NEWS – These days in many parts of the world, the Covid-19 world pandemic has many of us quarantined in our homes. One major result of this event is that many people are now teleworking, and it looks like we will be in this mode for some time.
For quite some time, I have wanted to start a podcast of my own, but I always seemed to come up with an acceptable excuse that I did not have the time to set it up or to record the podcasts. Now that I have been working at home for quite a while I have no excuse.
So, I have been looking into the best affordable equipment that would offer great value and quality and if possible be comparable to some of the more expensive gear.
Enter the PodMic from Rode!! This is a nicely crafted, cost-effective, and stylish dynamic XLR microphone that is specifically tuned for speech and broadcast and it is from a very well-known company in the industry. It offers professional-quality sound and features a dynamic capsule with a tight cardioid polar pattern, that blocks out unwanted sounds from the surrounding environment. This is especially helpful when recording in a non-studio environment. It has an internal shock mount and an internal pop filter and double-mesh housing.
If you would like to learn more about this great and affordable mic for broadcasting, check it out at B&H Photo, Guitar Center, BestBuy, Adorama, and many other retailers. It sells for $99.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
Since it doesn’t appear to have USB in addition to XLR, what sort of interface would you plan to use with it?
Hi Aaron,
Stay tuned for my next news story to see the interface I chose!! 🙂
I like that it is a dynamic – those condensers pick up everything and it’s really hard to sound-proof a room. Plus, the condensers would pick up every mouth noise and click. These dynamics are so much more forgiving … and I cringe when people recommend those blue yetis.
I have experience with the Heil PR40 (the microphone that Leo Laporte over at Twit.tv uses for decades on his podcasts) and capture directly into a wave recorder with XLR inputs. Haven’t used a computer XLR pre-amp solution in years, so I’m also curious to see what you end up using.
My favorite microphone ever is the Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB … it has over 2k positive reviews on Amazon, and has both XLR and usb connection to hook directly to a computer. The cheap little thing sounds almost as good as my Heil at 1/10th the price. Easy to plug into a laptop for short podcast interviews … and usually sounds better than everyone else.
The mic even has an earplug slot to self-monitor without any audio-delay. Looks like they stopped making it, and switched to a new black-colored model with usb-c connection. The original silver-usb one is still available on Ebay.
Good luck in your journey. Sounds like it’s gonna be awesome!
Hi Tim,
This is what I paired the mic with:
https://the-gadgeteer.com/2020/05/19/rodecaster-pro-is-a-feature-packed-broadcasting-mixer-for-streaming-and-podcasts/