Do You Need an Expensive Audio Interface for Your Podcast?

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I'm Danny Brown,

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and you're listening to One Minute Podcast Tips,

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the show that helps you be a better podcaster

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in just a minute a week.

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If you want more specific tips just for you in your podcast,

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check out the Magic Mic membership

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at oneminutepodcasttips.com/support.

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And now, this week's episode.

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In episode 47 of One Minute Podcast Tips,

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I asked if you need to use an audio interface

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for your podcast, or if you could just record it direct into your computer.

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And I'll leave a link to that in the show notes so you can check that episode out.

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But if you do move to an audio interface, does it need to be an expensive one if you have a good microphone?

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Or can you get away with a less expensive one?

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While you don't need an expensive interface, you do need a good quality one.

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Different interfaces have different features that can impact your mic, and by association, sound.

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Here are some of the key features.

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Gain.

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If your interface doesn't have enough gain to power your mic cleanly,

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that can result in increased background noise because you need to push the gain to the max for your mic to be heard.

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Noise floor.

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Different interfaces have different noise floors.

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Interface manufacturer Focusrite defines noise floor as "the sum of the noise each component generates".

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So this can be the microphone, the cable going into the microphone, processing and other things like that.

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So you want the noise floor to be really low.

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Anything below -60dB is a good level to look for.

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And zero latency monitoring.

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This is really key because this ensures what you say into the mic is coming through your headphones or monitors at the same time with no lag,

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which means cleaner recording and being able to fix any issues as you hear them.

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These are just some key areas that you need to look for in a good interface.

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You don't need to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on an expensive one,

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just make sure you get a good quality one that gives you good sound quality for the equipment you're using.

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Until the next time, happy podcasting.

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Thanks for listening.

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If you enjoy One Minute Podcast tips,

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be sure to share with your friends and other podcasters

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Until the next time, happy podcasting.

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