Podcasting Power Tools

When building a computer for podcasting, there are some special considerations that most builders don’t have to consider:

• Noise levels
• Software and driver compatibility
• Audio interface hardware

This article will outline some of the decisions and options specific to building a computer for podcasting.

Noise levels

Most podcasters don’t have separate control and recording rooms.  The computer is often just a few feet or even inches from the microphone.  In such situations, it is important for the computer to be as quiet as possible.  Few people have put as much time and research into silencing computers as Mike Chin and the numerous contributors of the Silent PC Review website.  Mike has built an anechoic chamber to make detailed measurements of the sound emitted by different pieces of computer hardware.  The biggest noise offenders in most computers are fans and cooling devices. 

SPCR has done side-by-side comparisons and can make recommendations for:

• CPU Coolers
• Fans
• Power Supplies
• Hard Drives 

Software and Driver Compatibility

Most people considering building a computer specifically for podcasting are not just starting out.  Many of you may have software that you have become familiar with and don’t feel like changing.  Make sure that the hardware you are selecting to build your podcasting computer will work well with your go-to podcasting software.

Many of you also have audio interface hardware that you want to use with your new system.  Make sure that your motherboard or interface cards have the appropriate drivers for use with the hardware in your new system.

When in doubt or if the information on the websites is not clear, call the manufacturers.  Ask them about your specific intended hardware configuration.  They will be glad to answer your questions and a few minutes on the phone is better than having to alter your configuration after you have already purchased incompatible parts.

Audio Interface Hardware

Speaking of audio interface hardware…

The hardware that transitions your podcast audio into digital files is one of the most important pieces of your podcast system.  You should probably select this piece of equipment before you select your computer system hardware.  The TweakHeadz Lab website has some great reviews and information about selecting your audio interface.

Check out the Tweakheadz website for some great comparison charts for selecting:

• USB 2.0 Audio Interfaces
• Firewire Audio Interfaces
• PCI Soundcards and Audio Interfaces

When you have chosen the audio interface, make sure that your motherboard has the proper ports or connections to use it.

Generalities

When it comes to combining computer hardware at a price point, the PCPer.com leaderboard is very helpful.  When you select a budget, they recommend the specific pieces of hardware to get the most performance per dollar.  They currently list systems below $500, below $1000, as well as higher end systems.

The great thing about building your own system is the ability to make it exactly what you want.  Take you time, read reviews, do research, and you will come out with a computer that meets or exceeds your needs.

Looking for the best podcast microphone?  Aren’t we all!  Recordinghacks.com just posted recorded audio samples from ten popular broadcast microphones and hopes to select the best microphone for podcasting based on reader votes.  Based on the photos, his selection includes podcasting microphone favorites like the:

Heil PR-40 Microphone

Shure SM-7b Microphone

Electro-Voice RE-20 Microphone

Electro-Voice 635 Microphone

Sennheiser MD421-II Microphone

AKG C 4500 B-BC Microphone

Neumann BCM-705 Microphone

Shure SM-57 Microphone

Electro-Voice RE27N/D Microphone

There is also one other microphone that I didn’t recognize.  This is a great roundup of podcasting microphones and Matt has all the audio files arranged for blind voting.  I can’t wait to hear which microphone corresponds to which audio files.  My favorite podcast microphone audio file was pretty easy to pick.

Hit up the link below and vote for the microphone that sounds best to you:

Podcast Microphone Roundup Audio Test

Many moons ago, I happened to stumble upon a wonderful product that has proven it’s value time and again.  I purchased the Saffire Focusrite Firewire Audio Interface in used condition on Ebay for less than $150.  When it arrived, I put it into storage for several years.  When I decided to start podcasting, and started looking for equipment, I brought it back out and found that is met my needs perfectly.

I started out recording just my voice for the podcasts.  It was simple enough.  I just plugged my microphone into the front of the Saffire Focusrite Firewire Audio Interface and recorded using Cubase.  You can individually adjust the gain of the two front inputs with knobs at the top of the front panel and monitor the gain with the three LEDs.  I know that three LEDs isn’t much of a range, but  you can use the levels in Cubase as a more detailed reference.

