How to Record Yourself Reading Poetry
Quick answer: How to record yourself reading poetry with just a phone: a quiet soft-furnished room, the mic thirty centimetres away, and several full unhurried takes.
You can record yourself reading poetry well with nothing more than a smartphone, a quiet room and fifteen minutes. Put the phone on a stack of books about thirty centimetres away, slightly below mouth level, record in a room with soft furnishings, and read the whole poem several times rather than stopping to fix single lines. That setup beats an expensive microphone in an echoing kitchen every time, because room sound ruins recordings faster than cheap equipment does.
Recording matters for two audiences: others, when you share readings online or submit audio to journals and festivals, and yourself, because playback is the quickest editing tool a poet has. Lines that trip your tongue on tape almost always need rewriting on the page.
The setup: room first, microphone second
Choose the deadest-sounding room you have. Bedrooms with curtains, carpets and a wardrobe of clothes absorb echo; bathrooms and empty kitchens bounce it. A trick that works surprisingly well is recording inside or facing an open wardrobe full of hanging clothes. Switch your phone to flight mode so notifications do not punch holes in a good take.
Position the phone a hand-span to thirty centimetres from your mouth, angled slightly off to one side so your breath does not pop the microphone on p and b sounds. If you record video, raise the camera to eye level and put a light source in front of you, never behind. A window in front of your face is free studio lighting.
The reading: full takes, marked script, slower than feels right
Print the poem or use a tablet, since paper rustle and screen taps get picked up. Mark your pauses and stresses in advance, exactly as you would for a live reading. Then record the entire poem three to five times, top to bottom. Full takes preserve the poem's emotional arc; stitching together sentence-by-sentence fixes usually sounds like it.
Read about ten percent slower than feels natural. Microphones exaggerate rush. Leave three seconds of silence before the first word and after the last, which gives you clean edit points and stops platforms clipping your opening.
Editing and sharing without fancy software
Free tools cover everything a poet needs. Audacity on a computer, or the basic trim function in your phone's voice memo app, will cut the dead air and let you choose the best take. Resist heavy effects; a touch of volume normalisation is enough. Reverb on a poem reliably sounds like a school assembly.
Listen back on headphones and on a phone speaker, since most people will hear it on the latter. Then use the recording twice: publish it if you like it, and keep it as a revision tool if you do not. Many poets record a draft aloud before submitting anywhere, because the ear catches padding that the eye forgives.
What poets can take from this
- Record in the softest-furnished room you have, never a bathroom or empty hall.
- Keep the phone about thirty centimetres away and slightly off-axis from your mouth.
- Always record full takes of the whole poem, then pick the best one.
- Leave three seconds of silence before and after the poem for clean edits.
- Check the result on both headphones and a phone speaker before sharing.
- Use playback as an editing pass: any stumbled line is a rewrite candidate.
Try it yourself
Record yourself reading a recent draft, listen back once, and rewrite every line where you stumbled or ran out of breath. Then write a new short poem composed entirely aloud into the recorder before you ever type it.
Questions
Do I need a microphone to record poetry at home?
No. A modern phone in a quiet, soft-furnished room produces perfectly shareable audio. Upgrade to a USB microphone only if you record regularly, and even then the room matters more than the mic.
What app should I use to record poetry readings?
Your phone's built-in voice memo app is fine for audio, and the camera app for video. For editing, Audacity is free on desktop. Nothing about poetry recording requires paid software.
How do I stop sounding boring when I record my poems?
Vary pace and volume, and imagine one specific listener rather than an audience. Most recorded readings are flat because the reader rushes; slowing down and pausing at stanza breaks fixes the bulk of it.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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