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Mac Podcasting 101: GarageBand, Skype and the Behringer Xenyx 1202FX Mixer

John P.

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Although we’re constantly improving and updating the method of recording Wealth Nation, I spent the day going through and setting up a new configuration of our recording studio for the podcast, and I figured I would document explicit instructions on exactly how you can duplicate the setup we use.

Keep in mind that I am NOT an expert at this type of thing, so don’t bother asking me questions about variations of different setups. I won’t have the answers. However, if you care to do exactly what we have done, you will hopefully have the same experience but without the steep learning curve it took me.

Our Requirements

Let me start off by stating our requirements. There were a specific set of goals we had which caused us to set things up the way we did. If you have any different requirements, your desired setup could be very different.

  1. We need the ability to have 3-4 studio microphones to accommodate hosts and guests all in the room here.
  2. We need the ability to allow Skype callers to dial in so that we can do interviews or take questions live.
  3. Everyone in studio needs to hear everyone else in studio. Everyone in studio needs to hear Skype. Skype guests need to hear everyone in studio.
  4. We are going to do the entire show on a single 17″ MacBook Pro notebook PC.
  5. Audio recording will be done with GarageBand or Audacity.
  6. The entire thing needs to be portable for times we might take the show on the road.

The Hardware

To meet the first requirement, it is essential to have a professional audio mixer. Luckily, these things are cheap! Our producer, Dave Moyer, had me purchase a Behringer 1202FX Xenyx Premium 12-Input 2-Bus Mixer with Xenyx Mic Preamps, British Eqs And 24-Bit Multi-Fx Processor. Sounds like a real mouthful huh? But the great news is that it’s only a $99 piece of hardware! Amazing.

In addition to the mixer, we have ElectroVoice RE20 microphones for the in-studio hosts and guests which are mounted in Electro-Voice 309A Suspension Shockmounts. Each of the mics is suspended from a ProBoom Elite Microphone Arm and Riser System which allows speakers to adjust their mic to the position that is most comfortable. Finally, each person in the studio has a set of headphones so they can hear themselves and each other, and the headphones are connected to a Rolls HA43 Pro Headphone Amplifier which splits the one headphone output from the Xenyx 1202FX mixer into 4 outputs that are independently volume controlled.

The Setup

Now that the hardware is out of the way, lets talk connections:

  • The microphones are hooked into the XLR inputs. Typically, if only Cali and I are doing the show in the studio we’ll only take up ports 1 and 2. This leaves 2 more for additional mics.
  • On mic port 3 (or 4 or 5) there is an XLR (or 1/4″) to 1/8″ cable that plugs into the headphone jack on the MacBook Pro. This takes the audio from the laptop and brings it into the mixer and allows you to hear skype callers or other audio sources. It doesn’t handle stereo sources such as music from iTunes, so we’ll get to that later!
  • The mixer also has a pair (left and right) of 1/4″ audio jacks labeled as Main Out which are connected to the MacBook Pro’s microphone input via a Y-Cable 1/8-inch (3.5mm) TRS to 1/4-inch adapter.
  • The last connection is the headphone out jack, which is simply going to the headphone splitter that I mentioned previously so that everyone can hear all of the sound from all sources.

The Software

Now lets talk about software configurations. It’s very important that all of the audio settings are set up correctly in order for this physical setup to work properly. Here is what I have going on (which works for me).

  1. In Skype go to the Preferences and under the Audio tab make sure that all of the settings are using the Built-in Outputs and Inputs as illustrated in this screenshot:
  2. In GarageBand go into the Preferences and under the Audio tab choose Built-in Output and Input as illustrated in this screenshot:
  3. In the Mac OS System Preferences choose the Sound option. Under Output make sure that the Headphones are selected for output as illustrated in this screenshot:
  4. Also in Mac OS System Preferences in the Audio adjustments under Input, choose the Built-in Input:

The End

All told, this entire setup cost around $2,800 with 3 of these high end microphones, the mounting equipment, mixer, headphones, headphone amp and cables. This doesn’t include the computer or software – which I’ll assume you already have before thinking about getting started.

You could cut this cost down to only a couple hundred dollars if you went with lower quality microphones, cheap headphones and desk mounting. The sound would likely be 75-80% as good as our setup. And of course, if you simply start with that Behringer mixer you can continuously add to and upgrade the system from there.

I hope this helps anyone who is really wanting to get started with podcasting. It was a huge learning curve, but once I had all the right pieces it was actually pretty easy to get things set up and working. Let me know if you follow our lead!

Comments

  2. John,
    My 2012 Macbook Pro does not have a mic input. Any suggestions. This sounds like a good setup. Here is reply from Apple when I asked about this.
    The 13″ MBP has one port for audio in/out. You can either use headphones with an inline mic (like the kind that comes with the iPhone) or just not use an external mic at all. If you use headphones with no mic, your MacBook will just use the built in microphone. The 15″ and 17″ MBPs do have separate audio input ports.

      • But, that doesn’t accomodate more than one user. I need to have the capability of using 4 mics. I can do that using my Peavey USB 6 mixer but still having a problem trying to connect like you do because of the mic/headphone jack on my MacBook. Any advise?

