Gear Review: Griffin iMic | Cost-Effective USB Audio for Podcast Recording
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.
This small, circular device takes any audio source, converts it and sends it into your computer digitally through a USB connection This bypasses the usually noisy audio conversion that you get when plugging directly into your computer’s mic jack. At less than $40, the iMic is a small price to pay to avoid the hissing and popping inherent to most internal soundcards.
The iMic is extremely easy to setup and use. Plug it in and it’s ready to go Your computer just detects it, no software installation necessary. The iMic shows up as a sound card in your operating system and can be used with any recording software on both Mac and PC.
The audio quality is good, especially for the price. I wasn’t able to find exact specification on the digital conversion. Certainly you can spend more money and get nicer digital conversion by buying a full-fledged UDB interface/pre-amp, but it would cost you a lot more. I’ve used the iMic on tons of recordings and have had no complaints in this department.
The iMic has a sleek and simple design that looks at home with any Mac setup. Aesthetics aside, it provides a USB connector as well as 1/8 ”
May 18th, 2007 11:34
(A caveat about the website; I have only posted one test podcast, and that was back in October. I have quite a few more episodes in process, so it should start rolling soon–consistently 8).
I bought the iMic to plug in my Eurorack mixer; I have also used it with a tape deck to transfer some cassettes. I have found the device to be pretty noiseless–the tape transfers worked great, even using software Griffin supplies with the device. I have not quite nailed down how to record my voice without latency issues (using Soundtrack), but hope to clear that up. The next step up for an input device (+$100) seemed prohibitive for just starting my projects; we’ll see how far it takes me before I “step up.”
May 28th, 2007 10:34
[…] 28th, 2007 · No Comments Podcasters especially those who are just new in recording their own audio frequently encounterhissing and other unwanted noise with their recorded podcast. And it is really hard to eliminate or edit these noises. But I learned from Jason Van Orden that at less than $40, one can actually avoid those extra but unwanted noises from your recording. […]