Episode 62
Rode PodMic Review: USB vs XLR Input - Your Ultimate Audio Quality Guide
I often get asked, “What’s the difference between USB microphones and XLR microphones?” And my topline answer is always the quality of an XLR input will deliver a better audio result. I have been working in the audio industry for 15 years, and have a Bachelors Degree in Audio Production so for me the love of XLR microphones runs deep.
But I wanted to know whether USB could be “good enough” as a solution for podcasters that want to forego some of the expense of a new podcast setup and provide a professional product to their audiences.
In comes the new Rode Podmic USB XLR microphone. This is a microphone that I’ve been eager to try since its release, and it felt like the perfect companion to explore my thoughts on the subject.
A note before I get going, this microphone was not gifted. I purchased this microphone myself to conduct this test. The provided links are Amazon affiliate links, and any purchases made through them support my show. Despite this affiliation, the review was conducted with the sole aim of benefiting my listeners and was not driven by affiliate marketing.
Testing Methodology
In my pursuit to test the microphone thoroughly, I recorded the same passage from the book "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse" under various setups. These included:
XLR input with and without a pop filter
USB input with and without a pop filter
USB input connecting the microphone directly to an iPad using the cable that comes with the microphone in the box
USB input connecting the microphone directly to an iPhone 14 Pro using the RØDE SC19 cable.
I found it to be an important part of the test to see how the USB faired using an IPad or iPhone, as this could make the barrier to entry for podcasting even lower and also ensure that podcasters (and influencers) could deliver high-quality audio for their “live” chats on socials also.
The Rode PodMic USB XLR Edition
I found the Rode PodMic USB XLR edition to be a superb upgrade to the original XLR-only PodMic. With the added USB option, it has become more versatile and is an excellent choice for podcasters starting with a USB setup and considering an upgrade to XLR in the future.
Results
Interestingly, the audio quality across each setup was strikingly similar. While there were minor differences, such as slightly higher frequencies present in the iPhone or iPad recordings, these nuances did not overshadow the overall excellent sound quality. I ensured that the levels were adjusted to achieve a similar sound across all the recordings and I performed no post-production. No EQ or compression was applied. What you hear is exactly as it came out of the microphone.
Software
To further optimize your setup, you can also download the RØDE Central app, which allows you to perform some processing
Why Recommend the Rode PodMic USB XLR?
I was so impressed with the Rode PodMic's performance and sound quality, even in the USB setup, that it has become my new favourite microphone to recommend to our podcasting clients looking for a minimal setup. I also appreciate the affordability of the microphone and it’s perfect when paired with the Rode PSA1 + boom arm.
A Competitive Edge
The Rode PodMic USB XLR edition not only stands out as an excellent device in its own right, but it also goes head-to-head with the popular Shure MV7 microphone. With its superior sound quality and affordability, I am happy to be able to recommend this microphone to all podcasters!
If you want to skip to the tests here are the timestamps:
- 00:00:20 - Rode PodMic USB vs. XLR: My Impressions
- 00:00:48 - Why the USB to XLR Transition Matters
- 00:01:40 - My Experience Using the Rode SC19 Cable and Rode Central App
- 00:02:31 - Testing the Rode PodMic: Comparing XLR and USB
- 00:03:51 - Audio Test: Using the Pop Filter with PodMic
- 00:04:17 - Audio Test: Connecting Rode PodMic to iPad and iPhone
- 00:05:33 - Affordable Podcasting with Rode PodMic: My Take
- 00:06:06 - My Review and Analysis of the Rode PodMic
- 00:07:26 - Affordable Podcasting Setup with Rode PS1A Plus Boom Arm: My Perspective
- 00:08:00 - Choosing the Best Podcast Microphone: Rode vs. Shure
Resources Mentioned:
Let’s Get Launchy - Our Podcasting Launch Course
Bamby Media Client Application
EQUIPMENT WE USE TO PRODUCE THIS PODCAST
Aputure Amaran 200d LED Video Light
Transcript
Welcome back to my face.
Speaker:My name is Brianna.
Speaker:I'm the head honcho here at Bamby Media.
Speaker:Today we are going to be discussing
Speaker:building a podcast team effective
Speaker:delegation and collaboration.
Speaker:Oh, what a juicy one that I
Speaker:can't wait to get into today.
Speaker:So I'm just going to do it.
Speaker:I'm going to get straight into it.
Speaker:I've got a few great tips for you.
Speaker:the first thing that we need to kind
Speaker:of establish is identifying the roles.
Speaker:and responsibilities for the show.
Speaker:Who is going to be doing what?
Speaker:Now, if you're all by yourself,
Speaker:this is your project, no one else
Speaker:is involved, then you're going
Speaker:to be wearing all of the hats.
Speaker:There are many hats and you will be
Speaker:wearing all of them But if you have more
Speaker:than you on your team or you're looking
Speaker:to actually delegate and get a producer
Speaker:involved or a production team like us
Speaker:here at Bamby Media, then establishing
Speaker:what roles you need to hand off and
Speaker:outsource, uh, is going to be one of
Speaker:the first steps that you need to do.
Speaker:So when I think about what's
Speaker:involved with a new podcast, there
Speaker:are some key responsibilities.
Speaker:The first one being the
Speaker:actual content creator.
Speaker:This is me in this situation.
Speaker:I'm creating this content.
Speaker:I'm talking at you.
Speaker:You are listening and watching.
Speaker:I'm the person that's
Speaker:creating the content.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So for your podcast, it's probably
Speaker:you that is the content creator.
Speaker:Next up is the audio / video editor
Speaker:so once you've done the content
Speaker:creation, who is handling the actual
Speaker:editing of that audio, unless you're
Speaker:an absolute gun at talking and you make
Speaker:no mistakes and you're not awkward and
Speaker:you're totally fine to be unedited,
Speaker:then you're going to need someone
Speaker:that's helping you if it's you
Speaker:or someone else to actually edit
Speaker:the audio and put it together.
Speaker:This is probably one of the most
Speaker:labor intensive parts of the whole
Speaker:podcast production space and this
Speaker:is why it is generally outsourced
Speaker:to us here at Bambi Media because
Speaker:to learn that skill takes some time.
Speaker:If it's something you're really
Speaker:interested in, if you want to be an
Speaker:audio editor, if you want to take
Speaker:that on as a job, then go for it.
Speaker:but for a lot of people, this is the
Speaker:bit that's like, ugh, man, especially
Speaker:if you're on a longer show and you're
Speaker:like, man, do I just sit here now and
Speaker:edit this for literally six hours?
Speaker:Like, this is a long
Speaker:time for me to do this.
Speaker:So for most people, it's something
Speaker:they want to outsource and we do that.
Speaker:In our smallest package, which is our
Speaker:chocolate package, we will literally just
Speaker:edit the podcast and upload it for you.
Speaker:So that is something to think
Speaker:about who is gonna do that job.
Speaker:depending on the industry that you're
Speaker:in, how you're wanting to present
Speaker:yourself, that's going to sway what
Speaker:kind of editing you need, but most
Speaker:people need some form of editing.
Speaker:Okay, so that one's there.
Speaker:The next one is the content writing
Speaker:and the editing of that content we've
Speaker:done the content creation, we've done
Speaker:the video or audio editing, the actual
Speaker:content writing is the next step.
Speaker:That is very important because
Speaker:it's those show notes, and again,
Speaker:I have a different podcast episode
Speaker:on this, it's those show notes
Speaker:that you use, that you write, that you
Speaker:then can put onto podcast platforms.
Speaker:They can use, be used as
Speaker:your YouTube description.
Speaker:They can be used as articles.
Speaker:They can be used as blog posts.
Speaker:You can put them on LinkedIn.
Speaker:You can go and distribute
Speaker:them to a medium.
Speaker:You can try and get them syndicated.
Speaker:If you have time and space to have
Speaker:that kind of thing happening, then
Speaker:you please, please do this because
Speaker:it's such a waste otherwise that
Speaker:extra bit of repurposability is like,
Speaker:Oh my God, it's a no brainer for us.