Soon, I wanted to do interviews via Skype.  I ran a cable from the line out jack on the computer sound card to the number two input on the front of the Saffire Focusrite Firewire Audio Interface.  In Skype, for input, I selected my microphone input on the Saffire Focusrite Firewire Audio Interface.  This way, those on Skype only hear me and not their own voices.  It’s a cheapo, simplistic mix minus, but it works! In Cubase, I record my microphone and the Skype input as separate tracks.  This makes things much easier in post production.  While recording, I monitor the mix with headphones plugged into the Monitor jack on the front of the Saffire Focusrite Firewire Audio Interface and adjust the levels using the knobs on the front.

Unfortunately, the unit I am describing is not manufactured by Focusrite any more.  If you visit their product page, you will see that they don’t currently offer a truly equivalent product.  My Saffire Focusrite Firewire Audio Interface seems even more precious when we look at some of the specifications.  Onboard digital signal processing, two microphone preamps, sampling up to 192khz.  Here are the full specs:

• 4 Inputs: 2 Focusrite preamps & stereo SPDIF inputs
• 10 Outputs: 8 balanced analog outputs for creating separate headphone/monitor mixes or up to 7.1 surround monitoring, plus stereo S/PDIF outputs

• Microphone
  Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/- 0.1 dB
  THD+N: 0.001% (measured at 1kHz with a 20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter) 
  Noise: EIN > 120dB (measured at 60dB of gain with 150 Ohm termination (20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter)
• Line 
  Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/- 0.1dB 
  THD+N: 0.001% (measured with 0dBFS input and 22Hz/22kHz bandpass filter) 
  Noise: -88dBu (22Hz/22kHz bandpass filter)
• Instrument 
  Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/- 0.1dB 
  THD+N: 0.004% (measured with 0dBu input and 20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter)  
  Noise: -87dBu (20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter)
• Digital Performance
  Clock Source: Internal clock or sync to word clock on SPDIF 
  A/D Dynamic Range 104dB ‘A-weighted’ 
  D/A Dynamic Range 110dB ?A-weighted’
  Clock Jitter < 250 pico seconds 
  Sample rate 44.1 to 192kHz !
• Weight 
  1.1kg 
  2.4Ibs
• Dimensions 
  65mm (W) x 170mm (H) x 170mm (D) 
  2.6" (W) x 6.7" (H) x 6.7" (D)
• Analogue inputs 
  Mic: 2 x XLR on front panel 
  Mic Gain: +13dB to + 60dB 
  Line: 2 x 1/4" TRS Jack 
  Line Gain: -10dB to +36dB 
  Instrument: As above, switched to Instrument 
  Instrument Gain: +13dB to +60dB
• Analogue outputs 
  Line level 8 x 1/4" TRS Jack 
  Nominal output level 0dBFS = 16dBu, electronically balanced 
  All outputs are useable as monitoring outputs
• Digital I/O 
  2 x SPDIF (RCA phono) on rear panel (24-bit, 96kHz) Output transformer isolated
• MIDI I/O 
  1 in / 1 out on rear panel
• FirewireS400 
  2 ports
• Power 
  Either via FIREWIRE or external PSU (12v AC, 1.5A)
• Headphone Monitoring 
  2 x 1/4" TRS Jack on front panel (mirrors outputs 5-8)
• ADDITIONAL INFO 
  Firewire chipsets from TI (Texas Instruments), VIA, and NEC are recommended 
  It is highly recommended that Saffire be run on its own Firewire bus/card 
  In order to use Saffire with a 4-pin IEEE1394 port you will need a 4-pin to 6-pin cable (not included) and must use the PSU (included)

So, if the Focusrite Saffire Firewire Audio Interface is no longer manufactured, why have I written about it?  For two reasons.  First, they are still sold used (and occasionally new) in places like ebay and craigslist.  Hopefully this review will help prospective buyers figure out what they are looking at.  Second, I hope to encourage manufacturers to bring out another similar product.  Maybe they will need to use newer technologies like USB 3.0 instead of Firewire 400, but a low cost, high sample rate, audio interface with a couple of high-quality pre amps would certainly be well received in the podcasting arena.

