The Podcast Audio Checklist: Record, Edit and Export Like a Pro

Before you record

The room matters more than the microphone

Hard, bare walls reflect sound and make voices sound hollow. You don't need acoustic panels: record in a room with carpets, curtains, a sofa or a full wardrobe, and avoid recording in kitchens and bathrooms. Turn off fans, fridges and notifications.

Microphone technique

• Keep the mic about a fist's width (10–15 cm) from your mouth, slightly off-axis to reduce popping "p" and "b" sounds.
• Stay at a consistent distance. Moving back and forth is the main cause of uneven volume.
• Give each guest their own mic and, ideally, their own recording track.

Recording settings

Record a few seconds of silence ("room tone") at the start. It helps when patching gaps later and shows you how noisy the room really is.

Editing: work in this order

1. Trim the ends. Remove the countdown and the "is it still recording?" moments with the Audio Trimmer.
2. Cut mistakes and long pauses. Use the Audio Cutter's Remove selection mode; its short crossfade hides the edit.
3. Assemble the episode. Join the intro music, main conversation, ad reads and outro with the Audio Joiner. A 0.5–1 s crossfade into and out of music sounds polished.
4. Set the level. Bring a quiet recording up with the Volume Booster. Normalizing to −1 dB is a safe start, with the limiter on.
5. Listen through once on earbuds and once on speakers before exporting.

Loudness: how loud should a podcast be?

Platforms and apps measure perceived loudness in LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale). Apple's podcast guidance recommends about −16 LUFS integrated loudness with true peaks no higher than −1 dB, and many producers use −16 LUFS for stereo shows and about −19 LUFS for mono. Episodes far quieter than this make listeners reach for the volume button, and the next app notification blasts their ears.

Peak normalization (as in our Volume Booster) and loudness normalization are different things. Our guide to loudness normalization explains the difference and how to work with both.

Export settings for publishing

MP3 remains the safest choice for podcast hosting because every podcast app and RSS reader supports it. Use the Audio Compressor to export exactly the bitrate and channel setting you need.

The final checklist

• ☐ Quiet, soft-furnished room; notifications off.
• ☐ Recording in WAV, 48 kHz/24-bit, peaks around −12 to −6 dBFS.
• ☐ Start and end trimmed; mistakes and long pauses cut.
• ☐ Intro, segments and outro joined with smooth transitions.
• ☐ Level checked: no clipping, loudness around −16 LUFS.
• ☐ Exported as MP3 at an appropriate bitrate, with the file named with the show and episode number.
• ☐ Listened through on two different devices.

Frequently asked questions