The great thing about podcasting is that anybody can do it. It’s a uncommon medium that’s almost as simple to make as it’s to eat. And as such, no two individuals do it precisely the identical approach. There are a wealth of {hardware} and software program options open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut from NPR studios to USB Skype rigs (the latter of which grew to become a form of default through the pandemic).
This week, we spoke to Jody Avirgan, who co-hosts “Summer Album / Winter Album” with the frontman of the American indie rock band The Maintain Regular, Craig Finn. Every episode finds Avirgan and Finn debating whether or not a traditional file ought to be categorized as a “summer season album” or “winter album.”
Avirgan – who beforehand hosted exhibits for Radiotopia, TED, FiveThirtyEight, and ESPN – instructed us about his podcasting set-up of alternative. Right here he’s in his personal phrases:
“Even once I labored at ESPN/FiveThirtyEight, I all the time had a house recording setup. Since leaving — which occurred to coincide with the beginning of the pandemic — I’ve made my basement recording studio my fundamental dwelling. It’s really the kitchen of a basement studio residence, so simply off-frame, behind some curtains, is a fridge (unplugged), sink, and plenty of cupboards.
“However I’ve hung tons of curtains, scattered tender issues round, and put some sound dampening panels up. I feel it’s now each cozy and fairly warm-sounding. My mic is an Electro-Voice RE27N/D, a $500 studio mic.
“To be clear: I don’t make RE27 cash. We purchased this mic once I was internet hosting 30 for 30. I left ESPN three weeks earlier than the pandemic hit, and someplace in there I wrote them an electronic mail asking in the event that they needed me to return the mic. I by no means obtained a response, and I actually didn’t write a follow-up. So I stored it. That is in all probability why Disney inventory is down 20% over the past 5 years. It’s a really heat mic, nevertheless it’s a behemoth.
“After I’m on the highway, I pack an AT2020-USB+, which plugs proper into my laptop and I can knock out monitoring from wherever — normally beneath a blanket in a lodge closet, which is a podcaster’s pure habitat.
“I run my mic by means of the FocusRite Scarlett 2i2, a easy however mighty interface that lets me management my mic ranges and route proper into my laptop, the place I’m usually becoming a member of individuals over Zoom or Riverside. I all the time file a neighborhood backup file utilizing Hindenburg, which I then save to Dropbox. All roads ultimately result in Dropbox.
“The one place I deviate from the standard Podcaster 101 package is in my headphones. Everybody has the Sony MDR-7506, and I’ve run by means of my justifiable share of these, however I actually just like the Rode NTH-100 headphones. They’re just a bit extra comfy, look slightly slicker, and to this point the padding hasn’t damaged down in the way in which that the padding on the Sony’s inevitably does, main one to search out little black flecks of their ears after taping.
“Like plenty of podcasters, I’ve been doing increasingly more video stuff currently. I’ve used Descript for years, however because the worlds of audio and video have merged, I do nearly all my enhancing in it at this level. I make social movies of our conversations for “This Day” and “Summer Album / Winter Album,” but in addition unique stuff I’ve been taking part in with on Instagram.
“I’m doing a collection every week the place I try to guess the title of that week’s New Yorker cowl, and I file that proper into Descript and switch it round in like 20 minutes utilizing a template I constructed. Descript — I’m an enormous fan. It’s very versatile, and it’s good to work with a program that appears to offer a crap about what podcasters need, versus ProTools.
“I suppose I’ve had to consider my visible setup a good quantity, too. I purchased the webcam that the Wirecutter beneficial, however actually I favor the look of the MacBook digital camera, so I normally simply use that. In my background, I put some books to show that I understand how to learn; a signed photograph of George Mikan, about whom there was a operating bit in “Demise At The Wing” — and $28 price of faux crops from Ikea.
“I block the view so I don’t suppose individuals may even see that the crops are there; however I prefer to know that they’re there, and can all the time be there, due to endlessly plastics.”
We’ve beforehand requested others of our favourite podcast hosts and producers to focus on their workflows — the gear and software program they use to get the job finished. The record to this point contains: