{"id":4318,"date":"2011-10-25T13:47:39","date_gmt":"2011-10-25T20:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2022-12-27T18:22:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T02:22:49","slug":"new-podcasting-setup-for-the-amp-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/new-podcasting-setup-for-the-amp-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"New podcasting setup for The Amp Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271507109_a5930a1fea.jpg\" alt=\"New Podcasting Setup\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After being <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamphour.com\/2011\/09\/19\/the-amp-hour-61-gallimaufry-gan-gabble\/\">hassled by Chris<\/a> about my audio quality on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamphour.com\">The Amp Hour<\/a> for the past year, I finally broke down and upgraded my podcasting microphone setup. \u00a0Here are some photos of the new setup and some notes about my approach.<\/p>\n<p>Here are most of the big (expensive) parts. \u00a0Clockwise from the upper left:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0006H92QK\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=B0006H92QK\">Audio Technica AT2020 Condenser Microphone<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0006H92QK&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> ($60 on eBay, I got the XLR version, not <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamphour.com\/2011\/08\/29\/the-amp-hour-58-zappy-zendik-zoilism\/\">the USB version that Chris uses<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000K6B59Y\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=B000K6B59Y\">ART Tube MP Microphone Preamplifier<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000K6B59Y&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> ($55 on eBay)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000LQLDM2\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=B000LQLDM2\">Samson SP01 Shockmount Spider Mount<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000LQLDM2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> ($24 on Amazon)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.harborfreight.com\/swing-arm-magnifying-lamp-66398.html\">Swing Arm Magnifying Lamp<\/a> ($28 from Harbor Freight Tools)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6272021292_61444e5dd7.jpg\" alt=\"New Podcasting Setup\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A few more\u00a0miscellaneous\u00a0bits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebay.com\/itm\/NEW-20-ft-Foot-XLR-pro-audio-mic-cable-microphone-cord-\/290493889169?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&amp;hash=item43a2c8fa91\">20 foot XLR M-F cable<\/a> ($5 on eBay)<\/li>\n<li>10 foot 1\/4&#8243; to 1\/8&#8243; cable ($0, made with spare parts)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0002CZW0Y\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=B0002CZW0Y\">Nady MPF-6 6&#8243; Pop Filter<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0002CZW0Y&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> ($15 on Amazon)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271495461_277773e844.jpg\" alt=\"Cables and Pop Filter\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I got the idea to convert a swing-arm desk lamp (often called an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s?ie=UTF8&amp;x=0&amp;ref_=nb_sb_noss&amp;y=0&amp;field-keywords=architect%27s%20lamp&amp;url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;_encoding=UTF8&amp;tag=mightyohm-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957\">Architect&#8217;s Lamp<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=mightyohm-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>) into a mic boom from the awesome site\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ikeahackers.net\/2011\/05\/hack-tertial-lamp-into-mic-stand.html\">IKEA Hackers<\/a>. \u00a0(Today I discovered that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eham.net\/articles\/1717\">ham radio guys have been doing this for years<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>The closest IKEA is 40 minutes away, so instead I went to <a href=\"http:\/\/harborfreight.com\">Harbor Freight Tools<\/a> and bought the cheapest swing arm lamp I could find. \u00a0I\u00a0removed the lamp portion (after you remove the adjusting knob, the shoulder-bolt can be removed and the lamp pulls out). \u00a0Then I cut the power cord and unthreaded it from the lamp.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6272025732_012b985caf.jpg\" alt=\"Swing arm lamp disassembly\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The swivel mount on the Samson SP01 comes apart easily, exposing a handy flat mounting tab that could be used to bolt the spider mount to all sorts of things&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271502083_0f18b7efcd.jpg\" alt=\"Shock mount swivel adapter disassembled\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;including the desk lamp. \u00a0I used a 1\/4&#8243; nylon spacer to fill the gap left by the narrow tab on the shock mount and some lock-washers to keep the mount from rotating when the adjustment is tightened. \u00a0The original shoulder-bolt stripped (oops) so I replaced it with a beefier 10-32 bolt and corresponding nut.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271507561_e51894e3b3.jpg\" alt=\"Shock mount installed in swing arm\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While my initial tests with just the AT2020 mic were promising, I found that the swing-arm sagged under the extra weight of the shock mount. \u00a0To solve this problem, I drilled two extra holes at 1&#8243; intervals from the original spring perch on the swing-arm. \u00a0This allows me to adjust the spring tension to balance the arm. \u00a0Now the mic stays where I put it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"hhttp:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271502511_3dee739b10.jpg\" alt=\"Modifying the swing arm lamp\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is the finished setup. \u00a0I removed the heavy bracket and gooseneck from the pop filter and zip tied it to the front of the shock mount. \u00a0The spacing between the pop filter and the mic comes out just about right.