Wrong.
So I'm setup for my voiceover studio with pretty good gear. Starting at the microphone it goes like this...
- Sennheiser 416 and Townsend Labs L22 Sphere
- Apollo Twin interface
- Focusrite Octo Pre (for lightpiping in other microphones)
- into a 2021 Mac Mini M1 computer.
That's about $5,000 of top end equipment right there. So you'd THINK that'd work for podcasting and a livestream show right?
Yes and no.
Turns out these are all separate animals. It's kind of like 'why aren't Tigers hanging out with Lions?' Aside from geographical requirements for each species, they just don't work together.
That's the case here, I guess. I've made it work for a few years now as we started the podcast in 2019 and the Twitch show in 2021. Along the way there's been some very headache inducing moments when it comes to my audio. MOSTLY with the Twitch show (M, W and Fridays at 7pm central!) as that requires bringing in my cohost via Zoom, playing videos/audio off of the internet and still being able to hear myself in the mix. The podcast requires another instudio microphone to be active while mine is, which isn't a really big deal but there has to be computer audio playing drops from TV shows and movies as well. And with a mac that can be tricky. This is the one place where Windows machines have Macs beat is the audio system. For some reason, Macs don't play nice when it comes to getting audio from one application into another. Windows, on the other hand, are super easy. I'm a Mac guy, though sometimes they make it hard to stick around but overall I know how to use them, the apps are rock solid and their devices usualy last a long time. However, I can' t tell you how many times I've had an issue before a livestream on Twitch where I can't hear my cohost, or she can't hear me, or the audience is hearing echoes of us, etc. I'm now at the point where I have to divorce the audio gear of my voiceover work from that of my other audio work. And, lo, I have to invest in more gear. Another mic and probably another audio interface. A couple cables. I THOUGHT I could just use my monitor controller (distributes audio to speakers and headphones) as another interface as it has that capability but that's proving to not work out too well. So another investment it is! Hopefully that will put to bed anymore future audio issues encountered when trying to stream, podcast and voiceover. It should all work with the same gear, right? Sadly, it's not and it's taken me a couple of years and yelling at screens to figure that out.
So, what's the point of all this? The point is, get the right tools for the right job. I've only in the last few years started to apply that rule to tools for projects around the house or woodworking. In that context, I will buy the best tool for the job no matter the cost. I WON'T go cheap anymore there because you just end up paying that savings in frustration at some point. Also, be sure to listen to the podcast and the live Twitch show. Should have new gear installed by this coming Wednesday (May 4, 2022) for both!