Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hey everyone, my name is Stephen Robles. I call myself the Bearded Teacher, and I've been podcasting for over 15 years. And over the course of those years, I've used all kinds of equipment, microphones and audio interfaces. And I have recommendations that I think will really help those who are just beginning in podcasting, those in the intermediate level and those were wanna do it professionally and are more advanced. We're going to talk about microphones and I'm going to talk about audio interfaces and all that good stuff, pop filters, microphone stands, just going to show you everything you need gear wise, whether you're just starting out or you're going to be a professional podcaster. I actually host and produced three shows every week, the AppleInsider podcast and HomeKit Insider about technology stuff. And I do a fun podcast about movies called Movies on the Side. And I hope to share that knowledge about the gear and equipment that I use for podcasting when I'm traveling, when I'm in my home studio. And it can help you again whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced podcaster, I can't wait to get started if you'd like to hear actual podcasts that I do every week, you can follow me on Twitter @stephenrobles, when I posted about all the shows that I do there. Let's dive in to podcasting gear.
2. Choosing a Microphone: So glad you joined me for this podcasting gear class. Let's dive into talking about microphones. So if you want to sound great on your podcasts, obviously you need a good microphone, but I'm gonna go over some entry-level intermediate and advanced microphones. And you can really get into the microphone game for just a $100. Now that might sound a lot to you, but you're not going to need any other equipment like audio interfaces with this microphone that I'm going to recommend first. So I would recommend if you're just starting out to get the ATR, it's an Audio-Technica microphone, 2100x. And I loved this microphone for several reasons. First of all, again, it's probably one of the more affordable microphones you can get at a $100. Secondly, it actually has an amazing feature and it's right here at the bottom. And you'll see it actually has an XLR input, which I'll talk about that when we get to our audio interfaces lesson. And a USB C input. And what that means is you can use this microphone with a computer or even an iPad, plugging in directly with one cable and not anything else. You can use a USB-C cable like this and use the microphone directly in there and it will sound great. And it is very sensitive microphone, which is good. But you'll need to have a quiet environment to record in with a microphone like this one. And now I do recommend and I'll talk about this in a later lesson. Getting a pop filter from microphone like this. And I'll talk about why you'll need a pop filter in a later lesson. It's a great microphone if you're starting out and if you have to travel and you podcast regularly, I'll actually still use that microphone if I don't have access to my home studio or from away from home. Now, if you'd like to get a step-up microphone, if you've been podcasting for a little while and you want to improve your sound. I highly recommend this microphone right here. This is this Shure Beta 87 A super cardioid microphone. I've actually used this microphone for a long time and a lot of my podcasts. Now you do need an audio interface because this is an XLR microphone. Again, I'll talk about that when we get to our audio interfaces section. But you do need an audio interface for a microphone like this one. But it sounds amazing. It has a professional sound. I highly recommended again, I've used this for years in a lot of my professional podcasting. So this is a great intermediate mic. As a step up, it does cost more than the entry-level option that I just talked about. This is about $250. You can get it on Amazon or B&H Photo. And again, it's a great step-up microphone. Now maybe you're ready to jump to that advanced microphone and you really want a professional sounding show, maybe want to use that microphone you see in a lot of popular podcasts like the Joe Rogan experience. Well, for that, I would highly recommend this microphone. It's the one I use every week. It's the Shure SM7B. Now this microphone again is the price easiest option. You'll get it for about $400. You can get on Amazon or B&H Photo. But the thing about this microphone is you need more than just an average audio interface to drive it. It needs a lot of power to get the amount of volume that you need so you can actually hear yourself in the recording. I'll talk about that in our audio interfaces lesson and the kind of interface you would need for a microphone like that. But it does sound great, and it is very forgiving of room noise. And maybe you don't have the perfect environment or the perfect studio to record in the shore. SM7 really just isolates your voice as you speak into the microphone. And background noise won't be as audible when using some of the other microphones and I recommended earlier. So maybe you don't have the cleanest environment for recording. You don't have sound treatment on your walls, but you really want a great sound. The surest him seven b is a good options for about $400. And of course there's lots of microphones out there. You'll hear other podcasters recommend their favorites, but those are the three that I really enjoy using. The Audio-Technica ATR 2100 x say for a beginner or for travel the Shure Beta 87 A is an intermediate step. And then the shore SM7B for really professional situations. And don't forget if you have questions about any of the microphone's I mentioned in the equipment, I love to interact with you here in the Skillshare course.