Speaker:And again, we have packages where
Speaker:you can have that included, but that
Speaker:can be someone on your team as well.
Speaker:Maybe it's you.
Speaker:You can use the power of AI these days
Speaker:to help you generate some really quality
Speaker:content still needs to be edited by you.
Speaker:You still have plagiarism
Speaker:issues and things like that.
Speaker:If you're not making it yours.
Speaker:But it can help you get over the hump
Speaker:as well, if you are doing it yourself.
Speaker:And again, I have a podcast
Speaker:episode on that topic.
Speaker:So you can go and suss
Speaker:that out if you want.
Speaker:Okay, the next thing would be graphic
Speaker:design so your podcast artwork.
Speaker:Who's doing that?
Speaker:That's the first bit.
Speaker:And then who's doing
Speaker:your episode artwork?
Speaker:So each episode should have a,
Speaker:a different kind of artwork that
Speaker:goes with it that you can then
Speaker:use on your podcast website.
Speaker:That's a different image.
Speaker:And you'll see for our show, if you
Speaker:go to Bamby media.com/podcast, you'll
Speaker:see there's different artwork for
Speaker:each of those episodes that gets
Speaker:uploaded to, podcast platforms as well.
Speaker:It's now starting display on
Speaker:Apple and Spotify as different
Speaker:artwork for that episode, and
Speaker:it's like a thumbnail, right?
Speaker:And so you have a thumbnail for
Speaker:that, you also have a thumbnail
Speaker:that is in a widescreen format for
Speaker:YouTube, if you're posting to YouTube.
Speaker:And you could have a Reels version too,
Speaker:you know, like a long version that then
Speaker:goes with your social media assets.
Speaker:If you want like a nice cover on all
Speaker:of those so that your grid looks nice.
Speaker:You see what I mean?
Speaker:So it's graphic design is, and it
Speaker:doesn't have to be super fancy, but
Speaker:it is a part that, and a role that
Speaker:someone is going to have to play
Speaker:in order to get the most bang for
Speaker:the repurposability of your show.
Speaker:Next thing is social media
Speaker:marketing / poster and this could
Speaker:also be the person that's editing
Speaker:your social media snippets, although
Speaker:again, depends on the skills
Speaker:of the person and we will
Speaker:get it, get into that later.
Speaker:But that would be the
Speaker:next role to establish.
Speaker:Okay, who is doing my social media
Speaker:scheduling of anything that I've got
Speaker:coming out that is helping to promote the
Speaker:show, whether that's quote cards, whether
Speaker:that's the episode artwork, audiograms,
Speaker:social video snippets, anything
Speaker:like that, who's handling that role.
Speaker:And the last one is the person that's
Speaker:doing the data analysis the person that
Speaker:is helping with content development,
Speaker:exploring, looking into the statistics,
Speaker:seeing what's working, what's not
Speaker:working and structuring that and
Speaker:also like collecting it over time.
Speaker:So for all our clients here at Bamby
Speaker:Media, we do a data collection.
Speaker:We don't give it to the clients.
Speaker:although it's something that I'm
Speaker:going to explore this year, going
Speaker:to our clients and saying, Hey, if
Speaker:we're an extra cost every month, we
Speaker:can collate your data and go, this
Speaker:is what's working and this isn't.
Speaker:That could be something that
Speaker:I think a lot of our clients
Speaker:and people more generally would
Speaker:probably be interested in.
Speaker:Maybe they've got some other
Speaker:things handled, but maybe it's the,
Speaker:yeah, but what's tracking well.
Speaker:How am I monthly stats,
Speaker:changing are they not changing?
Speaker:Am I stale?
Speaker:What contents not working,
Speaker:those kinds of things.
Speaker:Someone in your business needs to be
Speaker:doing this because it's kind of like
Speaker:The insights that you get for Social
Speaker:Media of it then any of it then you
Speaker:don't know what's working, and what you
Speaker:you should continue to do.
Speaker:This is what you can
Speaker:really just stop doing.
