift Your Chin as You Sing Higher

Now that you have a tall posture, let’s make sure that your head and neck is in a good position for singing.

With your posture tall, make sure that your chin isn’t pointing up or down.

This is especially important when you’re singing high notes since most singers will lift their chin as they go up in pitch.

An easy way to make sure that your jaw isn’t pointing up is by thinking “down” as you go up in pitch.

Remember, the goal is to keep the chin totally straight.

3. Relax Your Throat and Tongue

With your head and neck in the right position, it’s time to check for neck and throat tension.

Here’s how you do it:

Sing a phrase of a song and watch yourself in the mirror.

If you see any tightness in your throat or face, you are probably adding tension to your voice.

The two most common areas of tension in singing are the larynx and the tongue.

So let’s check the larynx first.

In this exercise, you’ll be checking in with your larynx by feeling it between your fingers.

Never push or poke your larynx as you’re doing these exercises.

Instead, gently feel your larynx or voice box between your thumb and forefinger.

Now sing the phrase of a song and gently feel your larynx between your two fingers.

Does the larynx rise or feel tight as you sing?

If so, try this exercise.

Here’s how to keep the larynx relaxed:

With your fingers gently feeling your larynx, sing the phrase again and try to allow the larynx to stay relaxed.

In the next exercise, we’ll check for tongue tension by feeling the muscles underneath your chin.

Again, don’t push or poke the muscles underneath your chin.

Instead, gently take your thumb and feel the muscles between your voice box and your chin.

Sing a phrase and use your thumb to see if the muscles under your chin are tense or tightened.

If the tongue muscles underneath your chin feel tight, sing the phrase again and try to consciously relax them.

4. Relax Your Jaw

Here’s the truth:

The position of your jaw can change your sound dramatically.

That’s because your jaw has a lot of influence on your vocal tone and even whether you’re singing on pitch.

But here’s the bottom line:

The jaw should move freely with whichever vowel you’re singing.

Having one set jaw position for vowel will make you sound like a robot.

Here’s how to let your jaw relax:

How to Sing Better Section 2: Learn Good Breath Support

5. Sing from the Diaphragm

Learning to breathe for singing is one of the most important steps in learning how to sing.

How do you breathe while singing? Well, just like anything else, there are lots of techniques to learn to breathe for singing.

But here’s all you need to know:

Rather than taking a breath from the shoulders or chest, we’re going to inhale from the diaphragm.

Breathing from the diaphragm is the opposite of how to sing throaty.

Can you learn how to sing from the diaphragm?

I’ve created a video demonstration that teaches you to sing from the diaphragm.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Step in front of a mirror so that you can see the full length of your torso from the side.

2. Place your hands on both sides of the bottom of your stomach.

3. Open your mouth and inhale.

4. As you inhale, allow the breath to expand your stomach outward.

5. When you exhale, allow the breath to bring your stomach back in.

If you see any movement in your shoulders or in your chest, you are doing something wrong.

Please note: when done correctly, this exercise can feel a bit weird.

That’s because for most of our lives we’ve been taught to inhale by bringing our stomach in, not out.

When learning how to sing with your diaphragm, it’s important to let the stomach expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale.

6. The Farinelli Breathing Exercise

There are tons of great exercises that will build your breath support.

But the Farinelli breath exercise is the best one for building breath control FAST when you want to teach yourself to sing.

Here’s a short video demonstrating how to do the Farinelli breathing exercise:

How to Improve Sound Quality [Step-by-Step Guide]

In this article term «to improve sound quality» mean «to decrease sound playback distortions at the analog output of digital-analog converter». Read below how to try to decrease the playback distortions for your audio equipment or portable device (digital audio player, mobile phone, etc.).

Disclaimer: Result of sound quality improvement method, that described below, depends on used playback hardware and software and sound quality improvement isn’t guaranteed.

DSD audio file conversion

Resampling and bit depth impact to sound quality

Digital-analog converter audio hardware may have different distortion levels for different modes. Here DAC mode is a combination of sample rate, bit depth, PCM/DSD.

Different distortions for different DAC modes

One or several modes may have minimal distortions. Below such mode is called as «the best sounding mode».

Audio file resolution may be converted to values (sample rate, bit depth, PCM/DSD) of «the best sounding mode» to improve playback sound quality (optimization of audio files).

Read below about:

DAC can be able to provide lesser distortions for mode 192 kHz/24 bit/PCM than for 96 kHz/24 bit/PCM.
Therefore, the conversion of audio file resolution to 192 kHz/24 bit/PCM is recommended for playback at the DAC.

