A lot of people ask me, “Scott, why are you so devilishly handsome yet humble with it?” Well minions, that’s not the question I’m here to answer today, even though it makes a fair point. The question I get asked the most is, ‘What’s the setup you guys use to make the show?”.
Well, that one I can definitely answer.
First of all, let’s start with the podcast hosting. We use a company called Libsyn, (Liberated Syndication) for all our show hosting, and for us they really are the best option. Low cost, reliable and a great stats system that shows you where your downloads are coming from, with a day by day breakdown of our download numbers. This really helps us keep track of how well our show is doing on a day by day basis, and when our peak download times are. Any problems we’ve had have been quickly dealt with by Libsyn, and I can’t recommend them enough.
Ok, so on to the kit!
Next is the mixing board. We use a Behringer Xenyx 1202fx which gives us four XLR inputs for all our in-studio mics, with extra inputs so we can run our soundboard and Skype PC into the mix as well. This is our second Behringer, and so far they’ve more than done the job for us. This was upgraded from our previous mixer thanks to a generous donation by a listener called Mark Riddoch.
The Xenyx 1202fx gives us a lot of control over our sound input and output, and I can’t see us changing from this for the forseeable future.
Speaking of inputs, we run a seperate PC that hosts the live show chat room, and primarily the Skype connection so that we can have Mr Pink on the show, (Who’s based over 200 miles away from the studio) and we also can accept calls or voicemails from listeners to our Skype number, 0131-2081-364.
On the second input, we have an iPad running our soundboard software, which allows us to play our jingles, bumpers or general clips on the fly throughout the show.
So, on to the mics! I use a Rode Procaster. An excellent, relatively low cost mic, (£125 over on Amazon) which produces a professional, studio quality sound for a relatively low cost. I’m still getting used to getting the levels right on this beauty, but already I’m noticing a good quality difference.
Steev uses a Shure SM58 Mic, (donated to the show by Andy Goodall, available on Amazon for £91.50). Probably one of the best dynamic mics in the sub-£100 field. Commonly referred to as the ‘Podcasters Choice’, you can’t go wrong with an investment into this mic if you’re planning on starting your own show. Now, if only Steev can learn to talk into it like a big boy..
For Maynard on Mic 3 and the guest Mic 4, we use the Shure C606. Lower cost than the SM58, but not a great deal behind that stand out mic for quality. Eventually we’ll upgrade Maynard to the SM58, but for now the C606 is doing a great job of bringing the ‘Monday Night Highlight’ to the airwaves 😉
Right, let’s talk about the software side of things.
On the recording/broadcasting PC, we use Audacity to record the show. Simple to use and to learn, Audacity is available free online and is the perfect choice if you’re planning your own show. We highly recommend it to anyone starting out.
So, while we’re recording, we also broadcast the show live over at http://doghousebastards.com/dhblive every Monday night from 7:30pm (UK Time). But how do we do it? For the live broadcast, we use software called ‘Wirecast’ to show you people our lovely faces. Tricky to get to grips with at first, once you figure out its setting, you’ll be amazed at what options it gives you for broadcasting.
And finally, since we have four sets of headphone coming out of our mixing board, we need to amplify the signal to each headset so that it doesn’t degrade too much. For that, we use an ART Headamp 4 four output stereo headphone amplifier, kindly donated to the show by listener Stuart Greig who’s based over in Australia.
And that’s pretty much it! If you’ve got any other questions you’d like to ask about our setup, feel free to get in touch using the ‘contact’ tab at the top of the screen!
– Scott.
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