Podcast like a Pro – #1, Microphones

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After just three weeks, the number of people downloading each Podnography show is about 10 times the number of people reading each SugarBank post.

This proves:

• More people like to use their ears than their eyes
• My prayers to the flying spaghetti monster have been answered
• That time I brought triplets to orgasm using my left lobe alone was no fluke

Though Podnography (which, amazingly, is defined here) doesn’t sound as good right now as it will, it does kick the ass sound-quality wise of 94.7% of podcasts out there (I could explain how I got that figure with graphs and science but it would probably just freak you out.)

As I like to tell people what to do, and because I’ve spent a lot of time in professional recording studios (back when I was playing keyboards in ‘Miami Sound Machine’) I’ve decided to share some of what I know so your podcast can have sound quality more like ‘So‘ and less like ‘The Teaches of Peaches‘.

I’ll start at the beginning with microphones.

Your choice of microphone you use has more influence on anything you record than anything else in the recording chain. They’re obsessed over by recording engineers and range in price from a couple of dollars to many thousands.

Don’t worry about spending a couple of hundred dollars on a good mic. Sound is analogue and has to be captured using an analogue device. A great mic will never become obsolete (a lot of the best were designed before you were born) and, well looked after, will last a lifetime. A great mic will get the best out of anything it’s plugged into.

Three factors affect how good a mic sounds:

• Technology
• Mounting
• Pattern

 

Technology

Mic’s use two basic technologies, there are others but if you’re using a ribbon mic to record your podcast you don’t need any help from me. How they work’s beyond the scope of this post but they’re know as dynamic and condenser (electret can be thought of as a type of condenser).

 

Dynamic Mics:

Dynamic’s are tough and cheap. They don’t need a power supply to work and they’re normally used in live situations, or where they’re going to take a beating. Very few studio recordings are made using dynamic mics (though Bono uses them a lot).

Most cheap mics are dynamic, and anything you buy which doesn’t need a battery or a power supply is dynamic. Everyone makes passable dynamic mic’s but I’d recommend Shure or AKG. They’re not the cheapest, but why spend $20 on a mic unless your podcast is worth less to you than five cups of coffee.

Choose a dynamic mic if:

• You want to spend as little as possible
• You are going to record on the move and want to travel as light as possible
• Your mic has to take a few hard knocks and keep going

 

Condenser Mics:

Condenser mics can be very expensive but in recent years a few manufacturers have started making very good, cheap, condenser mics. Today good ones start at around $100.  Rode and Octava both have excellent reputations and make great gear. 90% of what you hear is recorded using condenser mics – the sound is considerably clearer and sharper than dynamics are capable of. They are more fragile than dynamics, but only need the kind of protection you’d give a notebook PC. A lot of people use them on the move with no problem at all.

You won’t be able to plug a condenser mic straight into your computer. To get the weak signal from the mic to line level, which your computer needs, you’ll have to amplify it first. The box which amplifies the signal will also usually supply the mic with the power it needs to operate (known as ‘Phantom Power’).

Choose a condenser mic if:

• You have $100 or more to spend
• You want professional sound quality
• You record in your house or can look after the mic during transit

 

USB Mics:

A lot of people are USB mics/headsets to record their podcasts (e.g. me right now). USB’s the interface and these mics can use any of the technologies I’ve mentioned. Most of the money you pay for a headset goes into the earphones, not the mic, but you can get decent sound out of one with care. Spend as much as you can afford and avoid anything targeted at ‘gamers’.

Most USB mics, the kind that come without a headset and live on a plastic stalk, have been designed as the very cheapest way to get sound into a computer. Avoid them (with the exception of the ‘Blue Snowball’ which I’ve not tested but is from a great company and probably rocks. It does not have a plastic stalk.)

Choose a USB headset if:

• You have one already
• You want the simplest solution available
• You are recording at home and the acoustics are poor (i.e. hard floors and/or lots of windows and/or a big room)

 

Mounting

Mics can be handheld, stand mounted, head-worn or body-worn. Mounting’s important because sound is just a vibrations in the air, and unwanted vibrations sound like thumps and rumbles once they’ve been through your mic. Mics are mounted to pick up as much sound as possible while isolating them from their environment as fully as possible.

 

Handheld – like a rock star

Don’t do it. As the distance of the the mic from your mouth varies the volume will go up and down at random. Worse than that, you might be tempted to ‘eat’ the mic and ram it into you face like a member of D12. Save it for karaoke.

 

Stand mounted – like Howard Stern

The professional choice. This will provide the best overall sound quality and the most freedom from vibration. As you can get close to the mic only when you need to speak, you’re less likely to record unwanted burps and breath sounds.

 

Head-worn – like an aerobics instructor

By keeping the mic at a fixed distance from your mouth a headworn mic can produce very even sound quality. As sound reaches the mic before it has a chance to interact with your room, if your acoustics are poor (and if you record at home they almost certainly are), you can get better sound than you would from a poorly placed stand-mounted mic.

 

Body-worn – like a TV weather guy

Forget about it for podcasting. Decent ‘lavs’ (short for ‘Lavalier’) are expensive. The smaller a mic is, the better it has to be if it’s going to sound good. Instead of using a small cheap mic just shout at your monitor and hope your computer picks something up.

So go headworn or stand mounted, depending on your budget or location. If you must handhold a mic, pretend you’re a mic-stand and try not to move it relative to your face.

 

Pattern

Every microphone has a pattern which describes the shape of the area it can pick sounds up from. For recording a speaker in a poor acoustic you want a mic that picks up the sound in front of it, and ignores the reflections and echoes from the rest of the room. Mics that do this are described as being Cardoid or Hypercardoid.

(Omnidirectional mics pic up sound evenly from every direction and Bidriectional mics pic up sound from in front of, and behind, the mic evenly. Avoid these unless you know what you’re doing)

Now you know how to buy/borrow/steal a decent mic you need to know how to use it. Microphone technique is a skill that deserves a post of its own, which it’ll get in part two of this series. Happy mic shopping.

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