Inexpensive but quality setup for a live podcast
September 8, 2013 6:10 PM Subscribe
We're getting ready to do a weekly podcast, recorded live in a retail environment in front of an audience. I'm trying to build the gear kit. Can you help?
The room itself is fantastic, I just need the tech. The panel will consist of 2-4 people, so I'm thinking 4 lavalier microphones. I know we'll need a basic laptop, and I'm good with Audacity. What about a mixing board - which one is the best for the money, with the simplest interface into the laptop? Are there any out-of-the-box kits that work well for a setup like this? Any missing pieces I'm not thinking of? What other essentials should we have on hand?
(I know that there are good omindirectional mikes out there, but that's not really what I'm looking for - given the shape of this physical space, the four speakers are not going to be physically close enough for that to work.)
The room itself is fantastic, I just need the tech. The panel will consist of 2-4 people, so I'm thinking 4 lavalier microphones. I know we'll need a basic laptop, and I'm good with Audacity. What about a mixing board - which one is the best for the money, with the simplest interface into the laptop? Are there any out-of-the-box kits that work well for a setup like this? Any missing pieces I'm not thinking of? What other essentials should we have on hand?
(I know that there are good omindirectional mikes out there, but that's not really what I'm looking for - given the shape of this physical space, the four speakers are not going to be physically close enough for that to work.)
If there's any chance that you'll want to add audience Q&A at some point, plan to have capacity for a wireless handheld mic that an assistant can bring out to the audience and hold up to questioners. Do not let the audience member hold the mic themselves - sometimes people will seize the opportunity to start rambling. By keeping it in control of the assistant, the microphone can be relatively gracefully removed if the audience member goes on too long.
If you have the time to do post production, doing multitrack recording and mixing it down after the fact will give you the ability to do a lot of valuable tweaking and cleaning rather than trying to do it live.
posted by Candleman at 7:35 PM on September 8, 2013
If you have the time to do post production, doing multitrack recording and mixing it down after the fact will give you the ability to do a lot of valuable tweaking and cleaning rather than trying to do it live.
posted by Candleman at 7:35 PM on September 8, 2013
I think there are a lot of different ways to go about this, but one of the main questions I would have is whether or not you need to amplify the sound in the space? If your mics are being used for both recording and for the audience to hear, you would do things differently than if they are just for recording.
That being said, my feeling is that a handheld mic, properly used will always sound a bazillion times better than a lapel mic, every time. The only reason to use a lapel mic is if you need the mics hidden, if the speaker needs both hands free and can't be behind a mic stand, or if you need the speaker to be walking around. This comes from 15 years of experience as a professional sound tech and recording engineer.
I think if you went with a current day digital mixer, which gives you a USB or firewire interface to a laptop, you could record everyone onto their own separate track, and mix it down afterwards, which would give you the best sound quality for the podcast. I have some experience with the soundcraft ones, and they work just fine, and since they have built in compressors/EQ/gates/LPF/etc. on each channel, you can clean up each mic fairly well.
If you have the same people for the podcast each week, take a little time to get them used to speaking right into a handheld mic, and you will have a great sounding show. If they are all sitting in a relatively controlled environment, you could get them each a condenser mic on a stand in front of them, which could potentially sound a little bit better.
The most important part of getting a good recording (assuming you are multitracking it and mixing later) is making sure that each of your speakers understands how to talk into a mic correctly. They need to speak straight into it, leave a couple of inches, and be consistant. If they want to yell, they pull their head back. Simple stuff, but you'd be surprised at how many people have the mic in front of them, and then turn their head and start speaking in the other direction.
posted by markblasco at 7:59 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
That being said, my feeling is that a handheld mic, properly used will always sound a bazillion times better than a lapel mic, every time. The only reason to use a lapel mic is if you need the mics hidden, if the speaker needs both hands free and can't be behind a mic stand, or if you need the speaker to be walking around. This comes from 15 years of experience as a professional sound tech and recording engineer.
I think if you went with a current day digital mixer, which gives you a USB or firewire interface to a laptop, you could record everyone onto their own separate track, and mix it down afterwards, which would give you the best sound quality for the podcast. I have some experience with the soundcraft ones, and they work just fine, and since they have built in compressors/EQ/gates/LPF/etc. on each channel, you can clean up each mic fairly well.
If you have the same people for the podcast each week, take a little time to get them used to speaking right into a handheld mic, and you will have a great sounding show. If they are all sitting in a relatively controlled environment, you could get them each a condenser mic on a stand in front of them, which could potentially sound a little bit better.
The most important part of getting a good recording (assuming you are multitracking it and mixing later) is making sure that each of your speakers understands how to talk into a mic correctly. They need to speak straight into it, leave a couple of inches, and be consistant. If they want to yell, they pull their head back. Simple stuff, but you'd be surprised at how many people have the mic in front of them, and then turn their head and start speaking in the other direction.
posted by markblasco at 7:59 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:32 PM on September 8, 2013