The Rode Podcaster is a dynamic USB mic that delivers all the benefits of USB connectivity with the performance of a dedicated speech mic. To meet this need, Rode has created one of the quickest, easiest ways to capture high-quality speech performance. A good microphone is essential, and a good microphone designed specifically for the medium should ensure great results, right? Podcasts, you’ll have noticed, have become A Very Big Deal, with shows covering just about any topic you can think of and some of the biggest celebrity names getting involved. It's a really small device that connects into the back of your microphone.As the name makes perfectly clear, this is a mic aimed squarely at the burgeoning podcast market. What it does is provide 20 dB of clean gain to any dynamic or ribbon microphone through phantom power. Through my research I found a device by Triton Audio called the FetHead. As I said I did do a good amount of research on this microphone. So make sure your preamps have another juice for the microphone. My problem was that my MBox 2 Pro only had a gain range of 54 dB on the preamps. The required amount for a good signal is 56 dB of gain. This microphone also does require a bit of juice. But be careful as it still picks up the strong plosive sounds. When reading scripts a pop filter can sometimes getting in the way, so not having to use a pop filter was really handy. The microphone also has a built-in pop shield, so there's no need for a pop filter in front of the microphone. I even tried recording some audio when a heavy storm was outside, and the audio was super clean with a very, very small indication the storm that was bashing the house outside. It was less sensitive than my condenser microphone, but still with a very good audio voice quality. I tested it out when I was between 2 and 4 inches away, and some of the outside ambient noises was introduced when I recorded at a further distance. Rode suggest being no less the 2 inches away from the Procaster. So in theory with a broadcast dynamic microphone and its super cardoid pattern, the closer you get to the microphone, the less outside ambient noise that will be picked up. This will handle the weight of the Procaster, plus the arm allows you to maneuver the mic around quite easily. I'd definitely recommend the Rode PS1A studio arm. So make sure you have a microphone stand that can carry this weight. The Procaster is a bit on the heavy side, weighing in at 695 g/1.53 lbs. That's not to say these aren't great microphones, but with voice-over work and my tests with the Rode Procaster, I'd definitely recommend a broadcast dynamic microphone where the bigger capsule on the device provides better quality of audio, plus reduces the amount of unwanted external audio in the recording with its cardiod microphone pattern. If you compare this with your more standard handheld dynamic microphones such as the SM58 or SM57 (the SM58 which has a frequency range of 50 Hz – 15,000 Hz and the Shure 57 of 40 Hz – 14,000 Hz) these microphones won't capture the nuances of a voice or an acoustic instrument in the upper frequency range. This is a very good quality broadcast microphone with a frequency range of 75 Hz – 18,000 Hz, with a slight bump in the 10,000 Hz region. After a bit more digging around I found the Rode Procaster that retails at about $229. Both are great in their own way, but unfortunately they were both slightly out of my price range. Two of the most popular broadcast microphones are the Shure SM7B and the Electro-Voice RE20. I came across a couple of broadcast microphones that would fill the gap. After a bit of research a dynamic broadcast dynamic microphone seemed the way to go. So how could I alleviate this? One solution was to treat the room I was recording in until it was completely dead, but that wasn't the answer as I used the same room for mixing, and I didn't want the room completely dead sounding. It was picking up quite a bit of ambient noise from outside my studio, such a trucks that would drive by and other loud external noises. The condenser microphone I was using was a bit sensitive. I was looking for a good solution for microphone for my voice over work. Let me take you on my journey on how I came to the decision on this microphone, and how it performs. If you're looking for a good broadcast dynamic microphone that doesn't break the bank, I'd definitely recommend the Rode Procaster.
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