Jessica Monroe

I first ran into a buzzing microphone signal about ten years ago in a tiny home studio, and the noise drove me crazy for two weeks before I tracked it down. That persistent buzz turned out to be a textbook ground loop, and the fix was a $30 isolator. I’ve since helped dozens of podcasters, … Read more

Nothing kills a vocal take faster than a massive plosive thump on every “P” and “B” sound, or a room that makes your voice sound like it was recorded in a tile bathroom. I have spent years recording vocals in everything from treated studios to tiny closets, and the single biggest improvement always comes down … Read more

Recording in a noisy, untreated room is one of the most frustrating problems home studio owners face. Every forum thread tells you the same thing: get a dynamic microphone, it rejects room sound better. That advice is partially true but mostly misleading, and in it is still the most common myth in home recording. Our … Read more

If your recordings sound like someone swallowed the last syllable of every sentence, the problem is almost certainly your noise gate release time. I spent two months debugging this exact issue on my own podcast before I realized the fix was a single number: 200 to 250 milliseconds. Word endings getting chopped is the single … Read more

If your vocal recordings sound thin and distant, the problem usually comes down to two separate issues that often overlap. Thin vocals lack low-frequency body in the 100-250Hz range, making them feel weak and hollow. Distant vocals lack proximity effect because the mic sits too far from your mouth or the room adds too much … Read more

Sibilance is one of the most common problems I see when recording and mixing vocals. That harsh, sibilant “S” sound in the 4-10 kHz range can ruin an otherwise perfect take. After ten years of recording, I have learned that the best way to reduce sibilance at the source is to prevent it from being … Read more

You turn up the gain to hear your voice clearly, and suddenly there’s a hiss sitting underneath every word. Turn the gain back down, and now nobody can hear you at all. If that cycle sounds familiar, you’re dealing with one of the most common frustrations in home recording, podcasting, and video calls. Setting mic … Read more