In this video, Christine shares several microphone and audio recording options for at home podcasters. We have used all kinds of podcast microphones for different shows, and we want you to know that if your current setup isn’t working, there are better options! Also check out our resources page for direct links to our favorites.
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Transcript:
Hey, welcome everyone, we’re doing a little tutorial today more of a tech help. We haven’t done one of these in forever and I’m literally checking some tech for recording we have next week in our storage room. So, this is what you get this week, even if you’re not. involved in the technical process of your show, this can still be helpful because as you know, as a show host, tech stuff happens. Sometimes you’re trying to figure out a better setup. Sometimes your stuff isn’t working. Sometimes you just wanna know the options. So I’m just gonna literally grab the camera and just kind of freehand show you a few things. Right now, I’m speaking on a super simple Behringer microphone that you’ve probably seen all over the place. I’ve had these microphones for years, years and years, and they’re just a really simple way that I can pop down kind of anywhere, like put them in a backpack and take them anywhere. I’m using them on just a regular stand, like you would see a musician use. This is the exact same setup that you would see a musician on stage using, like a little acoustic set. So this is something I’ve had for years, and it can be really useful, obviously, in a live event situation, You can put these mics on a tabletop stand, like they’re so mobile, they’re so light. Like that’s it, right? A cord just went right into a microphone. So that’s what I’m working on today. And I’m going to show you, um, I’m literally recording as we speak straight to my laptop, just through USB cable to an audio interface. There’s many different kinds of these, but this is like a really old one. I just have sitting here my newer one I don’t have here at the moment. So you can see if you have an XLR cable plugged into an audio interface, then this audio interface can plug into your laptop through a USB cord, which is what I’m doing right now. This is a really common setup for home studios. Or if you’ve ever been to a professional studio, you’ll see some kind of audio interface, maybe a Rodecaster Pro or a Zoom recording device, not Zoom like the online meeting, the other company Zoom that makes recording hardware. you kind of know this setup. And this is just a helpful reminder that if you have a nice microphone, you probably have multiple cords and pieces of gear to make that work with your laptop. Now, some of microphones you can plug straight into your laptop through a USB cord, and that’s usually what I record these weekly videos on, because I’m lazy. But if I’m in the podcast studio, those podcast mics are all plugged into a Rodecaster Pro. And let me see if I can get this for you without making too much of a ruckus. You’ve seen even in our old studio setup, These really beautiful Shure mics, these are the MV7s. We also have the SM7B, but for most people, I think the MV7 is the better one. They go on the big boom mount that clamps onto a table. This is my favorite, and this is the one I recommend to most of our clients. So you’ve seen me do that a lot in the past. Now that we’re kind of in a different space and can have a lot of options and a lot of different rooms with recording setups already there, I’m a little bit lazy and don’t use those as often. you will get a better audio sound if you use those nicer mics. I also have this tabletop mount. Oh, it’s really heavy. This is the Shure SM7B, which for a long time was the favorite of podcasters until Shure came out with the MV7. And I have it on this huge, heavy, weighted base that’s like a tabletop stand because it’s such a heavy microphone. It was literally designed for broadcasters, like radio broadcasters. It’s kind of overkill for broadcasters. We even have something like that if we need super, super high quality, like audio only. If we were recording like voiceover or meditations or something, we could use something like that. But I just want to remind you, even though we have all this gear and all these different options, most of the time I just use whatever’s handy. Because as long as you’re using just a decent microphone that’s not your camera or your phone, you’re going to be fine. And I think sometimes the scary part of podcasting as a show host, if you don’t have a full production crew at your beck and call or you don’t go into a professional studio, It can feel really overwhelming for good reason. There are a bajillion options, and they can break, and they can not work, and your computer can update, and you can be like, what just happened? But I want to remind you that you do have access to really good options. So if the option that you’re working with isn’t working, like, email us, we’ll recommend a better option for you. We also have a resources page on our website on worthofilmedia.com with a couple of our favorites that we recommend. So you can always check that out or email us, leave a comment on the video. If you have a specific question, we’ll always give you our favorites at the time. So this is just kind of a PSA to remind you, just because you’ve had a piece of gear or a certain kind of recording situation for a while, if it’s not working for you, you don’t have to keep it. And the good news is the technology gets better and better and cheaper and cheaper, like with every passing year. So if you haven’t upgraded your recording setup in a while and it’s not working as well or it’s broken or it’s getting glitchy, this is a great time to upgrade. If your computer and your laptop or your microphone, as everything’s working great, don’t touch it. Like let that ride. But I just wanted to kind of do a PSA and a little reminder. You can literally use something as simple It’s like a regular mic that you would see at any event. Or you can get fancy. And it all depends on what you’re trying to do and the environment you’re recording in and how mobile you need to be. So that’s our PSA for this week. Happy to give recommendations, like I said. I’m not going to cover cameras and lighting in this video. I kind of was just working on some audio stuff, so I turned on the camera to show you what I was doing. But we can definitely cover that in another video. It’s a little harder to show since I probably need to bring in another team member to kind of film. But if that’s a request you have, leave a comment and we’ll do that for you.