Podcasting for Solopreneurs | Podcasting Tips and Growth Strategies for Online Business

79. Do I Need to Wear Headphones When Recording? | Podcasting Equipment Tips

Julia Levine | Podcasting Coach (The Podcast Teacher™)

FAQ Friday answering the podcasting question of "Do I Need to Wear Headphones When Recording?"

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

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Welcome back to podcasting for solopreneurs and FAQ Friday, where I answer a podcasting question in 5 minutes or less. Today's question is, do I need to wear headphones when recording? In last week's FAQ episode, I addressed this for interview episodes. And in case you missed that, yes, you absolutely need to wear headphones when recording with another person. This is a nonnegotiable in order to prevent an echo. However, I've gotten this question more times than I can count in relation to solo episodes, just recording by yourself in a room. And I used to say, yes. You should wear them even when recording on your own so that you can monitor your sound in real time and notice any problems with volume, background noise, etcetera. That's technically best practice.

But since I've started my podcast myself, I've changed my tune a bit. I wear headphones a lot throughout the day because I do editing for other people, and sometimes they bug me because I have some sensory issues and I wasn't really excited about wearing them even more during my own recordings. So I started recording without them and honestly, it does not make much of a difference. I do a quick sound check before I record, quote, unquote, for real. So then I know things sound good and that suffices. So it works best for me to record without them on. I have heard from some people that it helps them focus and block out external noise. So if you want to wear them, go for it.

But if you find wearing headphones uncomfortable or distracting, you officially have the podcast teacher's permission to ditch them for your solo episodes only. If you have a podcasting question, click the send me your question link in the episode description, and I'll answer it in an upcoming episode. Until next time. Happy podcasting.

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