Why Sound Checks Are the Most Underrated Part of Professional Recording
Sound checks — the pre-recording tests that confirm everything is working, positioned correctly,
and at the right levels before the actual recording begins — are so standard in professional
broadcast and live event production that they're assumed. In podcast production, particularly self-
managed home setups, they're often skipped in the rush to get started.The result is avoidable problems discovered
only in playback: a microphone that wasn't all the way plugged in, a recording level set too hot
that caused clipping throughout, a guest whose audio was routing to the wrong channel, background
noise that wasn't noticed because nobody listened critically before starting.
What a Proper Sound Check Covers: Every microphone in the session: verify it's connected, verify
it's picking up audio, verify the level is in the right range (signal peaks around -12 dB to -6 dB on
your meter — green with occasional yellow, no red). Listen for: any hum or buzz that suggests a
ground loop, cable fault, or interference. Any echo or reverb that indicates a room acoustics
problem. Any background noise that will be present throughout the recording.
The Headphone Check: After setting levels, put on headphones and listen to the recording in the
exact way it will be captured. Not monitoring the live signal — playing back fifteen seconds of test
recording and listening to the actual file. This reveals problems that monitoring doesn't catch.
The Guest Check: For remote recordings, the sound check includes verifying that the guest's audio
is being captured correctly, not just heard through the call. Ask them to speak at normal volume for
thirty seconds and check their waveform level. Ask them to tap the table or nearby surface and
listen for vibration pickup. Ask them to confirm they're wearing headphones to prevent echo from
their speakers feeding back into their mic.
Five Minutes of Sound Check Prevents hours of Post-production: That ratio is not an
exaggeration.
