Podcast Primer Part Three: Creating a Hardware and Software Budget
In this installment of the Podcast Primer (catch up with Part One and Part Two), I am going to help you create your budget by going over the basic hardware and software components you will need to record, edit and publish your ‘cast.
To create a high quality podcast, you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on top-of-the-line equipment. In fact, you don’t even need to spend $100. You can create excellent audio recordings with free software, an inexpensive microphone and the PC or Mac you already have*. The most expensive cost you encounter will most likely be your website hosting fees as you will need to pay for a package that offers a lot of bandwidth and disk usage.
Podcasting Essentials
- Microphone (or two, depending on the setup of your ‘cast)
- Preamp
- Headphones
- Audio Editing Software
- Storage Hardware
- Domain Name and Web Hosting
All of these items range in price from free to thousands of dollars. I recommend that you start small and let your equipment grow with your podcast. This article provides a good overview of what you need to know about hardware and software in terms of podcasing.
I personally bought a Blue Snowball from eBay (gently used, $100) because I plan to use it as part of my music recording studio as well. You do not need a microphone this high-end for podcasting. I won’t go so far as to suggest a specific microphone type, but I will tell you a bit about your choices.As you might guess, the two things that affect microphone price are features and quality. For a podcast, super-high quality is not necessary. For podcasting, most microphone officionados would tell you to buy a cardioid condenser microphone. Cardioid microphones pick up sound mostly from the front of the device, the opposite of an omnidirectional microphone. A condenser microphone (the other choice here is dynamic) needs external power to function and offers higher fidelity for a crisp, professional sound.
A common complaint among podcast listeners is the popping sound that microphones make when you pronounce “p” and “b.” Recordings made with condenser mics are especially prone to this due to their more sensitive pick-up. To eliminate this popping, you can buy or make a pop filter. To make one, simply stretch pantyhose across some sort of frame, securing it in place to make a screen. Then clip the screen directly in front of your mic and you are all set. No more popping Ps!.
Many types of mics require additional power to operate and cannot be plugged directly into your computer. A preamp is an audio interface that allows you to record sound from many different types of input devices including electric guitars, microphones and standalone turntables.Preamps are generally inexpensive - at least the kind you need for podcasting are - so even if you didn’t consider needing one, it shouldn’t set you back too much. If you are going the super-cheap route, you may not need a preamp at all. Just remember that you are trading price for quality and try to find the right balance.
Depending on what you want to do with your podcast, you could spend most of your budget on purchasing a domain name and hosting your ‘cast. Your options here are wide open. I always recommend that you purchase your own domain name because branding is important. However, you could simply host your podcast at somewhere like Blast Podcast and put up a blog that links to individual episodes.
Using a regular hosting account, you are going to pay too much for bandwidth and disk space. There are hosts specifically targeted at podcasters, but some of those can get very pricey as well (upwards of $100/month!). Podcasting news has a thorough list of podcast hosts if you want to research.
Hosting a podcast can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. When decided how and where to host, you also need to consider your marketing strategy. How will using a free host affect your ability to brand? Who can you count on to always be up? Do you care if there are ads for which you receive no revenue on your podcast? Hosting is such a complex subject that I am already working on a post dedicated to it.
Unless your PC has a 300GB harddrive, I would recommend investing in an extra internal or external drive solely for podcast storage. High quality audio recordings like podcasts will eat up your disk space faster then you can say megabyte. I recommend checking eBay for new or slightly used storage media. Over the summer I was able to secure 160GB external drive for around $60. You can probably get an even better deal if you have a little patience.
Based on these estimates, you should be able to create a realistic budget to begin your podcasting career. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments.
*I am assuming that you have a PC or Mac to use for recording.
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4 Users Commented In " Podcast Primer Part Three: Creating a Hardware and Software Budget "
These are some great primers on podcasting. I was going to add my two cents and maybe later today I will get pics of my new podcasting arrangement set up and my desk cleaned off enough that I can can take pictures without anyone being horrified by the mess.
Here are some of my suggestions for casters looking to do this on a budget.
