Constructing a podcast studio like a broadcast studio?

[xxedgexx]

I'm just curious what real radio guys think of constructing a studio like a broadcast studio for the sole purpose of podcasting?

At this moment, this is what I'm doing. I caught the bug after following a lot of podcasts that the Los Angeles comedian community is doing. There's some great content out there by people who already have a performance background, like comedians.

What tipped it over the edge is having the opportunity to sit in the studio during a broadcast of the Tim Conway Jr show at KFI studios in Burbank.

A friend who has been doing this a lot longer than myself tells me that all the "crap" I'm buying really isn't necessary to just do a podcast, which I actually agree with, but for me it was more about reproducing that broadcast sound and the ergonomics of a real broadcast studio. Automation, broadcast console, signal processing, broadcast mics, etc. Then I found Mark Jensen of newmediagear.com and I knew this is how I wanted to move forward.

There was also an ulterior motive to allow the studio to be used by people familiar with broadcast engineering. A lot of people I know doing professional podcasts come from a radio background. If I want to rent studio time just for podcasting, chances are the engineer is going to know how to use the console.

My current list of toys:

6 EV RE27's
Grace Design m801 preamp
Vorsis VP8 Plus final processor
AudioArts Air3 console
Durrough Loudness Meters
Marantz PMD580 networked digital recorder
2 Vorsis M2 voice processors

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The first time I ever got my hands on some "broadcast quality" stuff was in college. It was a church related college where a lot of ministers-to-be were getting their undergraduate degree before moving on to seminary for advanced studies and degrees. The on-campus ministers "club" had a 15 minute slot each week on the local radio station and I guess production had been haphazard. An older than traditional ministerial student showed up about the same time I started school and he brought with him a RCA 44-BX mic (the gold standard of that era) and a two-case Magnecorder. (NOT the GOLD standard, but the best you were going to get in the average small radio station at the time.)

So I took on the task of being the producer and it did not take me long to learn the following: Young preacher want-a-bees expected to stand as though there were in the pulpit they expected some day to occupy. I tried offering them what seemed more comfortable the option of sitting and a desk and maybe turning to even a conversational style delivery like radio people would do when conversing with the audience. I found out out their vocal cords, their spinal cord and their Achilles tendon had to all be in mutual tension of the pulpit posture or words could not flow.

Trivial. But a life lesson. People need to meet certain expectations when the "do their thing". If your own creative juices flow better when YOU are podcasting if you have the studio, knock yourself out. If you are in a geography where you think you can attract rental customers, by all means give them a platform that properly tensions their vocal chords tied to their spinal cord to their brain or other parts of their anatomy.

For the rest of you: Podcasts for the most part are delivered via mp3 which means much of the technical qualities of the professional studio chain get "lost in transmission". If you can sit in a junky old man-cave like my little multi-purpose hodge-podge work space and still summon up the proper amount of humanity in your voice, don't wait around until you can get exotic studio surroundings. Get to talking!!!

 

[unpwn]

I'd advise, since you have the setup, just doing a live show. If anything, you'll get better product and some experience. Maybe do some voice work. It never hurts to have the "right" equipment.

 

[JeeperOne]

I'd advise, since you have the setup, just doing a live show. If anything, you'll get better product and some experience. Maybe do some voice work. It never hurts to have the "right" equipment.

Why do just a live show when you can make an archive & podcast that?

Cheers

 

[unpwn]

I'd advise, since you have the setup, just doing a live show. If anything, you'll get better product and some experience. Maybe do some voice work. It never hurts to have the "right" equipment.

Why do just a live show when you can make an archive & podcast that?

Cheers

Because you can still record and archive, but you add the element of being live. People like live.

 

[soundsandsports]

I do "podcasts" Monday through Friday, from my living room with the TV on mute or close to mute.

I record with a Logitech desktop microphone, then I edit and use "export" to make my show into MP3s, all with Audacity v1.3 - Beta, then I upload the MP3s to Chirbit.

I consider my service "Internet Radio On Demand", because I do have listeners that listen to my shows at different times.

