The Best Tools for Improving Audio Quality in Music

A catchy topline and banging beat can only take you so far—if your audio quality is lacking, your track won’t shine. Clean, polished sound is what separates bedroom demos from radio-ready records. Luckily, today’s producers have more tools than ever to make their mixes sparkle. Whether you’re using high-end hardware, plugins, free software, or even AI-powered vocals, the right tools will save you hours of frustration and make your music pop.

How to Improve Music Quality: The Importance of Audio Quality

High quality audio isn’t just a luxury—it’s essential for anyone serious about music production, video creation, or podcasting. When your audio is clear and free from background noise, your audience can focus on your message and connect with your content. Poor audio quality can be distracting and even drive listeners away, no matter how great your music or video might be. That’s why using an audio enhancer tool to improve audio quality is so important. These tools help reduce background noise, enhance clarity, and ensure your audio stands out, making your projects sound professional and engaging. For creators, high quality audio is the foundation for building trust and keeping your audience coming back for more.

1. Best EQ Plugins: Sculpt Your Sound

EQ is the backbone of mixing. It shapes tone, clears muddiness, and makes space for every element in your track.

FabFilter Pro-Q 3

The holy grail of plugin EQs—visual, precise, and intuitive. Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother/producer, has credited clean EQ moves as key in their minimalist bedroom productions. Pro-Q 3 makes spotting and fixing problem frequencies both easy and with surgical accuracy.

Stock EQs

Don’t underestimate DAW EQs. They’re CPU-friendly and reliable. Kanye West’s early productions leaned heavily on stock Pro Tools EQs, showing that skill matters more than shiny plugins.

How Kits AI Can Improve EQ

Kits voice changers are already clean and pre-EQ’d, meaning you can focus on creative shaping rather than problem-fixing.

Pro tip: Start with cuts before boosts. Pro engineers are known for carving out muddy low-mids first to let vocals shine.

2. Compression: Glue & Control

Compression keeps your mix balanced. It reins in wild peaks, lifts quiet moments, and makes everything feel glued together and smooth.

Waves CLA-76

Based on the iconic 1176 compressor, a staple tool found in every pro studio and used on countless modern hits, this plugin adds punch, attitude, and clarity. It’s a vocal and drum favorite.

Stock Compressors

Logic’s built-in compressor is deceptively powerful, offering multiple vintage modes. Many professional mixers reach for it daily.

Kits AI and Compression

Because Kits vocal models are pre-processed through analog chains, you can use lighter compression and preserve dynamics. No more over-squashing a performance.

Pro tip: Parallel compression is a go-to trick for pro engineers—slam a signal hard, then blend it with the dry track for punchy but natural results.

3. Noise Reduction: Clean Recordings Every Time

Noise is the enemy of clarity, and once it’s in your recording, it’s tough to erase. Reducing background noise and removing unwanted sounds is essential to achieve professional results. Modern tools can reduce noise and remove background noise from audio recordings, helping you produce studio-like sound quality. Controlling ambient sounds—by minimizing disruptive ones and, when appropriate, incorporating calming ambient sounds—can further improve the clarity of your recordings.

iZotope RX

The industry standard for audio repair, RX can remove hiss, clicks, hums, and even chair squeaks. It’s been used everywhere from podcasts to restoring historical recordings.

Cedar DNS

A high-end favorite in film and broadcast. If you’ve heard crisp outdoor dialogue in a movie, chances are Cedar was behind it.

Using Kits AI for Vocal Repair

Use the Kits AI Vocal Repair tool to help improve poorly recorded vocals and enhance audio recorded with a low quality microphone.

Pro tip: Even Billie Eilish’s Grammy-winning debut was tracked in a treated bedroom. A quiet room beats even the best de-noiser.

4. Reverb: Add Space & Depth

Reverb gives dimension, emotion, and realism. Too little feels dry, too much feels muddy—but just enough makes your track come alive.

Valhalla VintageVerb

A producer staple, delivering lush, dreamy reverbs perfect for pads, vocals, and ambient textures. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is known for using similar lush reverbs to craft his ethereal sound.

Altiverb

A realism powerhouse. Altiverb uses impulse responses of real spaces—Abbey Road Studios, cathedrals, stadiums—so you can drop your track anywhere in the world. Film composers love it for scoring.

Adding Reverb with Kits AI

Kits AI allows you to apply spatial effects like reverb, delay and widening directly during the vocal conversion process, saving you time and taking you one step closer to a polished and radio-ready sound.

