Level up your podcasts when you use the free Adobe Enhance Speech to eliminate echos and background noise, and clarify vocals and volumes.
Dear Podcasters,
We’ve all been there.
You sign into a virtual meeting space with your guest, only to discover they are recording in what looks like a big empty room with their built-in laptop mic. Your fears are confirmed when they introduce themselves—their audio sounds terrible.
Aside from splurging on software or hiring an audio engineer, you know there’s not much you can do about it. You press forward anyway, knowing the final product won’t meet your standards. After all, that’s just how virtual interviews go sometimes, right?
I get it. It’s frustrating. Everyone ought to be able to produce a great sounding podcast these days without spending a fortune, even with a virtual guest.
Initial Impressions of Adobe Enhance Speech
That exact scenario played out in two of my recent podcast interviews, and I, too, had resigned to a mediocre-sounding product.
Fortunately, my latest guest, Kenny Jahng, suggested I try a new tool—Adobe Enhance Speech.
You know how audio software companies publish those before and after clips that sound too good to be true, and often are?
Adobe does too, and it definitely sounds magical. Admittedly, I was skeptical, until I got the results.
I was shocked.
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Adobe Enhance Speech works astonishingly well. Not only that, it’s really easy to use. Just drag and drop your audio file into their webpage.
Be patient, though. The largest audio files could take up to 10 minutes to enhance, but the results are absolutely worth the wait.
Oh, have I mentioned that Adobe Enhance Speech is currently 100% FREE?
For a more strenuous test, I found the worst audio I had from a handheld stereo recorder and ran it through Adobe Enhance Speech. Are you sitting down?
What Adobe Enhance Speech DOES Do Well
In my tests, Adobe Enhance Speech did exactly what it claimed it could do. It made terrible audio sound like it was recorded in a reasonably decent studio. Generally, I noticed that it:
- Virtually eliminated unwanted echo
- Cleaned up background noise
- Enhanced multiple speakers easily
- Clarified vocals and normalized speaker volumes
- Compressed vocals more than I’d prefer (but it was 100% worth it to kill the echo)
What Adobe Enhance Speech DOESN’T Do Well
Of course, no software is designed for all scenarios. When I fed Adobe Enhance Speech good quality audio, it sounded like someone was trying too hard to fix what wasn’t broken. Generally, I noticed that it:
- Over-compressed the vocals
- Eliminated nearly all natural and/or produced reverb
- Degraded the overall quality of the audio
You should know that Adobe Enhance Speech is only designed to enhance speech. It treats music as background noise and tries to remove it. Sorry, musicians.
Limitations of Adobe Enhance Speech
Adobe Enhance Speech is generous with its usage limits, particularly for free software. Users are currently limited to:
- Most standard audio file types: .wav, .mp3, .aac, .flac, .ogg, .oga, .and .m4a
- 500 MB max size and 30 minutes max length per file
- 1 hour of audio per day
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If you’re worried about the file size limit, don’t be. I record 1-hour interviews at a 44k sample rate in WAV format, far longer than most other podcasts, and a single track still didn’t reach the 500 MB limit.
Hosts with longer podcasts might be bothered by the 30 minute limit, but getting around it is easy enough. Simply split the track, upload them separately, and join them back together afterward.
If you’re STILL running into usage limits, have no fear. Adobe Enhance Speech limits are set per day. Just come back the next day and process your remaining files.
No need to be railroaded by usage limits. Adobe Enhance Speech limits are set per day. Just come back the next day and process your remaining files. Click To Tweet
Why You Should Use Adobe Enhance Speech
Bottom line, it just works.
Adobe Enhance Speech does a fantastic job making low quality speech recordings sound amazing, FOR FREE. It’s broadly applicable for any speech-only recording project and creators of any skill level should add it to their audio tool bag immediately.
I’m a big fan. You will be too.
CLICK HERE TO TRY OUT ADOBE ENHANCE SPEECH
P.S. Don’t forget to request access to Adobe Podcast Beta! The feature set looks very promising for any podcaster. Check it out here!
Looking for super tech-focussed podcast content? Check out Church Online Podcast today.
