Podcast Equipment Upgrades, v2.0

Podcast Studio — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:51:00 GMT

Recently, John and I have been investing in equipment upgrades that will help the audio quality of our podcast, as well as speed up the process of editing and getting the shows out to you guys. Along with the new equipment, we have reorganized the studio to get the best audio out of our local mics. Take a look and post any questions you have.
	Instead of keeping all the equipment on my desk and recording off of John's, we decided to consolidate everything to a single location. This keeps us focused on the interview instead of watching how the recording is going.
	The 21.4in Flat Panel is one of our most recent purchases. Editing on a TabletPC display is not the ideal situation if speed is a factor. We needed something big, so we found the biggest one we could purchase locally. This makes editting much easier, but the next device helps out even more.
	Scott Hanselman first introduced us to the Ergodex, and I have to say, this is an amazing product that can be used in many different situations. For us, when we edit we only have a few repetitive keystrokes that we make and having them scattered across a keyboard or as multiple combined keystokes, we were not as efficent as we could be. This device allows you to associate keys or combined keystokes to a single key that you can place anywhere on the grid. Truely amazing product.
	First off, analog hybrids, like our previous device, are not good for interviews. They just can't cut it because you have no control over the trans-hybrid loss I discussed in the Digital vs. Analog Hybrid post. We talked with Carl Franklin, of the .NET Rocks fame, and he told us about a device called the Telos ONE Digital Hybrid. All shows after Steve Loethen's have been recorded using this device and I hope you have noticed a change in the quality.
	Now John's Desk is clean and his microphone is not longer facing the abyss of empty space.
	My desk no longer has all the equipment on it, and you could say I have an office with a view.

Analog vs. Digital Telephone Hybrids

Podcast Studio — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 10:28:00 GMT

If you run a podcast and are interested in the idea of telephone callers for interviews and shout outs, you probably have read a little into hybrids. When shopping for hybrids, there are two types you can look at, analog and digital. Even though the price of analog hybrids can be minimal, digital is the premium product that you should look for. One issue the analog hybrids have is trans-hybrid loss. This is when the send audio, what is coming from your mixer, is passed back through the caller’s audio into your mixer or interface. Even though these are recording on top of each other, it has been passed through the phone line, so distortion is involved. This distortion will make you sound like you are in a tin can.

Digital hybrids have the capability to limit the trans-hybrid loss as well as some other features that will help your recording go smoothly. One of those features is automatic gain control. This will boost your send audio and the caller audio based on set levels automatically. If you have ever had a caller that is very quiet or on a bad phone system, this will be the biggest feature to you because you won’t have to touch anything. Ducking is another feature most digital hybrid systems have which will lower the volume of the caller when you are talking and vice versa.

Finding a good digital hybrid on a budget can be a difficult thing. If you have a contact into the recording industry or radio, consult with them first. Most of them have tried different devices and know what is good and not. If this isn’t an option for you, look around at some local or online audio rental stores and test some out. You would be surprised at how different hybrids are and how they act in different location and phone lines.

Audio Equipment

Podcast Equipment Upgrades, v2.0

Analog vs. Digital Telephone Hybrids