Speaker:So someone in your business or
Speaker:outsource, then that would be
Speaker:something that is definitely a
Speaker:role that needs to be filled.
Speaker:If you're a client of ours already,
Speaker:and you're listening to this and you're
Speaker:like, Oh my God, that sounds amazing.
Speaker:Yes, please.
Speaker:just send me an email and just say,
Speaker:Hey, I listened to that podcast episode.
Speaker:That's something that
Speaker:would be really great.
Speaker:just so that I can get a bit of feedback
Speaker:as to whether I should bother with that.
Speaker:I feel like I probably should.
Speaker:Now we're going to move into once you've
Speaker:established the roles, like these are
Speaker:all the things and they're the main ones.
Speaker:We're going to go into the
Speaker:communication and collaboration
Speaker:section of running your show.
Speaker:The best way I've found and what
Speaker:we use here at Bambi Media to track
Speaker:the roles, how everything's going,
Speaker:ticking things off, that sort of thing.
Speaker:Uh, and keeping in mind, we
Speaker:work on around 60 shows weekly.
Speaker:We have to have a very process
Speaker:orientated, lots of tick boxes.
Speaker:Has this been done for every show?
Speaker:You're only doing one show, so it
Speaker:won't need to be as insane but it's
Speaker:very important to have a structured
Speaker:process that you follow for every
Speaker:single episode that you have ticked
Speaker:off for every single episode.
Speaker:Have I edited?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Have I done the social assets?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Are the content writing bits done?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Have I uploaded it?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Now we use Trello for that,
Speaker:Trello is a fantastic tool.
Speaker:I'm going to put all these links
Speaker:in the resources so that you can
Speaker:go and have a look at these things.
Speaker:A lot of people also
Speaker:use monday.com or Asana.
Speaker:I found Trello to be the best workflow
Speaker:in the way that it looks for us here.
Speaker:And we have many staff
Speaker:that we are working with.
Speaker:So it's important to have it all looking
Speaker:the way we need it to look there.
Speaker:Then we use Google Drive.
Speaker:We use Sheets for our production
Speaker:schedules for every single client.
Speaker:And we use Docs for all our transcripts,
Speaker:our show notes, things like that.
Speaker:Google Drive is just fantastic.
Speaker:I absolutely love it.
Speaker:Then it's also important to have
Speaker:regular team meetings to discuss the
Speaker:content of the podcast and that's
Speaker:where as well you can have that person
Speaker:that's handling your data collection,
Speaker:whether it's us or someone else, to
Speaker:go, Okay, well, we've established.
Speaker:I've assessed this now for the
Speaker:last two months, let's say.
Speaker:here's the things that are going really
Speaker:well, because the person that's creating
Speaker:the content might not be sort of aware
Speaker:as to, they might think that something's
Speaker:going really well, or they really enjoyed
Speaker:that topic or whatever to deliver the
Speaker:content on, but it kind of fell flat.
Speaker:They're just going to continue
Speaker:creating the content and then
Speaker:you can have a meeting around cool
Speaker:these things are really great.
Speaker:Let's do more of this.
Speaker:Social assets weren't so good.
Speaker:Video snippets were a bit lackluster.
Speaker:You know, your captions were too small,
Speaker:whatever, like those sorts of things, the
Speaker:things that you would pick up in a team
Speaker:meeting, try to keep them fairly brief.
Speaker:I don't like long team meetings.
Speaker:I don't think anyone does.
Speaker:Okay, The last area that we want
Speaker:to make sure that we're hitting is
Speaker:delegating the tasks and workflow
Speaker:appropriately based on The zone of
Speaker:genius or the area that people are
Speaker:actually interested in, in your business.
Speaker:So if you've got like a VA or you've
Speaker:got someone that does your social
Speaker:media at the moment, or you've got
Speaker:someone that does some writing for you.
Speaker:Is that delegation correct
Speaker:for the podcast space?
Speaker:So a lot of the times what I see is
Speaker:that we've got people that obviously
Speaker:have VAs that then they outsource.
