Simple Podcast Setup?

Hello podcasters;

I recently became interested in recording my guitar and vocal performances for placement on youtube and other sites (like this one). I purchased a Digidesign Mbox2, a good condensor mic, and off I went.

I quickly discovered that the Mbox2 was WAY more than I need because although I have done some overdubbing and post mixing with it (and the Pro Tools Software), I prefer to keep it simple and am therefore selling the Mbox.

I am beginning my search for a simpler setup and thought I would start here. Can anyone recommend a simple setup that includes an interface device (I don't need midi), and good but not overcomplex software? I will be recording audio and video of my performances and may do some product reviews in the future. I don't need fancy video or audio effects or heavy production capabilities. I want good results, but I'm not seeking production awards here I just want to create original content.

Could it be as simple as one of those snowball USB microphones and a good logitech webcam?

Thanks,

Matt

Tags: equipment, mbox2, microphone, podcasting, usb

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Phill on September 11, 2008 at 5:47am: Hello Matt. I'm haven't got a fantastic voice for podcasting if you know what I mean, but people seem to enjoy it which keeps me going. I don't have big requirements, so I just use a microphone (an older headset, because this new one has too much treble ... how do I fix that) with Nero WaveEditor, then play the whole thing back in winamp with a volume normalizer plug in and sounds awesome. I have no equipment, but when I do music recordings with my accordion and other instruments, I use a nifty little tascam us-122 card with Cubase LE. For youtube videos, I use a camcorder which really captures sound great too! I know almost everyone has much better stuff for podcasting but that's what I use :)
Cheers; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on January 22, 2009 at 8:03pm: I've heard good things about the Behringer Podcast Studio USB.

It's on my wishlist at Amazon.com.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by iscifitv on September 11, 2008 at 4:41pm: hey great questions.

Easy and cheap, or cheap and easy. meh..

Using a USB headset or even standard 3.5mm 1/8" head set with mic and phone on it can be great for just starting out. Head sets range from $5 to $1000's of dollars, and you do get what you pay for. I myself prefer using the standard plug and not a USB , here's why. When you are recording your headset can be used on Windows, linux, OSx, or connected to a mixer board, audio record etc. Witsh USB headsets you risk having it only Work with windows or mac and your investment is not well spent.

I use logitech headsets, for under $50 I have a great headset with decent sound.

For recording there are several freeware programs out on the net, Audacity is great and its written to work with windows, linux and OSx. The drawback is that is records as uncompressed wave format and your podcast can take up several gig of disk space before converting to mp3. Nothing like a show WAV file crashing and you can not podcast it. You can find applications for under $49 for Windows that will record directly to mp3 that use mp3lame or similar 'open source' mp3 codec.

Webcams Logictech plain and simple. spend $125 on one and you wont be wasting your money. My crew spent $249 on a MiniDV camera since its support DVi (firewire) and it looks so much better than a USB webcam.

Here's the list of URLs so you can educate yourself a bit more on products and software.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Logitech quickcam 900

Headset with mini plug

Alesis USB Mic Podcast Kit /USB MIC; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phill on September 11, 2008 at 10:32pm: hi there. I have a logitec ClearChat but there is an annoying treble that comes along with it when I record my podcasts. basically, a hiss when I say words with an s in it, and really a treble in the sound overall. have you experienced anything like this, and where could I find a solution to this to make it sound more normal/equal? i have tried options in my realtek sound manager.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by iscifitv on September 16, 2008 at 5:32pm: realtek (blech!) part of the hiss problem, but also turn off mic boost.

HISS is common and often referred to as TAPE hiss, where you have magnet pickup with audio source (including mics)

start with low volume and increase until you sound good with less hiss.

best fix is condensor mic with eternal mixer (about $200 for both); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phill on September 16, 2008 at 5:46pm: thanks man!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phill on December 21, 2008 at 10:06pm: i tried now this logitec mic again, turning off mic boost. now i can better explain the problem this mic (or whatever it is) has: any recording of the mic sounds very poor in quality, as in almost no low frequencies, and sounds like a top notch phone rather than a microphone. i'm not about to spend money on a mixer, since another mic does fine. i'm just trying to find out what other things i could try with this logitec mic?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mattb4rd on September 11, 2008 at 5:18pm: Great replies ! Thank you !!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John "Lumpy" Lemke on October 4, 2008 at 8:07pm: I like my little logitec desk mic but I still tend to favor using my old tascam four track as a mixer and use audacity to actually record it. I have a plantronics head set mic and i hear they are great mics. I haven't reaaly used it yet though.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cowhelmet on December 23, 2008 at 11:01pm: I wouldn't say to use this one specifically, http://www.makophone.com/fatrpro99.html. Although the concept of a simple MIC/Guitar input device that plugs in USB might be perfect for what you doing. It allows you multiple inputs and its USB.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John "Lumpy" Lemke on January 3, 2009 at 6:54pm: Thanks for the thought. I am leaning toward the M-Audio 2496 because it is PCI and has MIDI capability. I recently resurrected my DR5 drum machine and DX7 Keyboard. I was thinking of getting one of those guitar to USB cords so I could play around with my guitars and some of the real time effects on the UBUNTU Studio machine I have. I like what you suggested though and it seems like a real good solution.

You suggestion might win out though. I am trying to promote indie band with the lumpcast on geeksradio.fm. I am discussing the possibility of recording a few local bands live. If that comes to fruition, you suggestion and a good laptop would certainly make more sense.

Thanks for the feedback.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John "Lumpy" Lemke on January 3, 2009 at 7:07pm: I can be so simple some times. I mentioned I used audacity but not the fact I am using it on Ubuntu Studio. For those of you who are not afraid of Linux (, and there is no reason to be so with Ubuntu), try Ubuntu Studio and the Audacity package in it. Compared to the windows version it is like Audacity on crack and steroids.

It is really nice for post production and recovers well IF it crashes. I currently use it for all my podcast production.; ▶ Reply to This