3. Audio Interfaces: All right, Let's talk about audio interfaces. Now. An audio interface or a USB audio interface, is something you would use to connect the microphone to your computer. Most microphones are XLR, which of those three pins? And you need an XLR cable, and then you need an interface so your computer can get that audio signal. Now if you want with that first microphone, I recommended in our mic lesson, this one, which is the audio technical ATR 2100 x. This microphone had that USB input and output. So you could use this microphone without an audio interface. But maybe when would that step-up model, like the Shure beta 87 A or another microphone, you need an audio interface. Now for a starter audio interface, I recommend using a Focusrite Scarlett audio interface. That's a company and a brand. And you can get lots of different audio interfaces from them. I recommend starting out with the Focusrite 2i2 or two input device. This is the Scarlett 2i2 and they call it that because it's two in, two out, but you have to microphone inputs here. Now this interface is a $170, which again, you're getting into a little more pricey equipment, but you can always use the USB microphones. But you might want to get something like this because if you ever want to guest or a co-host to record with you, you have those two audio inputs with level adjustments for each microphone. And it's important to be able to adjust the levels of those microphones, especially if you're recording with two people. Now they do have a one microphone model of this focus, right scarlet, it's a $120. So if you need to save a little money, you can go with that one channel for solo podcasting, or maybe your co-host or guests are remote and you're going to talk to them on Skype or on the Internet, then you don't need to input so you can save a little money, but I recommend that 2i2, a 170 bucks. It connects via USB directly to your computer and the microphone then connects here. Now one other thing I would highly recommend is using the audio interface to actually listen to yourself as you record. Most audio interfaces will have a headphone jack. This right here is where you would plug in a pair of headphones. And it has that bigger style plug of a headphone, which most headphones that you buy will talk about headphones in a future lesson, comes with the adapter that you would use to plug into that headphone jack right there. And then you would plug like a normal pair of headphones there. That would be a great audio interface and it will go a long way, especially if you use the intermediate option that Shure Beta 87A. But if you're gonna use a microphone like the Shure SM57 that I talked about, or higher quality microphones, you might need a higher quality audio interface. Now there's a couple here that I would recommend. I personally use a Sound Devices MixPre 3, and I love it for several reasons. One, you can actually have up to three microphones. They have higher models that allow for more inputs, but I generally never need more than three microphone inputs. And it connects via USB to your computer. Now, as I said about the shore SM7 microphone, you really need a powerful audio interface to get good volume from that microphone. And the sound devices mixed pre three gives you that power so you don't need anything else. You can just use that audio interface to power something like this. Shure SM7B. What I really love about this audio interface is it actually has an SD card slot in the back. It's meant to use for in the field recording. Like if you're filming a video somewhere and you need to record audio directly to an SD card. But I love it because it's a way to redundantly record your podcast. Maybe you record your audio using software on your computer, like Quick Time on a Mac or Audacity on a Windows computer or maybe Audio Hijack. And you obviously will have that digital file recording on your computer. But I like to have a backup just in case. And this mixed pre 3 can record the audio that you're speaking to that as SD card, in addition to recording a file on your computer, I absolutely love it. Now this is a pricey audio interface. You're gonna be looking at around 700 to $750 depending on where you buy it. You'll have to look at like B&H Photo or full compass to really find it there at a good price, but you'll be able to find it and it shifts pretty quickly. Now the last high-end audio interface I'll recommend if you need two inputs, you need powerful interface to drive those microphones like the Shure SM7. I would recommend something from Universal Audio. That's the brand. And the one that I really like is called the Universal Audio Apollo solo Heritage Edition. It's a very wordy, but if you search that on like Amazon, you'll find it. This one is about $700 as well, connects via thunderbolt. So you don't need to power it from another external power source. You can connect it to a thunderbolt enabled computer and power it right there. And you get to Mike inputs and it is plenty powerful to drive any microphone that you throw at it. And so my personal favorite is the sound devices mixed pre three. That's what I use every week for recording all my shows. But it'll give you a few options out there from intermediate to advanced options.
