Free Voice Banking

Recording setup

The voice we build can only be as good as the recording we start from. Here is the order that works, and three inexpensive microphones we like, none of them a one-off.

Best to good

The order that works

1. Wired earbuds or a wired headset with a microphone

On a laptop or on your phone. Close to the mouth, no fan, no Bluetooth. Best.

2. A USB microphone

On a laptop or desktop, in a quiet room.

3. Your phone by itself

In its browser, in a quiet room, held about a hand's width from your mouth. Good, and most people already have it.

4. A laptop's built-in microphone

It varies from fine to fan noise at arm's length. CORA's microphone check will tell you.

5. An existing recording

A voicemail, a video, a message. For the person whose voice has already changed. It builds a voice, less faithfully, and CORA says so.

Wired beats Bluetooth. A Bluetooth headset switches into a narrow call mode the moment it is used as a microphone, and most browsers cannot get around that. CORA hears it in the check and asks for a wire if you have one. And nobody is ever turned away: the session takes what you have.

If you ever want one

Three microphones we like

Wired earbuds with a microphone

Apple EarPods, with a 3.5 mm plug, USB-C, or Lightning, about $19. Most households already own a pair, and any wired earbuds with an inline microphone do the same job. Apple's store

A USB headset

Logitech H390, about $30. Useful for calls and telehealth afterward. Logitech's store

A USB microphone

FIFINE K669B, about $35, or the Samson Go Mic. Both long-running products that plug into anything. FIFINE's store

Plain links, no affiliate codes. Prices are the ones we saw when we checked. Links checked on September 16, 2026.

Ready when you are

The first thing CORA does is a thirty-second microphone check, so you find out before you start.

Bank your voice now