Learn how to podcast and blog to to establish thought leadership, extend your brand and engage your target market

OK. Back in action. I extended my blogging break a bit more than expected. My trip to The Caribbean made me realize how much of a break I needed from certain things after working 12+ hour days consistently (I’m working on breaking this bad habit). Let’s kick things back in with a review of one of the staple pieces of podcasting gear that I’ve used from the beginning and still use: the Griffin iMic.

The Griffin iMic is, in fact, not a mic at all. Despite poor naming, it’s a great investment for any podcaster looking to improve their sound quality One of the easiest ways to cut down on hiss and other noise is to avoid plugging your mic directly into your computer’s soundcard. Instead, you need to move the digital conversion of the audio away from the electronically noisy guts of your computer… enter the Griffin iMic.

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If you do “on the street”-style recording for your podcast, a mic flag is a great way to give yourself some intstant credibility. What’s a mic flag? Think of what you see on every mic carried by a news anchor on TV. Now you get an idea of why this might give you some extra cred.

You can buy one here or, if you want to be resourceful, you can watch the following video about how to make one yourself. RSS readers may need to click through to view the video.

I recently bought my first Mac. I’ve defected…well, not 100%. I still use my PC quite a bit as well. I got a 17" Dual Processor Intel iMac. I have to say…I love it! Apple provides an "experience" when you use their computers. MacOS is incredible. The people at Apple pay attention to details and aesthetics that you just don’t get on a PC.

The reason for the Mac purchase was to be more familiar with podcasting on both platforms. Many podcasters use Macs. I’ll be talking about podcasting for PC and Mac in my second book (my first book, on promotion, works independent of what computer you use).

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Someone recently asked on the Podcast Alley Forums what the best affordable mic is for a new podcaster. The Shure SM58 has been getting a lot of love. At $99.99, this mic provides a lot of bang for your buck. During my days playing in bands, I picked up a number of these mics. They deliver a solid sound not to mention you can flush one down the toilet and it’ll still work (not speaking from personal experience).

You can hear this mic in action on The Podcasting Underground Episode #4. I’ve now upgraded to a Shure KSM27 condenser mic. Most podcasters will agree that a good mic is the best place to invest your money at first to improve the sound of your podcast. Granted, to use a mic like the Shure SM58, you’ll need a mixer or preamp to plug it into.

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