Comments on: PodcasterCon2006 : Advanced Podcasting techniques.

By: Ryan Collins

Ryan Collins — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 13:54:33 +0000

Musician's Friend has the MXL 990 brand new for $49.99. I combine it with a Behringer UB802 mixer for another $49.99 and use this microphone stand for $19.99. The microphone stand also comes with a mic and cable, just incase you need another one. I record directly into my computer. A hundred and twenty dollars still seems like alot to get started though... I plug my Palm TX into one of the inputs to mix music and sound effects while I record. For remotes, I use an iRiver 795. I split the stereo into two mono inputs, each with a 1/8" adapter to XLR. This way I get two track recording from two mics. Works really well, although, like Steve said above, you can only monitor the recording, you can't set the levels.

By: Casey Hales

Casey Hales — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 16:42:58 +0000

Lots of good microphone tips. Here’s my 3 cents worth (inflation), As a former broadcaster and licensed broadcast engineer, a good mic can make all the difference. A mic screen does help from popping your “p’s”, but it’s not perfect. One trick I used is to soften your P-sound by making it closer to a B-sound. P’s pop, B’s don’t. Also, if you pronounce your P to the side of your lips, you still get the sound but it’s directed away from the mic.
We called the screens mic muffs as under some conditions they sometimes did muffle the sound. Again, start with a good mic, as the muff will degrade the audio to a degree. Also, you can spend more for a mic than you can benefit from. Remember, you can’t stuff 10 pounds of crap in a 5-pound bag. You can have a better microphone than you have audio recorder and it’s back to GSIGO. Good stuff in garbage out. It’s a lot like people who spend extra money for headphones that have better frequency range that a less expensive pair. After all, even the cheapest headphones produce a frequency range your human ears can’t pick up.
An omni mic is good for picking up a wide area of sound, but with that you can’t be selective. Not only do you get the additional people but you get everything in between, too.
If you have to record consistently in a somewhat noisy area, we used a thing called a voice-gate. It senses the sound of your voice and opens the gate (the audio), when you pause; it shuts the gate and cancels the extraneous noise. Another option is a noise-canceling mic. These mics you have to “work”. Working a microphone means getting very close to it and talking. This allows the mic to just pick up your voice. Your voice actually drives the microphone.
Just a few thoughts I had as I’m headed out the door!

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 04:20:04 +0000

Thanks so much for letting those of us not able to attend the conference to be a part of it. Looking forward to all the follow up later by those that were in Chapel Hill.

By: John Blake

John Blake — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 02:36:18 +0000

Hope your flight home was smooth. Lots of information to filter from the sessions. My eyes are burning and visions of Marantz and Eridol R1s are dancing in my head. Monday, I will have to go back to reality. The Advanced Podcasting session was like going to a candy store. As a classroom teacher, my slant on using podcasts is very different from some participants. In my classroom, I have to correlate all my learning activities with learning objectives which are aligned to our North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Podcasting is just one of many instructional strategies. It is difficult to justify high-quality audio equipment. I still picked up many ideas from the discussion. My favorite was the cheap pop screens. Got to put one of those together.

Great to finally meet you today at PodcasterCon.

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 00:52:51 +0000

I am enjoying reading both your and David’s blogs. Thanks for sharing everything with us.

Especially though — thanks for the EBAY link — WHAT A TRICK!!!

Enjoy your day
Jennifer

By: Chris in New Hampshire

Chris in New Hampshire — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:26:26 +0000

Steve:

I’ve been checking in on you and David sporadically all day. Perhaps I’m just an old-fashioned girl but it still amazes me that we can get the material and your insights so soon after they come to you! I must say, I’m a bit discouraged at the details of your advanced podcasting session. As a media specialist who’s as only been podcasting with kids since June, I was so excited to buy our (my!) first USB microphone – which I haven’t even had a chance to use yet! Thanks for the Audacity notes – since it’s a free program, it’s a big part of our podcasting efforts. There’s so much to find out about – thank you for filtering through the information for folk like me who are still learning.

Chris

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:46:20 +0000

Steve,

Thanks for keeping us up to date. I woke up with a migraine, so even though I’m only 20 miles away in Raleigh, I’m telecommuting to the conference. Can’t wait to hear more of what you find out!