Getting the right hardware

[Ulee]

Hello guys,

I'm trying to get all the hardware together to produce a good sounding podcast. My budget is 400$. I looked at a whole bunch of different sites (and read podcasting for dummis) to figure things out.

Now I'm not sure if I should get the Behringer XENYX 802 Mixer or the PEAVEY PV 6 (the pv 6 has a micpreamp included - how important is that for the sound quality?). In addition to the mixer I'm planning on buying either a Griffin iMic or an EDIROL UA-1EX to get the audio signal into my computer via usb (or should i rather spend another 30$ and get a pci audio interface? such as the m-audio AUDIOPHILE 2496 - what are its advantages over a usb interface?). I do not know which mic to get yet.

Maybe one (or more :)) of you guys got some advise for me, I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

[humanonly]

Hello guys,

I'm trying to get all the hardware together to produce a decent sounding podcast. My budget is 300$. I looked at a whole bunch of different sites (and read podcasting for dummis) to figure things out.

Now I'm not sure if I should get the Behringer XENYX 802 Mixer or the PEAVEY PV 6. In addition to the mixer I'm planning on buying either an Griffin iMic or an EDIROL UA-1EX to get the audio signal into my computer via usb (or should i rather spend another 30$ and get a pci audio interface?). I do not know which mic to get yet.

Maybe one (or more :)) of you guys got some advise for me, I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

Maybe you could save a bit of trouble and just get a quality USB microphone. Unless you need to introduce more than one channel outside of the computer. For example, the SAMSON AUDIO C03U - Multi-Pattern USB Studio Condenser Microphone. It is a bit new to have reviews but it's little brother the C01U seems to have been popular. They also have a pretty neat SP01 spider mount. I too was looking at mixers - and they are probably a must in some circumstances. For just podcasting though, it seems a good USB mic and some decent software would be a start. Am I missing something?

[Ulee]

I think I do need more then one channel since I want to conduct interviews via skype and then record'em on my md player. I'm also not sure about the sound quality of an usb mic. Do you know a podcast where the Samson is used?

Thanks for the help though!

[X Pat Radio]

Do you know a podcast where the Samson is used?



www.podsqod.com

[Ulee]

Do you know a podcast where the Samson is used?

www.podsqod.com

sounds pretty good as far as i can tell (i suppose this sample was recorded in a studio). what are the disadvantages of a usb mic? how does it deal with ambient noise? what can you say about the T.BONE SC450 USB?

even though i'm pretty much a newbie in dealing with recording audio, not having a mixer somehow doesn't seem right. would i still be able to level the input volumes from the diffrent sources (mic, skype) and make everything sound nice and crisp?


what about the hardware i named above? i would really like to know how important an microphone preamplifier is. Is there any kind of website besides podcastingrigs.com where i can find diffrent examples for rigs?

[X Pat Radio]

I don't use a USB mic, so I'll leave that to others.

I owned a Behringer and will not own another Behringer mixer. I have a friend that likes the Peavy stuff, but I dont have any experiance with them.

You need a mic pre-amp, however most if not all mixers have them built in.

Try www.podsqod.com and browse though the archives.

[pwfenton]

Anything that has a mic input, by that very fact, has a mic preamp. It wouldn't work without one. Some gear has better preamps than other gear. It is almost always related to price. Better preamps are more versatile, and quieter.

Never buy a USB mic. It is the equivalent of buying a computer sound card that can only work with one individual mic and no others (and certainly can't work with more than one).

All mic preamps generate some level of noise (hiss). If you must turn the levels way up on a mic... you make that noise louder as well. But if you use a mic with a strong output level (like a condenser mic) you need to turn the preamp up far less and therefore have a much quieter noise level.

[Ulee]

what about the audio interface, should I rather get a usb one or an integrated pci card such as the audiophile from m-audio?