Episode 6
Should You Use a USB or XLR Microphone for Your Podcast?
Generally there are two choices for mic connections in podcasting - USB or XLR. When it comes to which one you should use, that can often come down to a simple choice between ease of use and future upgrades.
Products I use for One Minute Podcast Tips
Note: these contain affiliate links, so I may get a small percentage of any product you buy/use when using my link.
My equipment:
- Shure SM7B dynamic mic
- Motu M2 Audio Interface
- Sony MDR-7506 Studio Monitor Headphones
- Elgato Wave Mic Arm Low Profile
Recommended resources:
- Captivate.fm
- Aweber email marketing
- Boomcaster remote interviewing
- Poddin transcripts
- Reel.so audiogram creator
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Transcript
You're listening to One Minute Podcast Tips. I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each episode helps you be a better podcaster. Find all the latest episodes at OneMinutePodcastTips.com or free wherever you get podcasts. And now, this week's episode.
Danny:When it comes to the type of podcast mic to use, generally there are two options. There's USB and there's XLR. USB, much like the name suggests, makes it super easy for you to plug and play. So long as you have a computer or laptop, Chromebook, MacBook etc that's got a USB port, you can buy a microphone like the Samsung Q9U or the ATR2100 and plug it straight into your computer. Hit record on your editing software and you're good to go.
Danny:With XLR, the cable is a 3-pin cable that plugs into an audio interface and that interface then goes into your computer. And there's pros and cons to both. The USB one, obviously it's plug and play as mentioned so there's no other equipment needed. Just the microphone, the USB cable that normally comes with the mic and the recording software on your computer.
Danny:With an XLR mic you do need a separate XLR cable which often doesn't come with the microphone, so you need to buy that. You need an audio interface that has at least one XLR input, and then that needs to feed into your computer onto your recording software. Now while the XLR approach does mean a larger financial output initially, it does give you a more flexible upgrade path. Because it's an XLR cable, the microphone will work with pretty much any audio interface that you buy in the future. And you can also upgrade your mic with ease, because the XLR interface will support any XLR mic.
Danny:Until the next time, happy podcasting.
Danny:Thanks for listening. If you're enjoying One Minute Podcast Tips, be sure to leave a five star rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and help others find the show too. Until next time, happy podcasting.
