I'm recording audio for a video essay with Audacity and a Blue Yeti microphone. The microphone is held by a stand and it's got a pop filter.
I've watched a few YouTube tutorials like this one on what kinds of post-processing should be done on an audio file to increase its quality. These tutorials usually detail 6 steps:
- Reduce the noise profile
- Compress the audio track
- Boost the Bass
- Boost the Treble
- Add a Limiter
- Normalize
However, when I Compress my audio recording, it makes the audio sound cheaper. While the Playback Level of the untouched recording averages around -12, post-compression it increases past 0. The audio sounds like it's been reduced from a high quality recording from a decent mic, to the default microphone on a laptop, with noticeable amounts of distortion unless it's played on a very low volume.
I'm relatively new to this, but understand that Compression should balance the audio out. Am I doing something wrong when I try to edit the track with Audacity, or is this something more on the physical recording end?
