In the digitalized world, a different understanding of broadcasting emerges every day. In today’s world, where consumption habits have changed with the spread of the Internet, blog, vlog and Youtube contents have started to be consumed rapidly. Recently, podcast publishing has become popular with the great interest of music streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify. In this article, we will first give information about the podcast and explain the necessary equipment for those who want to broadcast.
Daily life is so fast now that it is very difficult to find time for the things you love when you say work, sports, housework, spending time with friends. It is not possible to listen to a radio program or watch a talk show on time as it used to be. That’s why there are podcasts that you can follow anytime, anywhere. So what is this podcast?
What is Podcast?
As a word meaning, it consists of a combination of the words broadcast and pod. Podcast can be defined as audio blogging in its simplest form. Each podcast broadcast is essentially audio content that covers a different topic. In other words, it enables the content recorded live to be consumed over different channels at any time. The advantage is that anyone can broadcast on any subject. If you want to tell something, give information about a topic or just have two or three friends chat about a topic and publish it, you can record a podcast. Who knows, you will find new ways in this channel, whose popularity is increasing day by day, and you can reach new audiences with what you tell.
Equipment Required for Podcast Broadcasting
Podcast, which is quite entertaining and actually simple broadcasting, is recorded with some basic equipment. Before proceeding to this stage, if you want to create a podcast broadcast and open a channel, we recommend that you choose your topic well. Because now the competition in this field is increasing day by day… With the right subject and the right equipment, it is quite possible for your star to shine! In order to reach the right people on the topic or field you have chosen, you can first mobilize your circle of friends and reach more people through them. It is even possible to make low-budget advertisements for your publications on social media.
1-) Microphone
Although using the built-in microphone on the phone or computer may seem like a solution, at the end of the day, it is necessary to use a microphone for a better quality broadcast. Analogue models offer the best sound quality. However, digital microphones that you can use more easily and with a USB connection are more preferred. Analog models require various interfaces for recording due to the XLR connection. The plus is that it prevents static sounds and delays when listening to the broadcast with headphones.
2-) Sound Card or Mixer
The microphone is ok for the sound, it’s time to do the recording. If you’re using an analog microphone with an XLR input, you’ll need a sound card or mixer model. Although it is entirely up to you which model to use, sound cards provide better quality results than mixers. If your choice will be a mixer, it will be to your advantage to have the mixer with a digital sound card.
3-) Headphones
It is very important to hear your voice during a live broadcast or recording. Because only in this way you can be aware of the broadcast quality. You also need to be aware of the audio status to detect problems or understand delays. For all these processes, you need to get a good headset. It is important to note that the headset you choose should have a wide frequency range, not hurt your ears, and have a noise canceling feature.
4-) Other Details: Acoustic Sponge, Shock Mount, Pop Filter and Microphone Arm
Apart from the main equipment, it is not without mentioning other equipment that improves broadcast quality and makes you comfortable. First of all, you can use acoustic sponges for sound insulation if you do not want external sounds to deteriorate the broadcast quality. Apart from this, you can easily get sound from different angles by fixing the microphone on a table-like area thanks to the microphone arm. Pop filter, on the other hand, prevents treble spikes that occur during speech. Finally, the shock mount is the product that protects the microphone against possible impacts and prevents the deterioration of sound quality.
5-) A Different Alternative: Voice Recorder
There are new generation audio recorders that give very successful results for podcast recording. The thing you need to pay attention to here is that the device has an XLR input. In addition, thanks to devices with USB inputs, transferring to a computer will become very easy. It is also very important that the device offers large storage space in order to avoid memory problems. As an alternative to this issue, you can choose models with SD card slots.