Hey Friends. I am back with another podcastage video on a day that I do not have a scheduled release. This is due to a request from one of my favorite viewers Cobra Gaming, requesting that I do a quick studio tour. I figured that this is as good a time as any to list all my gear for you and tell you why I chose the gear. This is in no way a comprehensive list of the gear that I use, but it is the main gear that I use.
Shure SM7B: http://amzn.to/1INp7J8
If you go into 100 broadcast studios, chances are you will see about 33 of these guys. There will also be 33 PR40's and 33 RE20's. Okay I made up that stat, but it sounds right. I personally prefer this mic because I just like the tonality of it, and it fit more in my budget when I was shopping around. They also used this model mic to record Thriller. My one issue with this mic is the super low output. In order to resolve that I had to invest in the cloudlifter CL-1 to get the best sounding audio that I could.
Rode PSA1: http://amzn.to/1POxABd
Okay, I will admit that $100 is a bit much to pay for a mic stand, but let me justify the cost for you. First off. It is so incredibly convenient to have a mic available at all times, without having a bulky kick drum mic stand sitting on your desk. I also had a cheaper studio boom arm that kept breaking and dropping my mics off my desk. If you're going to be using expensive mics, you don't want a mic stand that could very easily break your $400 mic. If you have the room, a kick drum mic stand will run you $30 and work well though. Just don't get a cheap Studio Boom Arm that imitates this style.
Cloudlifter CL-1: http://amzn.to/1hZ4zIw
The cloudlifter CL-1 is nothing more than a mic activator. What that does is, it takes your interface's/preamps phantom power and boosts the signal by about +25db, meaning you don't have to drive your preamp which really helps eliminate a lot of preamp noise. If you are using a mic like the Shure SM7b, which is INFAMOUSLY quiet, this is a great investment, although it does make the overall cost of the mic about $500. So at that point, you can consider the RE20 or PR40.
Zoom H6: http://amzn.to/1POxBF8
This is hands down one of the best purchases I have made. I ditched my Tascam US-322 for this thing for a bunch of reasons. First off, the noise floor on the H6 is lower, meaning I can crank the gain higher before getting excessive preamp noise. Secondly, this thing can record 4 XLR mics to individual tracks for later manipulation. With the purchase of a $80 adapter, you can boost that to XLR mics to separate tracks! It also is portable, has effects, has great sounding, interchangable mic capsules, oh and did I mention it can function as a freaking audio interface! This can function as a 6 input audio interface on your computer!
Logitech C920: http://amzn.to/1NPPdCW
This is where I didn't invest in the best gear. For what I'm doing (testing out microphones on youtube), I don't need to invest in a $700 DSLR camera for amazing depth of field. That's not what's important in my videos. What's important is the audio. Making sure that I am capturing the mics sound as naturally as possible so people who hear the test video know what they're getting. This webcam does shoot decent video, but I have very little customization, and the image seems to be washed out quite a bit. But as I said. It works perfectly for what I'm doing.
Giantsquid Lav Mic: http://amzn.to/1INpkf9
I never thought I would use a Lavalier mic that much until I started making videos. If you are making youtube videos, I am telling you right now, audio is the most important thing (almost all the time). If you are talking at all or trying to convey information through talking, you need good audio and this thing allowed me to do that. It's a 1/8" lav mic with a meter long cable (I think) and I just hook it directly into my Gopro while I'm Vlogging outdoors, or if I am recording a Vlog inside, I record this directly into my H2n, and sync the audio in Final Cut. Without this, my audio would sound like garbage, and you wouldn't be able to hear what I was saying half the time. You can get cheaper lav mics too. All I am saying is if you are making videos, invest in a way to make sure your audio is AMAZING!
GoPro Hero 3: http://amzn.to/1INpnaP
Why is the GoPro so popular? Because it is easy to use. You turn it on, hit record, and you are good to go. That's why I love this thing as a Vlogging camera. It is so easy to use, it has pretty dang good battery life, I can hook up an external mic (with an adapter), and the footage is high quality. All my geeks rising vlogs that are outdoors are shot with this and I am incredibly happy with how it has functioned so far with the Giant Squid lav mic. One thing I am thinking of doing to improve the footage is invest in a steady cam adapter for this, or a cheap gimble so the footage is not as shaky.
Alright everyone, that will do it for todays unplanned discussion of studio gear and what I'm using. I hope you found it helpful. If you have any questions about any of the gear mentioned above, let me know and I will answer it as best as I can.
