I'd be glad to check out your mixes and offer some suggestion or just chat about sound, production and music in general. Join the #mixing:matrix.org [1] room, write me an e-mail through my studio's form [2] or just ask here.
No obligations on your part, but I'd be happy if it led to me working with you on your music or other projects.
I've been interested in learning how to play this little sythnthesizer I have but I also edit video and have no idea what I'm doing with the mixing the audio (including music sometimes).
Regarding books, there's lots to choose from. For some quick applied wisdom, Bobby Owsinski's Mixing, Recording and Mastering Handbooks (separate) are recommended. Zen & The Art Of Mixing by Mixerman is very good, as well as his classic The Daily Adventures. The Bruce Swedien Recording Method is very good if you're into recording.
For Youtube videos, some random things I can vouch for:
I'd suggest watching Monty's Digital Show and Tell [1] as a primer for digital audio as a form. Steve Albini has been putting out some very solid and entertaining videos on recording lately [2].
There's also of course a few hyped (but deservedly so) channels such as @DanWorrall, @Producelikeapro or @ProductionAdvice.
Nothing I can suggest for courses as I haven't been interested in them for a while.
Excited to follow up on some of the resources from this and the other comment.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/095... [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ
Even just cleaning up a podcast.
BTW, here's an article specifically about recording and processing Voice: https://indiscipline.github.io/post/voice-sound-reference/
There's some examples in the part on denoising. Tell me if it's something you had in mind, and if not, in what ways it's not good enough.
I don't have enough experience to know what the most important topics / common issues would be, sorry. The NPR link below covers a lot of ground relevant to their reporters; podcasters might have a subset of those issues. You entered this discussion due to its focus on music production which has its own priorities.
The denoising example you provided is a step toward I was looking for. I think showing the waveform at each step would be an improvement, like at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap005-my-secret-audacity-r... and https://training.npr.org/2017/01/31/the-ear-training-guide-f...
I think the example shows one step in the process but it could be fleshed out starting with the raw recording and documenting each step in turn (adjustments done including specific software settings along with audio clip + waveform at that current step) plus the rationale and potential gotchas to watch out for.
PS. My notes recommend Noise Removal > Compressor > Normalize in that order but I can't remember where that recommendation came from. I will have to try putting Noise Removal last.
Re your PS: It all depends on your particular gain-staging. In this chain of 3 elements, you NR probably can go first or second, and less likely last. My suggestion of not putting it first is caused by adhering to conservative input levels, in which case the signal is pretty low during the first stages of the chain and may be processed too eagerly by Noise Reduction.
For mixing https://mixingwithyourmind.com/ covers a good set of interesting techniques. It edges into a few pseudoscience-y domains that are best left ignored, but the majority of the content is solid.