        Thanks

  3. Thanks for this post! I’m about to purchase the equipment and go for it, but I have a Macbook Pro 13-inch. How can I adjust the mixer/mic/headphone setup to function with the single combined mic/headphone input on this macbook pro??

  4. One question, is there any way to use this setup without having to use headphones.

    Could the output be run into a speaker system?

    Just wondering

  5. Hey John,

    If you don’t mind I will republish your article in my web site and send you some back-link love. Nice article to show the basic simplicity of making a quality sounding podcast.

  6. Great info here, John – thanks!

    My question is, do you think this setup would work to a digital audio recorder (Edirol R-09HR) instead of going to the computer/garage band?

    Thanks!

    • Van,

      You should be able use the same setup and plug it into a digital recorder if all you want to do is capture the audio in the room. But you obviously won’t have Skype working for people who are not in the studio.

      Make sure your recorder not only has line input, but also headphone outputs with monitor function so you can hear what is being recorded in real time. It should work. Let us know if you test it.

      John P.

  7. John,

    Thank you for your advice and after some thought I figure the only way I’m going to get amazing quality for my podcast is to splurge a little. So like you I want to start bringing people in from Skype and I do have a Mac Pro.
    So I ended up buying a Behringer HA8000 (yes I know I went a little overboard) and I already have a Behringer X2222 usb mixer. I think I got the connections correct but I was wondering if you could walk me through it for me. I’m not so sure on how to connect the amp correctly to the mixer.
    Thank You!!!!

    Julie…

    P.S. just in case your wondering I do record with 5 other people at the same time

  8. John is there a way I can avoid using headphones? Currently I do a podcast with 4 people live in the studio and we would like to start bringing people on skype to interview but buying 5 headphones and a splitter seems costly.

    Thanks

    Julie…

    • Julie,

      The only other alternative that I can think of would be to have your Skype caller on the speaker / speakerphone and literally record it from there along with the vocals for the folks in the studio.

      The speakerphone will sound tinny, but maybe it will add a little charm. If cost is a real issue then this should work. But if not, the headphone option doesn’t have to be that costly. That headphone splitter above is only $50 and any old $20 sets of headphones will do you just fine.

      Cheers,

      John P.

  9. Thank you John, for a very clear answer! :o) Nice to receive an answer that cannot be misinterpreted :) Thanks

  10. I am using Skype on a Mac with a Behringer mixer to send some live public talks to another part of the country. But our mixer broke down, it seems that it was overloaded – I don’t know. Today, a fellow said to me that it was due to Skype. He said we should use another piece of software, otherwise our new mixer would break down as well.

    What do you think? Can that possibly be true?

    The fellow said that Skype is constantly changing sound channels, which is bad for the mixer.

    We don’t touch the cables at all though. Our physical setup is fixed, without any changes. We only make physical changes now, because the mixer broke down.

    Have you heard of such a thing?

    • Joel,

      Whoever told you that was an idiot. ;-) Skype will in NO WAY break your mixer. Just get yourself another and be done with it.

      Cheers,

      John P.

  12. Hi John. If I understand your setup, my questions is, are you able to split the audio tracks into Garageband? I think your setup only allows for a one track record because you’re going into the Macbook pro using the microphone input port. If I’m wrong, that’s where I’m stuck. Can you help? I’d like to record to multiple tracks. Thanks in advance.

    • Elisha,

      You are correct, I can only record on a single track with this setup. In our case, this is all we needed. But if you are looking to do multiple tracks I believe what you need is a mixer that has Firewire capability to plug into your laptop so that you can take in multiple audio inputs. They are a little more expensive, say around $500, but if you need that capability I guess you have to pay for it. :-)

      John P.

  13. And the Skype people don’t get themselves fed back? Interesting…I started out with your set up and didn’t have the issue, but it soon happened consistently so I was finally able to wrap my head around mix-minus!

    Stupid voodo sound mixing! :)

  14. You’re right Michael, there is no mix-minus. And everyone told me it wasn’t going to work and I needed to do it a different way, etc.

    But guess what. Works perfectly and has been for months! I’ve even taken the setup on the road with me and it works outside the studio.

    John P.

  15. It seems to me that this set-up will send feedback to Skype. There’s no “mix-minus” in the “mix”!

    You need to run one cable from the main out and another from the fx send (as it’s called on this mixer), then turn down the fx knob on the channel that has Skype coming into it.

  19. Great reference article for me to follow over the next year. I’ve been looking for some great tech info on podcasting mics and have always wanted to know how you guys get the Skype calls linked in to the podcast. Thanks for the info, good stuff.

  20. Hmm. Thanks for the tip Dave. I see the Mackie Onyx 820i FireWire Recording Mixer over on Amazon for $460.

    The question would be, will the Firewire connection replace the input and output audio cables that are currently going to the laptop’s headphone and microphone jacks? That is how Garageband is getting the input currently, and it’s also necessary for Skype. But if the Firewire port is recognized as an audio card or something that Skype can use also, it would simplify things even more.

    Thanks,

    John P.