Basic Equipment - The Computer Audio Interface
This is the second post in this series, Basic Equipment. In this series, I’ll assemble a podcast rig from scratch. Last time I recommended a microphone, the Behringer XM8500, a good no frills microphone. Now we need something to connect our microphone to and get the sound into the computer.
The Computer Audio Interface is fairly self explanatory. It is a device that takes the input from an instrument or a microphone and digitizes it and records to the computer via USB or Firewire. This differs from a popular method of connecting to the line-in input on your sound card. The Computer Audio Interface that I recommend is the Tascam US-122 USB (See link below). Here is a list of the features of this device:
- 2 XLR phantom-powered mic inputs with inserts
- 2 line-level ins switchable to guitar level
- 16 channels of MIDI I/O
- Adjustable zero-latency monitoring
- 2 line outs with level controls
- Headphone out with level control
- Self-powered through USB
- Rugged steel construction
- Full range of drivers
Pretty impressive features. One feature that I’d like to highlight is the “zero-latency monitoring”. When recording into the computer there can be a lag in the audio that you hear from your headphones (to be covered in a later post). On the US-122, the monitoring is done on the device before it ever goes into the computer. A great feature for a podcaster. I’ve heard a few podcasts that complain that they are having a latency problem and take off their headphones because it’s distracting and makes them sound weird. I’ve also heard of podcasters taking out the dead spaces in their podcast because of latency problems. Those problems are alleviated with the Tascam US-122 USB.
The final piece in getting the sound from the Microphone to the Computer Audio Interace is the cable. The XM8500 has an XLR connector and the US-122 has an XLR connector for microphones also, so to connect these two devices I recommend, you guessed it, and XLR cable (See link below). The cables come in lengths from 6 foot on up to 30+ feet, depending on the distance from your computer to the microphone.
TASCAM US-122 USB Audio/MIDI Interface
Musician’s Friend Low Z Microphone Cable XLR 10 Foot
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