- Hey, I'm Caleb Wojcik from DIY Video Guy,
and in this video, I'm gonna review
the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB mixer,
and I'm gonna walk through how I set it up for podcasting.
(funky music)
The Focusrite 2i2 is a two input,
and two output USB mixer
that plugs into a USB into your computer.
I started using it about four months ago,
and I'm pretty glad that I did.
If you're using an XLR microphone
or maybe an instrument like an electric guitar
that you record onto a computer,
this is a perfect entry-level pro amp to start with.
It has two XLR inputs on the front
which you can manually control the gain of individually,
and these gain controls also show the colors
that correspond to the peak levels of your audio.
Set it up, all you need to do is run your XLR microphone
into your port number one.
Then you start to turn the gain up
to around two or three o'clock,
and I switched direct monitor to on.
Then I plug in the headphones using
a 1/4 to 1/8 stereo headphone jack adapter
which you kind of need to buy separately.
And this is so you can listen to yourself
and monitor what you're recording.
Lastly, I just plug in the USB cord in the back
of the Scarlett, and then plug that cord
into the computer, and you're pretty much ready to record.
When you use this, you want the input and the ouput
on your computer to both go through the Focusrite.
So, you can easily do this by just holding option
and clicking the volume icon, up in the icon bar.
All of your computer sounds will now
go through the Focusrite.
And I actually just have it this way all the time,
because the little hiss sound you get
when you have your headphones plugged into a laptop
or a Mac doesn't happen
when you have all your sound going through this Focusrite,
and that's just a, my little pet peeve of mine
when I have my headphones on.
Now, you can't really monitor yourself
unless you turn up the volume pretty high on this thing
so when you're talking to someone on Skype
and they're volume's also high, it's a little hard
to hear yourself, so this is just a little setting trick
that I use to turn down Skype volume.
You just have to go into your Skype settings.
Then to the audio video tab, and turn down the Skype volume.
You can also do this by holding option and command,
and pressing the up and down arrow key.
Depending on what application you're recording into,
you may have input one going in the left channel speaker,
and input two going into the right channel speakers.
So, make sure to check the application settings,
and the channel that you're on,
and make sure that you're setting it to dual mono,
so that you're not just recording into one speaker.
Another cool feature is the 48 volt power
that I can provide a microphone.
I co-hosted a Google Hangout on air,
and just recorded a little interview over webcam
when Pat Flynn was over at my place
about a month or two ago.
And we used two lavalier microphones
plugged into this, but a lot
of their microphones needed power
so all I had to do was push the 48 volt power button.
It immediately gave those microphones power
versus my Heil PR-40 which doesn't need power,
and I was able to use these just like I would
on a digital audio recorder.
Another cool feature of this Scarlett 2i2
is the ability to plug in monitor speakers
which are zero latency.
They're usually higher quality speakers
and so, you can play back while you're recording,
and it shouldn't pick up
that little reverb effect that happens.
The plugs in the back aren't
your typical RCA outputs though.
They are one-quarter inch TRS jack outputs.
So, make sure the monitor speakers you buy
have those specific inputs.
Some monitor speakers that I recommend
are either the M-Audio Studiophile AV 40s,
or the KRK Rokits.
That's it for this review of the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
I really like this thing.
It's sleek, it's small, it looks good on the desk.
I've traveled with it before,
and it makes my Heil PR-40 sound pretty good.
If you want links to this or any other things I mentioned,
like the monitor speakers, you can find those
all below the video.
If you wanna check out any other gear that I recommend
or any gear that I used to shoot this video,
just go to diyvideoguy.com/gear.
Cheers.
(murmurs)