4th Gen. Focusrite Scarlett Series Interfaces – Solo, 2i2 and 4i4
October 19, 2023
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Occasionally a funny thing happens to a podcaster (with zero previous audio experience) after they’ve published around 10+ episodes of their podcast – they go on social media and start giving audio advice as if they’re a seasoned audio engineer.
Most of their comments and advice are shallow, uninformed, oversimplified and incorrect.
They show no respect for professional audio production.
They brag how easy it is to produce good audio but their own show sounds pretty bad.
And you know my philosophy about podcast audio quality for most podcasters – it just has to be good enough for people to hear it and understand it – there’s not an absolute need to produce really good professional audio. It helps if your audio is great, but it’s not necessary.
So I’m not being an audio snob, I just want you to understand the truth so you don’t make a fool of yourself, or worse – perpetuate the WRONG idea that new podcasters shouldn’t even consider the quality of their audio before recording and publishing.
Picture two painters standing side by side:
One is a house painter and says, “Yeah, just open the paint cans and paint the side of this house, and do it quickly – the quicker we get it done the more money we can make.”
The other is a fine artist and says, “To create a work of art I use 97 different colors of paint and I pay close attention to the finest details. It takes me months to finish a painting, and my goal is to create a masterpiece.”
Now, what if the house painter said to the fine artist, “Bro, just throw the paint on the canvas and finish quickly – don’t bother with so many colors – and don’t worry about mere details like portraying the face of the subject precisely – just get it done!”
Yeah, you get it.
And a reminder – I’M NOT SAYING that being a “fine artist” of podcast production is NECESSARY, but audio production definitely IS an art, and the resulting audio quality from the “artist” is not even in the same league as the house painter.
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One Response
It’s horses for courses.
Having time to craft detail and accuracy depends on having a good substructure to start with. You wouldn’t, generally, try to paint a masterpiece on crumbling plaster. Similarly, if you are given poor audio, a limited timescale and a defined budget, then the output will not be great, but it might be the best you can do given the constraints you have. A lot of podcasts fall into this category.
The important element is that the audio is listenable, it doesn’t detract from the words spoken, you can hear what is being said without the listener twisting dials every few minutes. And the message is conveyed.
The ‘nice to have’s concern the tone and the fidelity of the sound.
Unlike music recording, where I have spent a day just getting the right sound for the lead vocals for just one track, podcasts tend to be listen to once and not over and over again. This makes it more like creating Radio Ads. You record in the allotted time and then you have a time to get it to the station and you can’t be late. The Ads will run for the allotted time and then consigned to the dump.
As for Social Media, sometimes the questions asked don’t give enough information – ‘I want to start a podcast, give me a list of kit I need to get for less than $10’. The answer is probably ‘go get a job’. – or I want to record six people with 2 yetis – facepalm. Perhaps having a structure around the questions would help in giving the right advice – what kind of podcast do you want to create. Budget? What experience do you have? Etc etc. Then the appropriate advice can be given.
Producing a reasonable sounding podcast is not difficult. It doesn’t take years or lots of money.- but it does take some. It takes practice, listening to advice from people that know (like your daily goodie), using your ears and recognising that sometimes you need help.