Multi-person, portable, podcasting/broadcasting on a $1500-ish budget (via Nicecast)

Pants Masterson

New member
I'm in the enviable position of having a modest budget to buy some equipment to set up a travelling podcast/live radio show. The general idea is that I have a group of students at my college who are doing a specialty subject radio show in their field of study. It's being broadcast on the local campus station.

We want, next year, to start doing the show live, not just from our school (in the student lounge) but also take it on the road to other colleges and get other schools' students and faculty on the show as well. Also to get it put out as a podcast on top of the regular campus radio broadcast.

The radio station uses Nicecast and a Mac laptop for remote broadcasts, but our crew is quite a bit bigger than what they can accommodate -- five or six people might contribute to a given show. There's also, given that it's a campus station with shared resources, never a guarantee that the station's equipment will be both available and functional when needed.

I need to propose a budget to buy a dedicated road kit that our radio people can use to set up a 5-6 person live podcast. They don't need the computer but will need a USB-out mixer and enough mics and stands to accommodate them.

The show is talk-only -- no music, no sound effects.

So the ideal setup would be:

5-6 microphones and stands
A mixer (with a USB out; compatible with Nicecast on Mac)
A set of headphones

I have never worked with USB/live streaming before, so I don't know what would be best -- a mixer with lots of mic XLR inputs and a USB out, or a bunch of USB mics into a mixer with lots of USB inputs (if such a thing exists) and a single USB output... etc.

Your advice and recommendations are welcome! Thanks in advance.
 
I would get 6 shure sm58's for the mics, and ideally an old 8 input interface with a USB output

for example: MOTU 8Pre Mic Pre / Firewire Audio Interface | eBay

and of course 6 mic stands, don't forget the importance of audio cables, the cheapest way is to make your own, think about how long they need to be, you'll need to plan this before buying, this should all be budgeted properly before you buy anything, and it can cost a lot more than you expect.
 
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