As far as the original topic of this thread...you can have a "studio" almost anywhere! All you need is:

A PC or laptop (cost varies, PC's are WAY cheaper)

A desktop microphone (about $10 at Wal-Mart), or a tape recorder microphone if you can't find the desktop mic (about $10 at Radio Shack)

[with the tape recorder mic, there's a lot of editing you have to do to get your audio as less "grainy" as possible]

Audacity v1.3 - Beta (free download)

An account at http://www.chirbit.com (free, email address needed)

And most importantly...ANY space without a lot of noise! Heck, you could even do your show sitting on the toilet in your bathroom with the door closed if you need a enclosed space!

 

[pellmell]

6 EV RE27's
Grace Design m801 preamp
Vorsis VP8 Plus final processor
AudioArts Air3 console
Durrough Loudness Meters
Marantz PMD580 networked digital recorder
2 Vorsis M2 voice processors

Thoughts?

Your equipment rivals some network studios. Be aware that most of it is lost on a webcast or podcast. I agree that you should do a live show. Add a $30 webcam, broadcast on Ustream.tv, simulcast on TalkShoe for a telephone bridge, and you're good to go. The trick, though, is to drive traffic to your streams using Twitter, Facebook, websites, smoke signals, or whatever. If you do the multicast, you may have a problem in that the Air3 appears to have only one mix-minus.

 

[soundsandsports]

I do "podcasts" Monday through Friday, from my living room with the TV on mute or close to mute.

I record with a Logitech desktop microphone, then I edit and use "export" to make my show into MP3s, all with Audacity v1.3 - Beta, then I upload the MP3s to Chirbit.

I consider my service "Internet Radio On Demand", because I do have listeners that listen to my shows at different times.

As far as the original topic of this thread...you can have a "studio" almost anywhere! All you need is:

A PC or laptop (cost varies, PC's are WAY cheaper)

A desktop microphone (about $10 at Wal-Mart), or a tape recorder microphone if you can't find the desktop mic (about $10 at Radio Shack)

[with the tape recorder mic, there's a lot of editing you have to do to get your audio as less "grainy" as possible]

Audacity v1.3 - Beta (free download)

An account at http://www.chirbit.com (free, email address needed)

And most importantly...ANY space without a lot of noise! Heck, you could even do your show sitting on the toilet in your bathroom with the door closed if you need a enclosed space!

UPDATE ON MY STUDIO

Here's my current setup:

emachines PC with Windows XP

General Electric headset PC microphone (found one for $10 at "the dollar store")

Audacity 1.3 [Beta] recording/editing software (free download, best free software around)

Audacity 1.2.6 recording/editing software (free download, backs up Audacity 1.3 [Beta])

An account at http://www.chribit.com (free, email address required)

An account on Facebook

So here's how it works:

1. Open Audacity
2. Import pre-recorded open to a show
3. Record/edit segments, plug in liners/promos for breaks (I don't have commercials yet, gotta make sure I can sell airtime legally before I take on clients)
4. Make sure whole show is on one stereo track
5. Export show to MP3 file
6. Go to http://www.chirbit.com, sign in, upload MP3 file of my show
7. Listen to finished show with Chirbit Player to make sure everything's good (if not, repeat steps 1-6)
8. Share link to finished show on Facebook as a status update (I also have a Facebook group page where I tell people about changes in programming)

For those that want to hear some of my finished products, go to http://www.chirbit.com/ThompsonAudioNetwork

Some of the shows may have a little of static, I used to use the standup desktop mic before I got the headset mic.

Note: You must have Adobe Flash Player 10 & Adobe AIR installed on your computer if you want to listen with the Chirbit player. If you don't have those programs, they're easily downloadable, just search for them.

Otherwise, below the name of each Chirbit title on my page, there is a URL in small print beside the words "share link". Click on that, and then click "Download this Chirbit". You can find the downloaded file in the Downloads section of your "My Documents" folder on your computer. I would recommend copying and pasting the file to another folder so you don't lose it when you delete old files. Anyway, double click the downloaded Chirbit file (it's now an MP3) and it should play with Windows Media Player, or you can put it in an MP3 or Ipod player.

If you like what you hear, and you're a member of Facebook, Go to Facebook and in that little search rectangle at the top of the screen, type in: The Thompson Audio Network. The Group page should come up, with a picture of the studio setup (pre headset mic)