|
Automated Blog-to-Speech by Alexa Guy
|
Auphonic is an amazing tool that will improve your audio’s quality at the touch of a few buttons. And most of it’s free!
My clients know that I’m a guy who wants to help them get up and running with their Alexa Flash Briefings as quickly as possible. I often say that there’s plenty of time to learn about microphones and mixers and all the fun toys that come with audio production, but if you want your briefing to work for your business, you need to start building an audience right away.
That’s why I work with my clients to get the best quality audio possible, usually recording with a phone and headset microphone while standing in a closet. Recording in a large walk-in closet really does make you sound like you’re in a professional studio, but what if you don’t have a walk-in closet? Or what if you simply don’t want to record in the closet?
That’s where an online audio normalizing service is helpful. Today, we’re going to focus on Auphonic, an amazing tool that will improve your audio quality at the touch of a few buttons. And most of it’s free!
First here’s a sample of bad audio with background noise:
And here’s what it sounds like cleaned up with Auphonic:
The first thing you notice is that the room noise goes away. All audio is normalized to its proper level and there’s no distortion to the audio at all.
How to use Auphonic to improve audio
First, you’ll need to sign up for a free Auphonic account here: https://auphonic.com/accounts/register/
Once you’re logged in to your dashboard, click the big, red “New Production” button to start your normalization session.
Choose “Select File” and navigate to your episode.
Scroll down and make sure “Noise and Hum Reduction” is checked and set to “Auto”
Click “Start Production”
You will be taken to a confirmation page, where you will click “Start Production.”
The episode will begin processing. You need to keep this new page open until it completes processing.
Once complete, you will see the processed file, which you can listen to and download.
Auto Export
You can register storage services with Auphonic for Libsyn, Dropbox, Google Drive and more to have the files automatically sent to whatever service you use in your workflow by going here: https://auphonic.com/engine/services/
Presets
You can set all of your preferences as a “Preset” by going here: https://auphonic.com/engine/preset/
Batch Processing
You can set up batch processing for your files, but you can’t use the free tier for that. You’ll need to buy a subscription, like the “Auphonic S Plan” for $11 per month (USD).
And that’s all there is to it. Auphonic integrates easily into your existing workflow, but is a great tool to use to take your audio to the next level.
