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 devour. And as such, no two individuals do it precisely the identical manner. 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 turned a sort 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 basic document must be categorized as a “summer season album” or “winter album.”
Avirgan – who beforehand hosted exhibits for Radiotopia, TED, FiveThirtyEight, and ESPN – advised 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 principal residence. It’s really the kitchen of a basement studio condominium, so simply off-frame, behind some curtains, is a fridge (unplugged), sink, and plenty of 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 needed me to return the mic. I by no means bought a response, and I actually didn’t write a follow-up. So I saved it. That is most likely why Disney inventory is down 20% during the last 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 pc and I can knock out monitoring from wherever — normally beneath a blanket in a resort closet, which is a podcaster’s pure habitat.
“I run my mic by way of the FocusRite Scarlett 2i2, a easy however mighty interface that lets me management my mic ranges and route proper into my pc, the place I’m usually becoming a member of individuals over Zoom or Riverside. I all the time document 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 way of my fair proportion of these, however I actually just like the Rode NTH-100 headphones. They’re just a bit extra snug, look somewhat slicker, and up to now 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 a variety of podcasters, I’ve been doing increasingly video stuff currently. I’ve used Descript for years, however because the worlds of audio and video have merged, I do virtually 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 authentic 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 document that proper into Descript and switch it round in like 20 minutes utilizing a template I constructed. Descript — I’m a giant fan. It’s very versatile, and it’s good to work with a program that appears to present 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 desire 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 “Dying At The Wing” — and $28 value of pretend vegetation from Ikea.
“I block the view so I don’t suppose individuals may even see that the vegetation are there; however I wish to know that they’re there, and can all the time be there, due to eternally plastics.”
We’ve beforehand requested others of our favourite podcast hosts and producers to focus on their workflows — the tools and software program they use to get the job finished. The listing up to now consists of: