diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 761ac590..bc72ae59 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 node_modules
 .idea
-config/config.json
\ No newline at end of file
+config/config.json
+config/speechConfig.js
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/custom-environment-variables.json b/config/custom-environment-variables.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 78faebbf..00000000
--- a/config/custom-environment-variables.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-	"WalletConfig": {
-		"LbryClaimAddress": "LBRY_CLAIM_ADDRESS"
-	},
-	"Database": {
-		"Username": "MYSQL_USERNAME",
-		"Password": "MYSQL_PASSWORD"
-	},
-	"Logging": {
-		"SlackWebHook": "SLACK_WEB_HOOK"
-	},
-	"Session": {
-		"SessionKey": "SESSION_KEY"
-	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/default-0.json b/config/default-0.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 9e26dfee..00000000
--- a/config/default-0.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-{}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/default.json b/config/default.json
deleted file mode 100644
index c5b65a20..00000000
--- a/config/default.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-{
-	"WalletConfig": {
-		"LbryClaimAddress": null,
-		"DefaultChannel": null
-	},
-	"AnalyticsConfig":{
-		"GoogleId": null
-	},
-	"Database": {
-		"Database": "lbry",
-		"Username": null,
-		"Password": null
-	},
-	"Logging": {
-		"LogLevel": null,
-		"SlackWebHook": null,
-		"SlackErrorChannel": null,
-		"SlackInfoChannel": null
-	},
-	"Session": {
-		"SessionKey": null
-	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/development.json b/config/development.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 4beca9ff..00000000
--- a/config/development.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-{
-	"WalletConfig": {
-		"DefaultChannel": "@speechDev"
-	},
-	"AnalyticsConfig":{
-		"GoogleId": "UA-100747990-1"
-	},
-	"Logging": {
-		"LogLevel": "silly",
-		"SlackErrorChannel": "#staging_speech-errors",
-		"SlackInfoChannel": "none"
-	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/production.json b/config/production.json
deleted file mode 100644
index a5bc5074..00000000
--- a/config/production.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-{
-	"WalletConfig": {
-		"DefaultChannel": "@speech"
-	},
-	"AnalyticsConfig":{
-		"GoogleId": "UA-60403362-3"
-	},
-	"Logging": {
-		"LogLevel": "verbose",
-		"SlackErrorChannel": "#speech-errors",
-		"SlackInfoChannel": "#speech-logs"
-	}
-}
diff --git a/config/slackLoggerConfig.js b/config/slackConfig.js
similarity index 59%
rename from config/slackLoggerConfig.js
rename to config/slackConfig.js
index 4bd88200..74227bbd 100644
--- a/config/slackLoggerConfig.js
+++ b/config/slackConfig.js
@@ -1,29 +1,26 @@
-const config = require('config');
-const SLACK_WEB_HOOK = config.get('Logging.SlackWebHook');
-const SLACK_ERROR_CHANNEL = config.get('Logging.SlackErrorChannel');
-const SLACK_INFO_CHANNEL = config.get('Logging.SlackInfoChannel');
+const config = require('./speechConfig.js');
 const winstonSlackWebHook = require('winston-slack-webhook').SlackWebHook;
 
 module.exports = (winston) => {
-  if (SLACK_WEB_HOOK) {
-      // add a transport for errors to slack
+  if (config.logging.slackWebHook) {
+    // add a transport for errors to slack
     winston.add(winstonSlackWebHook, {
       name      : 'slack-errors-transport',
       level     : 'error',
-      webhookUrl: SLACK_WEB_HOOK,
-      channel   : SLACK_ERROR_CHANNEL,
+      webhookUrl: config.logging.slackWebHook,
+      channel   : config.logging.slackErrorChannel,
       username  : 'spee.ch',
       iconEmoji : ':face_with_head_bandage:',
     });
     winston.add(winstonSlackWebHook, {
       name      : 'slack-info-transport',
       level     : 'info',
-      webhookUrl: SLACK_WEB_HOOK,
-      channel   : SLACK_INFO_CHANNEL,
+      webhookUrl: config.logging.slackWebHook,
+      channel   : config.logging.slackInfoChannel,
       username  : 'spee.ch',
       iconEmoji : ':nerd_face:',
     });
-      // send test message
+    // send test message
     winston.error('Slack error logging is online.');
     winston.info('Slack info logging is online.');
   } else {
diff --git a/config/speechConfig_example.js b/config/speechConfig_example.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d139c56c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/speechConfig_example.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+module.exports = {
+  wallet: {
+    lbryClaimAddress: null,
+    defaultChannel  : null,
+  },
+  analytics: {
+    googleId: null,
+  },
+  sql: {
+    database: 'lbry',
+    username: null,
+    password: null,
+  },
+  logging: {
+    logLevel         : null,
+    slackWebHook     : null,
+    slackErrorChannel: null,
+    slackInfoChannel : null,
+  },
+  session: {
+    sessionKey: null,
+  },
+};
diff --git a/controllers/statsController.js b/controllers/statsController.js
index 50dcc36d..6f3d4475 100644
--- a/controllers/statsController.js
+++ b/controllers/statsController.js
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 const logger = require('winston');
 const ua = require('universal-analytics');
-const config = require('config');
+const config = require('../config/speechConfig.js');
 const db = require('../models');
-const googleApiKey = config.get('AnalyticsConfig.GoogleId');
+const googleApiKey = config.analytics.googleId;
 
 module.exports = {
   postToStats (action, url, ipAddress, name, claimId, result) {
diff --git a/helpers/configVarCheck.js b/helpers/configVarCheck.js
index b4b40e51..b849245f 100644
--- a/helpers/configVarCheck.js
+++ b/helpers/configVarCheck.js
@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
-const config = require('config');
+const config = require('../config/speechConfig.js');
 const logger = require('winston');
-const fs = require('fs');
 
 module.exports = function () {
   // get the config file
-  const defaultConfigFile = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./config/default.json'));
 
