Guides.

Plain answers to the questions that come up when you finish a recording at home.

• My podcast guest is quieter than me: how to even out the voices

  Why one voice ends up quieter on a podcast, how to fix it with separate tracks or one mixed file, and what to do about the other voice bleeding into each mic.

• Why is my podcast too quiet on Apple Podcasts and Spotify?

  The loudness podcast apps expect (−16 LUFS, −19 for mono), why your episode sounds quieter than others, and how to fix it without distortion.

• How to reduce room echo in a voice recording

  Why a voice recorded in a bare room sounds distant, what you can fix afterwards (and what you can't), and how to record with less echo next time.

• What LUFS should my song be for Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube?

  The loudness targets for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, Tidal, Deezer, podcasts, ACX audiobooks and broadcast, what LUFS and true peak mean, and whether you should master louder.

• How to make the quiet parts of a recording louder (without squashing it)

  Four ways to bring up the quiet parts of a vocal, piano or podcast recording: volume automation, compression, leveling plug-ins and a gain curve. What each does to your sound, and when to use which.