Here’s a peak at my podcast production desk.

Almost all the podcasts I produce for clients involve on-location recordings – so after the sound has been gathered, I spend a lot of quality time huddled with this gear, assembling the material and doing whatever post-production is needed to the audio.

Typically, production involves multi track mixes of eight to 12 tracks, and up until recently I’ve been doing that work with Adobe Audition.

I switched to Pro Tools last year and regret not doing it sooner -  the learning curve is quite steep, but once it clicks, everything just falls into place, particularly if you’ve ever worked in a large multi track studio environment.

I should point out that even though I’m a huge fan of Pro Tools, I still recommend Audion to people – it runs well on just about any PC and is still an inexpensive way to get going with multi-track audio software.   (When Adobe bought what was then called Cool Edit, I thought they’d bury the software, but Adobe has continued to support it)

Here’s the guide to what’s on the desk (click either image to see a larger version).

1.   ProTools 8

2.   Tannoy Active monitors

3.   Ipod

4.   Phone audio interface/patch for
recording phoners, like on BrainPicker.ca

5.   Headphones

6.   Microphone

7.   CF cards from Sound Devices field recorder

8.   Pen for Wacom tablet

9.   Mixer for house sound

10.  M-box (audio interface for ProTools)

11.  Wireless keyboard

12.  Must have – coffee

13.  Must have – analog notepad

14.  Midi keyboard

15.  Mackie  MCU  control surface

In the field I use  Sound Devices gear – their digital recorders and field mixers are simply the best. People accustomed to those tiny consumer  recorders find the gear big, but for flawless & dependable field recording, there simply is nothing like it.  I am almost always running on battery power, and I can go for a solid 4 hours without even worrying about a charge – and that’s with a full 4 channel mixer feeding into the digital recorder.  And coupled with custom PortaBrace bags, I can use the stuff in any kind of weather.

Tags: Adobe Audition, Pro Tools, Sound Devices
Posted in Blog, Media, Podcasting, Technology