Fixing Room Echo and Improving Skype Quality #19

Viral Podcasting

Just moved my studio once again. What a pain it can be. I can hook up the mixer and microphone and all the equipment within 15-20 minutes. But then comes the hard part, making your show sound as good as it was in your old studio. This was a real challenge in my new studio, because it had a lot of echo and it's a very lively room. In addition, the Skype signal was constantly dropping and getting garbled. I even received several complaints from our listeners saying that the show's audio quality had noticably declined. What to do? I didn't want to foam the place, which is the obvious solution. I hate the way it looks and it ruins the pain. I was watching an episode of the hit tv show The Profit. Marcus Lemonis invested in a firm Overtone Acoustics. They manufacture acoustic panels to reduce echo and help the sound profile of your room. I figured, probably won't work but I'll give it a try. I ordered 6 2'x4' panels. They weigh about 7 pounds each and look like cloth panels. They're stuffed with acoustic absorption material. I mounted them and the change was amazing. They're not cheap at around $80 each, but well worth it. To fix the Skype issues, I connected an ethernet cable right from my computer to the WiFi router. Presto, no more Skype issues. Evidently, I had a misbehaved WiFi signal that was causing all the problems. I guess the answer is don't move unless you absolutely have to. I should probably put together a moving check list, should I move again.
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