I am wanting to setup a small studio for recording video podcasts. There will normally be 2 to 3 people. I was thinking of recording the video with an iPhone 13 on a tripod, and then having an audio mixer that connects directly to the iPhone 13 via a USB-C to Lightning adapter. I also noticed that there are some good wireless microphone systems for the iPhone but they only support up to two wireless mics and would prohibit us from having a third person on. I’m trying to keep costs low but also want to have a decent setup too. I was looking at a Zoom audio mixer, and was wanting to get three mics with booms & screens but wasn’t sure which brand of mics would give me the best economic & quality balance. I’m starting from scratch so if anyone has any ideas, solutions, or advice, I would greatly appreciate any feedback
Everything will be added in post production too. So I won’t need a telecaster etc to do lower thirds since I’m not doing anything live.
Not sure what your budget is, but I understand the Shure SM7B is a pretty standard choice in the high-end talkshow realm - SM7B - Vocal Microphone - Shure USA
I’ve noticed a number of shows I listen to use them and they always sound great to me.
A bit of advice:
ensure your lighting setup is focused on your subjects. Lighting helps to cue the brain where to focus, it will help your audience listen.
depending on your room, you may want to use sound-deadening materials to prevent any harsh echoing. Could be something simple like hanging a curtain on a blank wall.
If you’re going to mount your mics to the table your guests will be sitting at, use a shockmount to prevent noise from them interacting with the table
Thank you for all of your advice, it is greatly appreciated! The mics were the largest cost factor I was looking at reducing. I know the the Shure’s are the best but right now it’s not really in my price range to get three $250 - $400 microphones. This would definitely be something I would upgrade to later, but I was hoping to get the mics, mounts, tripod, and mixer for $600 - $800. Let me know if this budget would come with too many compromises for quality.
You shouldn’t necessarily worry about feeding the audio into the device recording the video. There is a reason why you’ve seen professional videos use one of those clapper boards… it allows you to sync the audio and the video after the fact. I’m not saying you can’t do it all in one, I’m just saying as long as you have a way to get sync, you don’t NEED to do it all in one if something else is easier. If you do remote guests, you can even have them record their own audio separately and send it in… which can get better results than audio in a online meeting software, but at the expense of more editing work. (I believe I’ve heard this referred to as “double ending”.)
While it may not help you in the immediate term, I kept a running search on Facebook marketplace for a PR40, and found someone wanting to just unload it. Got it, a cable, arm, and shock mount for $180, picked up a XLR interface for 130, and you’re running with a very high quality setup
If a podcast has low quality audio even from one of their guests I bail on it, video eh but good audio is absolutely crucial. As twit always does, don’t let gusts try to get their mic out of the shot, get right up on it with low gain. Works great.
I can’t upvote this enough… If you’re new to podcasting you may not be aware of quite how much effort (aka processing after the fact) is put into the audio. You should, in every case, focus on better sound quality before you worry about clever video like lower thirds etc.
Ant, thank you so much! Initially we want to start with something with this budget, and then upgrade the mics later if getting mid-level mics right now wouldn’t be too detrimental to the audio quality. The $600-800 is strictly for just the audio equipment as I already have everything on the video end (mainly an iPhone 13).
If you think it’s essential to get something of higher quality with a higher budget, let me know and I’ll see if we can make it work. I value everyone’s advice here and want to do things right but I don’t think I can justify $400 per mic right now. That would be $1,500 for three mics & booms plus a mixer and mic screens. Ant, if you want price out your ideal setup and a budget system that would be cool too.
3 mics. I have one of these. It’s fine as long as it’s on a mic stand. Noisy when handheld compared to the more expensive model https://amzn.to/3I2Lnr1
I use this so Queen Pruitt can monitor herself when we’re on the mics. This will allow your cohosts to do the same once it’s connected to the mixer headphone jack. https://amzn.to/49g9nDl
You’ll need XLR cables, mic stands of some sort and a power strip. All of those are budget friendly
Atem mini extreme iso.
Multiple blackmagic pocket 6K cameras
Heil PR 40s for mics
32inch monitor on the wall for program out
24inch monitor for multi view in addition to my two computer screen
Nice lighting via Amaran, Smallrig or Nanlite with adequate diffusion
