Hack3.2.Set Up a Basic Home Studio
Hack 3.2. Set Up a Basic Home Studio
Getting quality sound on the cheap is easy with today's digital tools, if you know what to look for. For your first few podcasts, you should keep your setup simple. The internal microphone on your computer, or a very low-cost computer microphone plugged into the microphone port, is a good place to start. You can use any reasonable set of headphones to monitor your sound. Monitoring your sound means sending the incoming microphone audio to your headphones as well as recording it to the output file. Monitoring yourself is critical because it gives you instant feedback. Is your voice too loud or too soft? Are you creating pops when you pronounce the p, t, or b consonants? Do you sound raspy or slushy? Monitors allow you to gauge this instantly and to make the appropriate changes. Without them, you will get to the end of the recording thinking you did great, only to find that you were a foot further away from the microphone than you should have been. The first rule of podcasting: any person controlling a microphone should be wearing monitor headphones. Most any headphone will do, but you should disable any noise-canceling feature when you are recording. Otherwise, you will not get an accurate representation of your sound. Higher-quality headphones, such as the Sennheiser HD 570, are "open-air" headphones. These have great fidelity in playback and are a joy to wear. But these headphones make lousy monitors because they let in a substantial amount of room noise, including your voice, which can make you sound louder than the sound being recorded by the microphone. When you have decided that podcasting is something you want to invest more time in, you will want to upgrade your recording setup. Your laptop's internal microphone or line-in port is great in a pinch, but neither was made with studio recording in mind. Additionally, their location inside the computer can introduce extra noise. Reasonable microphones [Hack #13] and recording equipment are moderately priced today and they can greatly expand the quality of the signal, and thus, your editing possibilities. You can get sound into your computer in a variety of ways. The sections that follow will cover these options, and provide some hardware advice. 3.2.1. HeadsetsAnother simple option is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) headset, such as the DSP-400 from Plantronics (http://www.plantronics.com/; ~$85). With this headset, your voice is converted from an analog signal at the built-in microphone, to digital in the box attached to the headset. Then this signal is sent through USB to a driver in your computer. From there you can record the signal with any recording application. Headsets such as the DSP-400 have unidirectional microphones that are targeted at your mouth, and thus will block out most outside noise. They also utilize noise reduction to take out background hiss and hum. A headset is ideal for podcasting on the road. It can also come in handy when you are talking to your friends over Skype, or when you are boasting about your fragging skills in Halo. Another headset alternative is the Bluetooth hands-free set you use for your cell phone. A fine example of this is the Jabra BT250 from Jabra (http://www.jabra.com/; ~$100). It works with your phone, but it can also work with your Macintosh. Just as with the USB headset, you can use it to record your podcast, as well as to talk over Skype [Hack #35] and to play video games. 3.2.2. USB MicrophonesUSB microphones for voice control have been around for a while. Now we are starting to see USB studio microphones such as the Samson C01U-USB (http://www.samsontech.com/), a large diaphragm condenser microphone that gets its power from USB and digitizes the signal in the microphone. The Samson lists for $234.99, but I was able to find it on the Web for well under $100. 3.2.3. PCI CardsDesktop Windows, Macintosh, and Linux machines can host one or more PCI cards. A range of PCI sound cards work for both playing and recording sound. For reasonable sound, you will want a sound card that supports 24-bit recording at either 48 kHz or 96 kHz. Table 3-1 shows a survey of recent sound cards.
Here is the key for the columns in Table 3-1:
Each vendor listed in Table 3-1 provides a range of cards that go from just a few high-quality stereo inputs and outputs, to cards that can drive a home studio system. When a card has lots of ports, it won't be able to fit them all onto the backplane of the computer. One solution is to provide an additional unit that fits into a drive bay on the front of the computer. Another is to have an external breakout box that sits on your desk and has connectors and, in some cases, gain controls. Better-quality microphones use the XLR cabling standard. That's a three-pronged connector that won't go directly into the mic-in or line-in of the card. In addition, with condenser microphones you will need to power the microphone with phantom power. You have several options:
As Table 3-1 shows, you have a wide range of options when it comes to PCI sound cards for your computer. It's good to understand the potential range of options. But all you really need for podcasting is a card that supports a high-quality, low-noise microphone or line input with 24 bits at 48 or 96 kHz. Cards that support that cost less than $100. 3.2.4. PC Card AdaptersLaptops don't have PCI card slots but they do have PC Card slots. A few vendors make high-end sound cards for the PC Card, as shown in Table 3-2. These range from basic surround sound and recording models to cards that can drive a whole studio.
The Audigy 2 ZS from Creative Labs is sufficient for podcasting, but you will need either a microphone cable to convert your dynamic microphone to mic-in, or a microphone preamp or mixer to get the signal from a condenser microphone. The other adapters in the table illustrate what's available if you want to use your laptop as the basis of your home studio system. 3.2.5. USB DevicesMost laptops and desktop machines, and all Macintoshes, support the USB standard. This peripheral cabling standard has easy-to-use connectors and provides bus power so that devices can operate without external power adapters. A number of USB sound recording devices are available, as shown in Table 3-3.
