Thank you for saying “Yes!” to doing a segment on “Inside the Jewelry Trade” Radio Show.
As you might have gathered by looking over all of our material, we take great care in putting together a radio show that has a high production value.
Part of that process is ensuring that the sound quality is the sharpest, and clearest that we can achieve.
Granted, we have made the financial investment in setting up our studio with high-grade audio equipment; however, the sound of our voice is only half the battle.
The segment is honestly about you, your message, and the quality of the sound of your voice.
There are several methods we can use to bring your voice into our studio.
We have listed the options below and assigned them levels of sound quality from one to ten.
1 being the lowest sound quality and 10 being the best.
Your Audio Equipment Options for “Inside the Jewelry Trade”
Option 1. Using your smartphone.
Technology has advanced to the point that your smartphone actually has a good condenser microphone built in. The problem is keeping it in the same relative position to your mouth through the entire recording session.
Of course, you need a quiet room and maximum bars/reception.
Sound Quality: 3 to 4 at best (sounds like you’re on a phone, not in a studio)
Option 2. Using Skype with a built-in laptop microphone.
Skype can be a solid method of transferring your voice; however, the issue lies in the poor quality of the condenser microphone of your laptop. Condenser microphones pick up all of the sounds in a given area, from the hum of the computer’s cooling fan to almost every other sound in the room.
Your voice will sound thin, weak and as if you are talking through a tin can.
Sound Quality: 4 or at best 5
Option 3. USB headset with a boom microphone plugged into your computer using Skype.
There are several good USB headsets on the market to choose from today. Those marked as “Skype Certified” work well.
Be sure to place the boom microphone under your chin to avoid popping “p” and breathing sounds. If you can use Skype, this is a decent option.
Sound Quality: 6 to 7
Option 4. Audio-Technica ATR-2100 microphone plugged straight into your computer using Skype.
Surprisingly good sound quality audio especially for the price.
Get a foam windscreen to reduce the popping “p” sounds and the whistle of the wind. Comes with a handy on and off switch and the flexibility of a USB plug or XLR.
This good sounding microphone comes in between $60 to $80 which is a real value. The foam sound screen is valued around $10
Sound Quality: 7 to 8
Option 5. Audio -Technica ATR-2100 microphone plugged into an iPad or iPad mini using the camera connection kit and using Skype.
This set up is second only to sitting right beside us in our Atlanta studio in terms of sound quality.
Time and again we are amazed at the sound quality that this set up produces. Set up simply could not be easier.
All you do is plug in your iPad USB to camera connection kit into the iPad and plug the ATR-2100 into the camera connection kit.
Depending on which iPad you have, you will use either the Lightning to USB camera connection kit or the 30 pin to USB camera connection kit.
Granted the iPad camera connection kit will cost roughly $27 to $32 but certainly worth the expense.
If you are considering doing a reoccurring segment on our show, we would certainly recommend this setup.
Sound Quality: 8 to 9
The All Important Skype Connection
As you could see there are several ways to connect to our studio, but in the end, it comes down to the analog telephone line or Skype to actually deliver your voice.
Analog is easy, predictable, and constant for the most part though the audio quality is less than ideal. Skype, on the other hand, has made tremendous strides in the past several years in connection quality.
In fact, if you can use Skype, it’s our preferred method.
With that being said, there are a couple of key points to keep in mind
1. Skype says that they need a minimum of 100 kbps upload and download speed to operate.
Granted that is true as the bare minimum, but you risk dropping the call at that rate and quality is certainly suspect. We recommend a minimum of 500 kbps upload and download to be effective for a podcast.
Not to worry. The majority of people have faster Internet speed than this.
You can test the speed of your Internet connection at http://testmy.net/
2. We suggest turning off the video portion of Skype for this podcast.
Video can quickly eat up precious bandwidth and degrade audio quality.
If you need help setting up Skype please let us know a few days before your segment so we can help you set it up.
Ok, after reading all of this technical stuff it is probably a good time to stop, take a deep breath, and slowly exhale. Your segment is going to be great. We won’t let you down.
You are in good hands!
“Inside the Jewelry Trade” Series
