- If you're interested in podcasting and live streaming,
selecting the best microphone
for your needs is incredibly important.
And for me, the Rode PodMic has been my microphone
of choice since its release in early 2019.
And hopefully after watching this review,
you will understand why I applaud Mike, the PodMic.
And I know that doesn't work, but I tried really hard
to think of some sort of rhyme.
And the best that I could come up with was applaud Mike
and PodMic, we'll just move on.
To be totally honest,
I thought I made this video like over a year ago.
I couldn't believe that I didn't have
just a straight up PodMic review,
which is what this video is.
But in a way, I'm glad that I didn't make it before
because now that I've been using the PodMic for
a year and a half, that's what I'm recording into right now
the PodMic with the Rode WS2 wind screen,
directly into the RodeCaster Pro.
And I've also got my second PodMic here,
just so you can see the standard
like what the PodMic actually looks like
when it's not covered up by this kind of goofy windscreen.
But now that I've been using the microphone
for a year and a half,
I feel like I can speak to it a lot more accurately
than if I had just gotten it.
Plus, I've been fortunate that over the past
year and a half, quite a few people have told me
that they've purchased the PodMic themselves
based on my recommendation,
which is like a pretty big responsibility,
but they say that they love the PodMic,
which makes me very happy
'cause it means I'm not just a crazy person
raving about something over here in the corner,
but that it actually serves a purpose
and suits a community really, really well.
Now, obviously the PodMic came out at almost the same time
as the RodeCaster Pro,
and it is clearly intended to be used
with the RodeCaster Pro,
but it is just an XLR dynamic microphone that will work
with any XLR interface or mixer that you have.
So let's run through the tech specs
if you haven't seen them.
This is directly from Rode.
These are the technical specifications,
the size dimensions, and the frequency response charts.
If you wanna get into the real technical side
of this microphone, or you wanna compare it
to other microphones you're considering,
or maybe other microphones that you have already.
But for me, as much as this stuff is important
to understand, what matters the most
is how it actually works in my everyday life,
how it performs in my workflow,
and the results that it gives me.
And that's where I can say
that the PodMic just really, really shines.
I love microphones, I love audio,
I love trying out different microphones,
playing with different things,
but I always come back to the PodMic
for basically every episode of the three podcasts that I do.
I use the PodMic, or we use multiple PodMics.
I have two of them.
And now this school year,
since all of my classes have been moved online
for at least the foreseeable future,
almost all of those are done with the PodMic as well
because it's the mic that I know I can rely on
to sound the best and work the best,
and just deliver when I need it to deliver.
It's not perfect, there's a few things
to kind of be aware of with it,
and I'll get to those towards the end of this video.
Should also mention that in this video,
I'm not gonna be doing any comparisons
against other microphones.
If you wanna see how the Rode PodMic stacks up
against other popular microphones, I'll put some links
in the description to other comparison videos I've done,
and I'll also put like a playlist at the end of this video.
But right now, in the PodMic review,
I wanna just focus on the PodMic.
I don't wanna be distracted by comparing it
to this, that, or the other.
I want to hear just how it stands on its own,
how it sounds on its own.
And so for $100 you get one heck of a well-built microphone.
These things are incredibly heavy.
If you've not used a PodMic or tested one out before,
they are entirely all metal construction,
every part of this black material here is all metal.
The metal grill is obviously metal.
And even the knobs to adjust the PodMic are metal as well.
And they work incredibly well.
It's very secure, once you tighten it down,
it's not going to lose its position or anything.
So you can get it exactly where you need it,
and then it will just stay there
as long as you need it there.
And I should also say in the bottom of the mount,
there are two thread diameters,
which I talked about in my Shure MV7 review.
But basically it comes with a diameter that's ready for
any standard microphone stand, which is amazing.
And then without having to fiddle with any kind of adapters
or anything like that, it has a 3/8-inch connector
built into the stand as well,
so you can put it on a boom arm like the Rode PSA1,
that I'm using right here.
You don't need any adapters, any little thread things,
just straight out of the box the microphone will work
with any microphone stand that you probably already have,
or that you're considering purchasing.
And then all you need to do is plug it in
and start recording.
Now it is a dynamic microphone
with a cardioid pickup pattern,
which basically means it picks up sound best
when it's directly in front of the microphone.
