New home studio - corporate broadcast, equipment check

Hi all - just stumbled here and I have a habit of jumping right in.

Tell me what I might do differently? I've worked a little bit with people at SweetWater and Musician's Friend. While I'm fairly technical in a 1980s C64 gamer who grew up kind of way - I don't have any experience in the A/V realm and my podcast host isn't around any more so it's time I jumped in the deep end.

Goal is corporate podcasts that I support in addition to the occasional music recording on the side - budget isn't really an issue outside of not spending an outlandish amount as this is marketing awareness cycle for us:

• Mixer: PreSonus 16.4.2 (also looked at A&H Zed-R16)
• Mic - Heil PR40
• Mic pre-amp: DBX286s
• Recorder for backup: Tascam DR680 or Ice-16
• iMac maxed with Adobe Audition
• MBP for skype callers (should I look for an appliance?)
• External flash drive for recorder (Lacie 256G)
• Could use a recommendation for a boom with good feet (sadly hardwood floor)
• Could use a reco for recording seat that doesn't squeak (was looking at ROC-N-SOC but maybe it has too many parts)
• For rackmounts I'm getting portable kit, probably just 6u for UPS, surge, recorder, maybe guitar effects and room to breathe - anyone know some that I can put wheels on at the airport?
• Probably don't need a control surface but I'd be curious what people recommend if anything for podcasting versus live shows
• Would love to find a nice desk that'll match the mixer, but studio desks seem to be overpriced

Thoughts? Am I missing anything glaring or over-engineering the solution? I could probably produce a reliable podcast for a lot less money, but I'd rather get it right or close to right first. If I'm doing music should I consider analog mixers?


/CJ Dailey, of the Cloud Computing Podcast and more to come . . . @cjdailey

Hey CJ,

Welcome to the site. wow that setup looks really good. Are you planing on incorporating video?

Hi Andrew and thanks for the welcome!

I'd love to do video but knowing me I'd be going crazy with chromakey and fancy lighting and corporate neon signs. I'm keeping the scope in the realm of audio until I'm ready to step it up or if I find an investor / channel that wants video and can help me get it right.

Tell us a little more about the format of your podcasts. Here are some questions that would help us help you:

• How many people will be in the studio at the same time?
• Why did you select the PR40?
• Why did you select the Presonus 16.4.2?
• How many Skype guests do you expect to have at the same time?
• Are you likely going to need a headphone amplifier?
• Do you understand the difference between balanced and unbalanced connections?

It sounds like you're going about this the right way. That's a good equipment list. If I were you, I might consider saving some money on the microphone, but that's a matter of preference. For a boom, don't try to get an isolating boom. Get a shock mount for the mic. Atlas makes the best booms, IMHO. You will need some specialized cables and, in all probability, some ground loop isolators. (Take a look at that ART T8.)

Thank you for replying I really appreciate the help!

Here are the answers:

• 45% of the time just me, 50% two, and occasionally on the road 3 or more on the recording
• SweetWater tried to put me on a Shure but I kept hearing about the Heil and this page here has an audio player partway down comparing the Shure SM58 to the Sennheiser MD42 II to the Heil PR-40 to the Line Audio CM3 and though it might be preferential as his mixer is set to his favorite mic I really like the wider sound of the Heil for my voice.
• SweetWater pushed me toward the Apogee as an audio interface, but I didn't think it'd have enough inputs and I started to look into mixers. I basically really like the technical design and capabilities of the PreSonus 16.4.2 - much more flexibility, and my musician friends pointed out that digital and audio aren't too far apart any more and if I'm technical enough to understand the digital mixers that it's a good way to go. I watched a vid of someone doing a skype mix minus with it and really appreciated the basic logic of the setup and savable configs as well.
• Skype will always be at least one, usually two guests, and rarely a third.
• Good point - I believe I will need a headphone amplifier, I hadn't really sussed out the visitors and the on-the-road recording sessions. Any recommendations?
• I do understand how noise can be generated from unbalanced lines and have a basic understanding of the science, however, I'm guessing that there's something like balanced cables - shielded (or twisted or something to manage impedance mismatch) that I can buy? Then I just need to make sure that the terminations are balanced as well, I'd quickly be out of my depth so I'm hoping there's something I can look for when buying or configuring that will assist.

What kind of cables should I look at? I'll just pick an Atlas boom that looks like it has rubber feet so that it doesn't resonate with the floors - not sure what an isolating boom is. I'll get a shock mount for sure. I'll check out the ART-T8.

Thanks for the advice!