5. Saturation: Warmth & Harmonics

Saturation is subtle distortion that adds harmonics, warmth, and glue. It’s what gives vintage records their magic.

Soundtoys Decapitator

From subtle warmth to gritty bite, this plugin is a Mark Ronson favorite (used on Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga). It brings character to vocals, guitars, bass, and drums.

FabFilter Saturn 2

With multi-band control, Saturn 2 lets you saturate lows and highs differently. Producers like Diplo love it for keeping tracks warm but crisp.

Kits Tip

Light saturation on Kits harmonies can make them sound fuller and more “human.”

Pro tip: The Beatles leaned on tape saturation to shape their records. Plugins now let you recreate that warmth in seconds.

6. Reference & Analysis Tools

Your ears are crucial, but analyzers help keep mixes in check. Reference tools allow you to hear the difference in sound quality between your mix and professional audio tracks, sharpening your critical hearing skills and making it easier to listen for subtle improvements. For example, you can use these tools to analyze volume levels and video sound quality in both audio or video projects, including movies, ensuring balanced and professional results. You can use reference tracks from sources like Apple Music to listen and compare audio tracks for optimal results.

Plugin Alliance Metric AB

Load your favorite pro tracks (ie. Bruno Mars, Kendrick, Ariana Grande) and compare instantly. It’s the fastest way to catch frequency or loudness issues.

Youlean Loudness Meter

Essential in the streaming era. Spotify, Apple, and YouTube all normalize loudness, and Youlean helps you stay competitive without over-compressing.

Polish Your Tracks with Kits AI

Use Kits AI Mastering tool to give your mix the polish and level needed to hang with the competition and be release ready.

Pro tip: Finneas has admitted to constantly A/B’ing Billie Eilish mixes against commercial releases—even when working in a bedroom.

7. Free & Budget-Friendly Audio Tools

Pro sound doesn’t require pro budgets. With the demand for high-quality content at an all-time high, creators need effective solutions to stand out. Free and budget-friendly apps, including sound enhancers and voice enhancer tools, help users create professional-sounding audio by improving voice quality and enhancing speaker clarity in their projects. Free plugins can deliver serious results.

TDR Nova

A dynamic EQ that doubles as a compressor. Many indie producers call it their secret weapon.

Limiter №6

An old-school look but powerful results. Bedroom producers rely on it for loud, clean masters.

Voxengo Span

A free analyzer used by pros and beginners alike. Your ears may trick you, but Span shows the truth.

OrilRiver

A lush reverb that competes with paid options. Perfect for ambient or cinematic mixes.

Production Tools on a Budget

Pair these freebies with Kits AI’s affordable plans, and you’ve got a pro-grade vocal chain without the heavy price tag.

Pro tip: Deadmau5 has said repeatedly—it’s not about the gear, it’s about knowing how to use it.

8. Hardware Picks for Recording Your Own Vocals

If you’re recording live vocals or instruments, clean hardware makes life easier. Using quality hardware is essential for capturing clean audio recordings and multiple audio tracks, whether you're working on a Mac or other platforms.

Microphones

• Rode NT1-A – Incredibly quiet and detailed, perfect for vocals in untreated spaces.
  
  

• Shure SM7B – Used by Michael Jackson on Thriller, and still a studio favorite today.
  
  

Audio Interfaces

• Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 – Affordable and reliable, great for beginners.
  
  

• Universal Audio Apollo Twin – High-end preamps and onboard DSP for pro results.
  
  

Monitors & Headphones

• Audio-Technica ATH-M50x – A classic pair for tracking and mixing.
  
  

• Yamaha HS5/HS8 – Brutally honest monitors—if it sounds good here, it sounds good anywhere.
  
  

Clean Recordings with Kits AI

Don’t have the luxury of gear or a treated room? Kits AI gives you pristine, mix-ready vocals that have already been processed through hardware, giving you a solid foundation to get creative and shape things as you wish.

Pro tip: Billie Eilish’s debut album was mixed in a modest bedroom on affordable monitors. Proof you don’t need million-dollar setups to make hits.

Final Thoughts 

Great tools won’t fix a bad performance, but they can absolutely elevate a good one. With the right mix of EQs, compressors, reverbs, hardware, and Kits AI voices, you’ll be ready to deliver pro-level audio whether you’re in a bedroom or a world-class facility.

So next time you hit record, build your squad wisely: some smart plugins, reliable hardware, and clean AI vocals when you need them. Your listeners (and your future self) will thank you.

-SK

Sam Kearney is a producer, composer and sound designer based in Evergreen, CO.