Each vendor in Table 3-3 provides a range of options that have a range of connectors for various input and output types. XLR inputs are the most important to podcasters because microphones have XLR outputs. And condenser microphones require phantom power, which these units can supply. These units are fairly smallaround the size of this book, but a little thicker. They take their power from the USB, so you have no messy secondary power cable or connectors to deal with, besides the USB cable that goes to the computer. I looked at the following three devices for this book:
One thing to watch out for is the level of phantom power that these USB boxes can provide to the microphone. USB provides enough power for peripherals such as mice, keyboards, and scanners. But these recording devices have a lot to do before powering the microphone. So, you might find you need an external XLR phantom power block, dedicated microphone preamp, or mixer to provide real phantom power to the microphone. 3.2.5.1 iMic.If your computer lacks a microphone or line-in port, as some of the earlier Macintosh portables do, your first option will be an iMic. The iMic is a USB adapter that has line-in, mic-in, and headphone ports. It's available from Griffin Technology (http://www.griffintechnology.com/) for $34.95. You can get a microphone cable and a 1/4-inch to 1/8-inch stereo adapter from RadioShack and plug your XLR dynamic microphones directly into your iMic. Condenser microphones will need built-in power, or an inline phantom power source. 3.2.6. FireWireThe step up from the USB peripheral standard is the IEEE-1394, or FireWire, standard. This is a higher-bandwidth standard that supplies slightly more external power than USB. Most Macintosh laptops and desktops have FireWire installed. Cheap cards are available for Windows machines. Figure 3-3. Digidesign's Mbox with a Shure KSM27 (microphone not included) Just like USB boxes, these are external devices that record audio that sits on the FireWire device chain. These units generally provide more channels of audio than their USB cousins do. Table 3-4 shows some FireWire audio boxes.
These units are overkill for a podcast show, which needs just one or two microphones. Features such as digital I/O, MIDI, all the lines-in, and most of the XLRs will go unused. But if you are using podcasting as the starting point of your adventure in home studio work, these are ideal. They provide enough ports for a small band. 3.2.7. Mini-Disc or Flash RecordersAnother popular approach is to avoid recording to a computer altogether and record to a mini-disc or flash memory recorder instead. Both of these approaches provide the advantage of far less noise in the environment than if a computer were turned on. In particular, flash recorders such as the Marantz 660 have no moving parts and are thus completely silent. Recorded files are stored on the removable cards that you can read on your computer with a card reader. Mini-disc recorders are becoming less popular because of two main factors. First, the recording time is limited. Second, the recorded files are on a mini-disc that is not easily accessible from a PC or Mac. So, the recorded sound needs to be played back into the computer and recorded in real time. This is a time-consuming pain. Portable recorders are very handy for recording on the go [Hack #69]. 3.2.8. Sample SetupsYou have lots of options if you want to go from your microphone to your audio recording application. Here are some setups people have used successfully in podcasts:
These are just a few recipes to get you started with finding the right mix of audio hardware. One thing to keep in mind is that a longer signal path with more devices will invariably add unwanted noise [Hack #15]. It also adds complexity, which can lead to mistakes and hours spent tweaking device settings and rerecording lost sounds. Keep your signal path as simple and clean as possible. 3.2.9. Stopping Pops and PlosivesPlosives are the noises generated when the rush of air that comes when sounds such as the p and b sounds hit the microphone face on. You can prevent these popping sounds in several ways. The most common way is to use a pop stopper, as shown in Figure 3-4. A pop stopper is a fabric mesh strung across a hoop that is then positioned in front of the microphone on a flexible arm. The mesh sits between you and your microphone and spreads out the rush of air. This will allow you to talk directly into the microphone's diaphragm without causing popping sounds. It will also reduce the amount of moisture that hits the diaphragm. This moisture can cause a condenser microphone to fail. Figure 3-4. A Shure KSM27 with a stand and a pop stopper Pop stoppers are relatively cheap. The one shown in Figure 3-4 costs around $25 and is available at music equipment chain stores. Instructions are available on the Web for making your own for a little less money. These involve nylon hose and an embroidery hoop. Two additional techniques that can help you avoid popping sounds don't require the use of a pop stopper. The first technique is to train your voice to suck in hard consonants such as p and b instead of expelling them. It's an unnatural way to talk. To get there you will need to train with a vocal coach. The second approach is far easier. You just change your position relative to the microphone. If you aren't talking directly into the microphone, the gusts of air you expel will rush harmlessly past the microphone. This is called being off axis. Well-trained singers [Hack #19] hold the microphone off to the side, at about 45 degrees from left to right. The microphone still picks up the sound, but it avoids plosive pops. In addition to your position to the left or right of the microphone, you should also pay attention to your position above or below the microphone. Positioning the mic below mouth level can accentuate mouth and breath sounds. Positioning the mic at the same level as your mouth can create problems with plosives because of the rush of air going directly into the diaphragm. The ideal location is above your mouth. This will reduce mouth sounds while avoiding problems with plosives. If you work without a pop stopper, I suggest that you position the microphone 45 degrees to the left or right and slightly above your mouth. |
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