Need More Mic Gain: A Chat with Johan

Johan:

Hi Chris! I love the show including the goody bag episodes! Thank you for your podcast, it’s been so helpful and fun to listen to.

Just a quick question about mic gain and this might be a dumb question. I would like to purchase the RØDE PodMic when it is released in the next month. However, I hear it is pretty much as gain hungry as the SM7b. I am only 8 episodes into my new podcast, so I’m fairly new at it and I am limited for funds as the show grows. I know a lot of people are running Cloudlifters or Fetheads on their SM7b mics but I was just wondering if another solution would be to simply run second preamp on on mic into the flow? Or would this give off way too much noise or possibly damage my other hardware? I’m running through a Presonus 68 interface at the moment.

Thanks again for all you do!
Johan

Chris:

Hi Johan – good to hear from you and glad you like the show!

First, be careful with this RØDE PodMic. I’m not yet clear on how good it really is. Tho I guess you could buy it and return it if you don’t like it…

Second, if you do need more gain, get a Fethead. I know funds are tight but you can probably find a way to afford it. –OR– get a better interface with better preamps.

If you can’t afford any of this, then just keep using what you’re using and do the best with what you have.

Finding a way to invest in good gear is ALWAYS worth it.

NOTE: if you’re not streaming Live, you could always just record at a slightly lower level and then boost the level in post. If you do this be sure top record using 24 bit because it gives MUCH higher resolution files 😉

Does this help?

All the best, bro!
~Chris

Johan:

Very helpful thank you! I’m currently running a podcast with 4 Sennheiser e945’s (there are 3-4 of us on each show) But they are currently being borrowed every time so we are looking to slowly purchase some mics of our own and the e945’s don’t have the same “umph” I’m looking for. I have some SM58’s I could use as well.

It could be because I am use to my AT2035 but as a condenser it’s not going to work in our multi-person recording environment. I was hoping the RØDE PodMic would be a good solution. A recent video I watched did a comparison to the SM7b and it looked promising. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoNuHp71sHCErKuNF-LugZA) Price is a factor, but I don’t want to cheap out on everything either.

I thought about getting a Cloudlifter or Fethead anyway to bring the gain up on what we are currently using (at least mine as the main host). But I’m also exploring all options available to me before I put money on something. I noticed the SS-1 is similar to the Fethead but is a better price. Do you have any experience or thoughts using that?

Thank you again,
I love talking about this stuff
Johan

Chris:

I haven’t heard of the SS-1 but at first glance it looks good.

And at Podfest a few days ago Focusrite was using a DM1 Dynamite at their booth and they said it was good: https://www.seelectronics.com/dm1-dynamite-active-inline-preamp

Also at Podfest I got to hold a PodMic (it’s heavy and built like a tank) and I spoke into it briefly to test for plosives and it had about as much plosive response as an RE20 or SM7b, which is good.

How crazy do you get with your post-production? DAW, plugins, processing, editing, etc.

Also, can I post our back and forth here online so others can benefit from this conversation? (I won’t use your full name)

Johan:

Yes, share as much as you like. And thanks for putting my mind at ease with the PodMic, I preordered.

I do my post processing on Studio One, I am really happy with their noise gate and it doubles as a decent daw for my music. My basic plugins I use for post production are normalization, compressors, noise gate, de-esser and EQ. Sometimes I’ll use one called “make fatter.” I then send it over to Auphonic to make sure I get everything to the correct LUFS level.

Thanks again for your help and feedback!
Johan

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