Dressing up your sound: music, transitions and volume

A voice alone, even an excellent one, quickly tires the ear. What makes it sound like "radio" is the sound design: a few well-placed seconds of music, and controlled volume.

The four pieces of sound design

• The intro: 5 to 8 seconds that set the mood. The voice comes in over its tail, not after a silence.
• The music bed: very discreet, it drops when someone speaks and rises slightly in the pauses. Sound engineers call this "ducking".
• Transitions: a short motif (a whoosh, two notes) between topics. Listeners know the chapter changed without you having to say so.
• The outro: the music rises under the sign-off, then a final chord fades out.

Volume: a standard to follow

Podcast platforms recommend a loudness of about -16 LUFS (the unit that measures perceived loudness). Too low, and listeners turn it up, then jump at the next ad; too high, and the platform turns your episode down and flattens the nuances. Editing software and online tools can measure and adjust this level automatically.

Processing the voice, with a light touch

A little warmth in the lows, some presence around 3 to 4 kHz and gentle compression give a host's poise. But keep a light touch: on the Alyriaz podcast, settings that were too "radio" were judged too deep, and the right version sat between the raw voice and full processing.

Music rights

Never use a commercial track without a licence. Three safe options: a royalty-free library (with a clear licence), music generated by a tool that grants you usage rights, or music composed for you.