- Hi I'm Jordan from Kettner Creative.
In this video we're gonna show you
how to set up a podcast recording
using the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface.
Now for the purposes of this video,
we're gonna make some assumptions here.
We're gonna assume you have two in person guests,
for that we're gonna use a Shure SM58 and the Rode PodMic
they're both great sounding $100 microphones.
They have very different attributes
but if you're doing a home podcast
or recording with your voice
these two are very capable microphones.
So we're gonna plug both of those in for this
and also we're gonna multi-track record
using GarageBand on my laptop.
Now with something like the Focusrite Scarlett,
it's not a full on audio mixer
so we don't really have the option of doing things
like live listening to YouTube channel
from a laptop or something like that.
This thing is really built
for plugging two microphones in and chatting
so that's what we're gonna show you in this video.
We're also gonna show you how to connect headphones splitter
because like we said we have two in person guest,
so what if they both want headphones?
This unit only has one headphone output
so we're gonna plug that in as well
and we're gonna see if we need the Cloudlifter
for any of the microphones.
If the gain gets too close to that 9 out of 10 mark,
then we will bring in the Cloudlifter
to help with the microphone
just because this Audio Interface especially
it does get quite noisy once you push it past 9 out of 10.
So the Cloudlifter might help us there
and then we're gonna plug everything in
with the Focusrite Scarlett pointed up
just for the benefit of the overhead Cam
but since the USB input is on the back,
we're gonna try plug everything in
then will connect it to the computer.
It's a little bit backwards from usual
but I think it will offer a better visual
as to what I'm doing and the order of operations
and what I'm thinking about when I do it.
And then we'll multi-track record in GarageBand
and give you some tips for how to export
from GarageBand as well.
Okay, so the first thing that we're gonna do is
we're gonna connect this Shure SM58 microphone
to the first channel of
the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface.
Plug this in.
Plug it in to channel 1
and we'll turn the gain all the way down on both inputs.
Next we'll plug the Rode PodMic in the Channel 2.
Next we'll plug this balance quarter inch cable
to the headphone output of
the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface
and we'll plug the other end
into this four way headphone splitter that I have.
And then we'll connect our headphones
to the first output of the splitter.
Great.
So I think all our connecting of cables is done.
So we're gonna lean this forward
and try and get some of the cables
out of the way so you can see as best as you can.
Then we're gonna connect this Audio Interface
to the computer and start a brand new GrageBand file.
Now, what am gonna show you
in this video will work for any audio software.
This will work for Pro Tools, Logic,
Ableton, Cubase, Adobe Audition, GarageBand
this same techniques will work
for all of them so just know that.
So in GarageBand we'll create a new empty project
and here is a very critical dialogue box
so you don't want it to be a stereo recording.
We wanna bring these in separately
so for now we want a new track that's an audio track
and you can see here that it's already detected
the Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface.
Next we're gonna need to create a second track
when we select that track we wanna go down
in this options menu here and select Channel 2.
So watch this right here as I select Channel 1.
Great. So you can see input one is an audio track one
and an audio track two its input two
from the Audio Interface.
That's exactly what we want.
That will give us two different tracks
we can EQ them separately
or just the level separately after the fact.
We don't want this coming into a stereo recording
we might as well use the functionality here
just in case we need to edit some things later.
Now I'm gonna speak into the Shure SM58
I'm gonna turn off these air switches that are on.
As I speak into the Shure SM58 we want to keep talking
until we're getting pretty constant flickering
from that green light.
Now we don't want it to be constant,
we don't want it to go yellow,
we will see audio degradation especially for a podcast.
Podcast can get quite dynamic people can get animated
and excited about topics,
so we wanna make sure that we have plenty of headroom
especially since we're putting into GarageBand anyway
we can always boost it in post.
So we will leave that option to us.
So here we can see that were turned up to about 75%
and I'm pretty happy with that.
Next is we speak in the Rode PodMic,
we're gonna keep turning up the gain
and again we're gonna wait for that green flashing light.
So here on the Rode PodMic you can tell
that it is requiring more gain.
We're getting really close to that 9 out of 10 mark
and for that reason I'm gonna be a lot more comfortable
with this recording if we connected to the Cloudlifter
to get some additional gain
as it in line preamp for this microphone.
So I'm gonna turn that all the way down,
I'm gonna unplug this microphone
from the second channel the Audio Interface.
I'm gonna plug it into the Cloudlifter.
Can move this up here.