I wholeheartedly recommend the Focusrite Saffire Firewire Audio Interface as a startup podcasting audio interface.  If you see it for sale, snap it up.

Amazon link, Sweetwater link,

There is a ton of advice out there for building a music recording studio, but precious little dedicated to the design and construction of a designated podcast recording studio.  I aim to  use this blog to document the design and construction of my own podcast recording studio.

First, let’s discuss several similarities in the approach to building a podcast recording studio and a music recording studio.

Similarities:

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio aim to limit the sound allowed in and out of the studio.  They are trying to isolate the sounds.  Keep the neighbor’s barking dog out of the recording and at the same time, don’t wake the baby if things get noisy.  A podcast recording studio doesn’t produce loud noises on the scale of a drum set or shrieking  guitar, but it’s nice to be free to speak as loud as necessary for clarity and diction.

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio want to control the sound waves in the room.  What they want those sound waves to do will vary, but we will discuss that in a moment.

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio will house working human beings.  Sometimes this is easy to forget when you are focusing intently on a specific goal for a room.  Remember that you will be spending time in this room  Leaving out AC may make the room sound better, but will you enjoy spending time in the room.  Think about lights, ergonomics, etc.

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio will contain warm, complicated, and often expensive recording equipment.  Plan ahead for cooling, wiring, and security.

Now let’s cover the some of the differences in a podcast recording studio and a music recording studio:

Differences:

In a podcast recording studio you are are recording voice only.  Sound deadening is generally the main goal, not perfect reverb.  A podcast recording studio aiming for something close to a vocal booth.  Sound absorption and deadening is the key

A podcast recording studio is generally smaller than a music recording studio.  Not as much space is needed.  You don’t normally have to fit several musicians and their instruments into the studio.  Most podcast studios are designed for only one or two people and the recording equipment.

Most podcasters use computers for notes, research, and sometimes even recording.  Computers have spinning hard drives and fans that make background noise.  Many times a music recording studio will have the computers in another room for mixing, etc.  Another consideration is the computer noise to produced noise ratio.  A podcaster is generally making a quieter sound to be recorded and the computer noise may seem louder than in a louder studio full of musicians.

What similarities or differences do you see?  What considerations did I miss?

When it comes to podcasting and microphones, it’s easy to get stuck on equipment. Many podcasters are looking for the perfect microphone, the perfect amplifier, the perfect compressor to complement their voice when they would be better served improving the way they use the microphone.

This fixation is not unique to podcasting. In many sports, the beginner gets infatuated with the newest, shiniest piece of gear and doesn’t realize that it’s the software, not the hardware. It’s what you do with the equipment you have.

Here are a few simple, yet practical tips that will help improve your sound through improving  your microphone technique:

Don’t move the microphone
When you find the best position for the microphone, don’t move it. Don’t touch it. Leave it alone. It sounds obvious, but sometimes it happens unconsciously.

Point the microphone away from noise
Try to keep noisy devices like computers, fans, buzzing lights, etc outside of the microphones optimal pickup zone. Don’t stand with a fan or noisy computer directly behind you!

Don’t move your mouth in relation to the microphone(while talking)
Don’t lean side to side. Don’t turn your head back and forth. Feel free to wave your arms so long as you don’t hit the microphone arm.  Only your voice should be changing and fluctuating. Keep everything else as consistent as possible. Set up your desk or workstation so that you don’t need to constantly turn your head to look at the mixer or computer screen.

Maintain the proper distance to the microphone.
Experiment until you find the distance that provides the sound you are looking for, then maintain that distance at all costs. The distance will generally be 6-12″ from your lips. Closer means better bass, but can also cause a “muddy” sound. Too far away means that your microphone will pick up more room noise at the same voice levels.

Minimize popping
Aim the microphone toward your mouth from below or above, but not directly in front. In other words, don’t “aim” your mouth directly at the microphone. Also be careful not to over emphasize the plosive consonants(like “p” and “t”).

WARNING: I know this is an equipment tip, but it is inexpensive and important. Get a windscreen! Even if your microphone has one built in, get an external pop filter to serve as the first line of defense. Trust me, it will make a big difference.

What practices or techniques have you implemented? Share them in the comments: