Best hardware/software combination.

[Podcastmatters]

I started the tartanpodcast using a noisy PC and a £5 hand-held microphone. Of course, the audio quality was terrible, as anyone who listened to the first two or three episodes will remember.

Admittedly you don't need high end or expensive equipment to be a producer of new media, but having decent kit makes your show more listenable.

So, while content is truly king, what hardware/software do you recommend?

[Rich Palmer]

I'm using:
Hardware: Audio Technica AT4040 through a Yamaha 10 channel mixer. This runs through an Edirol UA-5 sound capture. The effects chain includes an Alesis Microverb II (rarely used, but good for tunes and voiceovers) and a ART compressor/limiter/gate.

Software is Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (nope, never updated it to Adobe Audition) or Sony Acid 6.0. I complete the master in Sound Forge 7.0. I've also used Reaper in the past, as well as n-Track. Reaper is fantastic if you've not used Pro-Tools or the like. It's free to try and then $50 USD for non-commercial use. $225 USD for commercial interests.

Yep, its a bit of overkill for podcasting, but my studio is set up for voiceovers, jingle tunes, and of course, my album projects.

[Gabor Kovacs]

I started with pc, £5 mic and the sound fed through a minidisc to amplify it. Originally I made a virtue of not spending more than £10 on any one piece of kit. But then I got a Samson C01 usb mic. So now it's pc, mic and still on audacity.

Oh, and a propos of nothing, I had to interrupt this to pay the window cleaner!

[Podcastmatters]

I hope you gave him a tip (monetary).

[Skinny White Boy]

Let's see....

On the laptop I have PodProducer for my playlist.
Laptop feeds into my Behringer UB1622FX-Pro mixer (which has a built in FX processor that I NEVER use)
Also feeding into mixer is a Shure KSM27 Condensor mic, going thhru' an M-Audio AudioBuddy pre amp.
That whole she-bang is fed into the Composer Pro XL compressor/limiter/gate.
All that into the Audiophile soundcard in my other PC.
Usually use SoundForge to record before sending the output back to the mixer.

While editing I usually listen on my M-Audio DX4 monitors.
When recording, the Beyer Dyn. DT 990 closed back ear goggles.

when doing live stuff (or direct to disk rather) that's the setup.

When editing for others, I do most processing post with Acid and a NICE set of VST plugins. The fact that I can throw signals through a bus and thus can do "non-destructive" processing is a MUST.

OK, so I am a snob, what can I say?

[Skinny White Boy]

Since I posted this, my laptop became a podcast no-no. The battery doesn't hold charge anymore so I can only use it plugged in. When I do plug it n and then into the mixer, it causes a ground loop that I haven't been able to eliminate (this has always been a problem). So now I use the same machine for recording and play-back. This doesn't really change the set up, The one thing that changed is the way I have the recording PC hooked back up into the mixer. Instead of it coming back to the mixer on an aux bus, it now sits on a channel strip. This means that I can no longer check the recording level thru my mixers' meters, because it;s showing me the levels pre-compressor. Not a real biggie as I can always check the output that is recorded on screen (in the app that is doing the recording). While a bit of a nuisance it works well enough. Occasionally (even though it shouldn't be possible theoretically) I find that the recorded output pushes past 0db (even tho' the hardware compressor/limiter should prevent this). It's not a big enough problem to spend too much time on....

[Podcastmatters]

Buy a Mac...

[Skinny White Boy]

Oh and they don't break? Hehehehehehe