Hack70.Podcast from Your Car

Hack 70. Podcast from Your Car

Podcasting from a car can be fun and interesting for your listeners, but it can be unsafe and potentially illegal. Learn how to do it safely, cheaply, and legally.

With today's recording technology, you can podcast from anywhere. MP3 recorders are even built into cell phones and watches. This makes it possible to take your listeners along with you as you drive around town.

To get quality sound in a car, first you need to understand what you want. Do you want to concentrate the sound on your voice? Or do you want to pick up everyone in the car to capture the whole experience?

It also depends on who is going to control the microphone. Is it the person who is driving, or a passenger? If it's a passenger, he can use almost any microphone he wants. However, I recommend one such as the Shure SM58 [Hack #13], which has excellent noise rejection to block out road and engine noise.

If you are the driver and the podcaster, things become more interesting. You need a solution that keeps your focus on driving safely, while getting the sound you want. Here are three different approaches.

10.3.1. Mounted Shotgun Microphone

For a podcast with a strong singular voice presence, I tried several approaches and found that the best solution involved a shotgun microphone mounted just above the dashboard.

I took two cable holders with adhesive backs and put them on the center of the console, as you can see in Figure 10-1. Those cable holders held in place an Audio-Technica 837 short shotgun microphone. On this car, a Civic Hybrid, I had to bring the wheel down a little so that it wouldn't interfere with the microphone. I connected the shotgun microphone through an XLR cable to a Marantz 660 portable recorder [Hack #69].

Figure 10-1. A dashboard-mounted microphone

The resulting sound quality from this rig was excellent. My voice was very present and strong, and the road noise was present as background ambience but wasn't overwhelming. As with all of these solutions, I recommend keeping the windows rolled up and the air conditioner set to a low setting to cut down on background hiss.

10.3.2. Mounted Lavalier

I used a similar method to mount a lavalier microphone and connect that to the portable recording rig. A lavalier is a much smaller omnidirectional microphone that is often used in hands-free aftermarket kits. These microphones have clips on them so that you can attach them to various points in a car. It takes some experimentation to find the best spots.

The mounted lavalier solution has the advantage of picking up a lot more of the sound in the car. You can use it to get several voices with generally the same level. The shotgun will get the person it's aimed at, and the other voices, but at a lower level.

10.3.3. Lavalier on Yourself

The mounted solutions share a single problem. Your recording rig is stuck in the car. So, wherever you want to take your listeners, you need to drive them there. The alternative is to put a lavalier microphone on yourself and attach it to a portable recording unit such as an iRiver, an iPod, or the Marantz 660. This way, you can drive around, and then get up and walk around after you have parked, without having to stop and disassemble the mounted rig.

It's worth spending some time to find the right position for a lavalier microphone on your shirt. T-shirts have limited positioning options. A button-down shirt will give you some more flexibility so that you can find a point where the microphone doesn't rub constantly against fabric and create a grating noise.

10.3.4. Legal Matters

If you intend on podcasting while driving, you should study the traffic laws of your state or country. It should be possible to equate podcasting with talking on a cell phone with a hands-free set. I strongly recommend against attempting to hold a microphone and drive simultaneously.

Then there is the question of what you are recording to. If you intend to use a laptop computer, you should read the laws regarding the location and direction of video screens within the view of the driver. It's very possible that operating a computer while driving or even having one pointed at you is illegal.

Having a portable recorder is an ideal alternative to using a computer. The Marantz 660 I used when I was researching this hack is perfect. It's a solid-state recorder that uses CF cards for storage of MP3 or WAV files. It has handy meters that show your signal level, it generates no sound or heat, it takes XLR inputs for two microphones, and it provides phantom power.

10.3.5. On the Content

Most of us drive or are driven on a regular basis. So, listening to someone drive is not inherently interesting. If your driving podcast is a soundseeing driving tour [Hack #72], here are some recommendations:

Be descriptive

Describe the colors and shapes of what you see. Use lots of adjectives and nouns. Never rely on abstractions that you think your listeners will relate to. Your words are painting pictures for their imagination. So, the more you describe, the better the experience will be for them.

Hook into stories

Driving isn't interesting on its own. Stories about where you are driving can be interesting. Personal vignettes about events in your life keyed to various locations can be very interesting.

Add some history

If you live in a historic area, bring some of that into your drive. Use the text portion of your blog to point to links where the listener can find out more about where you toured in your car.

Talk with folks

Stopping to talk with the drive-through café attendant, or a neighbor, can be an interesting diversion for your listeners.

Expect pauses

Sometimes there isn't much to talk about, so there will be a natural silence. If it goes on for a while, be sure to start the next section with something such as "I'm back, not much to talk about there." Then cut the long silence to something smaller in the editing later. The road noise will vary from section to section, so the hard cuts to remove the silence will sound awkward unless you explain them.

Car culture, particularly in the U.S., is central to our way of life. As kids, we drive the strips on Friday and Saturday nights looking for the next beer bash. As we get older, we carpool or go to car conventions. Americans love their cars and we have a lot of stories to tell with and about them. All it takes are a little technical know-how and some creativity to set your inner car enthusiast free.

10.3.6. See Also

• "Pick the Right Microphone" [Hack #13]

• "Reduce Noise" [Hack #15]

• "Build a Beercast" [Hack #30]

• "Build a Sweet Sound" [Hack #57]

• "Create a Soundseeing Tour" [Hack #72]