Speaker:They go, cool, my VA can handle my
Speaker:show notes or my social snippets
Speaker:or my whatever, but they're
Speaker:actually not very good at it.
Speaker:And that's like a kick in the
Speaker:face to actually even say.
Speaker:But when you see the result of
Speaker:giving a VA a task that they're not
Speaker:very good at, because that's not
Speaker:something they really know how to do,
Speaker:they're kind of learning on the fly.
Speaker:it's something that they're kind
Speaker:of just doing because they have to,
Speaker:because they've been given that role.
Speaker:The result isn't powerful.
Speaker:And I really want you to soak that in to
Speaker:go, am I delegating this job to the right
Speaker:person that I should be delegating it to?
Speaker:And that can be a hard one to swallow
Speaker:to go, yeah, but I'm paying that person.
Speaker:So I want to give them more jobs.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I get that.
Speaker:But in the same way, are they
Speaker:giving me something that's going
Speaker:to return on the investment?
Speaker:Are they actually good at graphic design?
Speaker:Are their show notes actually good?
Speaker:Are their social snippets, other
Speaker:videos they're creating powerful?
Speaker:Are they picking good bits out?
Speaker:That sort of stuff.
Speaker:And then it wouldn't be about
Speaker:you going straight away.
Speaker:Okay, well they're fired.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:They're done.
Speaker:No, it would then be like, okay.
Speaker:Where am I failing to provide the
Speaker:training that that person needs
Speaker:to actually do a good job and
Speaker:have a conversation with them to
Speaker:go, do you actually enjoy this?
Speaker:Like, is this something
Speaker:that you want to learn?
Speaker:Am I flogging a dead horse, giving
Speaker:them this content, giving them this
Speaker:job to do that they really don't like
Speaker:and they're never going to be good at
Speaker:because they just don't like doing it.
Speaker:They'd rather be part of the
Speaker:organizational workflow, you
Speaker:know, so it's something to kind of
Speaker:assess and go, right, well, I've
Speaker:got all these people on my team.
Speaker:I've got a VA, I've got a social
Speaker:media person, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:Really developing where
Speaker:their best fit is.
Speaker:If you're going on this new venture of
Speaker:creating and starting a podcast, and
Speaker:you want them to help you with it, then
Speaker:it would be something that you start
Speaker:off with and go, Hey, these are all
Speaker:the roles that we've got for this show.
Speaker:Who's interested in what and
Speaker:then they come in and it's more
Speaker:collaborative because this is a
Speaker:whole new process and go, Oh, cool.
Speaker:I love content writing and I'd love to
Speaker:do a bit of that or I'd love to learn
Speaker:a bit about video editing or whatever.
Speaker:But know that if you're, if you're going
Speaker:to be working with people that have
Speaker:never done any of this before, then it's
Speaker:going to be very slow to begin with,
Speaker:while everyone's learning new skills,
Speaker:you're learning new skills as well.
Speaker:So sometimes the cost reward type
Speaker:thing then makes you go, Oh man,
Speaker:this is not part of my business
Speaker:that I want our team to be handling.
Speaker:And this is where clients come
Speaker:to us and go, I want to invest my
Speaker:marketing budget because a podcast
Speaker:is a massive chunk of your marketing.
Speaker:In fact, I would argue it, it helps just.
Speaker:So I'm going to invest my marketing
Speaker:budget into you as a podcast production
Speaker:team so that you handle everything or
Speaker:A, B, C, D, E, I don't have to think
Speaker:about it, I create the content, you
Speaker:do your job and the rest of my team
Speaker:supports me in the other business things
Speaker:that they've been hired for as well.
Speaker:So you see there's definitely
Speaker:different things you have to think
Speaker:about as to who's doing what, are
Speaker:they good at that thing, and who's
Speaker:giving the feedback and being reliable
Speaker:on the, is this working front.
Speaker:I wouldn't say you should start assessing
Speaker:if this is working or, you know, if the
Speaker:podcast is, is tracking well until at
Speaker:least maybe four months in or something
Speaker:around that sort of range, because you're
Speaker:finding your feet in those early stages.
