Wednesday, May 25, 2005

TOTP - Top Ten Essential Podcasting Equipment

We couldn't resist it any longer, like every other podcaster we just had to go and talk about our podcasting equipment. So for those building up a home studio and wanting to podcast here is the top ten list of kit for the shopping list in order of importance, and we have also provided audio examples of some of the items in use:-

  • 10 – Mic Stand (when we did a demo of stomping on the floor our mic stands did such a good job of filtering out the rumble that nothing came out in this podcast!)
  • 9 – Decent cables and an audio patch bay
  • 8 – Effects units
  • 7 – Audio playback device such as a minidisc, mp3 player or turntables
  • 6 – Limiter (this comes into play every time Jon laughs)
  • 5 – Noise Gate (try one of these if you have a loud computer fan)
  • 4 – Mixing desk (we recommend more than 2 outputs)
  • 3 - Compressor
  • 2 – A computer that isn't running anything other than your audio recording software.
  • 1 – A Mic - look for a decent 48 volt phantom powered condenser mic. We both use the incredible value MXL 990's, which come with a shock cradle and carry case.

When looking for any studio kit try buying it in rack mountable form, buying a £30 rack keeps everything tidy and easily accessible.

For a podcast devoted to audio production visit The Point presented by the audio engineer for IT Conversations Paul Figgiani. Paul also maintains an excellent web site called Podcast Rigs, and has put together some entry, basic and pro example sytems. We also recommend writing your own top ten list, emailing it to topofthepods@gmail.com and then keeping a watchful eye on www.topofthepods.com.

By the way, why don't you vote for us over at podcast alley - we just wanna make it in to the top ten and we'll have done our job (we are a top ten show after all). Thanks if you voted and get your ass over there if you haven't!!

2 comments:

podcastpaul said...

great show boys!

Anonymous said...

Hi Guy's,

Fantastic job. A real pleasure listening... Lots of great information. Thanks for the mention and your kind words.

Here is a link for Broadcast Boom Arms:
http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=PROBOOM-B

Talk to you soon.

Paul Figgiani, New York, NY.

The.Point Podcast
Podcastrigs
Member, Team ITC.