The great thing about podcasting is that anybody can do it. It’s a uncommon medium that’s almost as straightforward to make as it’s to eat. And as such, no two folks do it precisely the identical method. 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 sort of default throughout 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 basic report needs to be categorized as a “summer album” or “winter album.”
Avirgan – who beforehand hosted exhibits for Radiotopia, TED, FiveThirtyEight, and ESPN – instructed us about his podcasting set-up of selection. 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 truly the kitchen of a basement studio condominium, so simply off-frame, behind some curtains, is a fridge (unplugged), sink, and many cupboards.
“However I’ve hung tons of curtains, scattered smooth 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 e mail asking in the event that they wished me to return the mic. I by no means bought a response, and I definitely didn’t write a follow-up. So I stored it. That is most likely why Disney inventory is down 20% over the past 5 years. It’s a really heat mic, however it’s a behemoth.
“After I’m on the street, I pack an AT2020-USB+, which plugs proper into my laptop and I can knock out monitoring from wherever — normally underneath a blanket in a resort closet, which is a podcaster’s pure habitat.
“I run my mic via 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 typically becoming a member of folks over Zoom or Riverside. I all the time report a neighborhood backup file utilizing Hindenburg, which I then save to Dropbox. All roads finally 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 via my fair proportion of these, however I actually just like the Rode NTH-100 headphones. They’re just a bit extra snug, look just a little slicker, and to date the padding hasn’t damaged down in the way in which that the padding on the Sony’s inevitably does, main one to seek out little black flecks of their ears after taping.
“Like a lot of podcasters, I’ve been doing more and more video stuff lately. I’ve used Descript for years, but as the worlds of audio and video have merged, I do almost all my editing in it at this point. I make social videos 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 attempt to guess the title of that week’s New Yorker cowl, and I report 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 provide a crap about what podcasters need, versus ProTools.
“I suppose I’ve had to think about my visual setup a fair amount, too. I bought the webcam that the Wirecutter recommended, but honestly I prefer the look of the MacBook camera, so I usually just use that. In my background, I put some books to prove that I know how to read; a signed photo of George Mikan, about whom there was a running bit in “Death At The Wing” — and $28 value of pretend vegetation from Ikea.
“I block the view so I don’t think people can even see that the plants are there; but I like to know that they are there, and will always be there, because of forever plastics.”
We’ve beforehand requested others of our favourite podcast hosts and producers to spotlight their workflows — the tools and software program they use to get the job executed. The record to date consists of:
