Which is the best microphone for podcasting?
If you are an existing listener of this show, then I am sure you would have got a hang of how things are going to be here, from the last few episodes.
You would also have learnt about some of the basics of starting a podcast from two of the pioneers in Podcasting in India.
Now it’s time for us to look at some of the technical pre-requisites in starting a podcast including the best microphone for a podcast.
In this episode, we will be discussing about what microphone to use, where to host your podcast and how to edit your shows amongst some other things.
In our chat with Bijay Gautam in episode # 6, you would have heard him talking about how he started with a microphone he bought from OLX. Amar Vyas too discussed about how his initial setup included an old Dell laptop in episode # 7.
So, if you are wondering if you really need expensive gears to launch a podcast, then the big answer is NO.
You don’t.
You can start with some basic and inexpensive equipment.
In episode 5 we had discussed about how you could even start with only a computer or, even your phone.
This is the age of high quality speakers from BEATS, DOLBY etc. and most computers also come with pretty good quality microphones.
My Dell XPS and HP Spectre both have pretty good microphones on them and if you have a similar laptop with a good speaker, you can use that too.
The only downside to using these speakers is that there will be a little bit of echo generated by the room you are recording the audio in, unless you have a lot of furnitures in the room that can absorb the echo.
But, for a minimalist setup, this is a good one and I would recommend this if you are starting on a budget and doesn’t want to spend any money.
Here, it is important to keep a simple principle in mind – You can have expensive and jazzy equipments and produce crappy content resulting in poor audience response or, You could have an average setup and produce top quality content and have a huge audience waiting for your show every week.
The last thing you need is that your content is top quality and you have a crappy setup.
So the optimum recommended situation is to have an average setup and a good quality content. That is what both the guests in our show too recommended.
Types of Microphones – Best Microphone for Podcasting
Before we get into details about microphones and find out which is the best microphone for podcasting, let us talk about the types of microphones.
Just so that we don’t become too geeky with this, let us keep it simple.
Microphones are of 2 types – Dynamic microphones and Condenser Microphones.
Dynamic Microphones
Dynamic microphones record voices primarily from the face of the microphone. So you need to hold the mic in front of your mouth for your voice to record sounds. The advantage with this is that it will not capture a lot of the sounds from around you, when you are recording.
Hence if you are recording at a place where there are surrounding sounds which you cannot really eliminate, then dynamic microphones are the best.
Shure produces some excellent dynamic microphones. You should find a few of the models that I recommend, in the show notes.
Behringer also has some good dynamic mics, but they are not as good as Shure.
Condensor Microphones
Condensor microphones record voices from all round the microphone head. This makes it very sensitive to surrounding sounds. So unless you are in a quiet room with little to no noise from your surroundings, you shouldn’t go for a dynamic microphone.
These microphones are vertically hung in a shock mount using a boom arm, which is an metallic arm that can be fixed onto your tables. The combination of the boom arm and the shock mount helps ensure that noises caused by the shaking of the microphone are not captured. This should give you an understanding of how sensitive these microphones can be.
But, if you are planning to run a podcast in a dialogue format with 2 speakers sitting next to each other, then these microphones can be handy.
Then again, you might want to ensure that there is pretty low background noises or, you might want to record at that time of the day or, night when there is minimal background noises.
In all other cases a dynamic microphone is what is recommended.
Now, there are a couple of terms you would hear when you are shopping around for microphones. These are terms like Cardioid, XLR cable and Phantom power. You can ignore all of the other terms as of now.
Cardioid, in simple terms means noise cancellation and isolation. It is basically a pickup pattern of how the mic picks up sound. Both Dynamic and Condensor mics can be cardioid mics. And it is recommended that you go for a cardioid microphone in order to isolate and eliminate noises from the background.
XLR is a type of cable that is used to connect the microphone to the output device. Now keep in mind that an XLR cable can only be connected to a mixer or, an audio interface and then this is connected to the laptop. So that means you will have to spend on a mixer or, an audio interface if you are planning to buy a microphone with an XLR connection for the output.
But what is recommended is a USB microphone which doesn’t need these equipments and can directly connect to the computer. So when you are hunting for a mic, better to buy a USB microphone. This doesn’t mean that the mic has a USB. It only means that it can directly be plugged to your computer using the USB cable provided with the mic.
At this point comes the 3rd term which is Phantom Power.
Phantom power is basically an additional or, external power supply that is required by some microphones to work. Almost all Condensor microphones will need this because condensor microphone had a better output than Dynamic microphone and this is made possible by this additional power supply. But at the same time, these microphones will not work at all if they don’t get this external power supply.
