Tis I, Lord Podcast. Are you yearning to equip yourself with the confidence to
record? Elijah, the skilled podcast professional, is preparing himself for a
tale of tools and skill that only a mighty podcaster may employ in one's
podcast journey. Elijah, I do believe that we shall teach our weary wanderer
the confidence that they strive to achieve. Shall we start a podcast? We shall!
It's settled. Let's start a podcast. It's season two. It's it's here to have fun,
right? I'm here, you're here, everybody's here. We're gonna talk podcasts. Gonna be
great. I love it. Recording? Things? How to? We talked about the what. We got a
little podcast foreplay. That was season one. I really think the season two is
more about how to get deep and dirty and down with podcasting because a lot of
people said, well, you have great interviews. This was nice tease. I understood
kind of what goes on and what I need to do, but how do I actually do it? Why do I
care? What does it matter? Recording. It matters. So we're gonna talk about that
today. I'm gonna rant about USB microphones and why I detest them to
my core. That's gonna be fun and I think that's it's gonna be good to nerd out
about audio degradation. I'll get into that. Why do I care? What is this
nerdy crap you're talking about? I don't know. Audio interfaces, headphones,
recording, loopy loops, computer noise. Why am I a mentor wizard? An audio mentor?
Wait, audio, audio wizard. How do you, how do you, whoo, podcast mentor? So excited.
Can't speak. It's fine. It's fine. Gonna go up to my notes as you can hear the most
rolling around because I forget everything I'm gonna say. Maybe I'm
nervous. I don't know. Record your first podcast or maybe you want to level up. I
don't know. Here's some hard truths. Ready? If you ramble, if your sound is less
than good, if you mindlessly use AI tools and you sound unnatural, okay? If you
don't have a point, you aren't entertaining and you allow your ego to
take over. Or maybe you have a guest, you talk more than they do, you perform very
little research, you're a lazy interviewer like, tell us about yourself. I've done
nothing to educate myself about you. Please start so I can just sit here and go,
wow, you're amazing. Or you sound like you have zero clue talking about what
you're talking about. That's fun. And then you admit it. Oh, God. No, you may want to
quit now. Or maybe I'll try to make you just kidding. It's cute that you want to
start a podcast. It's fine. You may think I'm joking. I'm not. Deep down inside.
This is serious. This is audio production stuff. If you want to get out there and
you want to sound amazing, like even like Joe Rogan. Today, I was listening to Joe
Rogan and my favorite, Tom Green, one of my favorite comedians at least. When they
stop talking, you could hear the hiss. So there's always going to be a little
noise. And why do I say that? Because you're always recording the room with
your microphone. You want to start a podcast, you want to record yourself
talking, you have a fun thing to say because you like talking and you get
excited. I love that you have some creative energy and the tech barriers
have been eliminated. So you can just start with anything you can tap to the
sky and a genie from podcast land will say let's start a podcast and you do.
I'm an extroverted only child who is told who has been told for his entire life
that my opinions matter. So I get it. God help you.
Woo. That's my spouse. She tells me to shut up daily and and then sometimes she
even sells say Elijah find a find a quarter to go be allowed in. Go away. I
get it. First season we talked about what I talked about how that's a tease the
foreplay the excitement. Oh yeah. Now we get to business talking about the equipment
that won't break the bank. Last forever. I'll talk about my favorites, my
favorite brand and when you go to talkpodcastwithme.com slash podcast
you'll see all the bloggy blog and the write-ups, the comparison and the almost
nerdy things all show restraint. I promise because I get excited too. And
after two decades I just kind of about this stuff and that's not what you
need. You just need the goods. That way you'll be able to visually compare stuff
the microphones how they work and I'll put some YouTube's on there so you can
hear how they sound. Some people that do comparisons why am I gonna buy microphones
to compare when they do it already? I don't know. It's gonna be fun. So sure is
my favorite brand because I have an SM58. I actually lived for this microphone
when I was coming out of college and I've had it since 15 years. It's the stage
mic that you'll see all the comedians use. Pick one. Justin Bieber is not a
comedian but he sang sometimes before he had the issues. I think the physical
elements. It's not fun but it did. Then the lady who loves the football Taylor
Swift she uses it. You'll see comedians like I don't know. Dave Chappelle, Kevin
Hart. Kevin Hart's not tall but he has a great microphone and if he throws it and
people you know do things like fist bump with it you've seen those guys that do
the the the roasting on comedy network. Maybe you're seeing that in the American
channels. They fist bump. Those are SM58s. That's a sure brand. Michael Jackson
recorded thriller with an SM7. It's quite different than the modern sure
microphones. The SM7B which people mistakenly think of Michael Jackson's
microphone. It's the ones that come out in Theo Vaughn or Joe Rogan and you can
see the maybe a cylinder shape that's kind of short and stubby. That's the SM7B.
