Are you creating an audio book, setting up a Sound Cloud library for your poems, or creating poetry mixed-media presentations for TikTok or YouTube? Today, we are going to walk through recording audio for your masterpiece in the most cost-effective way. If you already have a microphone and “studio,” skip to installing Audacity or recording your audio files. If you are starting from scratch, let’s talk a bit about studio space.

DISCLAIMER: I am not associated with nor do I receive any payments from any of these providers. I am an artist who benefits from these technologies and resources. OK, fine–I’m also a nerd who enjoys turning what I know and learn into tutorials for writers, artists, and others with tight budgets.

“Studio” your space

Find quiet space with foam furniture and soft surfaces that will absorb sound, rather than hard surfaces that will bounce it back to you. You also want to choose a space free of appliances and active electronics and aquariums. Some lamps even create ambient noise that your microphone may pick up. Make sure your pets and smartphones won’t interrupt, as well.

Ideas for small spaces and budgets:

• Spare closets converted into mini-studios. If you have a spare closet, check out this 10-minute video that walks you through soundproofing and setting up a studio within a closet.
• If you have $20 or so, you can pick up one of these microphone isolation shields, which will turn almost any space into a mini-studio.

Microphone options

The right microphone makes all the difference. Generally, this is not the area where you want to cut corners, but, I have had great experience with the following microphones.

• Logitech H390 – This is the headset I use for my day-job technology tutorial voiceovers. It’s about $25 and gets the job done if you have a good studio setup.
• Microsoft Lifechat LX-3000 – For about $40, this headset microphone does a pretty good job, too. The earphones on this set are bigger and may be more comfortable.
• Samsung Q2U USB/XLR – For about $60-$70, you will definitely hear the upgrade in your recordings. This is the microphone I use and love. It plugs into my laptop or a speaker system, and came with quality headphones (but it doesn’t appear that the headphones are included anymore). I’ve been using this microphone for several years and haven’t even had to replace the USB cord yet.
• If you have the funds, I recommend an audio interface and condenser XLR microphone. I recently made the investment in entry-level Audio-Technica AT2020 with a Focusrite Scarlet Solo 3rd Gen and I was able to improve the quality of my final audiobook with them.

There are hundreds of microphone options out there. Headsets are great for beginners, especially if you aren’t used to using a microphone or don’t have a good mic stand. A headset microphone follows your mouth so that you can speak more naturally. However, if you can manage a standalone studio microphone, get it. It will create better sounding audio and allow for more creative recordings as you can use the space around you to change the volume or depth of the sound.

When shopping for a microphone, choose a device that provides the following:

• USB connection. Bluetooth and wireless microphones are at the mercy of the space between them and your computer. For the best quality, hardwire the microphone to your computer.
• Unidirectional scope, meaning that it only picks up the sound in front of it. This will help eliminate background noise.
• You NEED a pop filter. Audio Mentor does a good job explaining the whatfor, but, yes, you do need one to block out hard letter sounds.

ACX (Audible) provides more in-depth information about microphones and some newer model recommendations (as I said, I’d used my Samsung for years and love my new Audio-Technica AT2020).

OK, you have your “studio” space and microphone, so let’s install software to record and edit your work.

Audio recording and editing software

Get Audacity. It is a competitive open source application that will likely have more features than you need at a price that can’t be beat: Free. If this is the first audio editing software you have used, you should learn the basics of Audacity before continuing. Otherwise, you will recognize the standard Record, Play, and Stop buttons and timeline functionality.

The rest of these steps are for Audacity, but you can adapt the steps to your favorite audio recorder/editor, as well. Just refer to the application’s help file to locate corresponding features.

Before you start recording, let’s set some preferences to allow you to create quality audio files at the smallest file size. For most voice work, you do not need to record in stereo. Access Edit > Preferences and, on the Audio Settings tab, change the Recording > Channels to 1 (Mono). Ensure that the Project Sample Rate is set to 44100 Hz and the Default Sample Format is set to 32-bit float.

Then, on the Recording tab, select the Play other tracks while recording (overdub) and Record on a new track boxes.

Optionally, on the Tracks tab, set the Default Waveform scale to Linear (dB).

Click OK to save these preferences.

If you are recording for Audible or other audiobook platforms, you will want to download and install the ACX Check plug-in. It will help you analyze your recording to make sure it meets quality standards.

Record your poem (or other content)

Mic check

Audio check – “Mic check 1 2 3” or, since my voice peaks on certain “a” sounds, I throw in a couple “access, access” quips, too. Record it and play it back.

If you are barely seeing a waveform, such as in the image below:

• First make sure that the correct microphone is selected by clicking on Audio Setup > Recording Device and selecting your microphone.
• Also, make sure that the microphone is connected and turned on (if appropriate).
• Turn up the microphone volume along the top of the screen.

A successful mic check will create a waveform that looks something like this:

Recording tips and best practices

When it is time to record your audio, keep these tips in mind:

• Leave 2 full quiet seconds at the beginning and end of the clip. This is useful during the editing process to remove noise.
• Read all the way through your piece. If you mess up, pause and re-read the part you messed up; don’t start the whole recording from the beginning. You can use a dog training clicker to mark edit spots during recording. We are going to edit the audio file later and can cut out mistakes. Just keep going.
• To minimize plosives, position the microphone angled from the side.

Edit your recording

Now, let’s create a final track to publish to MP3. I usually listen to my takes once all the way through, removing any mistakes.

Delete mistakes

If, during recording, you made a mistake and need to remove it from the track, just select it by clicking and dragging the Selection Tool ([F1]) and then press the [Delete] key on your keyboard Edit > Delete from the menu.

Normalize and Compress

To make sure you don’t have high peaks or low lows, you can use the Compressor and Normalize plugins in the Effects menu. First, listen to your file and note if there are any clipped (they will have a red line through them) parts of the wave. If so, select that part of the form and choose Effect > Amplify and set it to -.5 to -1.5. You want to bring the top of the wave down to around 3 dB on the track. Likewise, if there are spots with low waves, you will want to amplify them in the positive direction a bit.

Once you have dealt with all peaks, run the Compressor plugin (tweak as needed):

• Threshold: -20 dB
• Noise Floor: -40 dB

Click on Apply.

Then, run the Normalize plugin, setting the Normalize peak amplitude to -3.1. Click on Apply.

Remove Noise

On the waveform, the line between your voice sounds should be thin and straight. If you see any sound blips in the couple seconds before your voice begins, you should use the Remove Noise effect. You can also play the file and watch for the playback indicator to show sound:

To remove noise, you have to access this effect twice: the first time, to set the noise profile and, the second, to apply the noise removal.

1. Select the first two seconds of the waveform that does not include your voice.
2. Select Effect > Noise Reduction.
3. In the Noise Reduction window, click on the Get Noise Profile button.
4. At the bottom of the track control box at the left of the wavelength, click on the Select button to select the whole track.
5. Select Effect > Noise Reduction. TIP: You can skip the next step by selecting Repeat “Noise Reduction” toward the top of the Effect menu.
6. Click Preview to listen to a few seconds of the result, adjust settings if needed, and click OK to apply the noise removal.

Check for ACX Compliance

You can find the ACX Check plugin in the Analyze menu. If it fails any portion, you will need to undo [Ctrl + Z] and check for waves that are too high or too low, fix those with Effect > Amplify, and Compress and Normalize the track again. Repeat the check.

Publish the audio file

When you are ready to create the final MP3, mute all source tracks so that only the final track is active. Select File > Export > Export as MP3. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the audio file and name the file. Set the Bit rate mode to Constant and choose 192 kbps in the Quality field.

Congratulations! You created an audio file.