Broadcast and podcast support thread

Lounge
#1

Since there are a few of us here into broadcasting and/or podcasting as hobbies, I thought I’d create a specific topic for it. If you need suggestions or help on cheap or free software, good affordable kit, where and how to broadcast/share content, and expensive mistakes to avoid, post about it here. My knowledge for licensing is mainly for Canada and the U.S. so I am probably of limited help if you live elsewhere and need to know about legal issues.

Please post what you already own for a computer in terms of hardware and OS so software recommendations can be more relevant.

Finally, for those with thought broadcasting problems or those who think that they’re being targetted by TV/radio, please avoid this thread. We’ll just ask the moderators to remove your posts to keep this on topic.

Shout outs to @Resilient1 and @Unclehenry to get this party started!

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#2

Here are the microphones I currently own and use with some commentary…

These are a German-designed and Chinese made clone of the Shure SM-58, which is a classic hand-held dynamic mic used for a lot of live vocal performances by singers. These things have a very similar frequency response, but are a lot more susceptible to handling noise. You don’t want to hand-hold them. They are very directional and only really pick up what’s right in front of them, which is good when you live in a noisy flat like I do. Dirt cheap and the quality is amazing for the price. You’ll want to put them in a cheap boom arm and use a shock mount to eliminate handling noise:

You’ll also want foam windscreen covers:

The above help cut down on sibilance (s sounds), plosives (p sounds), breathing noises, and keep your mic more hygenic.

This mic is similar to the above, but slightly higher quality with no off switch. I would just go with the cheaper ones:

I have this Shure SM-57 and I like it in situations where I need hand-held without the handling noise. I bought a foam cover to go with:

All of the above mics are microphone level input and need to go through some sort of interface to be used with a computer, they cannot be direct connected. None of them require 48V phantom voltage from a mixer or input device to power them.

This is my current Squirrel FM studio mic connected to my broadcast board:

It’s an updated version of the classic Electrovoice RE-20, which is a legendary broadcast mic. This one is more for home use, picks up less surrounding noise. Very high quality ribbon mic, needs 48V phantom power to work.

The Blue mic below is one of my expensive mistakes, but it can either be used as a standard microphone on a mixer powered by 48V phantom voltage or you can use a USB cable to power it and direct connect to a computer. It picks up too much from your environment so unless you’re in a “treated” room with no noise, you’ll hate it:

Finally, when we had the community station, we had people doing sports. They used these headsets, which I still have in a tub somewhere:

Hope this is useful.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks very much @velociraptor . I have a 5 year old Acer computer with large monitor that was hi-end in its day. Hi memory, high capacity drive from 5 or 6 years ago. Plus I have an android phone (old) and iPad pro (new). That’s about it for gear. I guess you use mixing boards for live audio where you’re effectively editing the stream live with a series of inputs. That seems a lot more difficult to do than to simply record then edit.

3 Likes
#4

Hi Uncle Henry and thankyou @velociraptor for starting this thread,

I have a Dell I7 desktop computer, connected to a 42inch widescreen tv as a monitor etc
i bought a blue yeti mic and it seems better than my last setup, I have a boombox with bluetooth, record player + 100 vinyl albums, I have a new hp i7 laptop and an a71 samsung galaxy phone, windows 10, i also have a macbook pro 2012 i was going to sell for £250 but i havent made up my mind yet on that.

I just ordered an Akai midi mixer (the one you suggested) and a nice corner table as my work station,

I bought and aux cable today and plugged my phone into my head phone jack on computer but i couldn’t figure it out (i phoned my sister to test) I tried to connect my laptop screen but i think i need a dongle for that so i’m going to get a bluetooth dongle.
oh yeah, i found a pair of decent headphones the seem really good :slight_smile:

been getting a bit of static shocks in my house recently (hopefully i dont get fried lol)

Here is a few pics

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#5

Mix water and scent free fabric softener 50/50. Spritz on carpet. It will fix the static issue completely.

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#6

I have a Behringer 4 way headphone amp, its good and not expensive.

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#7

I just did my first take on the potato and it was so frickin cool, i just need to edit it now :slight_smile: i think its going to be ten times better than my normal shows, cant wait to get my Midi Mixer

1 Like
#8

The headphone jack on your computer is an output. Not going to work. Honestly, if your show isn’t live then simply use a free recording app on your phone and transfer the audio to Audacity after. Easiest and cheapest way to start.

Probably won’t work. They’re not designed for this type of function, or at least they weren’t. I’ll have to research it. Don’t go crazy buying gear yet. You honestly don’t need a lot if you’re not hosting a live show from home. You can get buy with a minimal setup even when you are live.