-  for (let configCategoryKey in defaultConfigFile) {
-    if (defaultConfigFile.hasOwnProperty(configCategoryKey)) {
+  for (let configCategoryKey in config) {
+    if (config.hasOwnProperty(configCategoryKey)) {
         // get the final variables for each config category
-      const configVariables = config.get(configCategoryKey);
+      const configVariables = config[configCategoryKey];
       for (let configVarKey in configVariables) {
         if (configVariables.hasOwnProperty(configVarKey)) {
             // print each variable
diff --git a/helpers/handlebarsHelpers.js b/helpers/handlebarsHelpers.js
index b4fb3c42..33ccb49d 100644
--- a/helpers/handlebarsHelpers.js
+++ b/helpers/handlebarsHelpers.js
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
-const config = require('config');
+const config = require('../config/speechConfig.js');
 
 module.exports = {
     // define any extra helpers you may need
   googleAnalytics () {
-    const googleApiKey = config.get('AnalyticsConfig.GoogleId');
+    const googleApiKey = config.analytics.googleId;
     return new Handlebars.SafeString(
             `<script>
         (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
diff --git a/helpers/publishHelpers.js b/helpers/publishHelpers.js
index 4489f290..25c715c1 100644
--- a/helpers/publishHelpers.js
+++ b/helpers/publishHelpers.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 const logger = require('winston');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const db = require('../models');
-const config = require('config');
+const config = require('../config/speechConfig.js');
 
 module.exports = {
   validateApiPublishRequest (body, files) {
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ module.exports = {
         license,
         nsfw,
       },
-      claim_address: config.get('WalletConfig.LbryClaimAddress'),
+      claim_address: config.wallet.lbryClaimAddress,
     };
     // add thumbnail to channel if video
     if (thumbnail !== null) {
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ module.exports = {
       db.File.findAll({ where: { name } })
       .then(result => {
         if (result.length >= 1) {
-          const claimAddress = config.get('WalletConfig.LbryClaimAddress');
+          const claimAddress = config.wallet.lbryClaimAddress;
           // filter out any results that were not published from spee.ch's wallet address
           const filteredResult = result.filter((claim) => {
             return (claim.address === claimAddress);
diff --git a/models/index.js b/models/index.js
index 62e4b23d..83f277e9 100644
--- a/models/index.js
+++ b/models/index.js
@@ -2,13 +2,13 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const Sequelize = require('sequelize');
 const basename = path.basename(module.filename);
-const config = require('config');
+const config = require('../config/speechConfig.js');
 const db = {};
 const logger = require('winston');
 
-const database = config.get('Database.Database');
-const username = config.get('Database.Username');
-const password = config.get('Database.Password');
+const database = config.sql.database;
+const username = config.sql.username;
+const password = config.sql.password;
 
 const sequelize = new Sequelize(database, username, password, {
   host   : 'localhost',
diff --git a/public/assets/js/publishFileFunctions.js b/public/assets/js/publishFileFunctions.js
index 4cdc1ebc..199d2f3b 100644
--- a/public/assets/js/publishFileFunctions.js
+++ b/public/assets/js/publishFileFunctions.js
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ var publishFileFunctions = {
     },
     showUploadProgressMessage: function (percentage){
         this.updatePublishStatus('<p>File is loading to server</p>');
-        this.updateUploadPercent('<p class="blue">' + percentage + '</p>');
+        this.updateUploadPercent('<p class="blue">' + percentage + '% </p>');
     },
     showFilePublishUpdate: function (msg) {
         this.updatePublishStatus('<p>' + msg + '</p>');
diff --git a/speech.js b/speech.js
index 2263e5d2..19253e10 100644
--- a/speech.js
+++ b/speech.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const expressHandlebars = require('express-handlebars');
 const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
 const handlebarsHelpers = require('./helpers/handlebarsHelpers.js');
 const { populateLocalsDotUser, serializeSpeechUser, deserializeSpeechUser } = require('./helpers/authHelpers.js');
-const config = require('config');
+const config = require('./config/speechConfig.js');
 const logger = require('winston');
 const { getDownloadDirectory } = require('./helpers/lbryApi');
 const helmet = require('helmet');
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ const passport = require('passport');
 const cookieSession = require('cookie-session');
 
 // configure logging
-const logLevel = config.get('Logging.LogLevel');
+const logLevel = config.logging.logLevel;
 require('./config/loggerConfig.js')(logger, logLevel);
-require('./config/slackLoggerConfig.js')(logger);
+require('./config/slackConfig.js')(logger);
 
 // check for global config variables
 require('./helpers/configVarCheck.js')();
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ app.use((req, res, next) => {  // custom logging middleware to log all incoming
 // initialize passport
 app.use(cookieSession({
   name  : 'session',
-  keys  : [config.get('Session.SessionKey')],
+  keys  : [config.session.sessionKey],
   maxAge: 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // 24 hours
 }));
 app.use(passport.initialize());