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The Audacity to Podcast: Best Podcasting Gear for Event Interviews â TAP319
Recording audio or video podcasts at an event can present many challenges. Here's the onsite podcasting equipment I recommend to make your production great!
No one expects studio quality
Events are noisy, but that's okay for your podcast as long as the primary voices can be heard and understood above the noise.
You don't have to run noise removal. When your audience knows the context of the recording, they'll be more forgiving of a difference in quality. You don't have to apologize for it or explain it; saying simply, âI'm at [event] âŚ,â is usually enough for your audience to understand the context and adjust their expectations accordingly.
Assuming that you'll be in a noisy environment, the biggest things that will affect your podcast are your microphone's pickup pattern and your own mic technique.
The closer you are to the microphone and the more you stay within its pickup range, the more it will pick up your voice over the background noise. So ensure you always have the microphone pointed at you, and that you're as close as possible.
Whatever podcasting equipment you choose from my following recommendations, test it and familiarize yourself with how to use it before you take it to an event. The worst audio I've ever recorded happened when I used someone else's gear at CES and the system wasn't configured properly, so my recordings had such horrible preamp hiss that it was impossible to edit out.
Cringe with me at this horrible audio:
Simple: handheld recorder
A handheld recorder like the Zoom H1 or Tascam DR-22WL is small enough to fit in your pocket, but has built-in microphones good enough for using almost anywhere!
When I attended the NAB Show in 2016, I used a Zoom H1 as my handheld interview mic and I was very pleased with the results! With a windscreen and mic flag, it didn't even look like I was holding a tiny recorder.
Here's an example video (no noise reduction was done on this):
The microphones on the H1 and DR-22WL are condensers, but that doesn't mean they pick up more noise (that's a common misconception). The microphones are directional, so they do well to pick up the audio directly in front of the and reject more of the surrounding audio.
This works great for audio podcasts, and I used for my interviews at Podcast Movement (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/podcastmovement) 2016 in âCreative Solutions to Podcasting Problems (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/creative-solutions-to-podcasting-problems-tap278/)â (episode 278).
A handheld recorder like this can also work for video, as you saw me accomplish, but it means having to synchronize your separately recorded audio and video, which can complicate your workflow.
Higher quality: handheld mic and recorder
For higher quality, a more professional look, and more comfortable performance, consider a handheld interview mic connected to a recorder.
At NAB Show 2015, I borrowed a Sennheiser MD46, which is one of my two favorite handheld interview microphones! It has a long handle, internal shock protection, and it's more directional with its cardioid pickup pattern. This video demonstrates how I used it and the results I got:
That video also shows my other recommendation: the Tascam DR-10x plug-on XLR recorder. This recorder connects directly to your microphone, so you still have the cord-free freedom of a digital audio recorder, but with a fantastic microphone attached.
Another great microphone is the Electro-Voice RE50N/D-L. Like the Sennheiser MD46, this microphone is XLR and has a wonderfully long handle, but it's omnidirectional, so it's more forgiving if you're not good at pointing an interview microphone back and forth.
A long handle is really nice for single-mic interviews because your arm doesn't have to work as much and pointing the microphone back and forth could be a simple turn of your wrist. Watch how much I have to move my arm in the above Pilot Fly video compared to the DR-10x or EOS 70D videos.
Like a handheld recorder,
View all episodes
Recording audio or video podcasts at an event can present many challenges. Here's the onsite podcasting equipment I recommend to make your production great!
No one expects studio quality
Events are noisy, but that's okay for your podcast as long as the primary voices can be heard and understood above the noise.
You don't have to run noise removal. When your audience knows the context of the recording, they'll be more forgiving of a difference in quality. You don't have to apologize for it or explain it; saying simply, âI'm at [event] âŚ,â is usually enough for your audience to understand the context and adjust their expectations accordingly.
Assuming that you'll be in a noisy environment, the biggest things that will affect your podcast are your microphone's pickup pattern and your own mic technique.
The closer you are to the microphone and the more you stay within its pickup range, the more it will pick up your voice over the background noise. So ensure you always have the microphone pointed at you, and that you're as close as possible.
Whatever podcasting equipment you choose from my following recommendations, test it and familiarize yourself with how to use it before you take it to an event. The worst audio I've ever recorded happened when I used someone else's gear at CES and the system wasn't configured properly, so my recordings had such horrible preamp hiss that it was impossible to edit out.
Cringe with me at this horrible audio:
Simple: handheld recorder
A handheld recorder like the Zoom H1 or Tascam DR-22WL is small enough to fit in your pocket, but has built-in microphones good enough for using almost anywhere!
When I attended the NAB Show in 2016, I used a Zoom H1 as my handheld interview mic and I was very pleased with the results! With a windscreen and mic flag, it didn't even look like I was holding a tiny recorder.
Here's an example video (no noise reduction was done on this):
The microphones on the H1 and DR-22WL are condensers, but that doesn't mean they pick up more noise (that's a common misconception). The microphones are directional, so they do well to pick up the audio directly in front of the and reject more of the surrounding audio.
This works great for audio podcasts, and I used for my interviews at Podcast Movement (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/podcastmovement) 2016 in âCreative Solutions to Podcasting Problems (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/creative-solutions-to-podcasting-problems-tap278/)â (episode 278).
A handheld recorder like this can also work for video, as you saw me accomplish, but it means having to synchronize your separately recorded audio and video, which can complicate your workflow.
Higher quality: handheld mic and recorder
For higher quality, a more professional look, and more comfortable performance, consider a handheld interview mic connected to a recorder.
At NAB Show 2015, I borrowed a Sennheiser MD46, which is one of my two favorite handheld interview microphones! It has a long handle, internal shock protection, and it's more directional with its cardioid pickup pattern. This video demonstrates how I used it and the results I got:
That video also shows my other recommendation: the Tascam DR-10x plug-on XLR recorder. This recorder connects directly to your microphone, so you still have the cord-free freedom of a digital audio recorder, but with a fantastic microphone attached.
Another great microphone is the Electro-Voice RE50N/D-L. Like the Sennheiser MD46, this microphone is XLR and has a wonderfully long handle, but it's omnidirectional, so it's more forgiving if you're not good at pointing an interview microphone back and forth.
A long handle is really nice for single-mic interviews because your arm doesn't have to work as much and pointing the microphone back and forth could be a simple turn of your wrist. Watch how much I have to move my arm in the above Pilot Fly video compared to the DR-10x or EOS 70D videos.
Like a handheld recorder,