That's $400. Maybe five. There's SM58s kind of like the grand baby. It's a
microphone that's rock solid. Great for microphone and podcast. $100? Not bad.
There is the MV7 slash X. X's XLR. I'll get to that. It's about two and a
quarter. It's a middle ground. If you're looking for something really long-term
and more forgiving get that one. You're looking for that top end that Joe Rogan
microphone I was talking about. You're not going to notice a big difference but
you're going to feel real special. You know like those guys that have the
Hawaiian shirts that are losing their hair and they drive Ferraris. You
know they're missing something. Am I right ladies? Some people just like to
drive the pickup trucks in snow without the traction control on. That's me. I just
like to have fun. I like purpose. I like things that work and in Canada I need
four-wheel drive or else I'm going to get stuck and the polar get bears are
going to eat me. That's not good. I digress. That sure microphone is not the
only brand. There's AKG that's been around forever in a day. You'll see them
a lot of times at the gold headphones. Cold-ish and you'll see the microphones
they have different USB and XLR ones. Again I'll get to the terminology in a
minute about a hundred bucks. They're great for entry level and when you get
into the Yetis and the Blues they're okay. I want to throw them in the garbage
personally because they're USB. There's a Rode microphone. There's Audio Technica.
There's those sort of brands. Respectfully to the Chinese friends. If you get the
knockoffs that are sub-branded that are generic you know they're not going to be
great quality and if they are it's going to be a fluke. My friends a lot of
Chinese companies happen to do knockoff stuff. Build them cheaply and set them
out because people look at dollars. Some things are good from different parts of
the world and there are certain brands in Asia that are going to be stellar but a
lot of these quote-unquote American made knockoffs they're too good to be true.
Seriously you get different ones. The Rode Podcaster is that cylinder kind of
broadcaster style microphone like radio style. That one's cool about 150 bucks and
I'll get over prices and in the website to hit the links in the description no
problem and you'll be able to see the comparisons and see what they sound like.
Hear what they sound like? Same thing. If you get the USB microphone it's a little
dangerous. I say that with with a blessing. People will use it and swear by it.
It's fine. It's fine. It's fine and if you're wondering what equipment is right
for you I charge 85 bucks. I have the options written out in a written
summary. I'll compare like I will in the blog and we could talk about for an hour
kind of figuring out what's good for you and what you want what you need not what
you desire or what is it just cheap and get it and then be sad all day. Talk
podcast with me.com connect. I reach out and we'll spend the time figuring it out.
USB I have the testing to testing this for I must say hate too strong just I
want to throw up. The reason for this is that you don't have any control. A lot of
times the dumb microphone that's in front of you recording your voice is going
to sound too low. It's not smart. It doesn't it doesn't care how loud you are
how quiet you are. It just takes the noise in and goes here we go and it'll
hear the chairs squeak and that's fine because I forgot about it. Hopefully
didn't hear that. USB microphones drive me insane because you're there's no
control. There's no it's it's easy which is lovely for someone who doesn't have
the technical aptitude or budget but then again for 20 bucks more you can just
spend up and get something that's industry standard the Yeti and the blue.