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#9

i thought it did both it has a symbol of a mic headset on it,

I looked at that but audio wasn’t good quality, maybe there is a better app for that.

I looked and it said it bluetooth 5.0 can do pretty much anything but sound may not be perfect, there was an audio only one but it was expensive and seemed to do less.

#10

i got up pretty early and edited my radio show :slight_smile: sent it off to the station,

I just remembered i need to work on the next flourish show and i have another interview coming up for another show lol, its cool you listen to radio, i like it too, my station has been top notch lately.

#11

If it’s a combo jack then it may accept an input. Sometimes manufacturers print the combo jack info on what is actually only a headphone jack. You’ll need to check the sound control panel properties. If it does have an input, it likely still won’t be useful because it runs at the wrong level and will be susceptible to all kinds of noise. No professional broadcasters ever use that jack and most hobbyists give up after realizing what a nightmare it is. We all use USB sound input devices instead. Here are the ones I own and use:

Good for one microphone level input or one line level input.

Good for input of one microphone level device or a line level stereo pair (CD player or tape deck)

Very small mixer desk for a few mics and a few line level input stereo pairs. A lot of home stations running live use these for a few line level input devices plus mics for two hosts and two guests. My friend at www.texas46radio.com and www.therockvault.us has two of them, one for each station I believe. He runs both live. I have one and used to use it before I got my Arrakis mix desk, now it’s spare kit.

You can use these to either take sound out of your computer and put it into a device via a stereo pair or take sound from a device from a stereo pair and feed it into your computer via USB. Very high quality. This device is particularly good as it has a built-in preamp for if you want to take sound from a turntable that has phonograph output levels, it will bump them up to a line level input if you use the selector switch.

This is a spare mixer that works as a USB input/output I have. It takes the output from my audio processing rack (when it’s running) and feeds it into my encoder PC via USB.

These are all of the cheapest fixes we used when we had the school/community station and they worked. The USB devices should map in Voicemeeter easily enough when they show up.

1 Like
#12

For cheap/free software for preassembling a show, I recommend the following:

Audacity is free, works on most computer operating systems, and is pretty much the gold standard for free audio editors. There are hundreds of good tutorials on Youtube on how to use it. You should start here with this if you’re going to create a radio show ahead of time.

NCH Wavepad is an extremely powerful WAV file editor. Has excellent noise removal tools. You pay for it once and then you own that version. I use it:

NCH Mixpad is a multi-track non-linear sound editor that lets you stack many sound files and mix them down into a single show. Has a lot of the functionality of Adobe Audition, but you pay for it once and it’s yours. I use it.

Adobe Audition is the best sound editor on the market, period. Only available on a subscription basis and Adobe wants $28/mth USD. More than its worth. I ditched my subscription in favour of NCH products as I didn’t need all the bells and whistles and am happily saving $$$ now. If you’re independently wealthy, then use Audition.

I have Audacity on all my systems for quick and dirty work. I have NCH products on my main editing workstation for serious work. I no longer have Audition on any systems at all.

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#13

I’m thinking about it but idk much about it, it looks a lot trickier than Audacity, its 50% off just now but idk. kind of wanted to try it first.

My record player audio is coming through my computer now :slight_smile:

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#14

i was going to just get it but it doesnt look like its giving me a discount on my statement through paypal :frowning:

#15

Hey @velociraptor I got my bluetooth dongle 5.0 but i couldnt get it to work, it was coming up but devices were not coming up or connecting :frowning:

My work station desk came today and i built ut up and re-arranged things and it looks really cool now.

The Akai MidiMix came today as well but it seems to only run with ableton lite and is hard to set up, (ableton lite comes with it as a free key code).

I tried using my record player like i was doing a proper dj set (old skool) and i loved it, it was fun and i felt like a proper dj :slight_smile:

Also i had my first zoom call with my station and it was very encouraging, we are going to try and bang heads and do live shows for a fundraiser, I also mentioned mixcloud.

The manager said he had received 7 rodecaster pro’s :slight_smile: i was like omg i would love one of them bc i applied for funding but was declined, so i am hoping he will give me a loan of one but he said i’d need to produce more shows i think and get other groups involved in my community (a bit like a mini station) not sure how i’m going to do that but i have a few links already :slight_smile:

#16

Ugh. Those things.

#17

i’ve only heard good things about tthem.

#18

Still thinking about the NCH software, it said 50% off before the 14th Feb but it didnt indicate a discount at checkout :frowning: so i was worried, not sure how it would work either, i’ve been looking on youtube tutorials and it does look really good but is it worth it and will it improve my shows,

#19

It’s been saying that for four years man, don’t worry about it. The special is always on there. They’re just trying to panic you into a sale.

1 Like
#20

do you get a discount though?