Rode Podcaster, White

We send the RØDE Podcaster to all of our new blogging and podcasting clients. We like it because it is heavy-duty, and dead simple to operate. You plug it in and get great sound. Nothing to adjust. Røde's warranty is superb. We've only ever had one mic fail and they repaired it with no questions. (We think the client may have dropped it, but no matter...it was fixed and returned to us).If you're thinking about recording solo audio or Skype audio calls, this is a great choice. If you're doing webcam video, it looks darned nice too. It's a big, heavy mic. Do yourself a favor and grab the shock mount if the mic will be sitting on a desktop stand. If you're using a boom arm, it's less important, but you should still consider it. Besides, it looks cool too.Our clients love it because of the simplicity and the cool factor of having a good-looking microphone on their desk. It gets conversations started about their podcasting!We've tried other mics (AT2020, Apogee Mic, Blue Nessie, etc) We keep coming back to the Podcaster because of sound, simplicity and reputation.

I had a few audio projects coming up and I didn't want to rely just on my built-in laptop microphone. But I am not an audio engineer and didn't want to have to buy racks of equipment just so I could record high-quality audio. I also wanted my setup to be portable and durable.So after shopping around I decided on the Rode Podcaster USB Microphone.This is a hefty microphone -- very solid design. Also, using it couldn't be easier. Just plug it into my laptop's USB port (Mac) and start recording -- no need for external power supplies or other interface gadgets.On a Mac, just plug in the mic, fire up Garage Band, and start recording.I've already mentioned the heft of the microphone -- this means that you will likely need a solid mic stand to support the mic, especially since it connects to the stand at the base of the mic, and so the result makes the stand and mic a little top-heavy.But I am very happy with this mic -- easy to use, durable, and makes high-quality recordings.(review by Kendall Giles)

Absolutely a great microphone. The sound of this mic is great and the only place it really has any trouble is with the highs.You should make sure you have a few things before you get this microphone. This is a very wide microphone and I could barely fit it in the shock mount I had. As well as wide it is VERY HEAVY. If you plan on using a boom arm I would make sure it can handle the weight of it. This as well goes for any stand you use. This microphone does not come with a stand. I would also recommend you get a pop filter or windscreen. It has a built-in pop filter but its really not that good.Other than just needing a few things with this microphone ( Which you would need with any microphone ) it is a very good microphone overall and helps me keep out the noise of cars passing by.

use it on my voice chats on my chat client w a windscreen and others say i sound like i'm completely on radio.i have several mics by this brand of all prices and they all are exemplary. i typically don't talk about cheap v expensive because there are jewels out there for affordable prices, but i love this; i wish there were a darker color (gray or even black) to match my setup, but i do have the procaster which is a sibling to this mic and it's black, so i mean...i have what i have and all the microphones from this brand are amazing.

I've been podcasting on and off since late 2005, and I've had a lot of different mics. I've even had an Electro-Voice RE20, and more recently, an Electro-Voice RE320. I like this mic better.It is so easy to get clean sound out of this mic, and to not get the fuzziness and scratchy sibilance I was getting with the more expensive RE320. It's just dead silent when I'm not speaking, and when I am speaking, it's clean and clear and not at all fuzzy or noisy. I think you could probably get the same sound with the RE320 if you had it going through a very clean and powerful interface, but it wasn't happening for me, and I tried two different preamp/mixer combinations and a Shure X2U as well. Granted, I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on really good equipment.It's just clean and clear and sounds great. The true test was when I guested on another podcast and heard how good I sounded even recorded over Skype. It sounded great. With my previous mic, even if I sounded fine in my own recordings, I always sounded terrible on everyone else's, but with this mic, it just sounds good.On the Mac, you will have to crank the input volume for this mic up quite a bit. I have mine set to 83%, and it sounds quiet on recording before putting it into Logic with my EQ and gain settings. On the other hand, the volume was perfectly fine to others when I have used it on other podcasts or just conversing with people on G+ or Skype.If you're a podcaster, you could buy a bunch of equipment, and maybe you think you want to. But you don't. Unless you're running a ton of inputs into your system, you don't need a mixer, and you don't need a Heil PR 40. All you need is this one mic, and preferably the boom arm and the shockmount. You'll not regret it.