Good production mixers for a podcast?

January 1, 2008 11:28 AM

I am looking to get a mixer for my podcast, 300 bucks or less. I would like to get the Alesis IMULTIMIX8USB but I'm not sure if the recording to ipod is worth the extra 100 bucks. Can someone recommend a good usb or firewire mixer?

I am recording to the latest version of garageband on my macbook. You can hear the quality of my work here http://www.slangdesign.com/rppr

Also, would a USB mixer send each channel to a separate channel in garageband? When I record two voice now, it mixes to a single channel. This is a pain obviously, as my cohost has a different voice than mine so it needs to be mixed differently.

http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=IMULTIMIX8USB

posted by clockworkjoe to technology (5 comments total)

I can't give any specific recommendations, but an inexpensive USB mixer will give you only two channels - left and right. You'd have to pan your voice all the way left on the mixer and your co-host's voice all the way right to keep them separate. Garageband might record that as one stereo track but you may be able to get it to record two separate mono tracks.

If you're recording straight to the computer, you certainly don't need the ipod recording feature of the multimix, though I suppose it could come in handy.
posted by moonmilk at 11:56 AM on January 1, 2008

Perhaps what you want is not a mixer but a multi-channel audio interface, a device that just takes your audio directly into the computer without the mixing functions, especially if you're going to be doing all the processing and final mixing on the computer anyway. Something like this has two microphone inputs. This one adds four line-level inputs as well as the two mics. With either of these you can get separate tracks for each input in garageband. I'm not endorsing these particular devices (never used 'em) but encouraging you to explore this kind of gadget.
posted by moonmilk at 12:03 PM on January 1, 2008

Moonmilk is right. Any audio interface should work for you, and you can record to different channels, same channel, or a combination of the three. This is how I do it. I have an older Tascam AI and am happy with it. This really shouldn't set you back more that $100. Add in two decent XLR mics, and you are off and going.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:47 PM on January 1, 2008

They are all correct. You're looking for a USB A/D converter. There really isn't a bad one out there (though I use Tascam). Just do the smallish town you live in a favor and pick one up at a local store for the same price you would get one online. Seriously. Keep your money in your community and it won't cost you a cent more, plus you'll get some face-to-face tech support (if you need it. These things are pretty idiot-proof).

The Tascam comes bundled with Cubase, but GarageBand, since you're already using it, will do all you need.
posted by sourwookie at 8:31 PM on January 1, 2008

Sorry, I should have given you a suggested model. The Tascam US-122L should do the trick for about $100.
posted by sourwookie at 8:40 PM on January 1, 2008