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271506539_0a63b831e4.jpg\" alt=\"Pop filter installed.\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the mic preamp. \u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamphour.com\/2011\/10\/24\/the-amp-hour-66-xenomorphic-xerox-xebec\/\">It&#8217;s got tubes!<\/a><\/em> \u00a0The microphone connects to the preamp through the XLR cable. \u00a0The output of the preamp is connected to my PC&#8217;s line input through the junkbox 1\/4&#8243; to 1\/8&#8243; cable.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6272030490_1b4b61d923.jpg\" alt=\"Preamp\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The best part about the swing arm setup is that when I&#8217;m not using the microphone, I can just swing it out of the way:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/6271504877_c3550ee874.jpg\" alt=\"Mic stowed away\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m really happy with the new setup, but you can\u00a0judge\u00a0it for\u00a0yourself\u00a0on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamphour.com\/2011\/10\/24\/the-amp-hour-66-xenomorphic-xerox-xebec\/\">this week&#8217;s episode of The Amp Hour (Xenomorphic Xerox Xebec<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After being hassled by Chris about my audio quality on The Amp Hour for the past year, I finally broke down and upgraded my podcasting microphone setup. \u00a0Here are some photos of the new setup and some notes about my approach. Here are most of the big (expensive) parts. \u00a0Clockwise from the upper left: Audio &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/new-podcasting-setup-for-the-amp-hour\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">New podcasting setup for The Amp Hour<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[443],"tags":[80,414,413],"class_list":["post-4318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects-2","tag-audio","tag-podcasting","tag-theamphour"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pioCd-17E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1029,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/new-stereo-zoom-microscope\/","url_meta":{"origin":4318,"position":0},"title":"New Stereo Zoom Microscope for my Electronics Lab!","author":"Jeff","date":"January 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Soldering surface mount (SMT) components is tricky, particularly if you can't see what you are doing due to the small scale of most SMT parts.\u00a0 Since I started working with SMTs at home I have suffered with a 10x magnifier ring-light.\u00a0 It works, but it's tricky to use, mainly because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stereo Zoom Microscope","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/3214065384_226b724e8a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3131,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/guest-hosting-this-weeks-episode-of-the-amp-hour\/","url_meta":{"origin":4318,"position":1},"title":"Guest hosting this week&#8217;s episode of The Amp Hour","author":"Jeff","date":"October 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This week I am honored to be not just a guest, but a guest host of\u00a0The Amp Hour, an \"off-the-cuff radio show for electronics enthusiasts and professionals.\" The Amp Hour is usually hosted by Chris Gammell of Chris Gammell's Analog Life and Dave Jones of the EEVblog. \u00a0Dave is out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3630,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/the-amp-hour-episode-29\/","url_meta":{"origin":4318,"position":2},"title":"The Amp Hour Episode 29","author":"Jeff","date":"February 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm happy to announce that I have again been given the\u00a0privilege\u00a0of\u00a0co-hosting\u00a0The Amp Hour, this time\u00a0with Dave Jones\u00a0of the EEVblog! \u00a0\u00a0Chris Gammell is away this week recruiting bright young engineers into slavery to join his company, so I was given the guest spot. \u00a0This is my third time on the show.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3183,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/the-amp-hour-take-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":4318,"position":3},"title":"The Amp Hour, Take Two","author":"Jeff","date":"October 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Now, with extra \"off the cuff\" thanks to a last minute recording! The Amp Hour Episode 13, Chips and Fabs and Garages. (If you want to know why I posted a music video by the Postal Service, listen to the show!)","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3976,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/the-amp-hour-43\/","url_meta":{"origin":4318,"position":4},"title":"The Amp Hour #43","author":"Jeff","date":"May 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Amp Hour #43 \u2014 Audacious Arduino Arguments Our first four-way podcast! \u00a0Listen to me,\u00a0Chris, Dave,\u00a0and\u00a0Jeremy chat about Arduino, high altitude balloons, hackerspaces in universities, the Google ADK, and the Maker Faire Bay Area. Kudos to Skype for enabling us to actually pull this off!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Amateur Radio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Amateur Radio","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/amateur-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/TheAmpHourLogo_150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3801,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/another-guest-appearance-on-the-amp-hour\/","url_meta":{"origin":4318,"position":5},"title":"Another guest appearance on The Amp Hour!","author":"Jeff","date":"April 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I recorded another episode of The Amp Hour, a weekly podcast about electronics (and a lot of other stuff) hosted by Chris Gammell and Dave Jones. This is my fourth time on the show! \u00a0I also found out that I am listed as a member of the show now.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Announcements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/TheAmpHourLogo_150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4318"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15802,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions\/15802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}