Podcasting has seen a large surge in popularity during the the Covid 19 lockdown period. I have been thinking about doing a podcast for a long time but lacked some of the technical knowledge and equipment. I have now focussed on that.

Having researched it I have come to realise that some of the audio equipment I use for video work and for music recording is good enough to use for podcasting. My solution is based on the principle that I want where possible to have equipment that can serve multiple purposes and last for ten years!

Progress so far:

Podcast host – I have chosen Buzzsprout on the basis that this host has a free option which will allow me to try it out. Firstly to decide whether podcasting is for me and secondly to see if that is the right hosting solution. I’m a great believer in try before you buy.

Audio software – After reviewing all the options I chose Audacity. I like the open access ethos and have been slowly moving away from Microsoft products for other software. I have also used this software before and liked it. It’s a good mix of technical yet simple. A significant learning curve but that is fine.

Microphone – I already use the Rode VideoMic Pro + and it seems to work well for voice and music. Rode make a dedicated podcasting microphone too but I am hoping to be able to use my existing equipment. I liked their on camera microphone a lot so on the the basis of that I bought the wireless and lavalier go products. I really haven’t tried these out yet in the field but I cannot see any reason why they won’t do the job well. I am also to be using the Zoom H2n field recorder that has built in microphones and the option to add a further lavalier microphone.

Field Recorder – I have decided to go with the Zoom H2n field recorder. The company comes highly regarded from musical friends and I have used recordings from them a lot. Certainly for podcasting and some of my other activities it should have the flexibility to perform well. This is very much a workhorse of audio recording at a reasonable price

Headphones – I have some old Panasonic headphones which are quite good but have really seen better days. The plastic on the pads that covers the ears is breaking down and falling into small bits. I could re-cover them as the elastic strip around the pads is still usable. I might just get a new pair. I am sure technology has moved on and a new equivalent pair would be twice as good for half the price. In a recent search I found them on a radio museum website! They were produced in 1999. But I have to say they still work very well but then I probably don’t know any better!

Well that’s it. I nearly have all the elements in place:

Podcast host
Microphone
Audio recorder
Audio software
Headphones

I’m using a pretty standard laptop / desktop setup so I have not bothered adding details of those.

I will update this page as things progress. Please come back soon.