Hi All. Rookie Podcaster here. We have two hosts and a guest every episode. We used one USB microphone for a test episode and it was only ok. One voice louder than the other. Do we need three mics and if so, can I plug them all into PC using a simple multiple USB interface? Apologies if this is below the knowledge level of the forum
Stereo USB audio interfaces are common so you can have one mic on the left one one on the right. That’s OK for recording if you want to blend them later but you usually don’t want the podcast produced that way.
There are multi-channel interfaces with just about as many inputs as you want but again you usually have to mix later, and Audacity often has trouble multitracking so you might need different software.
Another option is a USB mixer. Again you can have as many inputs as you want, and pan them to the center or “toward” the center but with 3 mics you might need a “sound guy” to run the mixer.
Audio interfaces and mixers work with “pro” microphones (balanced XLR connectors) and the are not compatible with “computer mics” or USB mics.
Studio condenser mics have higher output and usually work better than dynamic mics. It seems like almost every podcast I see uses Shure SM7B mics but they are dynamic and you might need a mixer or interface with high-gain, or a lot of people add a Cloudlifter to boost the signal.
Thank you for your help