How can I improve my audio quality?

First, we (and our students) thank you so much for your concern with quality! 

There are several things we recommend:

• Condition your space. Choose a fairly small location with lots of soft surfaces; a walk-in closet is ideal. You can create that smaller space using room dividers/folding screens with blankets draped over them.  
   
• Upgrade your mic. There are lots of good quality choices that won't break the bank. Check our Recommended Equipment list for suggestions, but check ratings and always be sure you can return it if it's not working with your setup.
   
• Got hum? Unplug it! If you're recording with a laptop and you're getting hum in the recording, try recording with it unplugged. 
   
• Spring for an SSD (Solid State Drive) on your computer...they are much quieter! You can also try moving the mic as far away from the computer as possible.
   
• Place a towel under your mic or get a boom arm mount for your mic to prevent table vibrations from creeping into your audio.
   
• Be sure you have adequate input volume. You may see this referred to as gain. We need a strong signal (your audio) to ensure good audio quality. 

Please check out this mini-lesson about setting up your home studio as well.

A word about post-processing is in order as well. We use audio post-processing to condition the audio and it can do wonders...but it can't handle everything!

Please check out our Learning Ally- Home Studio Basics Video 1 Tutorial and this video about what our processing can handle...and what it can't.