How We Record The Show

We get asked a lot about the equipment and software used to produce Limited Resources. When we started the show, I wanted the most straight-forward setup that yielded the highest sound quality. Here is what I settled on

1. Microphone

I looked around a bit online and found that many podcasters were really pleased with their (Blue Snowball USB microphone)[http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowball-Microphone-Textured/dp/B000EOPQ7E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362514708&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+snowball].

It looks kind of weird, but it works very well. It has 3 settings as well which change where the microphone “points”. Basically, you can make it so it only collects sound from directly in front of the mic (I use this setting for recording LR and videos), or you can make it gather sound from all around itself. I use this for when I am on the road interviewing guests as we can just sit in a room and use one mic.

I will say, that any USB headset will do just fine. Ryan used a reasonable quality USB headset for his entire run of LR, and he sounded great. (I noticed that you didn’t compliment MY audio, Marshall. For what it’s worth, I use (this USB headset)[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SEQN3K]. It’s ok.)

I also use a basic pop filter, though this is optional. I just bought (this cheap one from Amazon)[http://www.amazon.com/Nady-MPF-6-6-Inch-Microphone-Filter/dp/B0002CZW0Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1362514945&sr=1-1&keywords=pop+filter], and it works fine.

2. Computer

You can use a Mac or a Windows machine, it doesn’t need to be particularly powerful, though it is nice to have. I did about a year’s worth of LR on a Macbook Pro, then switched to my current setup which is a 27” iMac (2.93GHz i7, 16GB RAM). For recording and editing the podcast, either option is fine.

3. Software

Since I use a Mac to produce the show, I’ll tell you about the Mac software I use. There are Windows equivalents available for all of these, but I am not familiar with them enough to recommend anything.

The first step is to record the actual audio. We use Skype to record the show, and I recommend it. It’s free, and the sound quality is amazing. Just make sure you aren’t using your internet for much else besides talking on Skype when you are recording.

To take the audio from Skype, I use Audio Hijack Pro. It’s a sweet app that lets you “hijack” audio from any source on your computer. This produces a high-quality audio file that is edited and processed.

To edit the show and process the file, I use Garageband. It comes for free on Macs, and is a powerful and relatively easy to use tool for the kind of editing needed on a podcast.

After exporting the show in its final form, I use Dropbox to send the file off.

That’s it! You really don’t need much to start your own podcast. The thing I really love is that after you get set up, you can stop worrying about technical stuff and just focus on the most important thing: The content.

-Marshall

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