What's your podcast setup?
Here's Mixergy's setup:
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Zoom - recording
If you use this, make sure to go to the recording settings and set it to record each person on their own file. That will allow you to increase your guests' volume if you need to. -
Rode Podcaster - mic
I know. Super-basic. Fine. It works. What I learned from Alex of Gimlet is to plug earphones into it. Not only does it eliminate my guest's audio from bleeding into my mic, it also allows me to hear my voice and make sure it's clear. -
Samson Meteor Mic USB Studio Condenser Microphone, Chrome - guest mic
We buy mics for every single interviewee (who'll let us). Audio is too important to leave up to guests to figure out.
That's it. I've used this setup at my desk in San Fransisco. But when I travel, my setup is pretty much the same. The only difference is that I have a travel mic that's easier to pack and setup: Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone
Here is my setup for All Things Auth:
Based on great advice from The Podcast Host, I use the Samson Q2U microphone and NEEWER Adjustable Microphone Boom Arm.
I use Squadcast to record the actual podcast with guests. Nothing for them to install and no account to create. Records audio locally on both of our machines and streams it to their servers in real time as we record. I tried ZenCastr and Cast, but Squadcast supports video as well while no one else did. I like seeing the person I’m talking with so I can read body language, etc. SquadCast was pretty reliable for my first few episodes, but I did get audio drift for a few recordings and they said to "restart your computer", which was not a great solution. I have used their recent v2 release to record a single episode and it totally screwed up my local audio. Given, it could have been user error on my part, but I have used it 6 times before and it worked without issue, so...
I host the podcast on Transistor.fm.
I was seriously stressing between which podcast host to go with and eventually decided to go with Transistor because I have been following Justin Jackson’s work for a while and wanted to support his company. They seem to have just as good a service as any of the others based on features, etc, but I have not tried any other hosts.
I really like the features in BackTracks.fm, but their plan is 2x more $$$ and I cannot justify that on a hobby project yet. Plus, Transistor is still growing quickly and they want feedback to understand what we, their customers, want in terms of features.
Justin personally helped me several times through live chat already and it has been great so far.
I used Garage Band to mix all of the audio tracks together. It has gotten the job done so far, but I really hate it because it does not allow me to group together segments of audio and move them as a single unit, easily edit out segments of audio without a bunch of clicks, etc, etc. I am totally new to audio editing, so it might just not be the ideal tool for editing podcasts (compared to music).
I found Pat Flynn's video really helpful when I was getting started.
I used audioblocks.com to find stock audio for my show intro/outro ($10). I spent ~3-5 hours listening to hundreds of clips/tracks before discovering the one I went with called "Turn on the Funk".
I love the track, but there was a hissing sound in the background. I was going to say “eh, good enough”, but it was incredibly annoying and I am a bit of a perfectionist. I got the track cleaned up in about ~4 hours with the help of these articles:
I used an image on Unsplash by Jesus Kiteque and Canva.com to create my cover art.
It really helped to get feedback from my friends who are perfectionists and designers for feedback to tighten things up!
After discovering their useful article explaining the correct dimensions, I used Snappa.com to create my Twitter header image.
What a great write-up on all steps needed to start a podcast.
I use audacity to edit the recordings. You might want to check it out. I find it really good.
Please keep us up to date with your experience with Squadcast. I use Zencastr for now, but would love to change for something that allows recording video at the same time.
I use Reaper for editing. It costs $60 after a 2 months trial.
I switched from Audacity because Reaper allows me to edit my audio at 1.75x speed which makes the whole process faster.
Hey guys! I'm hosting my podcast for 5 years. I've tried everything and ended up with this:
I'm wondering is someone found a "very good" app for the iphone where I can edit an episode while i'm on the road. If so, please, let me know!
Cheers!
Max
I'm just starting out and all I'm using is the Audio-Technica 2100. For recording, I'm using Audacity. One app I plan on using is Anchor and playing around with how well my mobile will record.
Here's my setup for Freelance to Founder:
SquadCast just rolled out a 2.0 version of its platform which I already loved. Records both ends of an interview on the participant's local computer, like Zencastr, but progressively uploads once you tap the Record button. Never had any issues with timing differences between my audio and my guest's, which others have complained about with other options. It's called audio drift in the industry.
Clean sound, great noise rejection, extremely affordable at $99. I keep two with me for any potential face to face interviews as well. Much more portable than the massive microphones that get all the buzz in podcasting circles, with little to no compromise on sound quality.
It's not without its quirks, but this has been a tremendous device. The first dedicated podcast hardware that I'm aware of. Built-in it can handle up to four mics, a line-in from a smartphone or any other 3.5mm device, Bluetooth to smartphones to handle guests calling in, and 8 sound pads for triggering effects, interview snippets, or music. On-board audio processing (compression, noise gate, etc.). Connects via USB.
Love this software. So easy to use, dedicated for voice/broadcasting/podcasting. Fast learning curve if you never edited audio prior to starting in on podcasting.
We bought a Rodecaster Pro for our podcast setup at Indy Hall and it's amazing.
Being able to record completely standalone without firing up a computer or editing software means sitting down to record is so much faster.
Completely agree. My editing time dramatically reduced. And it opens up possibilities creatively too.
Here's my setup for Indie Hackers:
Zencastr will simultaneously host the call and record audio. It's as simple as sharing a URL with the guest(s), then they join, and I click record. What I love most about it is that it makes a local recording on their computer, then uploads it to the page when I stop the recording, so it's always high quality (as opposed to taking the VoIP recording). The only thing I don't like about it is that there's no video in the call, so I can't see my guest's facial expressions.
This thing sounds great. I've used a ton of other mics (thanks to Stripe's budget allow me to try them out), including mics recommended by Tim Ferriss and others, and this is my fav. Probably what I like most about it is how effective it is at erasing background noise, and how consistent it is with my voice sounding pretty much the same every recording. I've had a few recordings where I accidentally used one of my other mics and people could tell immediately.
I simply haven't tried anything else, and I don't do much of the editing myself, anyway.