Speaker:Personally, I like to sort of see it
Speaker:grow over nine ish months before I
Speaker:kind of jump in and go, okay, cool.
Speaker:You, you know what
Speaker:you're doing enough now.
Speaker:Like, let's have a look at what's
Speaker:working and what's not working.
Speaker:Let's look at what potentially could
Speaker:be upgraded and things that you
Speaker:didn't initially spend money on.
Speaker:Maybe you need to spend
Speaker:money on them now.
Speaker:Do you like this?
Speaker:Do you like what you're doing?
Speaker:Is it helping?
Speaker:are you repurposing properly?
Speaker:All those sorts of
Speaker:conversations come later.
Speaker:But in the beginning, it's like
Speaker:giving feedback on the little things
Speaker:like, this social snippet has a
Speaker:weird ending or, you know, we need
Speaker:better graphics here or whatever.
Speaker:Those little tweaks are the
Speaker:things that you're doing.
Speaker:So to recap, building a podcast
Speaker:team is like building any other
Speaker:team that's within your business.
Speaker:Have you got the right person for that
Speaker:job and be brutal with yourself just
Speaker:like I'm brutal with our staff here and
Speaker:with my own roles and what I know I can
Speaker:do and what I need to outsource as well.
Speaker:You need to constantly assess
Speaker:it and go, are they the best
Speaker:person to be doing this thing?
Speaker:Am I the best person
Speaker:to be doing this thing?
Speaker:And what kind of budget do I have
Speaker:to increase my spend if I need to?
Speaker:And what's going to be the
Speaker:return on that spend as well?
Speaker:So not everything is going to be like
Speaker:money back in your pocket either.
Speaker:There are so many other facets of
Speaker:podcasting that are non monetary where
Speaker:the connections that you make, the people
Speaker:that you're then able to interview,
Speaker:your speaking skills improve, the
Speaker:way you actually think about the work
Speaker:that you do changes the feedback that
Speaker:you receive from audience or other people
Speaker:that had podcasts, the collaborations,
Speaker:the marketing, the sponsorships.
Speaker:Like all sorts of things happen from
Speaker:a podcast that you don't expect,
Speaker:and it's not necessarily money.
Speaker:To begin with.
Speaker:But these are things to think
Speaker:about when building your team.
Speaker:What are you creating for yourself that
Speaker:can help you grow and how can you build
Speaker:out that team further as it grows?
Speaker:And if you're stagnant, I can bet
Speaker:you it's because some part of this
Speaker:podcasting wheel is falling off.
Speaker:So things to think about there.
Speaker:I've loved delivering this one to
Speaker:you today because it's a topic that
Speaker:I'm extremely passionate about.
Speaker:Team building for me is huge and
Speaker:getting the best person for the job.
Speaker:If you've listened to this
Speaker:and you're like, Oh my gosh,
Speaker:please handle my podcast.
Speaker:You're so passionate about it.
Speaker:That's cool.
Speaker:You can definitely reach
Speaker:out to us, bambymedia.
Speaker:com slash services.
Speaker:We'll show you all the different
Speaker:services that we have and all
Speaker:the different packages and all
Speaker:the ice creams that go with them.
Speaker:you don't get physical ice cream.
Speaker:It's just the way we like to
Speaker:show things on our website.
Speaker:But yeah, if you're just doing it
Speaker:yourself, props to you as well.
Speaker:I love seeing people just
Speaker:do it themselves and it's
Speaker:really a joy to witness.
Speaker:Any questions at all, put them
Speaker:in the comments here on YouTube
Speaker:or on the DMS over on Instagram.
Speaker:You can also email, use the contact form.
Speaker:There's like a billion ways
Speaker:that you can get in contact
Speaker:with us here at Bambi Media.
Speaker:And I hope you've really received
Speaker:very good value from this episode.
Speaker:If you've liked it, please hit
Speaker:the subscribe button or the follow
Speaker:button, depending on how you're
Speaker:listening slash watching this podcast.
