Portable Podcasting Gear
At home in Puerto Rico I have a pretty decent audio recording setup: a Shure SM7B on a deskmounted arm, Scarlett XLR to USB interface with Cloudlifter preamp, etc. I don’t have a fully treated room yet, but working on that, and setting up a decent video area (with a green screen, DSLR, lighting, etc.). Biggest problem is outdoor and in-building noise, but that’s not constant. Unfortunately, this setup is very non-portable.
For true on-the-go incidental use, I’ve been pretty happy just using an iPhone 15 Pro microphone, or for calls, the Airpods Pro 2. Audio quality on the Airpods is decent for live stuff with one or a small group of people, but is substantially below the bar for a recording — one, depending on Bluetooth is a bad idea, and two, it’s just not that good.
For mobile use, I am mostly going to be in an untreated room — a hotel room near a window, a conference room, etc. As a result, I’d strongly prefer a dynamic vs. condenser microphone, and unfortunately most of the portable/podcast/etc. mics are condenser for some reason.
I recently tried out the Audio Technica AT2100X USB-C + XLR mic (available at B&H for $49). I added a cheap third-party folding mic stand (taller than the included one, although not strictly necessary) and a cheap foam windscreen for pop reduction.
This plugs directly into my Mac for recording, or into a Zoom H6 or other portable XLR recorder, and also is a good backup mic for XLR use generally. I would probably throw away/replace the included USB-C cable, though — for some reason it works with the mic but doesn’t work to charge random apple devices like headphones, so it’s probably out of spec.
Audio quality on USB-C is good; not as good as the Shure SM58 or Shure SM7B, but perfectly fine for a Twitter Spaces or podcast recording. For $50, a very good upgrade over using a laptop, phone, or headset mic, and it’s rugged enough to just throw in my carryon suitcase (although I’m going to try to get a hardshell tube case for it.
There are various reviews on YouTube (although a lot of them were reviewing based on the launch price >$100). It’s definitely not a perfect microphone, but for portable podcasting, it’s a good option.
I’ve been using one Airpod Pro 2 in one ear as a monitor during live calls/etc. If my head is turned 5 degrees off axis to the camera, it disappears. The mic can be positioned just out of frame on a tight shot, too. The tricky part is trying to position laptop or phone (for recording) plus the microphone in a random hotel room with lighting, but the larger microphone stand on a coffee table, laptop propped up on chairs and pillows, etc. seems to work in most rooms. Using a phone as the recording device (since it has USB-C, it works fine) would possibly be easier, and the front camer on my iPhone 15 Pro is actually better than on my MacBook Pro M1 Max, and I often have a phone tripod with me.