HEADPHONES FOR PODCASTING

To produce a quality podcast, you don’t need expensive gear, but you do have to buy quality gear.

- Chhavi Sachdev

If you’ve ever had a workshop with me, you’ll know I absolutely insist that podcasters wear headphones (or “cans” as we call them in the industry) to monitor audio. The reason and the principle behind this is simple: Garbage in is garbage out: Microphones, as precision audio capture equipment pick up – and then you record – all the sounds in the environment. And even if you are an accomplished sound engineer, it is nearly always impossible to clean up or remove “noise” from what is actually desirable audio. Headphones are the secret sauce to monitoring what your microphone is picking up.

Additionally, over-theear headphones that fully enclose your ear lobe are the best because they will isolate the sound your mic is picking up and block out the sounds your own ears would hear. Inear headphones are generally not advised. Neither, for that matter, are sound-cancelling headphones.

Part of the design of sound-canceling cans involves added frequencies that counteract ambient sounds in the environment.

Remember, garbage in is.......