Need help understanding a few things.(setting up podcast studio)

[apav13]

Hello my name is Andy and I'm in a bit of a rut here. Recently a group of friends and myself decided to set up a 4 person weekly podcast. I have been researching exactly what kind of recording equipment one would need for this, but there doesn't seem to be any comprehensive guides out there. I know I will need some sort of mix board or Auido Interface, but I feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall trying to figure out how everything would connect, and exactly what I should be looking for. My initial idea was to buy a 4 input usb mix board like the Behringer Xenyx X1204USB, and use a 4 way splitter to feed out the monitor to the 4 headsets. Would this allow for everyone to hear the feed in real time? Or am I going about this wrong.

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

 

[Chili]

I odn't know the specifics of that particular board, but if you can plug 4 mics into it and it feeds that to the computer via USB (most likely in stereo or 2 channels) then you're good to go. You can find a headphone amp for not a lot of money. Behringer makes one for about $20USD. I would avoid using a 4-way "splitter". Just buy a headphone amp.

You'll need software to capture the recording. Maybe the behringer board comes with something.

 

[Bobbsy]

There was a thread a few days ago started by a guy thinking of using exactly that mixer for podcasting. Have a look HERE and scroll down to the post with the graphic. It has a link to a Youtube video going through the ins and outs of how to connect up a mixer.

Basically, there are a couple of ways you can do a podcast. One is to use a mixer and record "as live" taking just the main out(s) of the mixer and recording them with the mixing done as you record using the faders on the mixer.

The other way would be to use an interface with at least 4 mic inputs, put each in a separate track, then mix them together to get your master broadcast. This gives more control but is more time consuming.

If you get that Behringer mixer, it's more or less locking you into method one since it only provides the master mix via USB into your computer--it can't send individual tracks. If it was me, I'd be happy to go this route but I've been playing with mixers for (literally) about 40 years now. If you're just starting, it can be daunting to try and mix 4 mics, maybe some music--and still have to think about things to say at the same time! The choice is up to you!

For headphones, I'd invest in a headphone amp (Behringer make a cheap one) with at least 4 outputs. This would give you an individual level control for each set of cans, fairly important. A passive splitter can cause arguments over levels and problems if the sensitivity of the cans are different. I'd feed the headphones from a pre fade aux so you can all hear each other even if you fade down a mic for some reason--that's another detail to think about.

By the way, that video linked in the other thread goes into detail about using a side chain compressor to automatically mix music and voice. A neat solution, but I'd rather just bring any music into the mixer and ride levels manually. Another choice for you!