Making your own acoustic panels can save you a significant amount of money and turn your home studio, a place that, in most cases, was not built for recording, into a well treated, good sounding, place to record. This tutorial will show you how I built the acoustic panels that I’m using in my own home studio including the tools, materials, cost and step-by-step DIY instructions. Approximate total cost per panel (materials only): $25-$30
TPS100: All the Podcasting Tips
February 11, 2017 By 9 Comments
The first Podcasters’ Studio that doesn’t start with a zero (ex: 001, 099)! Episode 100, we made it! Thank you to everyone who has ever listened and helped the show reach this milestone.
This is a mighty episode filled with all the still relevant tips from the last 99 episodes of The Podcasters’ Studio. I relistened to every episode (that was painful) and culled all the tips that I thought would still be useful in 2017. There is plenty of good content left in each of the episodes, I don’t include them all here but the tips on this episode are ones that you can take back to your own show right now and grow the show you already have or start the podcast you’ve always wanted.
Most of the lessons in this episode where culled while listening to most of my back catalog of content. I scrubbed through all my past podcast episodes picking out those things that made me think I could of done it differently or want to change moving forward past episode 100.
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TPS099: Lessons Learned
September 26, 2016 By Leave a Comment
99 podcast episodes is a lot. Hopefully, when you reach that milestone, you’ve learned a thing or two about how to make your podcast better. This episode is a collection of lessons I’ve learned over those 99 episodes. First lesson, be your own best critic. But if you’re a creative type, you probably already are;) In that case, give yourself a break, create, learn, repeat.
Most of the lessons in this episode where culled while listening to most of my back catalog of content. I scrubbed through all my past podcast episodes picking out those things that made me think I could of done it differently or want to change moving forward past episode 100.
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TPS096: Multichannel Output and Input
December 12, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Recording multichannel audio is the best way to take total control over your audio.
However, it can be difficult and/or pricey to achieve. Technically you can do multichannel with any mixer, even the cheapest ones. How many separate channels you’ll get is a different story.
On this episode I talk about how to use an analog mixer to output multichannel audio via Insert channels. Other topics include an update about the construction of my podcast studio, confirming that the 2i4 is indeed multichannel and a brief PSA about making sure your website is podcast ready.
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How To Submit a Podcast To iTunes
October 10, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Submitting your podcast to the iTunes store is easy once you have created your podcast-ready RSS feed.
The video above will show you how this is done and the step-by-step directions are below.
TPS093: Get a Mix-minus into a Smartphone and overview of the Mackie 402VLZ4
July 29, 2015 By 4 Comments
How do you get audio from your phone (iPhone, Android, etc.) into your mixer? The simple answer is you plug it in. You can use a basic stereo cable (I prefer this “Y” cable*), plug one end into your phone’s headphone output 
and place the other end into an available channel on your mixer and now you can take audio from the phone into your recordings. But what if you want to also send all the audio from the mixer (your mic, your co-host, sound FX, etc.) back to the person on the phone without them hearing themselves? That’s called a mix-minus and you can use a couple different devices to achieve this setup. [Read more…]
TPS091: Gain Staging Any Mixer
May 5, 2015 By 4 Comments
Setting up a mixer can be a difficult task. Even on the smallest mixers there are numerous buttons and knobs that all affect the audio you put into it. Knowing exactly which knobs to turn and when can be confusing at best and can wreck your audio at worst. In this episode I talk about how to gain stage (setup your microphone for proper audio levels) any mixer you might use as a podcaster.
Because beginning podcasters often start with a very limited budget, we tend to purchase mixers that don’t feature all the tools that some higher end mixers have such as PFL/Solo buttons for easier gain staging of your microphones. But even the cheapest mixers have the minimum controls to setup your levels properly. I talk about how to use both a channel’s peak light and/or the main mix meters to get your mixer operating a level that the manufacture intended it to be used at.
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How to Setup Any Mixer – Gain Staging without PFL or Solo Buttons
April 27, 2015 By 14 Comments
For many podcasters, mixers do not include Pre Fader Listen (PFL) or Solo buttons which are commonly used on more expensive mixers for properly setting audio levels.
Gain staging is the process of setting proper audio levels through your entire audio chain. On a mixer this starts with the gain knob (located at the top of each channel strip) which controls the sensitivity of your microphone or input and finishes at the output, your main mix. [Read more…]
TPS088: Compression for Podcasts with Randy Coppinger
November 26, 2014 By 9 Comments
Ever wonder when, how or why to use compression when post-processing your podcast? If the answer is yes then this is your episode. Randy Coppinger, professional audio engineer, talks with me about using compression for your spoken word podcast and just as importantly, when not to.
We talk about what compression can do for your audio, how it can damage it and all the factors that go into the results you’ll get from a compressor including your microphone.
After that we dive into how you might want to set up a compressor or at least where to start. If you feel lost when you look at a compressor, don’t worry, we all were at some point.
The key element is practice. You just need to start turning the knobs. This episode will help you understand what to listen for when using compression and how to improve your post processing techniques for your podcast.
