Everything You Need to Start a Podcast in 2020

Content by Shawn Koh (Tech360.tv Community Creator)

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Podcasting is quite popular these days. It is a good alternative to videos, and they are easy to create. Today, we will be sharing with you the items you need to start your own podcast.

Firstly, the most essential item that you will need will be a good set of microphones. The Rode Pod Mic is an affordable option, costing S$150. This mic is comparable with the costly Shure SM7B (S$600), which is a very popular mic for professional podcasters. The Rode Pod Mic is a dynamic microphone, the build quality is great and it works best when you speak directly straight into it.

Secondly, we have XLR (External Line Return) cables. A 3-meter, 3-pin XLR cable costs around S$22. You don’t want to get something too cheap because they might be unreliable. One cable works for one mic. These cables are designed to deliver balanced microphone and line-level signals over distances.

RODE PSA 1 is a studio boom arm. It is designed to help one move their mic easily and prevent any shaking from the surroundings to affect the microphone. It offers a horizontal reach of 820mm, a vertical reach of 840mm and full 360-degree rotation. It is easy to mount on desks and surfaces. The RODE PSA 1 costs around S$150.

The ZOOM H5 is a reliable recorder for your recordings. It costs around S$300 and has 2 XLR cable inputs. The capsule on top is also interchangeable and can be swapped out to fit another 2 XLR cables. It runs on 2 AA batteries and it records onto an SD card.

Although not a must-have, headphones are good to have to monitor your sound levels. An affordable option is the Audio-Technica ATH-M20x which costs about S$85.

With more than one pair of headphones, comes a headphone amplifier. The Behringer Microamp HA400 takes the audio you input to it and splits it up to 4 different channels for up to four pairs of headphones to hear the audio being recorded. This headphone amplifier requires an external power supply adapter which can limit the portability of your set-up. It costs S$44.

The total set-up for an average podcaster should cost less than S$1,000. This isn’t a budget set-up, but it’s not a high-end one either. Setting up for a Podcast is pretty simple, connect the microphone with the recorder through the XLR cables.

From the recorder, you can link it to the headphone amplifier which then splits the sound to the respective headphones for audio monitoring.