It does try to reject other sounds from the room around you
or behind the microphone.
If I move this microphone or if I go to the side,
my voice will change.
If I go behind the microphone, you won't hear it as much.
If you're speaking directly into
the front of the microphone,
that is where you're gonna get the best pickup.
And it's gonna try, since it's a dynamic microphone,
not to pick up too much of the room tone around you,
which is great if you're not in a well-treated space.
It's not magic, so it's not gonna make any space
sound like a perfect studio,
but it definitely helps if you have a little bit of echo
or you're in a less than ideal situation,
you can kind of count on your PodMic to sound really good.
Now let's talk about settings real quick
because I often get that question,
what settings do I use for my PodMic?
I'm gonna plug in this one here.
So the PodMic I'm currently speaking into,
which has the blue cable connected to it,
is running into the RodeCaster Pro
and it is running through a Cloudlifter.
This PodMic with the red cable is gonna be running through
the RodeCaster Pro as well, but not through a Cloudlifter,
just so you can hear the difference.
I did make an entire video all about using a Cloudlifter
with the PodMic and whether or not it's necessary.
And the short summary is that it is not necessary
if you're using the RodeCaster Pro.
But it can be a helpful thing,
especially if you want to put some distance
between you and the microphone.
If you like talking away from the microphone,
having that extra gain is going to be really helpful,
or if you speak more quietly
or you work with people who speak more quietly,
having that extra gain is also gonna come in handy as well.
But I use the PodMic for over a year with no Cloudlifter
or anything like that, and I got great results.
Pretty frequently I get asked what my settings are
for the PodMic, and they are incredibly simple.
So running through the RodeCaster Pro,
I do have it on the PodMic setting.
I have the gain set to plus 35,
that seems to work with my voice and how I speak.
Using the Cloudlifter,
that means I keep my audio slider about one third
the way from the top of that channel.
And then the only processing that I have turned on
is the big bottom, which just adds a little bit of bass.
I've talked about the big bottom before,
and its hilarious name, but it's just the RodeCaster's name
for the bass boost system that it uses.
The PodMic does tend to lack a little bit on the low end.
And if you have a nasally voice like me,
that can be kind of noticeable.
So I use that to just add in just a little bit of low end,
not very much, it's not big bottom,
it's like little big bottom in my case.
That's weird.
So here's what it sounds like
with the big bottom bass boost enabled.
And if I turn that off, this is what it sounds like
just the dry PodMic signal with no bass boost.
And again, with the bass boost, and without the bass boost.
So it's pretty subtle
but I think that it makes enough of a difference
at least with my voice, that it sounds good.
It also sounds good on a variety of speakers.
So whether it's computer speakers, headphones,
like our TV entertainment system
in the living room of the house, or even on car stereos,
this seems to sound good.
Sometimes with other microphones, they'll sound great
on your computer speakers, but then you listen to a podcast
on a car stereo or something, and it's like
there's way too much bass or the mix is weird.
So the PodMic with these settings, for me,
sounds good on pretty much everything.
Now if we wanna compare that to a non-cloud lifted PodMic,
that would be this one right here.
So this is a PodMic,
it's got the exact same settings, but no Cloudlifter.
So that means that my volume slider is almost maxed out.
I could increase the gain from plus 35 to like plus 40,
but then you kind of start getting some hiss and noise.
So this is no Cloudlifter, and this is with Cloudlifter,
but otherwise the settings are exactly the same
between the two microphones.
So it's up to you and whatever speakers you're listening on
to decide if that is worth it for you or not.
The other thing that's worth testing,
while I have these microphones here like this,
is the plosives.
The PodMic does have a built-in windscreen,
but it works kind of okay.
It's one of the weaker areas of the microphone.
You can kind of hear, I've done this many times,
but Peter Piper pitched a podcast.
And if I go to the microphone with the windscreen on,
Peter Piper pitched a podcast.
Pa pa plosives, pa pa plosives.
So if you're using the PodMic without the windscreen,
the key is to just speak across the front of the microphone
and not directly into the front of the microphone.
And that's gonna help your breath go past it
and not directly into it.
And it's gonna really make a difference
with a lot of those plosives.
