Episode 112
There's a new recording software in town and I'm a fan
Why does recording audio have to be so difficult?
If you’re trying to record audio of a very high standard, you’re often met with a barrage of choices you have to make.
What microphone do I need?
Is my location too noisy?
What am I going to plug my microphone into?
How do I record multiple people at once?
What software am I going to use to record it?
In the consultations I have with content creators, this line of questioning is one of the first topics we cover and I often see their eyes glaze over when I start listing all the options.
I can confirm, there are too many options.
But my advice is to focus on one thing at a time, and today I’m focusing on the software that you use to record.
For the audio-only folks out there, there is very simple piece of software that will make your life easy. At least this portion of your life. I can’t guarantee the rest of your life will fall into place based on this decision. Sorry.
Today I’m excited to share a game-changer in the world of audio recording - Shure Motiv Mix, which at time of writing is currently in its Beta phase and it’s completely free to use.
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Transcript
I have a new bit of software that I
Speaker:wanted to tell you guys about today.
Speaker:Something that I've been playing with for
Speaker:a little bit and I actually did a full
Speaker:review of it and kind of walk through
Speaker:over on YouTube if it interests you.
Speaker:But I wanted to tell you about
Speaker:it here because I think it's
Speaker:something that is going to be really
Speaker:useful for a lot of podcasters.
Speaker:And not just podcasters, I mean
Speaker:you could just be a creator, you
Speaker:could be a musician, you could be
Speaker:a streamer, You could be basically
Speaker:anyone that has like a microphone
Speaker:that they need to use to do something.
Speaker:So the application of the piece of
Speaker:software is called the Shure Motive Mix,
Speaker:uh, which essentially what its job is,
Speaker:is to make it really easy for you to
Speaker:record yourself without needing extra
Speaker:uh, bits and pieces of like a DAW,
Speaker:kind of like GarageBand or, , Logic or
Speaker:Audacity, Any of those tools, which can
Speaker:be kind of hard to get your head around
Speaker:because there are a lot of buttons
Speaker:and there are a lot of things that you
Speaker:kind of need to click on to record.
Speaker:And so if your whole job for your podcast
Speaker:is just to record audio and there's no
Speaker:video attached to it, , and you want to
Speaker:make it as simple and easy for yourself
Speaker:as possible, then this Shure Motive Mix
Speaker:is probably one of the easiest things
Speaker:that I have seen to use, to set up
Speaker:and also one of the best things
Speaker:about it is that it's not
Speaker:just for Shure microphones.
Speaker:That's what I initially thought.
Speaker:I was like, Oh yeah, another
Speaker:software just for Shure, just
Speaker:the same as Rode does for Rode.
Speaker:Rode has this software that you
Speaker:can use for their microphones to
Speaker:record using their microphones.
Speaker:But I never liked that you can't use
Speaker:other microphones with this software.
Speaker:Certainly at the time of recording that.
Speaker:That was the case, but with the Shure
Speaker:version, with the mode of mix, you
Speaker:don't have to have a Shure microphone
Speaker:to actually use this audio system.
Speaker:I tried it out with a Shure microphone
Speaker:with the MV7 that I have here
Speaker:and that I've done a review for.
Speaker:And then I also tried it with my SE
Speaker:Neom, which is another USB microphone.
Speaker:I tried it with the Rode PodMic
Speaker:in the USB setting, the Rode
Speaker:NT USB, the Rode NT USB Mini.
Speaker:I connected all of them.
Speaker:In fact, I connected five USB
Speaker:microphones to my computer at once.
Speaker:Obviously I had a hub so that I could
Speaker:make that actually happen, but it was
Speaker:able to record every single one of
Speaker:those microphones onto your computer.
Speaker:All at once, which is like game
Speaker:changing to me, because this is not
Speaker:a system that has existed before.
Speaker:You haven't been able to connect a
Speaker:bunch of microphones to the one device,
Speaker:meaning a computer, and then have all
Speaker:of those actually work because the
Speaker:computer would freak out when there
Speaker:was more than one USB device, but
Speaker:because this software has firmware,
Speaker:I guess that it makes it possible,
Speaker:it means that you can plug in multiple
Speaker:microphones and you can record all
Speaker:of them and if you had a bunch of
Speaker:people that you wanted to record
Speaker:all together, sitting around the one
Speaker:laptop With, you know, up to five
Speaker:microphones that you wanted to record.
Speaker:You've got a host and
Speaker:then a bunch of guests.
