2007.10.20

My Podcasting Setup – Part One: Hardware

Posted in Podcasting at 12:46 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel

Several months ago, I started to write a short story titled “The Howl from Beyond”, and my goal was to publish it in audio format. There were only three obstacles:

  1. I had never written a story longer than than 5000 words.
  2. I did not own suitable audio recording equipment.
  3. I had no experience doing audio production.

Though it took months, I wrote 12,000 words in “The Howl From Beyond”. It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done. After completing the first draft, I rewarded myself by purchasing the audio recording gear I wanted. Then, I started learning how to use it in between revising the story drafts.

I had no idea what I was getting into. And since I’m far too proud to be caught reading a “for dummies” book, I settled for trial by fire.

In part one of this article, I’m going to discuss the hardware I use:

I bought all of this gear from Axe Music. The total bill came to about $600.

The Microphone

Some microphones are designed for vocal work specifically; I wanted a more general-purpose microphone with a clean, unbiased sound. The Audio Technica AT2020 has proven to have a very neutral sound for my own voice. In fact, it adds far less color to the recording than the room does. I have also had a couple of friends speak into the microphone, and it performs well.

The AT2020 has a cardioid pickup pattern which means it is a directional microphone. Sound that comes from behind or the sides is not picked up nearly as strongly as sound coming from the front. Given the ambient noise level in my apartment, and my annoying computer fan, this helps immeasurably.

The Pre-amp / Firewire Interface

Every review I read about the Mackie Onyx Satellite mentioned how good the onyx pre-amps sounded. I have little frame of reference, but to my untrained ear, I agree that they sound good. There is no hum or ambient noise I cannot attribute to another source. The signal sounds clean when it arrives at the computer.

None of the other systems I considered garnered the same consistent high praise, though several of M-Audio‘s USB interfaces came close.

For my particular environment, though, the Onyx Satellite was definitely a wise choice. The hardware comes as two pieces. The pod, which houses the majority of the brains of the device, can be separated from the base station, which houses additional inputs and outputs. When I record, I move my equipment to a different room than where it normally rests. The portability of the Satellite system means I have a lot less to lug with me, since I only need to take the pod and not the rest of the box.

Pop Filter

When you voice consonants like P and B (called plosives), you produce a small burst of air. This burst of air causes a rather unflattering “pop” sound when it hits the microphone. Unlike some other microphones, the AT2020 has little built-in protection against this. Fortunately, you can prevent this by altering your microphone placement and / or technique. But in my case, the added stress of worrying about microphone technique while I was also worrying about my reading performance was too much for me. With practice I hope to improve, but in the meantime, I bought an inexpensive pop filter.

The pop filter amounts to little more than a pair of pantyhose stretched over an embroidery hoop, but it is very effective at reducing the effect of plosives spoken directly into the microphone. Of course, the one I bought is a lot more stylish than a pair of pantyhose, and the gooseneck and stand clamp mean it can easily be positioned exactly where I need it – in front of the microphone.

With the pop filter in place, my next recording takes were more confident. The pop filter also significantly reduced my editing time, since I made fewer audible mistakes.

Headphones

I originally chose the Sennheiser HD 280 pro headphones for an entirely different purpose. I work in a noisy environment, and I wanted headphones that would block out noise. Further, I didn’t want the headphones to “leak” sound. And since I find in-ear headphones to be uncomfortable after a couple of hours, I was quickly able to narrow the field to closed-back circumaural models. My old Koss UR.20s died a few years back, and I wanted a better sounding pair. For the money, I don’t think you can beat the Sennheiser HD 280s.

Fortunately, the HD 280s are also good headphones to use for monitoring while you’re recording. I wear them while I’m recording, and If I’m too far from the microphone, or too close, or I make another mistake, I can hear it clearly and immediately re-record the sentence. Obviously, I have to edit the error out later, but doing the re-take immediately ends up saving a lot of time overall.

Other Benefits

The hardware I have chosen has other benefits that have nothing to do with recording a podcast:

  1. The Onyx Satellite makes an excellent headphone amplifier. While some people may cringe at this use of the equipment, I find that it works very well even if this is not its intended purpose.
  2. The HD 280 headphones are good general purpose headphones. I use them at work. I bring them when I travel. They work well with my iPod.

Why not [insert setup here]?

The only brief answer to this question is that nothing else I looked at met all of my particular criteria. My setup isn’t right for everyone, but I’m convinced that it’s right for me.

In part two, I’ll discuss my recording software and also my recording process.