Written by Scott Whitney
As a result of my post titled, “Intracast: An Example of an Internal Podcast for Employees“, I received a comment from Stephan Holt:
“You’ll have to explain how you set up your mobile lab of sorts. What are the essentials when trying to present a polished professional podcast?”
As Stephan mentioned, it was very important to me that I do present a professional environment to those I interview. Part of that is preparing. . .knowing who you’ll be talking to, having the questions ready to go, and presenting those questions before the interview to the guest so they may prepare. (There are some exceptions to that, of course. If I’m doing a bunch of man-on-the-street interviews with tradeshow booth attendees, I can’t prepare the guest. But for a pre-planned session, as was the one mentioned in the post above, the guests were all ready to go.)
Environment
Before talking about the equipment, a word about the location. If at all possible, I prefer a carpeted room with very little ambient echo. Most hotel rooms are great for this (the A/C can sometimes be a problem, but good noise reduction and gating can remove the A/C noise). Small conference rooms are okay as well. At a business location, small conference rooms are good, large conference rooms tend to be echo-y. Smaller rooms also create a less intimidating environment for the guest (who is often a little nervous).
Guest Preparation
In preparing the guest, I will ask if he has any questions about the questions I’ll about to ask. Anything else you’d like to add? Need any coaching on a particular questions? Do you still beat your wife?
Because it’s our job to make smart people sound smart, I’ll remind the guest that this is not live and that if he zigs when he thinks he should have zagged, not to worry. We’ll do it again and fix it in post-production. I’ll also remind the guest that we plan to remove all the stutters, false-starts, “umms”, “errs”, non-words, and over-used fillers (awesome, actually) to help make him sound concise, calm and intelligent.
Equipment
Recorder
I use the Marantz PMD670. It features two XLR mic inputs, can record in a variety of formats (MP3, MP2, WAV, etc.) with 40 different quality settings and looks and sounds professional. It records directly to a Compact Flash Card. It has separate volume control for each microphone (very important as my voice is pretty loud/boomy). It operates on batteries although I NEVER do that while recording, instead using the A/C cord included.
Microphone and Wind Shield
For a sit-down interview, I use two ElectroVoice RE50B with a wind shield. This is pretty much an industry standard mic for live interviews. Seems pretty rugged (I haven’t really tested it in that department), looks good, and works as advertised. I add the wind shield because some folks tend to lean on the microphone and helps reduce popping “p’s”.
Mic Flag
Part of coming off as professional is the use of a customized Mic Flag, which is the little box you see on all the local TV reporters out in the field. I can’t tell you how many under-their-breathe “wows” I’ve seen/heard when they see a mic flag attached to a mic. I worked with a company called Impact PBS in designing our mic flags. (Unlike the graphic to the left, the mic flag I used during my recent interview had the customer’s logo on it.)
Desktop Microphone Stand and Mic Clamps
I really like the look of two microphones facing the guest and host using a pair of desktop microphone stand. I have found the stands with a heavy die cast base is much more stable than the tripod bases I’ve seen. Also, this particular stand adjusts easily. To secure the microphone to the stand, I use the SMC7 Spring-Type Mic Clamps.
Reporter’s Notepad and Earbuds
I also keep a reporter’s notepad with me to track the recordings that have been made and write down ideas for questions during an interview. I listen to the recording in real-time using some nice earbuds to listen for any distortion.
What are you using to record your podcasts outside of a studio? For remote recording in our Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we often use the Edirol R-09 when in the field. We’ve also use the R-09 our Local’s Choice Radio interviews as well. How about you?
Posted on October 29th, 2008
Filed under: Podcast Equipment, Podcast Thoughts | 2 Comments »
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