What's the best (cheap) setup to do on-site podcasting?
March 12, 2009 6:45 PM   Subscribe

What's the best solution for my podcasting situation?

I've checked the other podcasting questions on AskMeFi, and I haven't found quite what I'm looking for, so here's my situation:

I started off doing my podcast on the campus radio station, then recently moved to a podcast-only format. We've been using Skype since our crew is now dispersed around the country, and that works well. Thing is, a local business wants to do more promotional stuff with the podcast and wants us to do live-to-tape shows on location store during big events. We've done one already that was sort of cobbled together and it was OK, but I'd like to have my own setup tailored especially to my needs.

Basically, I'm looking for a good mixer and microphone to record directly to my computer. Here are the stipulations:

1. I'm running a 2007 Macbook Pro. It's a great computer but has no mic preamp built in, which makes a lot of un-powered mixers useless.
2. I want a mixer that preferably has 3 or 4 mic inputs. I can live with two, though.
3. I don't have a preference between USB and line-in mixers, but I would like a traditional board setup.
4. I'm recording voice only. No music.
5. I would prefer this to be on the inexpensive side. Preferably sub-$200, since I make no money on this podcast and I am but a poor grad student.
6. Something that works with Garage Band or Audacity would be preferable.
7. I'm not adverse to flash/other media recorders, but I still want a good mic input.

If you feel this question has been answered well in another thread, don't hesitate to point me towards that thread. Otherwise, I kneel prostrate before you, oh great hive mind.
posted by HostBryan to Technology (1 answer total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've got an M-Audio Fast Track Pro that I'm quite happy with. Only two mic inputs, but it has phantom power, it's small, and it's pretty cheap. Probably worth shopping around a bit; Amazon has it for $175-ish but I've seen it there for less in the past (and I got mine from J&R for $150).
posted by sinfony at 9:14 AM on March 13, 2009


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