Microphone Mayhem!! (02.18.16)

I had the honor and horror of starting a podcasting channel for RainBridge with some friends that grew and now is expanding. I say honor because we’re covering topics we want covered and offering opinions that others may be too afraid to voice. We talk about the failing education system and the comparisons of pop-culture and entertainment all on one channel. And, of course, we have the sports side, so we do have it all. But I say horror because it demands and requires a lot of time and energy and money!! From feeding our panelists, podcasters, and special guests to making sure I have the right hardware, software, and equipment, the checklist only grows, even as my funds shrink. But we hope to be sponsored soon, maybe. Who knows how that works?

So, for RainBridge Studios, CoTangent was the first successfully launched podcast. It featured Ed and myself talking about sports, general trending topics, and then cover the weekend box office. This has gone on for a year and we will continue it because people actually, which is fun! And then Umbrella Thoughts was started because there are topics not covered by talk shows that ought to be at the top of the list for conversations. So, instead of listening to those older hens and gossipers talk about the less important stuff, we’re taking on the tough subjects, conversations, and hoping to bright to the table a different perspective on what is truly ailing our country, community, and society today. As Ed says, it’s the more intellectual conversation part of RB Studios.

So, because I have a film background, I predominantly used a Zoom H4N and although it records high quality sounds, it is more of a film-based microphone. In film shoots, I use an XLR splitter to add left and right, connect it to a boom pole, add a shock mount with a Rode mic at the end and you have a film sound recorder of pretty high quality. However, to ensure clean and crisp sound, you have to turn the microphone to whoever is speaking and try not to record the sound of the xlr cable moving against the pole, or the like. You have to watch for cars, helicopters, airplanes, and other noises. It all affects the sound on your shoot, and the H4N is simply the device that holds the sound. That’s all it is really meant to do. To ask more of it… is just silly. Simply put, it’s meant to just record.

Not to mention, the microphones up top are pointed in 2 directions, with some additional sound-recording abilities on the sides, but when 4 people talk around a table, it’s hard to capture everyone cleanly without squishing everyone together at one end of the table. Not to mention all the other sounds you end up catching. Most of the time, I’d point the mic at the person across from me, ask those on my right and left to speak louder, and I would talk the loudest because the mic is facing away from me. This was strange and their voices would start strong and then die off. I’d strain to hear them at times. … This is NOT FUN.

So, I was in the market for buying another microphone. I wanted to capture tone and dynamic sounds for these podcasts. I needed something that accentuated the cleanest of voices while capturing everyone evenly at all times. I didn’t want someone to purposefully strain just because my microphone couldn’t capture them, too. I mean, how strange does that sound? So, into the market I went!!

Here is how my train of thought traveled…

Dynamic vs. Condenser Mics 

From what I have found, dynamic and condenser mics are much more worth the musical realm of recording as opposed to the voice broadcasting systems. Where tone quality and sound can be tweaked and adjusted so to better fit the music, or amps, or whatever, these microphones aren’t great for more of a chatty, monotonous, and non-dynamics needed purposes. I grew up singing, so I know what these mics can do, and speaking was always a whole different adjustment.

Rode Procaster & Podcaster 

Wow! To go from listening to normal sound to how well these two isolate the voice, it’s simply amazing. I was so wooed by it, the price is what turned me off to it. If I have to buy up to 5 microphones, that’s over 1K, and RB Studios isn’t at a place to do that just yet. But one day, if we make enough to support ourselves, we will put the budget into making this happen. And I would buy the Procaster because, oh my, it’s as smooth as honey and sounds even better! Indeed,a fine microphone, and I expected no less from Rode.

Blue Yeti

Something you have to understand about the podcasts from RainBridge Studios is that it’s rarely ever just 1 person podcasting. There is usually at least two people, if not more, but around four for Umbrella Thoughts. Because we are still relatively small, we can’t just shell out hundreds of dollars for multiple microphones with individual arms, pop screens, cables, a mixer, and the like. So, for the price and sound, to cover everyone equally, the Yeti simply was better for everyone sitting around the table and talking. 

So... In conclusion, as if it weren't obvious enough... I bought a Yeti for the time being. Until the day RB Studios can have their own office and sound studio... the Yeti will have to do. Yay!