Podcasters' Holiday Gift Guide 2022

Fuzz Martin 0:00

Good morning podcasters if you are in the US, well then you know it's Black Friday. If you're not in the US well today is traditionally the day when retail stores have huge sales and well, you may have actually seen the chaos of a US Black Friday on your news stations, you know people getting run over at Walmart to get a TV.

Fuzz Martin 0:26

In honor of the gluttony and pandemonium of the day I've put together a podcast or holiday gift guide. It's mostly things that I'd like however you or the podcast or on your gift list might like them as well.

Fuzz Martin 0:39

Starting this list off with new mic arms, cheap mic arms with cheap springs can introduce a whole bunch of noise to a podcaster show. I have better ones in my home studio but in order to save costs in my main studio, I cheaped out and I bought the $20 Amazon specials. Most of you probably can't hear it but I can definitely hear some of the residents coming back through the springs when I talk and that is no fun. What would I get? Well, I would like to teeter the line between practical and premium. Some mic arms cost around $130 Each and when you have a three mic setup that gets pretty costly. So I would recommend arms that have internal springs rather than the springs on the outside of the arm. The Rode PSA-1 is nice but again it runs around $99. I do really like the design of the IXTECH Valiance that one runs about $90. The ones I have at home are Samsung MBA-28 which are nice those run about 32 bucks on Amazon. They do have internal spring so they're a lot less noisy though. The build quality isn't quite as nice as the Rode or the Gatorworks. So a new set of mic arms would be a really nice gift now.

Fuzz Martin 1:48

Next up on my list is the Focusrite Vocaster One I have a small collection of audio interfaces some might call it a large collection of audio interfaces. Particularly my wife might say that the episode you're currently listening to is coming through on a Rodecaster Pro II that retails for about $700. I also have a Rodecaster Pro the OG model, which you can now get for about $429 which is actually a great deal. In my mobile recording kit, I have a Zoom Podtrac P4 that's about $199. It's really feature rich for the size and price and extremely mobile. And I also have a Focusrite 2i2 that was my first mobile setup and it was really nice quality and while I can tell you that I do not need another audio interface, I would really like to try a Focusrite Vocaster One. I was always impressed with the 2i2's sound and performance and the new Vocaster One has had great reviews. It's really compact and it has 70 decibels of clean gain. So you can use it with an Electro-Voice RE-20 Or a Shure SM7B. Plus it has a whole bunch of other really good features. So check out the Focusrite Vocaster One.

Fuzz Martin 2:57

t would be a pair of Sony MDR-: 7506

Fuzz Martin 3:56

Fourth on my list the Primacoustic London 8 sound panels. If your room doesn't sound good, you won't sound good trading a room properly will in a lot of cases, make your audio sound better than any fancy expensive microphone that you might buy. The PrimAcoustic lemon eight comes with four 36x12 sound panels and eight 12x12 scatterblocks as they call them. This will help reduce resonance in your favorite podcaster studio and make them sound like a pro or at least more pro ish package will set you back about $375 before shipping but it is more thoughtful than buying somebody a nicer microphone. A well treated room can make a bad microphone sound much better.

Fuzz Martin 4:41

And finally, if you're not sure what to get the podcast during your life. A Sweetwater gift card will do the trick. Sweetwater is my go to for buying any gear. This is not an ad, I just really liked their customer service. Shout out to my rep. Alex Rodriguez, our engineers he used to buy from Sweetwater all the time when I was in radio and now When I started buying my own gear, I rely on them as well. Plus, they give you a little bag of candy with every purchase. That's pretty sweet. They're based in Fort Wayne, Indiana shipping is super fast that again, you're not going to find better customer service. So a gift card from Sweetwater would make a great gift.

Fuzz Martin 5:17

All right, you're looking to go a little cheaper. Here are some stocking stuffer ideas for podcasters. One a nice headphone hanger, what's a good set of headphones that they're just sitting on your desk getting in the way, a headphone hanger will set you back somewhere between $8 and $20. And you can get anything from a clamp on that'll go right on to the desk, or ones that stick with 3M adhesive or some more permanent solutions that are bolted on. sticking around the desk area.

Fuzz Martin 5:44

If you're looking for more stocking stuffers, you gotta keep your cables clean. Messy flow, messy show that's what I always say. I've never said that. The Velcro brand cable ties are nice, but I prefer some of the others that are available there is a brand called Hoza. There are also a number that are private labeled by your favorite podcast gear brands like rode or sure and those are pretty cool as well. Those are running about $8 to $15 and final stocking stuffer.

Fuzz Martin 6:12

If you're looking to help your podcasters room sound better, but don't want to spend $375 on a room treatment kit. Some acoustic foam bass traps will help a lot. What is the bass trap? Well bass collects in the corners of rooms when you're recording, and then bounces back and gives you this really muddy muffled sound. by diffusing absorbing and scattering the bass in the corner bass traps helped clean up the room significantly. You can find some starter quality bass traps online for about 15 to $20 for a package of eight. And again, while they're not going to be the best sounding bass traps, they will show your podcaster that you were truly thinking of them this holiday season.

Fuzz Martin 6:54

So that's what I'm looking for this Christmas but above all else, all I want for Christmas, is you to subscribe to the show. And give Good Morning Podcasters a five star review. Thanks for listening. You can find links in this guide at goodmorningpod.com, and I'll join you again on Monday right here on Good Morning, Podcasters!