Then I'm gonna connect that Cloudlifter
to the Audio Interface.
Now what the Cloudlifter does,
is it basically trades Phantom power for reduced gain.
So as we plug this in kind of surrounding myself
with the cables.
We need to turn on Phantom power .
Now this is a good point to raise about this Audio Interface
is with something like a Shure SM58,
it's a balance dynamic microphone
we can still have one microphone with Phantom power
from this Audio Interface and one without.
That won't hurt anything at all.
With things like Ribbon microphones
or some unbalanced Dynamic microphones
which are extremely rare,
you can run into issues
but for this we are just using a Plain Ol SM58
so we can send it Phantom power.
We'll turn that on.
That won't help this microphone in anyway
but it will not hurt it either.
Okay, so Phantom power is on,
so that means the cloud lifters activated
so now we're gonna speak into this Rode PodMic
keep turning it up
and there you can see that we're getting
a really healthy level again.
Now we're just a higher over 50%
maybe were 55% but we were at 90%.
So the Cloudlifter is clearly doing this job here
and this is gonna be much more helpful
for us when we record.
Now with the Rode PodMic as well,
you do have with both mics actually,
you have the option form filters for them
but we're just gonna leave
them both factory default for now.
Okay, so now as we go over to our computer,
I'm gonna speak in the track one.
For some reason the meters aren't moving
so I'm gonna hit Alt D or Alt T.
There it is.
We'll hit record enable
and then for both microphones
we're gonna arm them just a single click on that.
And now you can see that they are both receiving level
and there ready to go.
So this is me speaking into the Shure SM58
and this is me speaking in the Rode PodMic.
There we seeing the green lights blinking,
they're not going yellow
and we can see both of them separately moving in GarageBand.
That's exactly what we want.
Take my headphones here,
put them on we do have some monitoring options
that I wanna discuss with this Focusrite Scarlet as well.
With this direct monitoring button,
so I'm gonna single click that,
so there is a single circle light.
What this will do,
is it will put both microphones into both ears.
Since we are sharing a headphone splitter,
I think that's the best option.
So we're gonna leave that setting on.
The other option would put one microphone on one ear
and the other microphone in the other ear
and that would be kinda confusing
I think if we're just having
a natural discussion for a podcast.
So I'm gonna leave the first option enabled
that allows us to hear what we are doing here
as we record the podcast.
So back over to GarageBand,
I'm gonna hit record.
You see it's recording now.
So this is guest number one
speaking into Shure SM58 dynamic microphone
you can see that there is some crosstalk.
The Rode is picking it up as well
but don't worry about that
these microphones would be facing apart.
This is guest number two speaking into the Rode PodMic.
We can see already that the gain
is a little bit hot on this one,
so I'm gonna turn it down a little bit.
We're gonna try to get these two gains similar.
This is the Shure SM58 turn that up just a little bit,
this is the Shure SM58.
This is the Rode PodMic, this is the Rode PodMic.
This is the Shure SM58.
This is the Rode PodMic.
So that would conclude our sound check.
I'm gonna hit stop on the recording.
I'm pretty comfortable with how that level matches up
with that level.
We're both in the same Ball Park .
We're not seeing spikes way up to the top of the channel.
I think that's a very healthy level
that gives us a lot of headroom after the fact
so we can adjust the gain or add compression or EQ
and do all those things after.
But this will be enough
to capture a high quality recording for this podcast.
Now, if you don't want to do any post processing
on this whatsoever,
if you just wanna render this out
and upload it so everybody can listen your podcast,
I would highly recommend
that you go into GarageBand preferences
and that you check this advanced spot
and hit export projects at full volume.
With that, I'll do, is if you hit share export song to disc
it will automatically normalize it.
Which means that it will expand these
to go all the way to minus one DB or something like that.
GarageBand does its own little algorithm there
but it will raise the volume of both their tracks there
to make it a little bit louder for when you publish it
and it'll do that for you automatically.
Every version of audio software has an option like that
in Logic and Adobe Audition it's called normalizing,
I'm sure that's the same in everything else as well.
So you want to normalize the audio before you publish it.
So again if you want pricing or specs
for anything that you see in this setup here,
we do have links in the description below
if you have any questions
about why I did something a certain way
or what I think about various parts of this aspect,
what I would improve,
please leave a comment in the comments section below.
We read every comment we'd love to hear from you.
And if you want to see more videos like this
in the future, if you found this helpful
please like and subscribe.
Thank you for watching
( upbeat funk music)