Ok I am a smart person but this audio stuff is making me feel like I a simpleton. Any help with my problem would be GREATLY appreciated.
I do a podcast with 6 hosts. We just recently moved from doing the podcast via Skype from different locations to all being in the same place together. I am looking for the best way to have everyone have their own mic and headphones but I do not know the best setup for this and it not be SOOOO expensive. I have no clue about audio setups besides plug and play lol so I am below a newbie. I have done alot of research and everything is Greek to me. I really am looking for help with this. I have a Alesis Mutltimix8USBFX Mixer, 7 Audio-Technica mics but I am wondering if I can just do the show with headsets (mic + headphones) and be ok? Or is there a way to get headphones and the mics all hooked up on the mixer?
Ok I am really looking for help and advice on audio setup for a podcast with 6 hosts.
I am below a newbie to this stuff. We did the podcast previously via Skype from different locations. Now we are all in the same location and I need help/advice on the best audio setup that is not uber expensive. I was wondering if I could do a headset setup (mic + headphones) for everyone and it be ok. Right now I have a Alesis Multimix8USBFX mixer and 7 Audio-Technica mics but I have no clue as to what to do for headphones for everyone which is why I was wondering about the headset route. Any information ANYONE can give would be greatly appreciated. I have done alot of research on this but everything Greek to me and I am just at the end of my rope.
What you’re looking for isn’t simple. When you were doing your Skype conference, you were using the enormous Skype infrastructure/services to help you manage voices, directions, echo and volume. That all happened gracefully in the background leading you to think this is a snap. Now you have to do it all.
We wrote a long thread about this. I’m looking.
You’re going to encounter some real-world problems like most headset products won’t plug into an audio mixer, everyone is going to want to adjust their own headphone volume, etc. And that’s just if you do it yourself. If you then want to integrate a Skype call on top of that, there are some additional headaches.
I actually figured out the Skype call setup but it seems I got the virtual audio down and not the real world audio lol. Ok do you happen to know the name of the thread? Thank you so much for help btw
So I started doing some podcasting last year on my own
I want capability of recording up to 4 people. Likely it will always be me and a co-host, and a sporatic guest here or there.
That sound a little like you?
This went on for five chapters as we essentially designed a broadcast studio from scratch.
You don’t need the polished walnut, chrome and indirect lighting of a full studio, but all those knobs and dials do something and you’ll have to do those jobs, too.
Koz
YES lol. The thing is the show has call in feature so I am wondering how will the other hosts hear without feedback, if headsets are not really an option?
You can do a sub-grade school version where everybody sits around a big table with a microphone in the middle and you record the microphone. You need a very quiet room for this. We have a conference room that works this way. A second computer on the table has the Skype account, or you can have an actual conference telephone. The single microphone picks up the guest and all the hosts who can all hear each other in real time. The microphone connects to the first computer which has the Audacity recording the whole thing.
That’s vastly easier than trying to build a radio studio from scratch.
“Car Talk” in the US with two hosts and many multiple calls-in is produced at WBUR in Boston. “Fresh Air” is produced at WHYY in Philadelphia. I would give them a call and see what they want to do your show. That will give you a jumping-off point for how much you want to deal with this yourself. Remember if you break anything, there’s no show. The station takes care of maintenance.
You want to have music bumpers, stingers, themes and background sound, too, right?
I do a cousin of this for a living and I would not want to produce your show “for real.” Call a studio.
The “Evil Koz” just suggested the hosts be in different rooms in your house and Skype each other.
I’m putting out feelers for people who rent studio facilities – at least in LA where I am. I want to get an idea of the hoops you have to jump through. LA has more than their share of rehearsal spaces and “four-wall” empty buildings that you can shoot a movie in, but the broadcast studios are a special breed. The “call-in” thing demands special hardware. Koz
You can do a sub-grade school version where everybody sits around a big table with a microphone in the middle and you record the microphone. You need a very quiet room for this. We have a conference room that works this way. A second computer on the table has the Skype account, or you can have an actual conference telephone. The single microphone picks up the guest and all the hosts who can all hear each other in real time. The microphone connects to the first computer which has the Audacity recording the whole thing.
This is how we started about 6 weeks ago but the quality was so bad I had to do something so I have been tinkering and trying to get this rolling where it sounds decent. Maybe I just needed better mics lol. The show use to have a call in feature but since I have been trying to figure this out I have turned that off but if it is too much to or not viable to have everyone with either their own headset and mic maybe I should have one great mic and like one or two other mics to pics up the hosts. Last week with simpleton engineering I had the mics all on a splitter before I got the mixer. One channel worked, there was a horrible hissing sound, I bet people thought I have assaulted the Goodyear blimp. And I spent the entire night mixing the show for it to sound good. That is something I do not want to do again. Blast my drive for bigger and better.
I got contact information for facilities rental at ABC Radio/Burbank. When I told my friend about your show, they said, “Wow, that’s ambitious!” Rather than post it all, I’ll give them a call from here and see what the rates are. You get an hourly rate for the engineer plus the facilities rental. The engineer knows how to run all the gear.
A while back the Car Talk shows stopped telling us they were produced at WBUR in Boston. We assume the producers were trying to do the show themselves at home and save a lot of money. About a month later, they were back at WBUR. It’s rough to produce good content and the actual physical show at the same time.
They tell me the show is actually shot in 90 or 120 minutes and then cut down to the 53:30 show we all enjoy. After you listen to it enough, you figure out the segments and timing. “He’s going to talk for three minutes and then break for a musical bumper from someone who sang a car-related song in their garage.”
If you don’t have structure like that, editing the show is a nightmare – but then you already know that.
There is one variation to the single microphone in the middle of the table thing. You can use segmented microphones on the desk in front of each or every other performer. I have pictures of that here, somewhere. Everything else stays the same. Two computers or one computer and a telephone conference unit. In all cases, you’ll need a dead quiet room with no echoes (aka a “studio”).
That’s without the black paint job. That’s slap it together and see how it works. Quite well actually. That’s a Radio Shack 3013 tie-tack microphone for which you need an adapter for your sound mixer. It has batteries, so it doesn’t suffer from Phantom Power and computer microphone problems. You can’t make the plywood any smaller, but it can go up to 30" on a side before you stop gaining benefits.
The wooden board gives you double sound sensitivity with no down side. You need to isolate the board from the table, so that’s the towel. In Real Life, I use dead black Duvetyne, folder over. It’s like felt. The movie industry would fall over without Duvetyne.
Ideally, you would use a directional microphone not that one which is all directions.
We never found a good, hard-wired way to do call-in. All the non-multiple thousand dollar methods have significant shortcomings. So that one is not easy, either. Another good reason to just walk into the studio, sit down and let the engineer do it. Koz
One of my contacts suggested a new service I hadn’t heard of before. Talkshoe.com. It’s set up as a massive conference call from which you can walk away with a mixed show.
Everybody I talked with questioned the idea of 6 hosts. Since this isn’t television, nobody is going to be able to keep track of who’s talking – unless they’re in different languages and dialects.