Speaker:You could have a panel discussion as
Speaker:long as you've got enough microphones
Speaker:and they're all USB microphones and
Speaker:you've got a good hub, like a USB hub,
Speaker:You can actually have them all in there
Speaker:and I'm actually going to give you a
Speaker:little taste as to what that sounds like.
Speaker:So for this context right now,
Speaker:it's just going to be me and Alex.
Speaker:We recorded ourselves using the
Speaker:MV seven microphone and the SE
Speaker:neo microphone, so one is a sure
Speaker:product one is a non shore product.
Speaker:I have the SE microphone and
Speaker:he has the MV seven microphone.
Speaker:I hadn't made some changes to the
Speaker:MV seven to make it sound as good as
Speaker:possible, but obviously I couldn't do
Speaker:any of those setting changes on the SE
Speaker:product, but you will get a feel for how
Speaker:it sounds right out of that software.
Speaker:Didn't make any other changes,
Speaker:literally just exported it and then
Speaker:have imported it into our editing
Speaker:software so that I could put it together
Speaker:for you and you can take a listen.
Speaker:If you wanted to watch us having
Speaker:a bit of banter, then that's over
Speaker:on the YouTube review as well.
Speaker:Okay, so let's get into how that
Speaker:sounds and yeah, let me know
Speaker:what you think of that as well.
Speaker:would you rather your
Speaker:hands be sticky all the time
Speaker:or
Speaker:you have an itch that you cannot scratch?
Speaker:Like when you think it's on your
Speaker:back, you scratch, no, it's not there.
Speaker:It's kind of on your hip.
Speaker:Oh, you scratch there.
Speaker:Nope, it's not
Speaker:no.
Speaker:It's on
Speaker:on your nose.
Speaker:Oops, scratch there.
Speaker:Nope, somewhere
Speaker:Oh
Speaker:Sticky hands.
Speaker:Unscratchable itch.
Speaker:Sticky hands versus unscratchable itch.
Speaker:That's diabolical.
Speaker:That's a, that's really hard because
Speaker:sticky hands are really annoying.
Speaker:Sticky, like just sticky hands?
Speaker:It's just the hands?
Speaker:palmar surface is just sticky skin.
Speaker:and an itch that you can't, like
Speaker:you literally can't scratch.
Speaker:So how bad is the itch?
Speaker:Like,
Speaker:It's not crazy bad, but it's enough
Speaker:to be like, Oh, this is annoying.
Speaker:so it's probably won't stop you sleeping.
Speaker:but it'll stop you enjoying life.
Speaker:Oh, God.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I think it has to be an itch, though.
Speaker:I think it has to be the itch.
Speaker:'cause if I've got sticky hands
Speaker:all the time, then I'm like picking
Speaker:up my glass and it's just sticky.
Speaker:And then if I'm like hugging, you
Speaker:know, anybody, or like trying to
Speaker:put moisturizer on my face, then
Speaker:it, it's like, stick down, you know?
Speaker:Mm-Hmm.
Speaker:. So I feel like it has to be
Speaker:an itch that I can't scratch
Speaker:that would probably
Speaker:slowly drive me insane.
Speaker:that I can't scratch.
Speaker:That would, that would probably
Speaker:slowly drive me insane.
Speaker:But, worse.
Speaker:Perpetually those competitions
Speaker:where you have to grab cash in
Speaker:that like wind blowing chamber,
Speaker:You just bloop,
Speaker:and then you can just
Speaker:bloop.
Speaker:You just grab all the cash in there.
Speaker:Numerous times.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:uh, you
Speaker:a unbeatable itch there, you
Speaker:know impressing anyone with
Speaker:You're not impressing anyone with that.
Speaker:Um, I'm gonna
Speaker:gonna go with sticky hands.
Speaker:Sticky flippin hands.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:And he hates sticky.
Speaker:So that's saying
Speaker:something about the itch.
Speaker:The itch
Speaker:must be really bad.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us for this.
Speaker:Would you rather conversation?
Speaker:Okay, I'm back.
Speaker:What did you think of that?
Speaker:Could you tell?
Speaker:You shouldn't have been
Speaker:able really to tell.
Speaker:I mean, obviously the, the level was
Speaker:a little bit different versus my audio
Speaker:right here and I'm nice and close
Speaker:to the microphone and I'm using an
Speaker:XLR microphone plugged into a fancy
Speaker:preamp and all the things, but that
Speaker:was just him and I in the same room
Speaker:that I'm in right now using two USB
Speaker:microphones plugged into the same system.
Speaker:So the Motive Mix system.