If you do choose to add something like this WS2 wind screen,
that's gonna take care of pretty much all your
plosive problems, but it doesn't look as cool.
That sounds so shallow and so vain to think
who cares what a microphone looks like,
it's what it sounds like that matters the most,
and that is true.
But in today's world, many people use their microphones
for video podcast, streaming, things like that.
And the aesthetics actually do matter.
And the PodMic, I think, is a very cool looking microphone,
it's very visually appealing.
And it does kind of like hurt a little bit
when I put this windscreen on,
and it just sort of now looks like
a big poofy amorphous blob, but it sounds terrific.
So especially if I'm doing anything that does not involve
being on camera,
I am always using this windscreen 100% of the time.
And even when I am doing something on camera,
I use the windscreen like 80% of the time
because it just makes it sound so much better.
And again, being a microphone,
obviously the sound quality is what matters the most.
And so I've sort of mentioned some of the PodMic's
weak spots, but if you wanna know the three weaknesses
that I have found over the past year and a half of using it,
it's basically what I mentioned.
The low end is lacking a bit.
So depending on your voice and your preference,
you might have to EQ in some low end,
or if you're matching it with another microphone,
and the built-in windscreen definitely
leaves some things to be desired.
But if you get the WS2, which these are like $20
or under $20, then that takes care of that problem entirely.
The only other negative that I have found so far
with the PodMic, is that it is always out of stock.
And that's not a problem with the microphone,
but if you really want that microphone,
you gotta keep an eye on stock levels
at all the different places that you can get it from
because it goes out of stock pretty quickly.
I got this first one,
I ordered it as soon as they announced it in early 2019.
And then I liked it so much that I wanted a second one
because do podcasts or streams,
and I wanted to have two microphones.
If that's in your budget, I highly recommended it,
it makes your life really easy to have
two of the exact same microphone.
I ordered this one in May of 2019,
but I didn't get it until November of 2019
because it was back-ordered for so long.
Now I'm recording this video in November of 2020.
So luckily it's not quite as bad as it used to be,
but it can still sometimes be a few weeks
before you're able to get a PodMic.
So I'll put links down in the description to a few places
you can purchase it from.
One of the reasons that I love Rode products
and no, this is not sponsored,
none of my Rode videos have ever been sponsored,
but their service is amazing.
And if you purchase your PodMic,
if you purchase your PodMic from an authorized Rode dealer,
and then you register it with Rode at their website,
your warranty goes up to 10 years.
And that says a lot that a company is willing to stand
behind a product in this day and age for 10 years.
And even though this microphone has not even been
on the market for 10 years, I have no reason to think
that it won't last way beyond that.
So this is one of those things that
once you buy your PodMic and you start using it,
you're kind of like done with dealing with microphones.
You don't have to worry about that microphone problem
anymore, unless you just want to have fun
and experiment with other microphones or whatever.
And it should last way longer than you need it to,
years into decades.
I mean just don't let it get run over by a bus or something,
and I think it'll be fine.
Honestly, it might survive being run over by a bus too.
Don't try that though, just don't
'cause you don't want to get it busted.
And when it comes to purchasing microphones,
a big thing to remember is that
it does come down to your preference.
Don't just go with what is popular.
Don't just go with what some handsome dude
on YouTube is telling you to buy.
Get the thing that sounds good to your ears,
fits in your budget,
and works with your setup as best as possible.
For me, I have found that the PodMic is the most
natural sounding microphone.
For better or worse, this is what my voice sounds like
in real life.
Maybe you want a microphone that's gonna make your voice
sound smoother and better,
but this has been the most authentic,
natural sounding microphone that I've used.
Just to be honest with you,
I don't think you can go wrong, especially for $100.
And honestly, not even just for $100.
If the PodMic were even more expensive,
it's a great microphone at any price point.
The fact that it's $100, I think just makes it
more accessible to more people,
and that's a wonderful thing.
So if you're a podcast, streamer, YouTuber, broadcaster,
whatever, the PodMic is something that considers,
that deserves,
that I consider to deserve serious consideration.
And if you wanna know more, you wanna check out some
of those comparisons that I mentioned earlier in this video,
I will put an entire playlist right there,
which will hopefully help you
make the best decision possible.
(upbeat playful music)