Like a business suit for your voice

When we consultants want to make a good impression in the before-times, we would wear a business suit. Since remote work is here to stay, we want to make a good impression remotely also. Remote meetings give you two senses to work with: sight and sound. I wrote about visuals in my previous post, and today, I would like to write about audio.

What YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok have taught us is that low-quality sound quality has a bigger impact on your audience than low-quality visuals. PowerPoint’s longevity further proves this point. So let’s talk about some practical things you can do to improve your sound: sound treatment, a mic, and an audio interface.

Clap!

The most important part of sound is a good room. Fortunately this is one the most cost-effective improvement you can make.

What you wanna do is clap where you have your meetings and listen for an echo. Removing this echo will significantly improve your sound. You don’t need to spend a lot of money here. A few blankets and a few sound-proofing squares can drastically improve your room’s echoiness.

A good mic

The standard that you see many podcasters use is the Shure SM7B. And while this is a great mic, it does cost ~$400 USD. I use the SM58, which is a quarter of the price and indestructible. You might see this mic used for standup comedy and rock & roll singing.

A good audio interface

To get the sound from your mic into your computer, you need an audio interface. And once you have one, be sure to go back and listen to all your favorite records. You’ll definitely hear the difference in sound quality compared to a MacBook Pro.

In meetings at work, it’s so much more pleasant to listen to my colleague’s that use a good audio interface, over the mic in our MacBooks. Do I perceive them more confident because their voice is clear, or are they simply more confident?

I started with the Apollo Solo. This audio interface offers inputs for two mics, and an output for speakers and an output for headphones. The Apollo Solo has USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 versions. In my experience, USB hasn’t been reliable for me, so I went with Thunderbolt.

Setting up the Apollo Solo for Zoom

By default, Zoom uses all of the input channels from the Apollo Solo, which is not what you want, at all. And while Zoom does offer a preference for this, I’ve found that preference to be buggy.

Fortunately, the Apollo Solo has settings also. In the Settings screen in the Apollo Console app, there’s an “I/O Matrix” tab where you can modify how your MacBook perceives the Apollo Solo. I collapse all my mic inputs down to one stereo pair: the AUX1 bus. Everything I want Zoom to hear, I send to the AUX1 bus. I disable every other input so that no sounds get sent to Zoom accidentally.

Likewise, with my computer’s sound outputs, I configure the Apollo Solo’s I/O Matrix so that just one stereo pair is visible to my MacBook. Here, I use the Virtual channels. This allows me to configure a compressor on the sound from my computer, before routing the audio to my headphones or my speakers.

I/O Matrix tab in the Apollo Console app

Once you’ve configured the I/O matrix, open “Audio MIDI Setup” on your Mac, select “Universal Audio Thunderbolt”, and then click on the “Output” tab, and then “Configure Speakers”. You wanna makes sure the Left and Right channels are sent to Virtual 1 & Virtual 2.

”Configure Outputs” window in the Audio MIDI Setup app on macOS

While you’re in “Audio MIDI Setup”, confirm that your Mac is using it for input and output.

Audio MIDI Setup configured to use the Apollo Solo

Now you’re all set up to sound great on Zoom!

Other considerations

Here are a few other things to think about for your audio setup

Plugins

The Apollo can run plugins, on it’s own processor! I recommend the C-Suite C-VOX to help reduce noise. This plugin is a necessity for living in New York City. You may also consider a de-esser and a compressor. Remember, the worst thing that digital audio can do is clip into the red, and the second worst thing digital audio can do is clip into the yellow. Use your compressor and pre-amp settings to keep your voice around -12dB, to leave plenty of room for loudness spikes.

Vendors

Sweetwater’s customer service has been good to me and to many other folks. I highly recommend them. I try to buy from smaller retailers whenever possible. For your convenience, here is a link to the Apollo Solo on Sweetwater.com. Also check for refurbished or demo models!

Mic stand

You’ll need something to hold that microphone for you. Many podcaster’s like the Z-style spring mounts for the flexibility when moving around. I currently use a static mic stand, which helps to remind me to sit up straight.

That’s all for now

I hope your clients and colleagues appreciate the extra effort your putting into what they see and hear remotely.