When possible, avoid recording coughs, throat clearing, rustling pages, long pauses, misspeaks, etc. as these are distracting to the listener when your program airs. 

If you stumble or mispronounce a word, stop and correct it by re-recording that entire sentence. Your program should be almost 100% mistake free! With 24 hours of programming a day, we can only lightly edit each program, and there is always a risk that the producers will not catch these errors and they will go out over the air. We rely on our wonderful volunteer readers to give us a fully-edited program.

Remove any bracelets or watches before recording. Any shaking of hands, arms, or wrists can cause them to jingle, rattle, or click. Also, be mindful of any rings that could rap against the desktop. These could be picked up by the mic, and cannot always be easily removed in post production.

It’s crucial to listen to the work you submit. If you don’t listen back to your recording, you can’t may miss mistakes.

We provide headphones in each studio booth. There are covers to go over the headsets in the drawers of each booth, if you are concerned about sharing. Please use the headphones to listen for mistakes and other small things that work together to make a great program. Always listen for changes in volume and tone.

Don’t pound the keys on your keypad. Instead press quietly but firmly in the center of each key to minimize “clicks” heard on your recording. Also try to position the keypad as far away from the microphone as practical.

Do not press the Record button until you are ready to start. Then, give about a half-beat or half second pause from when you press Record until you speak. This makes sure your intro is recorded in its entirety and nothing is lost if there is a slight lag in the keypad.

When you record, start with a quick mic check. Read a few sentences from the newspaper, magazine, or book you’ll be recording. Then, check what you recorded. This helps gauge the volume levels you are actually recording. Look at the volume meter levels while listening, and try to achieve levels as close to the RED, without dipping into the RED (the upper green between -10 and -5 on the meter). Please adjust your microphone volume level knob, if too low or too loud.

Always adjust your microphone volume before adjusting your headphone volume. However, the headphone volume absolutely should be adjusted to suit your comfort for listening.