If you’re unfamiliar with podcasts, essentially they are audio programs that you are able to subscribe to on your mobile devices and listen to anywhere at any time.
What makes them so popular is their huge variety of topics available, from true crime to chat shows to storytelling – if you can think of it, there’s probably a podcast about it.
If you have ever watched a podcast, you may be wondering why most podcasters wear headphones when recording. Is this for aesthetic purposes or technical?
Well, the short answer is that headphones allow podcasters to monitor their audio (see also ‘What Is Mic Monitoring?‘), providing them with real-time feedback on how their podcast would sound to listeners.
Likewise, they can also help make the editing process easier, prevent echoes, and improve sound quality.
With this in mind, this guide explored everything you need to know about why podcasters wear headphones when recording.
Reasons Why Podcasters May Wear Headphones When Recording A Podcast
Whether you’re looking to start up your own podcast, curious why podcasters where headphones, or simply want to understand the advantages, below, you will find some reasons why you should wear headphones when recording a podcast:
Filter Out Ambient Noise
Wearing headphones enables you to detect any ambient noises, such as wind. Once detected, you can remove the source of noise – preventing it from being recorded any further.
Carefully listening to your audio and removing any ambient noise is important to produce a professional podcast, as well as to help it stand out among the crowd.
Audio Monitoring
As a professional podcaster, you should always ensure that your audio quality and levels are in check before you begin recording.
Therefore, monitoring the sound quality, audio quality, etc, is really important.
Although, with headphones, this becomes straightforward and hassle-free!
With some quality headphones, you are able to detect any miniature sound errors and then improve them without disturbing your podcast audio later on.
For a professional-sounding podcast, you want to ensure that there are no audio deficiencies.
Likewise, listening to your voice can also help you to improve your speaking habits, the way you speak, etc.
Therefore, wearing headphones allows you to understand exactly how you’ll sound to your audience, providing you with the opportunity to adjust your sound, voice, and tone accordingly.
Popping
In general, the term popping refers to words that produce rough sounds (these usually begin with hard consonants; for instance, “pop”). The unpleasant sounds that are produced from these words usually occur when speaking too close to the microphone.
This can be hard to detect, even more so without headphones, making it difficult to edit out.
One way of avoiding this is by using a pop guard. As a result, headphones allow podcasters to determine where the popping may occur in the podcast.
Makes Editing Easier And Faster With Better Sound Quality
Editing can be a long and tedious process. This is only heightened when editing podcasts!
You’ll begin editing and before you know it; you’ll have spent a few hours completing post-edits and you’re not even close to being finished!
However, there are a few things you can do during production to make this editing process easier.
For instance, a decent pair of headphones. By wearing headphones you’ll be able to pick up on miniature sound quality issues you wouldn’t be able to detect otherwise.
During the production of your podcast, by wearing headphones you can adjust the audio levels for a clearer sound and monitor any fluctuation found in the audio.
Taking these steps will ultimately make the process of editing much simpler as you don’t have to configure these changes later on while editing.
Bleeding And Echo Prevention
If you are not wearing headphones when producing a podcast, then your guests or your own audio may get picked up through the microphone from the speakers, this causes an echo sound; since each of you would have a microphone situated in front of you.
This makes a podcast’s sound quality feel unprofessional and cheap to your audiences, no matter the cost of your microphone or setup.
To avoid this, you should invest in a decent pair of headphones to prevent any sounds from escaping and entering the audio.
To Eliminate Mic Placement Concerns
Additionally, some podcasters will choose to wear headphones to avoid having to move the microphone placement during recording sessions.
When recording, the mic has to be in a perfect position. For instance, not too far or close from your mouth. If it were too far, then the microphone wouldn’t be able to pick up your voice correctly.
On the other hand, if the microphone was placed too close, it may potentially pick up breathing sounds.
Therefore, if you invest in a decent pair of headphones, they will typically come with a built-in microphone that is placed in the perfect position.
Wearing Headphones Makes Your Guests Feel More Comfortable
If you have an additional microphone specifically for guests, you could also provide them with headphones to allow them to decipher their recorded voice.
If you’re an avid podcast watcher, you may have noticed that when some guests don’t wear headphones they have trouble knowing whether or not they are speaking too loud or low.
This results in the host telling them to speak louder or closer to the mic.
Providing your guests with headphones allows them to know exactly how their voice is being recorded, enabling them to adjust their volume if need be.
Final Thoughts
If you love podcasts, you may have noticed that some podcasters wear headphones, while others don’t. Ultimately, the reason this comes down to is chiefly: personal preference.
However, there are a number of advantages to why podcasters would wear headphones. These range from improved audio monitoring to creating a more comfortable environment.
Hopefully, this guide has informed you on why podcasters wear headphones.