Computers don't always have the tech inside the audio tech to give the
microphone enough to get to that mediocrity that average that standard of
sound that you need so you don't have to fart around with it in post or after
you hit record and are done in your audio editing program. You want to just
have snacks and take nap once in a while take your dog for a walk right? You
don't want to fart around all day trying to mess with the sound and and
wonder why there's annoying little hisses and distracting crap in the
background do you? If you do get a Yeti fine they're okay but if you don't have a
great sounding room you're gonna need something a little more forgiving that's
where you spend up and then you get to that threshold and then you just kind of
don't really notice unless you're saying unless you're an engineer unless you're
the Beatles otherwise why would you care? It's all gonna sound the same wild
isn't it? But if you spend up you'll get control you get a mixer perhaps like I
have spend a couple on her box on a mixer and I could tweak the the mids the
treble or the high end and the bassy bass to make it sound oh so sweet the
middle-aged women they swoon to this voice because I tweak just so and if I
get in the lower range hmm oh my that is a treat all seriousness it's too low
and if you hit the gain button and the knobby knob on the Yeti that's amplifying
everything in your room before it gets to the microphone so it's almost like this
big whoosh or bubble surrounding your microphone and smacking it of
shoving it all into your microphone at once and that's why you get this loud
hissing noise because the air in your room you're not gonna hear with the
normal naked ear but if you amplify the poop out of that you're gonna get annoying
level noise and even people without ADHD drive them insane they have to crank it
so loud in the car radio that they could barely hear it and then when they hear a
commercial that's dumped in dynamically they're gonna blow their speakers in the
eardrum and they're gonna cry all day you don't want that if I take an XLR the
microphone with three pins in the back it takes a cable into a box called an
audio interface that's like the sorry middleman middle person the intermediary
between your microphone and the thing that is going to edit a recording right
audio interfaces it's commonly known as a preamp only it's a cheaper all-in-one
solution preamp is kind of like a rack it's hardware it's it's it's meant for
recording studios audio interface all in one solution they'll have a volume in a
game it'll have some higher end ones will have some ability to change the sound
the levels like I talked about the low end the high end all that fun stuff to
make it oh so sweet by most time it just have the basics like there's a focus
right that's really popular it's red box kind of like a rectangle has two mic
inputs and some sound adjustments cool pump up the volume and you'd be okay
as long as you're in a good range I usually shoot for somewhere between
minus 12 and minus 6 and that way I have some room to to giggle and to get
excited and to get closer to zero above zero is where all hell breaks loose you
get distorted you get annoying crackleys crap in your ears and it just not a
party anybody wants to be part of so that's where I like to control if you if
you try to manipulate the sound through a button like a knob a gain knob
amplification thingy or you try to do it after it's gonna sound like half a
garbage and if you're trying to get somewhere with this thing to do stuff to
be taken seriously you're gonna want to spend a little box a few money a few
dollars so you have a couple hundred dollars that you're invested in one to
200 for the the microphones I just picked sure for fun C's for now there's
other options and then you have the cable a cold plated is a good way to go
because you can alter sorry get rid of prevent some of the interference I don't
have one now but those those XLR Pro low noise audio cables about 20 bucks enough
of a length to get you from your microphone to your your desk or wherever
it is you're recording from and then you have that that focus right thing it's
usually about 200 bucks so all in you could be looking at three to five hundred
dollars for something that's very long-term very lasting very good quality
and less farting around that's the real point of this episode no farting around
I want to take naps any chips I don't want to screw around with editing software
and bang my head on the desk no I don't have time for that preamp covered that
that's the audio interface the gizmo that makes your sound better that doesn't
amplify but it brings your low volume up it's like the smart version it's like the
brain of your microphone audio interface mixer is fun as I said I can I can add
in stuff here because there's guitar inputs and microphone inputs that was
fun when I could go around podcasting with my buddies pre-covid when
everybody cared to hang out in person now everybody just kind of looks at me like
they have a cross like the vampire get away what are you gonna do so I keep it
in my room and hook up the iPad once in a while and then push buttons like a
sound and gizmo and I'll have recordings of fart noises and stuff because I'm
12 on the inside and that for me is a mixer and that's why I need want to pipe
in or put through music if I want to do live stuff I can do that because I'm
I'm nerdy that way I just enjoy it for you don't need it unless you're gonna
have a bunch of buddies and friends over and do it live otherwise have the focus
right or whatever comparable device usually within a hundred to three hundred
dollars if you go too cheap that some of the fifty dollar forty dollar ones you
you're playing with fire it's just gonna either explode or be garbage and you
don't want that and then you're farting around again no no no no farting around
okay so we got the microphone we got the cable because you don't like USB
microphones because we're here for a long time not just for a good time you
know you got the microphone you got the audio interface you got the cable now
you need the earphones and I use the DT 990s these are super fancy-dancey they
are well-rounded but they're kind of flat and they're bass heavy and sometimes
you have to get used to the different way of doing that your headphones that
you have are probably going to be EQ automatic the software is going to
equalize special with your AirPods just a thing the software is going to do the
thing to make it sound just balanced and this is just raw different you don't
need to spend a couple hundred dollars on your phones as I try to spin my hand
