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How to Sound Better on Video Calls (Without Buying New Gear)

Your colleagues can tolerate mediocre video. They cannot tolerate bad audio. Garbled, echoey, or noisy sound makes every meeting painful - and often, the problem isn't your hardware. It's how you're using it and where you're sitting.

Here's how to sound dramatically better without spending a dollar. (And if free tips aren't enough, we'll mention some affordable upgrades.)

Microphone Positioning

The single biggest improvement most people can make is moving their microphone closer.

The Distance Problem

Sound follows the inverse square law: double the distance, quarter the volume. When your mic is far away:

  • Your voice is quiet relative to background noise
  • Room reverb becomes more prominent
  • The mic amplifies everything to compensate, including hiss and ambient noise

Ideal Positioning

  • 6-12 inches from your mouth - Close enough to capture your voice clearly, far enough to avoid plosives (popping "P" sounds)
  • Slightly off-axis - Not directly in front of your mouth. Position to the side or above to reduce breath sounds
  • Consistent distance - Stay roughly the same distance throughout the call

Laptop Mic Reality

Built-in laptop mics are 18-24 inches from your mouth, pointed at your keyboard. They capture typing, fan noise, and room echo as loudly as your voice. If that's all you have:

  • Lean slightly toward the screen when speaking
  • Keep the laptop close rather than pushed back
  • Consider your phone's earbuds - they put a mic inches from your mouth

Headset Advantage

Even cheap earbuds with inline mics sound better than laptop mics because they're physically closer to your mouth. The worst $15 earbuds still beat the best laptop microphone in most scenarios. If you want a dedicated solution, a USB headset provides consistent quality.

Room Treatment Hacks

Professional studios spend thousands on acoustic treatment. You can fake most of the benefit for free.

The Problem with Hard Rooms

Sound bounces off hard surfaces - walls, floors, desks, windows. These reflections reach your mic slightly after your direct voice, creating:

  • Echo - Distinct repetitions of your voice
  • Reverb - Blurred, "bathroom" or "cave" quality
  • Harshness - High frequencies bouncing around

Free Acoustic Improvements

Soft surfaces absorb sound. Add them anywhere:

  • Blankets - Hang behind your desk, drape over hard chairs
  • Pillows - Stack them nearby, out of frame
  • Clothes - Record in front of an open closet full of clothes
  • Couch/bed - These absorb tons of sound. Room with carpet and a couch beats tile-floor empty room
  • Curtains - Heavy curtains reduce window reflections
  • Bookshelves - Books break up sound waves
  • Acoustic foam - Affordable panels for permanent improvement

Corner bass traps. Bass builds up in corners. A laundry basket full of clothes or pile of pillows in room corners helps.

Move away from walls. Sitting with your back against a wall creates strong reflections. A few feet of space makes a difference.

The Closet Trick

In a pinch, record from a closet. Sounds ridiculous, but clothes hanging on all sides create excellent acoustic absorption. Professional voice actors use this trick.

Software Noise Suppression

Modern AI-powered noise suppression is genuinely impressive. Enable it.

Built-in Platform Options

Zoom:

  1. Settings > Audio
  2. "Suppress background noise" - Set to High for best effect
  3. Trade-off: Aggressive suppression can make your voice sound processed

Microsoft Teams:

  1. Settings > Devices
  2. "Noise suppression" - Set to High
  3. Uses AI to isolate voice from background

Google Meet:

  1. Settings > Audio
  2. "Noise cancellation" toggle
  3. Works well for consistent background noise

Dedicated Apps

Krisp - Works system-wide with any app. Free tier includes limited hours. Excellent at removing typing, dogs, traffic.

NVIDIA RTX Voice/Broadcast - Free if you have an NVIDIA GPU. Remarkably effective.

Apple Voice Isolation - On recent Macs, available in FaceTime and other apps.

Suppression Trade-offs

All noise suppression involves trade-offs:

  • Aggressive settings can clip the starts of words
  • Some voice quality is lost
  • Unusual sounds (music, certain voices) may be filtered incorrectly
  • Processing adds slight latency

Start with medium settings. Increase if needed, decrease if your voice sounds artificial.

Speaking Technique

How you speak matters as much as how you're set up.

Volume and Distance

  • Speak at conversational volume, not presentation volume
  • Maintain consistent distance from your mic
  • If you're too loud, move back slightly rather than whispering

Pace and Clarity

Audio compression and network latency affect intelligibility. Help your listeners:

  • Speak slightly slower than normal conversation
  • Pause between thoughts instead of using filler words
  • Enunciate clearly, especially final consonants

Muting Discipline

  • Mute when not speaking - This is the single most effective "technique"
  • Use push-to-talk if your platform supports it
  • Keyboard shortcuts for mute/unmute are faster than clicking

Breathing and Plosives

  • Breathe through your nose when possible
  • Turn slightly away from the mic for breaths between sentences
  • "P" and "B" sounds pop - speak across the mic, not directly into it

Environment Timing

Sometimes the best solution is choosing when and where you call.

Quiet Hours

  • Early mornings before construction/traffic/neighbors
  • Late evenings after household activity
  • Know your building's noise patterns

Space Selection

  • Carpeted rooms over hardwood
  • Smaller rooms over large empty spaces
  • Interior rooms away from windows and street noise

The "Room Full of Furniture" Test

Ask yourself: does this room have stuff in it? Furniture, rugs, curtains, shelves with books? If it's empty and echoey, find a different room.

Managing Interruptions

  • Closed doors signal "do not disturb"
  • Let household members know your call schedule
  • A sign on the door prevents accidental interruptions

Testing Your Improvements

After making changes, verify they actually helped.

Self-Test

  1. Open MeetingReady
  2. Record yourself speaking for 30 seconds
  3. Listen back through speakers, not headphones
  4. Ask: Is my voice clear? Any echo? Background noise?

Comparison Test

  • Record with your old setup (far mic, hard room)
  • Make improvements
  • Record again
  • The difference should be obvious

Ask for Feedback

On your next call, ask: "How does my audio sound?" People will tell you if there's a problem. They usually won't volunteer it.

Quick Wins Summary

If you do nothing else, do these three things:

  1. Get the mic closer - Headphones with inline mic, or lean toward laptop mic
  2. Add soft stuff to your room - Blanket behind you, closet door open
  3. Enable noise suppression - In Zoom/Teams/Meet settings

These three changes, taking five minutes total, make you sound better than most people on their calls. You don't need a podcasting setup or professional studio - you need physics (closer mic), acoustics (soft surfaces), and software (noise suppression) working in your favor.

If free fixes aren't enough, consider a USB microphone ($50-100) for dramatically better audio quality.

Test the results with MeetingReady and hear the improvement yourself.