What Equipment is Needed for a Podcast?

What equipment is needed for a podcast?

In B2B social media marketing, where sales cycles are longer and decisions are made by committee,  podcasts can be a great tool for educating your prospects, since it's easier to listen than it is to read.

The cost of the equipment required to produced audio and video on demand has come down in price significantly.

But with so many choices, researching the right rig for your needs, and securing the right cables can be a real pain in the ass.

After getting asked dozens of times what gear to be, I finally decided to blog the answer.  So here's my spec for three different rigs all designed for different situations.

1. Mobile Audio Podcasting Rig: For the man on the go. In the world of mobile devices I like the Marantz PMD-620 and the Roland R09-HR.  Both have an internal mic, external mic inputs, and record MP3 or WAV file formats direct to an SD card.

This unit is self sufficient. As long as you can control the background noise, you don't need external mics, and even if there is background noise, you can use the record like it's a mic and swing it between your chin and the chin of your interviewee.

But if you want a free solution and have a smart phone, try Cinch.

2. Stationary Audio Podcasting Rig (pictured above): For the desk bound. In my opinion, the gold standard direct o compact flash audio recorder is the Marantz PMD-660. I

f you want to set up a rig to record interviews via Skype, you'll also need a Behringer audio mixer, a Sennheiser e835 mic, a mic stand, headphones, a female mini to male 1/4 inch adapter, a female XLR to male XLR cable, a male XLR to male mini cable, a stereo to male mini cable and a USB card reader to transfer files to your computer.

3. Versatile Video Recording Rig: For everything EXCEPT live streaming. I like the Sanyo Xacti HD2000a, mostly because it's so small, light weight, and is so easy to hold.

But it also has a nice zoom lens and an external mic input, so can use a wireless lavaliere mic and get great audio and video without crowding your subject.

But a word of caution.

If you're shooting in small areas, pick up an Xacti 0.7x Wide Lens with Macro.

And for support, get a mono pod like this one so you can run and gun, and a desktop tripod and you'll never have to check luggage when you take your rig on the road.  To monitor the audio, use your ear buds.

These rigs are great for recording audio and video. But you still need to edit your footage, and you still need a way to release it online.  For audio and video podcast distribution on iTunes, I like libsyn. For video on demand, I like Vimeo. But for audio on demand, I'm still looking for a service. If you have one to recommend, please share it here.

And if you want to dive deeper into the world of online video, pick up a copy of Get Seen by Steve Garfield.