podcasting equipment

[justageek]

I would like to find some recording equipment (mics, headphones, mixer, whatever I need) to get started podcasting, would like to find most inexpensive way to get started.

Anyone know where I can find this info?

I have heard good things about Audacity for an editing software, but I have no idea what hardware I need. I would need something for one to three people in the same room, not planning on Skype/phone stuff yet.

Thanks,
justageek

[tokenuser]

Ebay and pawn shops are your friend :)

For a mixer, you will want something like a Behringer UB-802 (2 mic inputs) or UB-1202 (4 mic inputs).
Headphones? Not everyone in the room needs to wear them, so a decent pair of headphones for whoever is doing the mixing (sound engineer :) )will work well - just so they can maintain the line balance and make sure everyone is speaking at the same levels.
Mics - biggest mistake people make is getting a crappy mic, but your don't need to go for a real expensive one either. No real recommendations here - just try to get them the same.

There are also USB connected mixers, that will stream each audio track to your machine as a seperate stream, letting you mix on the computer itself. These tend to be much more expensive, and more suited to people laying down instrumentals than voice work.

[samureye]

Are you using Windows (http://revision3.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=13) or Mac (http://revision3.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=15)? You'll probably get a better response in there.

[tokenuser]

The choice of Windows or Mac is immaterial. He is looking at hardware reqs ...

Justageek - if you haven't seen it yet, I would recommend you check out the Systm episode on podcasting (http://revision3.com/systm/podcasting).

[justageek]

Thanks for the help,I did find some info on the twit.tv site as well, but Leo uses some higher-end stuff.

I am using Windows now,but I do just need hardware.

Thanks again

[tokenuser]

TWiT is definately done with high end equipment, but that is mainly to do with the mics being used - they make everyone sound good.

But, to start with you need a decent mixer, such as the Behringer I pointed out. Upgrading the mics is easy later on. You can get other equipment as you go as well, but it all starts with the mixer ...

The Alesis Multimix 8USB also looks like a good option. It has direct USB interfacing into the computer (Mac or PC), but I am not sure if it is per track, or if it is a consolidated stream.

A site I forgot about that you might find real useful is http://www.podcastrigs.com/ . They go into all sort of detail on different hardware available at different price points.

[fantasybecomealive]

For our most recent show we switched over to an omnidirectional overhead mic from the three Lavalier mics we were using before.

The audio quality was definitely not as good. Much more tweaking of audio had to be done in post ("none" with the Lavs vs. "some" with the omni). But with our show needing three mics, and hence needing to run everything through a mixer before the camera, the convenience of skipping all that when using the overhead mic was just too much.

[tokenuser]

You really need someone to operate the sound board that is not part of the "on air talent". Someone who can monitor audio levels, and make sure that everyone is even.

Of course, there are post produciton tools like the levelator that normalise the audio levels, but like every good computer scientist knows - garbage in, garbage out.

[bman]

you can do most of it yourself, even with some free software. If you get any bigger, you always need to start spending money and have people working for you.