around them for some weird random reason I don't know pointing or showing the
shape I don't know if they're comfy they're a little heavy but they do a
great job and you can see if you don't if you spend a little more I don't know
fifty to two hundred dollars on headphones make sure they're wired
because otherwise you get a delay with the wireless right not fun what else do
we got so now that you're almost pro podcaster you're gonna have to learn
about the noise that's created right you have computers you have fans you have
grounding issues you have plugs that are old you have electronics you have all
these things you got to worry about and then the furnace air conditioner if you
have the floor bent it's gonna make a noise just like I'm pretty sure it is
now awesome so if you have this cable from the microphone going to your audio
box and it's over top of a power cord you're gonna get interference there's
a little bit of hummer noise it comes from that the plug that wire got to look
out for that don't cross over if you're going to put a bunch of different
gizmos say if you have the audio interface that needs power plus you have
a computer in the same plug you if you have older wiring you'll get a grounding
loop a little hum and that creates a whole lot of noise that's troubleshooting
nightmare that not even engineers like try different plugs different outlets
away from each other not just up and down the differences but literally a
different plug in the room extension cords you could be getting into dangerous
territory if they're not high-end they can carry a bit of an interference that's
something to look out to so you're gonna get all this noise if you plug into your
computer you could get through USB sometimes if you have a not great
computer you'll get the sound from the electronics or the board or the fan yay
careful with that so you want a computer with a low fan or laptop that you're
recording with depends on your budget right or better yet take the take the
gizmo that you have the recording box maybe hang it on the wall if you want or
put a little shelf in your closet and then have the microphone with a nice
little stand as if your tail is swifty-swift on stage you could do that
just remember to open the door once in a while to breathe and shut it again and
then keep going if your computer's in different room that's ideal but if you
can't just make sure you have a low fan or maybe it doesn't need to run and as a
variable thingy Magiggy or you put in a little box I don't know you'll figure it
out there's also little boxes that you put around that have styrofoam inside of
them that'll isolate noise there they can be costly but you can make a cardboard
box with some pink insulation inside and that'll do the trick it's ugly AF but
it'll do shielded cables are gold plated that prevents the noise from going back
and forth between the microphone and the cables and then your audio gizmo in the
computer and wherever else it plans on going today and that should cover most
of the issues believe it or not the overlapping is huge it'll cause so much
noise don't be messy with your cables please are you overwhelmed because his
podcast mentor audio wizard has blown your mind with nerdy stats that you never
knew you cared about maybe you want to throw money at the situation huh $400 a
month hear me out for podcast episodes make them magical do my best as long as
they're not train noises and complete annoyingness like it's realistic a
professional audio I can only do so much with quality recording but I can edit
and then make it sound amazing every episode so you don't have to fart around
you go back to you back to the chips and the napping maybe even the sports I
don't know I can fart around no sweat 30-minute call every month that's
included I can coach you consult brainstorm it help you with being a better
conversationalist if you need it if you're already a pro don't sweat it if
you want digital support on top of that I got you I like to brainstorm and
Google Docs or Notion Docs can do it real time and that that jumps up the
dopamine for me I get excited DMs tech emails if you do that sort of thing and
that's all included in the monthly package a little bit of pizzazz and not
just the editing because I'm I'm a person too and I care about the quality so
400 bucks a month what do you think would you worth would it be worth throwing
money at it maybe if you got a couple sponsors you weren't just starting out
I don't know talk podcast with me dot com check out all the contact details and
the linky links in the description what do you want to talk about nothing you're
overwhelmed so you need decent microphone you need the cable you need the box
that's called the audio interface you need some headphones that aren't blue
toothy because the the wireless is a delay and that that's just too much
farting around no don't have to spend 200 bucks on headphones like I do because
I'm an audio nerd and I like them and they found they give my ears a hug I
like that you don't have to hug your ears it's weird for some people but not
for me worry about the wires that you're going to hook up make sure your your
room is decent don't have any tile on your floor with you know tiled walls
that's going to create a whole lot of echo and that's a nightmare to edit
because that's again too much farting around put a floor rug on hide under a
blanket if you have to or make that ugly AF box cardboard and some the pink
stuff and then shove your microphone inside of the ugly AF box and that'll
get rid of 90% of the noise you're welcome no bouncing it bounces inside goes
nowhere it's nice so that's it that's recording that's how to do it and that's
kind of a very eccentric ADHD way of planning things I'm sorry it's not as
organized and prompt to as you like but I did digress and that's entertaining and
the USB don't get it unless you don't want to be friends with me anymore or you
want me to block you forever go ahead I mean if you have to but with a little
bit of effort and a few extra plugs and wires you're gonna get like ten times a
hundred times a sound and you have control people like control these days
especially the Gen Xers it's nice all right I've done enough talking email me
hi a podcast talk podcast with me.com almost screwed up my own email address
got help us and the Insta threads and LinkedIn I'm at kind of on Insta more on
threads and LinkedIn because I can be unhinged or pretend not to care about
corporate life it's nice all right episode one coming I don't know what I'm
gonna talk about next but it's gonna be fun and it's gonna help you with your
podcast journey it's an adventure enjoy it I'll see you soon
let's start a podcast