4. Mic Stands and Pop Filters: Let's talk about stands, pop filters and other accessories for your podcasting gear. Now if you have your microphone and your audio interface, you're almost ready to record. Now, you could hold a microphone with your hand while you're recording. But you might find that you have a lot of noise in the background. Maybe it's the cable moving around, maybe it's table noise. So it's really recommended and I highly recommend that you get a stand for your microphone so you don't have to hold it or touch it while you record. Now if you're in a professional setup or you have a home office where you can attach something to the desk. You can get an arm like this one. This is the RODE PSA1 arm. It's about a $100. It clamps to the desk or you can even drill a hole and like mountain inside like a wooden desk. But this is a great option because you can move it around, it's flexible. You can swing it out of the way when you're not using the microphone. And you see a lot of professional setups uses an arm like this one. But if you can't use an arm or maybe needs to move it around a lot. There's microphone stands or you can get for about 30 to $40. That is a desktop sitting stand. It's a weighted base. And so you can get something like that on Amazon. And again, I recommend at least something like that. So when you record you're not hitting or touching the mike or accidentally moving that cable and causing some clicks and stuff in there in your recording. And in addition to a microphone, arm or stand, you really need to get a pop filter. Now, a pop filter is something that you would put on a microphone or mountain front of the microphone that helps with things like plosives. Like if you say a word like plosives, you might get a puff of air in the microphone and it'll sound like a CPU. And it's not great to listen to and it's not great in the recording. And so you can limit that in several ways. You can get little filters like this on Amazon, maybe ten or $12 and a slide on your microphone like this. And that will really cut down on the plosives and other mouth sounds that you might have when you record some microphones actually come with pop filters like the shore SM7B. It has several that it comes with. But you can get ones that go over and little ones that mount to it. I'll show you a picture of one here. This kind of mounts to the microphone stand and provides an additional layer of protection. Sometimes people will use a pop filter on the microphone. And another one of those attachments to really cut down on those plosives. This is one that I use with my Sure. Beta 87 a, but as you can see, it's pretty thin and doesn't cut down on the plosive quite enough. So with something like that, if it's a really thin pop filter you might want to get and additional pop filter that mounts and goes in front of the microphone. And finally, another accessory you might want in your podcasts, and this is not really necessary and doesn't affect your recording, but your co-hosts would appreciate it. And if you do any live podcasting, you might want a mute switch. This is a switch that will go in-between your microphone XLR cable from your microphone to the mute switch, and then to your audio interface. And with a mute switch, you click a button and it will cut the microphone. Maybe you have to cough or sneeze, or there's just something going on in the room that you want to be able to mute the microphone quickly. You can use a mute switch to do that. You can get these for 30, $40, sometimes even more. You can also get software mute switches where the little application on your computer and you can click a button and it will cut the microphone to whatever apps are using it. You can do that too. But if you really go in for a professional setup, a physical mute switch, some you can even hit with your foot as you're recording is a great way to go. So those are some accessories. Again, you definitely want to make stand something tabletop or mounted to the desk. You definitely want to pop filter. And you also might want to get a mute switch in your recording setup.
5. Headphones and Monitoring: Let's talk about headphones. One of the most important things you can do while you record your podcast is to use a good pair of headphones to not only hear someone you're recording with, maybe over Skype, but to hear your own voice as you record, this might be one of the hardest things to get used to as you begin to record your podcasts. But it's very important. You don't know if your audio interface is maybe too loud and it's causing distortion. If you're not monitoring what you sound like while you record. This is why I would recommend and when you use an audio interface, that you actually use the headphones with that audio interface, and use that audio interface as your audio out on your computer. Now even if you get a USB microphone like that audio technical one that I've recommended. On the bottom of this microphone, There's actually a headphone jack. And you can actually use a pair of headphones with this very microphone. So you can not only hear yourself record, but you can hear your co-host or someone else over the computer as you record. So very important to monitor yourself as your record. And a lot of people might be tempted to use something like AirPods as the record, even AirPods Pro or max and I have a pair of AirPods. I loved them. There are a lot of fun to use. But when you use wireless headphones like that, you can't monitor yourself. And here's an important thing is there's a delay. So if you try to monitor your own voice, you're going to hear a delayed response in your voice and it can be very distracting as you record. So you probably want to use a wired pair of headphones, not Bluetooth or wireless. And so I recommend to wired headphones. The first ones I would recommend are these from Sony they're the MDR 7506, six there, one of the industry standards, there are a $100, but they sound incredible. They'll give you good response. And I actually recommend editing your podcast with these headphones so you have a good idea of what it will sound like. Listen to your podcast in the car or on your AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones, and actually might sound very different than the raw actual recording. So I recommend using the headphones that you're monitoring with, like these Sony's to edit with as well. Now if you'd like a small step up and headphones, but actually a very big step in quality. I recommend these. These are the ones I use when I record my podcasts. And what I use to edit, these are the beyer dynamic DT 770 pros, 250 ohms. You don't have to know what all that means, but these sound great. They have a very flat response, which is what you want when you edit your podcast. You don't want any effects or your headphones to be doing anything funny with the recording. You want to hear exactly what it sounds like. And using these and the Sony's really have that flat response letting you know this is what your podcast actually sounds like. And if you want to edit it from there, you have the freedom to do that. But I highly recommend a wired set of headphones use either the Sony's or these bare dynamics as a good step up. Again, not recommend use a wireless or Bluetooth headphones because you can't monitor your own voice and you're going to have that delay as well. So those two recommendations, again, both of them are great options.
6. Podcast Travel Gear: All right, So let's say you've got your microphone, your audio interface, you have your mic stands and pop filters, everything you need to record. But now you're actually going to go on a trip. Maybe you're traveling, and you still need to record your podcast. Well, here are some items that you could use to podcasts when traveling. And I'll give you a spoiler alerts that this one is actually one we've already talked about. This microphone. The first one that I recommended, the audio technical ATR 2100 x is probably the best travel microphone you can get. The reason why is that I've already talked about. It has a USB connector and so you can use a USB-C cable like this one. And you connect this directly to a computer or even an iPad and record right there maybe in a hotel room or when you're traveling and you don't need any other equipment, but this microphone and this cable, I've actually recorded podcast just using my iPad Pro and this microphone. If you have an iPad Pro, you'll see a modern iPad Pro actually has a USB-C connector right there at the bottom. And this microphone will connect directly to that USB-C port. And you can use that microphone and record right on your iPad with no other equipment, just the iPad microphone and cables, so super easy to use when traveling. And again, this microphone has that headphone jack at the bottom so you can monitor your recording as you're talking. So again, this microphone, if it's your entry level or maybe you already have a home podcasting setup, but you want something for travel. I highly recommend this one. But let's say you want an even lighter solution where you don't even need a cable to record while you're traveling or in a hotel room. For that, I recommend this thing right here. This is called the Rode video microphone. And on the bottom it actually has a lightning connector. So if you have an iPad with that connector or an iPhone, you can have just this little tiny microphone and your device, plug it directly into your device and you can actually get a really good recording. Now, I would recommend if you use the microphone like this, that it is pretty sensitive. And so if there's room noise or there's other people around is going to pick that up. But you can actually cut down on wind noise like if you need to record outside it actually, you can get one of these. They call it wind screens, or you can also search for dead cat. They call these. But you can actually put this on the little microphone. And it might be hard to plug into your device. You want it to take your device out of its case for it to fit. But you can actually use this outside or on the go. And you can actually get a really good audio recording from this. And so if you really want a very portable solution for on-the-go to record something solo, I recommend this road video microphone. Plug it right into your iPhone or iPad with a lightning connector, often running, and it actually has a headphone jack on the back so you can monitor what you sound like Azure record as I always recommend. So for traveling the audio technical ATR 2100 x via USB, a great solution. And the road video microphone with a lightning connector.
7. Conclusion and Project: Well, I hope you've learned a lot through this course talking about microphones, pop filters, audio interfaces, and everything in between, both for beginner, intermediate and advanced podcasters. So here's your project. Maybe you're going to pick up this a $100 ATR 2100 x microphone and record something. Awesome. Go ahead and do that. But maybe you don't have the funds right now to get any more equipment. And all you have is your phone. Well, here's what I would recommend. Record your first podcast episode with whatever equipment you have if you can get this microphone, great. But if not, if all you have is a phone, then just use that one last tip. If you're going to record with a phone no, where the microphone is. If you have an iPhone, the microphone's actually here at the bottom, kinda where the speaker is. Go ahead and hold it like this up to your mouth. Not too close, not too far. Maybe just right about here and go ahead and record something. Use the voice memos app, that's the built-in app on your iPhone is totally free and record an episode of something. Maybe it's a fiction podcast, a productivity podcasts and technology podcasts record your first episode, recorded right there on your phone. Or if you have this microphone, Use the microphone. You got y watching this class and then before you publish it publicly, send it to someone that you know and trust. Maybe it's a family member or a trusted friend and ask for honest feedback. Say, you know, I'm just starting out. What do you think of the quality, not just of how I sound, but of what I'm saying is what I'm saying, interesting or entertaining. Is it funny or do you find it useful? Send that episode that you record it on your device, even if all you have is your phone, send it to a trusted friend or family member and ask for honest feedback. That's your project for this course. And once you do that, you have a great direction to go and then you have something to say when you start out on your podcasts. Again, thanks so much for joining me on this podcast gear Skillshare class. You can follow me on Twitter at Stephen role-plays. And again, I'd love to answer your questions here on the platform. And if you check out the podcast that I'm on every week, I love to see you there as well. Thanks for tuning in. We'll catch you in the next class.
Stephen Robles, Podcast Creator and Apple Journalist
