How To Make A Podcast
Podcast Hardware Suggestions: Which Microphone Is Best?
What kinds of hardware are required to create a podcast for publication on the Internet? What type of microphone is the best?
Podcasts give anyone an opportunity to share their ideas, thoughts, and passions with a large and growing audience of listeners. Using easy to obtain accessories, almost anyone can turn a computer into a podcast production studio quickly and easily. Having the right podcasting equipment is important in order to provide the best possible audio quality and overall listening experience. Here are some suggestions for would be podcasters.
Creating a Podcast: What Equipment Is Recommended?
In order to create a podcast a user must have a way to record audio and a way to upload it to the Internet. Some podcasters can get by simply with a cell phone and data access, but most individuals will use a desktop computer, microphone, headphones (to listen to the audio as it is being recorded) and a mixer to control the input levels from the microphone.
Podcast Microphones: USB vs Standard
Many prebuilt computers come with microphones included in the box. In some cases the microphone is actually built into the LCD monitor or chassis of the computer. These microphones almost always plug directly into the computer’s microphone jack via a ¼-inch plug. The quality of most standard computer microphones could be considered fair to poor, and often produce lackluster audio with ambient room noise or hissing. Trading up to a commercially purchased microphone will provide much better quality and often provides additional features such as being mounted on a headset.
USB microphones are also available for use by podcasters, but remember that just because a microphone or headset combo unit is advertised as being good for chatting or VOIP conversations, it may not be very good for producing a podcast on. Some headset mounted USB microphones sound a bit metallic when used to record a podcast, so always test the unit out before settling on a final purchase.
Podcast Systems: All-In-One Podcasting Setups
Recently a number of vendors have come out with kits designed for the amateur podcaster. One of the better names in audio products, Behringer, provides the Podcast Studio, a package that provides a good quality dynamic microphone, stand, mixer, headphones, and cables all in one kit. The output quality of a dynamic microphone will almost always be better than anything available on a consumer quality headset regardless of whether it connects with USB or not so the Behringer is a very good option to consider if the user is going to make podcasting a long term commitment.
