Production quality fucking matters. Invest in making your shit not sound like FUCKING GARBAGE -- there are three things you can do to instantly vastly improve, and two of them are FREE. I can only assume you can't hear yourselves???? https://twitter.com/thponders/status/1310674064822996999

TIP #1, the only one that costs money: Use a better mic. You can get an okay headset+mic for like $30. It's not the best, but it'll do for starters. You can get a good mic (I use a Blue Snowball) for about $100

If I catch you recording with earbuds, I will push you off a cliff.

(obvs there are even better, fancier mics that cost more money but you don't have to think about those until your podcast's patreon is pulling in some Dollars. An everyday workhorse mic will do perfectly well.)

TIP #2: i am on my knees literally begging you to run a Noise Reduction Filter on your tracks before you edit them. You know that kind of ambient "zhhhhhhhhhh" that comes up?? It'll just erase that, so your silences are SILENT.

please. please. for me. PLEASE.

TIP #3: why are so many of you recording in what sounds like your kitchen or an enormous tiled room???? stop that. This is called ACOUSTICS and it makes me want to claw my eyes out. Go somewhere w/ carpet and soft surfaces. Record facing into a full closet or a pile of cushions.

If you wanna get fancy, hoard your egg cartons for a couple months and then staple them to a couple sheets of cardboard. Ta-da! the poor man's acoustic panels. You can use that in place of the closet or the cushions.

I cannot express to you how nails-on-a-chalkboard it is down in my ACTUAL SOUL when I start a new podcast only to find out that the amateurish production quality continues for DOZENS AND DOZENS OF EPISODES

guys. guys, please. it literally *hurts* to listen to you.

basically, my feelings about audio quality for podcasts is the same as my feelings about, like, not going to a job interview in your pajamas: Take five minutes to consider how you are presenting yourself and it will pay MASSIVE dividends.

not to brag but @serpentcast upgraded to headset+mics after one episode and upgraded again to Blue Snowball mics after like 7 or 10 episodes I think.

Go check it out -- I always run a noise reduction filter. ;)

Naturally there are many other small things you can do to sound more polished, but these three super simple things are the key to your first ENORMOUS jump in quality.

BONUS TIP #4 that i just thought of: *shakes you by the shoulders* USE A POP FILTER!!!!!!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

If you don't have a pop filter MOVE YOUR MIC A BIT TO THE SIDE! STOP BLOWING AIR INTO IT, I HATE IT