Free tool

Podcast Guest Soundcheck

One minute before the first recording. It says what is wrong with your sound and what to do about it, in plain words.

Looked after by Mic, a studio condenser microphone.

Are you the host?

Put this link in the calendar invite with one line: run this before we record.

Start the check

Your browser will ask to use your microphone. Say yes. It takes about a minute: you stay quiet for five seconds, talk for eight, then listen for three short beeps.

Nothing is recorded and nothing is uploaded. Your microphone feeds a meter inside this tab and only the numbers are kept. There is no account.

For the host who sent this link

Podshare gives your guest one page.

Before the session: the brief, the questions and the release form. After it: their clips, the audio, the artwork and posts written in your voice. One link, sent twice.

See Podshare

Once it is recorded

Shorts turns the interview into clips.

It reads the whole episode, picks the excerpts worth posting, and finishes them vertical with captions burned in. Your guest gets clips of themselves, which is what they actually share.

See Shorts

If you only do four things

  1. 1Wear headphonesAny headphones. Wired phone earbuds are fine. This is the whole list if you only read one line.
  2. 2Sit close to the microphoneAbout a hand span away. Distance is what makes a guest sound like they are in a bathroom.
  3. 3Turn off the fan and close the windowFree, takes ten seconds, and it is under every word if you skip it.
  4. 4Quit the other appsSlack and email notifications land in the recording, and a video call in another window can take your microphone away mid-sentence.

Questions

How do I test my microphone before a podcast interview?
Open this page, press start, and let it listen twice: once while you stay quiet, once while you talk. It tells you which microphone your browser is actually using, whether your voice is too quiet or too loud, how noisy your room is, and whether you are on headphones. It takes under a minute and nothing is uploaded.
Why do podcast guests need headphones?
Without headphones, your host's voice comes out of your speakers and straight back into your microphone. The host then hears themselves a beat behind everything they say, and their voice is baked into your recording for the whole conversation. It cannot be removed afterwards. Any headphones fix it, including the earbuds that came with your phone.
How do I know if I am on speakers instead of headphones?
This page plays three short beeps and listens for them coming back through your microphone. If they come back, your sound is going into the room. That is the test the host cannot do for you and that you cannot do by ear, because your own echo sounds normal to you and only the other person hears it.
The page says it could not test for echo. What does that mean?
It means exactly that, and it is not the same as passing. The usual reasons are that your browser cancels echo on its own and removes the evidence, that your room was too loud for the beeps to stand out, or that you did not hear the beeps at all so your sound is going somewhere unexpected. The page tells you which one happened. Put headphones on regardless.
What microphone should a first-time podcast guest use?
Whatever you already have, in this order: a USB microphone if you own one, then a wired headset or the earbuds with a microphone on the cable, then your laptop. Wireless earbuds sound worse than wired ones because the microphone side of Bluetooth is low quality. If the laptop microphone is all you have, sit close to it in a room with soft furniture and it will be fine.
Which browser should I use for a remote podcast recording?
Chrome or Edge. They are the two every recording platform supports and tests against. Firefox is not supported by several of them, and Safari works on some and not others. Install Chrome before the session rather than discovering the problem while your host waits.
What internet speed do I need for a remote podcast interview?
Most platforms record locally on your machine and upload afterwards, so the call itself is the demanding part. A few megabits each way holds a video call comfortably. A cable into the router is better than wi-fi at any speed, because what ruins a call is usually a dropout rather than an average.
My microphone permission is blocked. How do I unblock it?
Click the padlock or the microphone icon on the left of your browser address bar, set the microphone to Allow, and reload the page. On a Mac you may also need System Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Microphone, and switch your browser on there. A blocked permission has nothing to do with your microphone working.
Does this page record or upload my voice?
No. Your microphone feeds a meter inside this tab and the only things kept are numbers like how loud you were. There is nothing to upload to, there is no account, and closing the tab ends it. The summary and the image are made on your device from those numbers.
I am the host. How do I use this with my guests?
Copy the link at the top of this page and put it in the calendar invite with one line: run this before we record. Guests who have never recorded anything will do it, because it is a link that tells them what to fix rather than an article telling them what to buy.
What this checks, and why

Headphones, not speakers. The one that cannot be fixed later.

On speakers, your host's voice comes back into your microphone. They hear themselves a beat late for the whole session and their voice is baked into your track. Editing cannot separate them.

Your level. Too quiet is fixable, too loud is not.

A quiet recording can be turned up. A recording that broke up because you were too loud has lost the part that broke. The check tells you which side of that you are on.

Which microphone. Often not the one you bought.

Plugging a microphone in does not make the browser use it. People record whole episodes on the laptop microphone with a good one sitting six inches away.

Room noise. You stopped hearing it hours ago.

A fan, a fridge, an air conditioner. Your ears filter it out and a microphone does not. It sits under every word and it is the reason some episodes sound thin.

Browser and system. Some are not supported at all.

Several recording platforms do not work in Firefox and are picky about Safari. Finding that out five minutes before the session is a cancelled session.

Connection. A rough download figure.

Enough to say whether a video call will hold up. Upload is the number that matters more, and nothing can measure it without sending data, which this page does not do.

This tool is looked after by Mic.Nervous until the levels look right, then the most confident thing in the room.

More Free Tools

Image ConverterCrop Video to VerticalYouTube Thumbnail DownloaderReels Cover CreatorPodcast Media Kit GeneratorPodcast Loudness Checker
View All Free Tools