Hivelogic Podcasting Equipment Guide

[hivelogic]

In December of 2009 I took a leap of faith, launched 5by5 Studios, and started broadcasting and podcasting full-time. In this article I share what I've learned about podcasting, videocasting, and audio recording gear.

[swivelmaster]

I was surprised to see the mention that dynamic mics are more expensive. Perhaps when looking at mics specifically designed for podcasting this is true, but not in general.

If you want a general purpose, gold-standard inexpensive mic, go with a Shure SM-58 or SM-57. They're designed for live performance, so they're really durable. They sound pretty good for the price, which is under a hundred bucks.

Also, it's weird that the article talks about "XLR mics" as if they're something special - XLR is just a type of connector, and it's the type that 99% of all mics use anyway. USB and anything else is the exception, and you're paying a big premium for a USB mic.

IMO if you ever plan on using your mic or the rest of your recording equipment for anything besides podcasting, you're better off NOT getting gear specifically designed for podcasting. No matter what you're recording, the fundamentals of a good sound are the same - a good mic, good preamp (which excludes most preamps built into live mixers, though the Mackie Onyx pres are pretty good), and a good analog to digital converter (which the Onyx doubles as too). If you get a condensor mic, you need to make sure your preamp has an option for "phantom power", which is what your mic will need in order to work.

Actually, the most important consideration here is YOUR VOICE. There's a reason that professional recording studios always have multiple vocal mics - different mics are best for different voices. If you've got a nasal or high-pitched voice, make sure you get a mic that can counter that and make you sound more soothing. If you have a deep voice (like me!), make sure you get a mic that can bring out the higher frequencies enough that you don't sound like a movie preview all the time.

Lastly, make sure your recording location is QUIET and has minimal echo/reverb. If you have to record halfway in a closet, so be it - your listeners will thank you.

[_pius]

Also, it's weird that the article talks about "XLR mics" as if they're something special ...

Not really. This is an article geared towards people used to amateur or, at best, prosumer computer mics. 99% of those are not XLR.

[ichilton]

Dan - Excellent guide - very informative!

What isn't mentioned is the video side which would be interesting to understand but also how the whole link with the guests thing works would be very interesting to understand too.

PS: Love 5by5 - keep up the great work.

[leviathant]

Call it a personal preference, but I'm not terribly impressed by asking for donations on a page loaded with Amazon affiliate links for fairly high-dollar items. I say this as someone who runs my own hobby site paid for entirely by affiliate links to Amazon and eBay.

An example of why I think it detracts from the article: You link to Monoprice.com for an XLR cable (good!) and then immediately link to a more expensive cable on Amazon. Why? Not because it's a better choice of cable, but because with any luck, someone will click through and you'll earn some cash. If you're going to link to a $13 mic cable for the opportunity to make money rather than just link to the $6 equivalent, what's to say half the links on the page are even genuinely good choices, or if you're linking to them because you'd potentially make an extra buck or two.

I'm not crapping on you loading up a blog post with affiliate links - I know that even before I signed up to eBay and Amazon affiliate programs, I often linked to them when telling people where to buy stuff, and now the affiliate programs simply paid me for doing what I always did. But doing that -and- asking for extra money if you found this post useful (presumably, finding it useful meant you bought equipment because of the post)? That changes the dynamic for me.

Addendum: I'd appreciate it if when you downvote me, you let me know what it is about my post that you didn't like or agree with.

[hivelogic]

Thanks for taking the time to read the post. Actually I didn't link to the Amazon cable because I wanted affiliate money, I linked to it as an alternative to Monoprice's slower and more expensive shipping costs. Many people don't want to wait more than a week and pay higher prices for a couple of cables.

[ugh]

It's his job, not his hobby.

I have a problem with affiliate links that are not marked as such, I certainly don't ever have a problem with asking for donations.

[hivelogic]

Good point, I've added a line explaining that I use affiliate links too. Thanks!

[timerickson]

I don't mean to spam, but if anyone is looking to get the M-Audio Fast Track Pro referenced in the article, I have one that works perfectly but unfortunately doesn't get used enough. You can find my email in my profile.

[petercooper]

The Rode Podcaster is certainly good. Streets ahead of the Blue Snowball I had. It's what Andrew Warner uses on Mixergy too.

[jakewalker]

I am curious about how Dan gets such great recordings from his co-hosts, who are remote. I'd have thought they record audio natively then upload him a high quality audio file with time sync, but then I remembered that he does these shows live, so that can't possibly be how it works.

[hivelogic]

The 5by5 studio, though small, is pretty complicated (and unfortunately kind of expensive) to setup. We record all but 1 of our shows live, and edit them all before releasing them.

I'm planning on doing either another post or perhaps a video about the setup (assuming there's interest).

[ichilton]

Excellent - I'd be interested in that!

[jakewalker]

Would definitely be interested.

[netnichols]

I'm also always shocked by how consistently good the audio is, especially since as far as I know they're just using Skype. Hard to believe considering my own experiences using Skype. I always seem to get lots of of audio glitches from the software/connection (on very standard 6,000 kBit/s DSL connections), so I'd love to hear how he minimizes that.

[petercooper]

Just because some shows are streamed live too doesn't mean there's not necessarily any editing for the podcast version.

I can't speak for Dan's other shows but I co-host The Ruby Show which was on 5by5 until recently and we record separately and then edit them together. No particular time syncing beyond recording at the same time though.

[ichilton]

For the n-1 feeds do you just take a post fade AUX output from mixer and turn up each channel except theirs for that auxiliary?

[Rickasaurus]

Any further recommendations on windows software? I'm not a Mac guy but would like to play with some podcasting.

[hivelogic]

Pro Tools is good for both Windows and Mac and although I haven't used it much, Adobe Audition is great on the PC (and though it's out for Mac, I still prefer Logic).