Once you ’ve decided ona formatting and focus for your podcast , it ’s time to get down to some nitty - gritty : compute out how you ’re going to capture the audio . That means choosing a mike ( and maybe other ironware ) and enter computer software . It means work out out a read workflow . And , if you ’re going to include Edgar Guest who ca n’t be in the same room with you , you have to know how you ’re going to record them .
Christopher Breen
The Shure 58
Breen has a couple of option when it comes to memorialize . Macworld has its own special podcasting way , fit out with fourShure 58 microphonesmounted on bonanza place upright with pop music filter ; they tie toa MOTU audio interfacewhich in turn connects to an iMac . Everyone listens to the proceedings using Sony MDR - V6 over - the - ear earpiece , and everything is capture in GarageBand 6 . ( The late version , GarageBand 10 , does n’t confirm podcasting . )
More frequently , though , he host the podcast from his own home , and all participant immortalize themselves remotely . In his home office , he apply a vintage AKG 414 microphone with pop filter on a stand boom stand connected to anApogee One USB interface . He used to apply in - ear earphone , but incur them uncomfortable and switched to the Sony V6s .
Ecamm ’s Call Recorder
For outside guest , he habituate Ecamm connection’sCall Recorderto entrance Skype racecourse . He likes the way it places his voice on one track and the ease of the speaker unit ’ voice on another ; you could then burst those tracks using tool supplied with the software program . Macworld staffers have formulate a way of life to pipe up Skype tracks into GarageBand .
At the same time , however , he has guests record their side of the conversation and then send their cut to him . The audio quality is always in force than with Skype , and those disjoined data file provide more mixing options .
Erika Ensign
The Blue Snowball
She enjoin that theBlue Snowball USB micis the “ prescribed mic of Doctor Who podcasters ” . ( It does n’t ache that “ they look like littleOod translator balls . ” ) So when she started Verity ! , she encouraged her cohosts to invest in Snowballs ; finally , they all complied .
Everyone show into their own mics in their own fix — sooner the quietest room they can find . As most of her cohosts are technophobe , Ensign take software that was both free and easy for all them to use . After testing a few gratis registrar apps , she subside onAudacity . That ’s also a common choice in the doc - Who podcasting biotic community , so there are lots of multitude to take for proficient assist when required . Ensign has a professional background in technical school penning , so she assembled a how - to document covering the steps necessary to recording and exporting MP3 files .
When it fare time to record , she hosts a Skype call with everyone . She first babble out them through a “ pre - flight checklist ” : wear your phone , turn them down as far as you’re able to while still being able to hear , open temerity , ensure the correct mic is testify as the stimulant . She then does a weigh - down and everyone presses the Record button in audaciousness at roughly the same fourth dimension . ( This make for easier syncing after . ) Everyone records her own track , which the others then send to her via Dropbox .
While she ’s recording , she keeps a notebook ready to hand ; if she hear anything egregious in the background knowledge ( dealings , clump , visit child ) , she observe the fourth dimension code so she can tone down it afterward . She also records the Skype call itself in type there ’s a problem with someone ’s file . She used the freeAmolto Call Recorder for Skypefor a while , but has now switched to the equally freeMP3 Skype Recorder . Both scarper on her Dell laptop .
Jason Snell
The Blue Yeti
For the first 150 episodes of his podcast ( he ’s now up to 185 ) , “ it was very low - tech ” : He recorded while sitting in bed , eventually adding a tripod on the floor so he did n’t have to cradle the microphone on his tum . That mike was ab initio a Blue Snowball , but he ’s switched to aBlue Yeti . He says the Yeti voice better and has a phone laborer , which allows him to hear not only his own vocalization , but also the audio from his data processor with everyone else ’s , too .
He ’s late set up up office space in his garage , where that mic is now impound to his desk by a boom arm . The room in his house are n’t particularly echoey , so he does n’t do anything like surround the microphones with sound - absorbing foam ( something other podcasters do ) .
He , too , uses Skype to record the other participant . But everybody on the other end also records his or her end of the conversation . Many of them habituate Ecamm ’s Call Recorder , but even that is n’t really necessary : On the Mac , QuickTime Player will let you memorialize an audio filing cabinet directly . ( take New Audio Recording , select your mic , and weight-lift the big red release ; there are basic equivalents on Windows , if you ’re talking to somebody who ’s using a personal computer . ) Everyone then send him his or her recorded files ; he also records the Skype call .
Chip Sudderth
Chip , too , uses a Blue Yeti mic . ( He say it ’s warm , more exonerative and less noisy than the Snowball . ) The Yeti Pro includes XLR remark , which he occasionally uses with his remote recording machine , the Zoom H4N. If he ’s commemorate off - situation , he use either the establish - in mics on the H4N or carries a lighter , fantasm - powered condenser mic . He records with audaciousness .
Using Skype to include remote participant
He , too , uses Skype for remote guests . ( “ I always hold my breath when a new OS X or Skype release issue , ” he says , because that so often breaks the software . ) As long as guest have decent bandwidth and microphone ( “ at least a Blue Snowball ” ) , he feel captured Skype audio to be tolerable . He does n’t sweat the audio quality that much , as long as there are no echo , no interference , and no bead - outs .