Speaker:Lots of people started buying the
Speaker:Rodecaster Pro and the Rodecaster Pro
Speaker:2 because it was a cool, you know,
Speaker:mixing desk with buttons and knobs.
Speaker:And I've got one as well, which I
Speaker:use for all my music making in my
Speaker:separate studio just for music.
Speaker:And so that's a really great system, but
Speaker:now there's like software version
Speaker:of a similar thing, which is a
Speaker:mixer being the Shure Motive Mix.
Speaker:So it just means that you can
Speaker:plug your microphones in, you
Speaker:can change settings on that too,
Speaker:like on the actual microphone.
Speaker:So If you have a Shure microphone, then
Speaker:you may be in luck because there are
Speaker:actual settings that you can change on
Speaker:that microphone to make it sound even
Speaker:better, let's say you're a streamer
Speaker:for example and you want to make sure
Speaker:that your Sound coming out of your
Speaker:microphone is the best that it can
Speaker:possibly be because you're not going to
Speaker:be doing any post production It's live.
Speaker:So you want it to sound
Speaker:really good straight out.
Speaker:And so with this Motive Mix software,
Speaker:you can actually go into the
Speaker:settings of that microphone on the
Speaker:software and then change things.
Speaker:You can improve the EQ, you can
Speaker:improve the compression, have the
Speaker:tone of it, uh, you can limit it.
Speaker:You can do all sorts of
Speaker:things, which is really cool.
Speaker:It's not for every
Speaker:Shure microphone though.
Speaker:So they only have support for that
Speaker:for the MV7, the MV7+ the MV88+
Speaker:stereo USB microphones, and the
Speaker:MVX two U digital audio interface.
Speaker:So it doesn't work with absolutely
Speaker:everything, but certainly in this
Speaker:context, a lot of people use the MV seven
Speaker:or the MV seven plus, and so they're
Speaker:gonna be in luck, which is really cool.
Speaker:So in that YouTube video, I actually
Speaker:just went through and showed you all
Speaker:the settings that you could change
Speaker:which meant that it was just really
Speaker:easy for me to sound good, and I showed
Speaker:you how to set it up for my voice,
Speaker:but also what those settings all mean.
Speaker:Because there is still a learning
Speaker:curve for anything that's a new
Speaker:piece of software, but in saying
Speaker:that, You don't need to change
Speaker:any of those settings as well.
Speaker:And certainly if you don't have a
Speaker:Shure microphone, you won't be able
Speaker:to change any of those settings.
Speaker:You just plug it in and your
Speaker:microphone will work and you'll
Speaker:be able to just hit record.
Speaker:So this is something that I'm
Speaker:actually really excited by.
Speaker:I'm not an affiliate of Shure.
Speaker:I don't get any kickback for even
Speaker:making this content, but it's
Speaker:something that I just felt like
Speaker:was important for me to share,
Speaker:especially for you audio only folks.
Speaker:So if you're only recording an audio
Speaker:podcast, then you can get a really
Speaker:simple piece of software that you
Speaker:can set up, have on your computer,
Speaker:drag your microphone into the mix,
Speaker:hit record, and then export it out.
Speaker:Very easily.
Speaker:it's absolutely awesome.
Speaker:it would be something that I would
Speaker:recommend you check out if you're sick
Speaker:of recording in the way that you're
Speaker:currently recording, like maybe garage
Speaker:band is annoying or audacity is just.
Speaker:Hard to deal with or you know, like you
Speaker:just wanna make it simple for yourself.
Speaker:also like if you are a client of ours
Speaker:or if you have a podcast production team
Speaker:doing your actual editing for you, then
Speaker:this makes it really, really simple for
Speaker:you too, because you just record it.
Speaker:Export it and then upload it to
Speaker:whoever's going to actually do your edit.
Speaker:and it's definitely less hassle.
Speaker:So go and check it out.
Speaker:I'm really impressed with how it is.
Speaker:It's only in beta mode at the moment
Speaker:and even in beta it just is really good.
Speaker:so I can't really imagine what else
Speaker:they need to change but at this point
Speaker:in time, definitely worth a look.
Speaker:Hopefully that was helpful for you.
Speaker:Go and watch that YouTube
Speaker:video if you want a full
Speaker:walkthrough of how it all looks.
Speaker:I would be really interested to see
Speaker:whether you use it, take it on the
Speaker:road with you, record people, go
Speaker:somewhere on location, record you
Speaker:and someone else with your laptop
Speaker:only, and that will be amazing.
Speaker:Have a good day, and I
Speaker:will talk to you next week.