Like you I think a good microphone is essential. It doesn’t have to be as nice as yours, but a new there are plenty of good and inexpensive new condensers to be had on ebay. The key here is researching them a bit before buying, used microphones unless they come from a music store or have a good return policy are a little scarier for me online, since you could come off sounding horrible through them. I bought an older Radio Shack condenser from at a pawn shop that deals with lots of musical instruments for $20. It is good mic but I am thinking about upgrading to a Behringer B-5. when I upgrade some of my other audio equipment.
When it comes to pre-amps you are spot on about quality vs price in new equipment, but there are some options with inexpensive used equipment. For example I am getting ready to switch out my old sony stereo amp connected to my computer with an even older (put far superior) sansui integrated amp to not only drive my full range 3 ways on my desk but to use as a preamp for pod casting. The cost was $10 at a thrift store.
When it comes to headphones you are right there are several choices between the cheap $10 to the super expensive studio headphones. Notice I didn’t mention Bose, because I am not a fan of Bose anything, but that is another story. My recommendation is in the low end nothing less than the $20 or $30 Phillips even if I don’t think the ear buds are good for judging your own voice quality. However for not that much more you can get a pair of Grado SR-60s ($70 amazon)these are better sound than most people have ever heard from their music period. While they aren’t true audiophile quality, they have superior sound to the most expensive speakers most people have ever owned, and lets not get into how they compare to the headphones most people have listened to. These made my FIL cringe and wish he still had the receipt for his $300 Bose when he listened to them side by side. Most people who have listened to mine have had similar reactions. The same could be said of my Sennheiser HD497 headphones, but they are a little more expensive and tend to be a bit bass heavy. Either would be better sound quality than most people have ever heard from their stereos.
This brings out another point about podcasting, what will they sound like in the future? As technology gets better we can expect computers to be more and more integrated with theater systems and the increase in mp3 players has dramatically pushed a market for better sounding headphones. I expect both trends to continue, so I think most pod casters would do well to listen to their cast on full range speakers. If it sounds horrible through decent speakers, rest assured as technology gets better your podcast will not be very attractive to future listeners. Getting by may be fine for things that will be irrelevant and erased in a week, but it is a competitive world online and anything you can do now to stay competitive in the future is worth it to me.
The other big benefit is when you download that latest song from itunes, it will never sound better than it does through a pair of 3 ways a couple of feet away. That doesn’t mean you have to turn it up to 11, but when you hear the low coming through the larger woofer, the mids out of the appropriately crossed driver and the highs out of a proper tweeter it is grand.
Brad -
Thanks for all the great advice. I’m going to have to check out those Grade SR-60s. So you think Bose is crap, huh? I’ve never owned any of their stuff, but I always wondered if they were hiding behind their reputation. =)
Great point about increasing sound quality and the need to think toward the future. That’s something I hadn’t personally considered much at all. I happen to have a nice mic because I bought it for guitar and vocals, but I’m glad I did considering the fast pace of technology advancement.
Thanks again,
Sara
Bose isn’t necessarily crap, it just isn’t anywhere close to being worth the money you pay for it. I have the same opinion of most fancy speaker wires and audio cables, 12 gauge speaker wire is 12 gauge speaker wire whether you pay $0.69 at home depot or $10 to $50 a foot from an audio store.
Bose’s $300 headphones are certainly not worth the money and frankly for that kind of money you could get much better Grado or Sennheiser headphones.
As for their theater packages those are a joke, when you can listen to the entire soundtrack of the movie through the subwoofer alone something is very wrong with the setup. The rest of the speakers in the prepackaged deals are no where as nice as even their lowliest individual speakers.
Like the headphones Bose speakers are nice, just not worth what you pay for them since you can get equal or better sound from studio quality speakers not much bigger for less money. Bose trades a lot on the name as you expected.
Brad,
Thanks for the reply. I’m certainly not a brand whore, so it’s good to know there are brands out there that aren’t so overpriced. I hate paying for tags and logos and so often these days that’s all pricing is about.
Sara
