Podcasting Technology We Use

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What do we need to get started in podcasting?

Here’s a description of the equipment we use to produce our podcasts.

Audio

marantz pmd660 Podcasting Technology We Use

Marantz PMD660 Digital Audio Recorder

Broadcast quality digital audio recorder: We use a Marantz PMD-660 portable stereo digital recorder. It’s the kind the radio networks like AP and NPR use. It can record in high quality stereo PCM, WAV, or MP3 formats, using internal mikes, external mikes, or via line input from a sound system. Recordings are stored on removable Compact Flash (CF) cards like the ones used in digital cameras. A 1 gb CF card can store up to 17 hours of MP3 stereo sound. We transfer the recordings to a Dell Optiplex Studio desktop PC running Windows Vista 64-bit.

Microphones: For our main studio microphones we’re using Shure RS-130 vocal mikes, with a Behringer 8-channel mixer connected via Lexicon Omega USB mixer. For location recording, we have wireless lavaliere and handheld mics and an assortment of mixers.

OlympusWS500 Podcasting Technology We Use

Olympus WS-500 Digital Recorder

For some applications where it’s impractical to carry lots of equipment, we have used the Olympus WS-500 recorder that has a USB jack built in. This stereo recorder can capture more than 500 hours of audio, or 36 hours of high quality stereo sound.

Audacity: We usually edit podcasts in Audacity. We still like N-Track Studio for musical production, sound enhancement, equalization, and compression.

For conversion of our finished productions, we use dbPowerAmp Music Converter, which can convert in either direction from a wide range of audio file formats.

Video

Sony VX-1000 Camera

For high quality video productions, we use two matched Sony VX-1000 miniDV cameras.

: Kodak Zi8 Video Camera

We recently acquired a Kodak Zi8 high definition pocket video camera to produce social media-style informal videos for clients. This camera is ideal for short web welcome videos or short urban documentary productions that are more difficult and expensive to accomplish with larger equipment.