Theoretically, a higher sample rate and bit depth cause lesser noise/distortion level. However, it is an implementation matter rather.

«The best sounding mode» may be found via measurements of the test signals (see at the picture above). However, it demands precise measurement equipment and skills in the measurements.

The article describes step-by-step how to found «the best sounding mode» by ears. It is not a precise way, unlike measurements. But ears allow approximately estimate the DAC’s modes at home without additional measurement equipment.

Read more:

Dithering impact to sound quality

In contrast, audio-file-resolution changing, that work together with DAC, dithering allow increasing the sound quality of an audio file as itself in some cases. Because non-linear distortions of quantization, initially correlated with an audio signal, are smoothed and transformed into uncorrelated noise after dithering.

Dither can improve the sound quality of an audio file via correlated distortion decreasing

If DAC has a noise level above the quantization noise of audio file, the dithering impact may be decreased or disappeared even. But modern DACs, as rule, have noise level below 16-bit error quantization and dithering noise. Therefore, for such DAC dithering may impact to perceived sound quality.

Read more:

Impact of audio conversion software to result

Below pro audio conversion software is suggested to convert audio files. It has low distortion noise. Theoretically, we can neglect quality losses of conversion (including non-multiple resampling) for pro class of audio converters.

Different converters also have different features of the resampling filters.

Currently, the author knows nothing about reliable results of researches of resampling-filter-features impact to sound perception.

Also, the filtration bandwidth may impact intermodulation distortions at an analog output of DAC.

Read more:

Recommendations for audio player

For a purer experiment, audio playback software (audio player and system audio driver) should transfer digital audio data from file to DAC without changes of binary content. As example, a preferable way for audio player software is using ASIO or WASAPI output and turned off processing.

For hardware (devices) adjusting of settings for minimal/without sound processing is recommended.

About digital acoustic-correction of room read below.

Read more:

Read step-by-step guide on how to check your audio system abilities. Probably it will help you to improve the sound.

How to improve sound quality via «the best sounding mode»

Described below testing algorithm may be used for DAC, digital audio player, music server, any audio device, that have DAC chip.

In general, for the DAC mode comparison, the author recommends turn off digital room acoustic correction. But you can compare results with the room correction and without.

Filter mode description

AuI ConverteR has 3 resampling filter modes (Settings > General > Filter Mode):

Optimized filter

Optimized filter cut ultrasound (all above 20 kHz).

Non-optimized filter

Non-optimized wide filter

Non-optimized wide filter:

Optimized G5 filter

Optimized G5 filter cuts ultrasound (all above 20 kHz) and causes shorter ringing length for given threshold than Optimized one.

Our recommendations for the mode using:

Resume

If optimization of audio files gives audible sound advantages in your case, you can convert your audio library to «the best sounding mode»‘s parameters: sample rate, bit depth, DSD/PCM.

If in your case no audible sound advantages by optimization, there is not necessary to optimize your library.

It is strongly recommended, original audio files are backup. Because you, probably, will buy new devices or/and new resolution conversion algorithms will be released.

Yuri Korzunov,
Audiophile Inventory’s developer

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I improve sound quality?

To improve sound quality you are need pay attention components of your audio system (in importance descending order):

Also, read music-file optimization guide.

How do I make my audio clearer?

To make audio clearer, it’s necessary to reduce distortions and noise.

Read that you can to do here.

How do I make sound clear and crisp?

In the general case, it should be done on recording and mixing stage. Though, you can try it on mix.

General concept: boosting of high frequencies, optional its parallel compressing and mixing to target audio; noise should be suppressed available way.

How do you fix a muffled sound?

Muffled sound may have different reasons. It may be partially compansated via:

Which is best audio quality?

Audio quality is estimated 2 ways:

Anyway, zero distortions is the best. But sound is not exists in the vacuum. Listening conditions does matter.

Thus, sound quality is individual criteria, that may refer to persons or their groups.

What gives sound its quality?

In the first place, sound quality is result of low distortion level. However, some details are there.

How can I improve MP3 sound quality?

You can’t improve mp3 sound quality as itself. However, you can optimize the audio resolution of the mp3’s content, when you convert it to WAV/FLAC/AIFF/ALAC//AAC/etc. this way.

Is there an app to improve sound quality?

Sound quality may be improved different ways and kinds of applications, respectively. In instance, you can use equalizer (EQ) app and boost high and/or low frequencies, compress dynamic range with compressor application, etc.

By the author opinion, music may be upsampled or downsampled with proper audio converter to optimize for sound quality abilities of your DAC. Read more.

Read the articles about sound quality

August 8, 2022 updated | since May 09, 2017