Podcast Setup Update (October 2021)

I have a number of posts on my podcast setup for Unsupervised Learning, a show I’ve been doing since 2015.

Or as permanent as anything can be these days.

This one is different because I’m in my permanent setup at the new place.

Current gear

The gear I’m using for this setup has been mentioned before, and I’ve used it before, but not in this combination.

The Neumann 87 Ai Condenser Microphone More

In my previous place, a small apartment with hardwood floors, the audio situation was horrendous so I couldn’t really use a condenser microphone—much less a Neumann. So I was using a Sure SM7B, which is a fine choice no matter what. Many top podcasts uses that mic when they can use anything, including Rogan, Sam Harris, and actually most big podcasters.

I prefer the crispness and liveliness of the Neumann condenser though. Or at least I do right now. If I had to summarize, the SM7B takes some of the character out of your voice and adds in some awesomeness. The Neumann U87 Ai extracts every little detail from your voice, and brings it to the front. So it’s a completely different sound but I currently like the latter.

The Apollo Twin X Audio Interface More

I have been alternating between this device and the RODCASTER PRO podcasting rig for a while now. Mostly to try to solve my audio issues in the apartment. I prefer the Apollo for day-to-day audio management, and for listening to music, so the only reason I was using the RODECASTER was because I was having some audio issues with the Apollo when podcasting. Namely, I was having trouble controlling echo and such using the complex stack of plugins and DAWs.

What I’ve done now is just taken those things out of the loop. I’m now just going raw mic into Hindenburg.

The Hindenburg podcast application More

Hindenburg is like a Tesla. It doesn’t do nearly as much as other top-end cars, but what it does do it does really well.

It’s far simpler than other DAWs, just as Teslas are vastly simpler than, say, BMWs. If you like a pretty interface with a million knobs and colors, you won’t like Teslas or Hindenburg. But if you like a DAW that does the core functions very well, this is the way to go.

The Acon Digital Deverberate plugin (for echo) More

I’ve tried probably five echo plugins over the last six years. This is the one I always come back to, and although I need it less in my new studio that has carpet, I still keep it in my chain.

The iZotope Nectar 3 plugin (compression and noise gate) More

I’m a huge fan of iZotope stuff, and this Nectar 3 Plugin turned out to be exactly what I needed just now for my latest podcast setup.

In my previous stack I had the RODECASTER PRO, which has a noise gate built into it. It worked quite well and best of all it was a hardware feature. When I switched to the Apollo/Hindenburg stack I lost that noise gate, which is much needed because the Neumann picks up everything.

So I added the Nectar 3 plugin with some compression and a noise gate that not only takes out any background noise from AC or whatever, but it also removes breathing sounds and even mouth noises. This is so important if you want to maintain high voice quality without having tons of unwanted breathing, clicks, and pops in your shipped product.

Next steps

The final thing I’m doing for my studio is adding sound dispersion and absorption. I’m ordering some GIK products that are art pieces for the walls as well as bass traps for the corners. Those combined with the carpet and added furniture might give me enough treatment to get rid of my de-echo plugin.

Summary

If you have a pretty quiet room and the funds to invest, I’d say this is a really solid stack for producing a show.

It’ll give you NPR-level voice quality combined with near-professional-grade (and automatic) removal of the noise between words and sentences.

Hope this helps someone on the same journey.