Now this is where that USB and XLR piece that we spoke about becomes relevant. USB microphones take the required power from your laptop and power the microphone. But the XLR microphones will invariably need an external power supply called phantom power. If you planning on buying a mixer, then the mixer takes care of this phantom power requirement. But if you are not, but still want to use one of these microphones, then you will need to shell out some more money to buy a phantom power.
You should be able to find some of the recommended microphones in the show notes. So do visit https://thepodcastinguniversity.com/8
Do you really need to buy a new microphone?
Not really!
You can hunt for a second hand microphone and buy one if you want to buy a microphone on a budget, just like what Bijay Gautam did.
There are some pretty good chinese models as well, which are low cost and can be a good one to start with.
The BM-800 condensor microphones are a good choice, if you are looking for a condensor microphone below Rs.2000. You should be able to find it on Amazon. You can find a link in the resources section.
So what is the best microphone for podcasting will entirely depend upon what your needs and setup are.
Pick the one that suits you. If you can invest in a good branded one, go for it. It will be worth it.
How to Edit Your Recording
Now that the microphone part is sorted out, let us look at how to record the audio and edit it. This will be done into a software.
I use and recommend Audacity and I think most podcasters on a Windows computer might be using this software. It is available to download for FREE and is a pretty simple software.
There are a lot of video tutorials and if you can spend about 15 minutes to learn the software, you should be up and running with using it. And with constant use you will be able to master it in some time.
You can record your audio into this software and then edit it in there itself.
Comment and let me know if you want me to create a tutorial video on how to use Audacity for the basic editing of your shows.
Another thing You will need is an intro music. This is pretty easy to create and can be created using some Royalty free music available on the internet.
Just ensure that you are checking on the rights of usage of the audio clip. Write a short script, record it and mix it using Audacity with the music you have downloaded and your intro should be ready.
You can refer to our show at The Tastes of India Podcast to see how we did it.
Else, what I would recommend is to go to Fiverr and get an intro created. It will cost you about $5. But there aren’t a lot of people who can give that Indian touch to the intros, on Fiverr. But you can try your luck if you are ok to spend about 400 bucks on the intro.
You can add this intro music to your recording using Audacity.
There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind while editing and producing your shows.
- Always produce your shows in a WAV format. You can do this using the export options in Audacity.
- Don’t use the leveling function in Audacity or, export in MP3 format from Audacity
- Once you have exported the file in WAV format, use a simple and free tool called CN Levelator to level the audio. This software levels out the audio in your podcast so that the variations in the audio (between different speakers or, music etc.) is all levelled.
- Then use iTunes software from Apple to tag and export the file as an MP3
While this is the recommend method, if you want to avoid all of these hoops and keep it simple, then you can use Audacity to level the audio and then export it in MP3 format and do away with all of these steps.
But the one big advantage with using this method is that you can tag your audio and also add the podcast artwork to the file at the same time, if you do it on iTunes instead of Audacity.
Also just that the functions within audacity are not that perfect when it comes to levelling or, exporting in MP3 formats.
But what ever method you follow, ensure that you are tagging your audio.
Tagging an Audio File
What is tagging?
Audio tags are simply the information about a track stored within an audio file. This is also known as metadata and in technical terms these tags are called as ID3 tag which is specifically made of MP3 files.
What information do you store in these tags?
You will store the name of the podcaster, the title of the episode, the show that the episode is a part of and a short description of what the episode is all about. You can also add an artwork to your episode, is you are using iTunes to tag your audio.
These tags are extremely important because it is these tags that make your show discoverable in search engines.
And getting discovered on search engines is an important part of generating audience. Isn’t it?
If that was too much of technical information, then please rest assured that it is not as complicated as it sounds. I will anyways be making some tutorial videos to simplify these. So ensure that you are subscribed to the show and also the website at thepodcastinguniversity.com
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Here are the resources that we mentioned in this episode –
Microphones
- Shure SM48S Dynamic Microphone
- Behringer C1-U Condensor USB Microphone
- Samson Go USB Condensor Microphone
- Samson C01U Pro USB Studio Condenser Microphone
- Wright WR 800 USB Condensor Microphone (BM 800 Model)
The Best and Most Affordable Microphones
- Maono AU-A04TR (The best and most affordable Microphone)
- Congo Professional USB Microphone
Editing Software
Editing Services
I hope you enjoyed this episode on the best microphone for podcasting and how to go about editing your podcasts.
If you did, then leave a quick thought about what you liked the most by commenting below.
1 comments