The great thing about podcasting is that anybody can do it. It’s a uncommon medium that’s almost as simple to make as it’s to devour. And as such, no two individuals do it precisely the identical means. There are a wealth of {hardware} and software program options open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut from NPR studios to USB Skype rigs (the latter of which has change into a type of default throughout the pandemic).
We’ve requested a few of our favourite podcast hosts and producers to focus on their workflows — the gear and software program they use to get the job accomplished. The listing to date consists of:
This week, Alex Goldman shares his setup. A former producer for WNYC’s On the Media, Goldman co-founded Reply All with Emmanuel Dzotsi in 2014. The wildly common Gimlet podcast explored how the web shapes us — and vice versa. A decade later, Goldman is again with Radiotopia’s Hyperfixed, a “assist desk for all times’s most intractable issues,” which he produces from the consolation of his podcasting basement.
Because the starting of the pandemic, a lot of podcasting is definitely accomplished remotely, so you need to make somewhat area in your own home the place it’s comfy to do it. Mine is somewhat 8×8 room within the basement of my condo, and it’s surprisingly cozy. So whenever you take heed to my new podcast Hyperfixed filled with hope, helpfulness, and journey, understand it’s coming from this torture closet.
I imply, positive, it appears to be like like the cabin in “Evil Useless,” however all of the gear being on in right here retains it good and toasty in comparison with the remainder of the basement, and I prefer to assume I’ve made it my very own to a sure diploma.
Engineers act like prepping a room to file is tough, however actually it’s about ensuring there isn’t an excessive amount of open area or exhausting floor for sound to replicate off of. The extra cluttered a room, the higher prepped it’s to file.
That’s why I’ve this big Black Sabbath Vol. 4 wall flag. Behind the flag is a wool blanket I’ve held on some nails to maintain the place sounding good, and I simply wished one thing I’d like . As a result of that album is so good. “Adjustments”? “Snowblind”? Oh my god. To the left and proper of my desk are sound baffles that reduce echo, after which all the opposite crud I’ve stuffed my workplace with helps to maintain echo down as nicely.
I began in public radio, which implies that I realized audio modifying on Professional Instruments, a program that continues to be the business customary regardless of being the costliest, overpowered, buggy program out there to audio editors. Fortuitously they’ve lately began to supply a $10 a month license as an alternative of shopping for a license outright for $599 just like the outdated days.
My mic is a Shure SM7B, which has been the general public radio customary for 20 years, and a mic that, as soon as you recognize its profile, you will note all over the place. I even noticed Metallica’s James Hetfield barking into one lately throughout a rewatch of “Some Sort of Monster.” For audio interfaces, I’ve a Focusrite 2i2 and a Focusrite 18i8; the previous is mainly the little brother of the latter. I just like the 18i8 as a result of it is extremely helpful for recording straight off your desktop, however the 2i2 doesn’t must be plugged into the wall, which simply makes it simpler to make use of.
The music for the present is made by both The Mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder or myself. I’m a really, very beginner musician, nevertheless it’s fairly simple, and to do this I most frequently use the Sequential Circuits Prophet 6 Synthesizer. It’s based mostly on a synth from the early ’80s (named, consider it or not, the Prophet 5) that was utilized by people like Gary Numan, The Automobiles, and Delicate Cell, and it’s simply inconceivable to make a foul sound with it. If I want nice massive fats synth bass or tremendous thick synth leads, I take advantage of the Moog Matriarch, a extra temperamental however nonetheless actually great and versatile synth.
For drum sounds, I largely have a tendency to make use of inventory drums from Ableton, however I even have a few samplers and drum machines (the Erica Synths LXR-02 and the SOMA Pulsar-23) that I like making little damaged beats with. I recorded an album a pair years again underneath the title Gradual Fawns, and I’ve been identified to cannibalize these accomplished songs for music cues on podcasts as nicely.
Additionally I’d be remiss if I didn’t deal with the elephant within the room, or the rubber glove within the room, because it had been. Once I began renting this condo, this room was filled with a earlier tenant’s junk, and I acquired all of it out and set the whole lot up earlier than I observed the rubber glove on the ground there, simply to the appropriate of my synthesizer. At this level it’s a lot part of the room decor, I barely even discover it.