Audio Setup

We send our guests a professional audio kit and walk them through easy setup. 

Setting up with the Shure MV7 Microphone

Thanks for being a guest on One80. We look forward to hearing your story and sharing it with our listeners! Here are some simple instructions for setting up. We have several recording tools, but most often use Squadcast. Those directions are below.

Make sure to star the email that came from Squadcast/One80 so you can access it at recording time.

Internet

The best is wired instead of Wifi. If you can be at a computer/laptop that you can ethernet wire to the modem, that’s going to be the best internet. If that isn’t an option, go to https://www.speedtest.net/ and run a speed test on your internet Wifi. Squadcast needs at least 10 mbps upload and download in order for internet to not be spotty. Keep Squadcast as the focused tab; close out all other tabs, applications or browsers so your internet doesn’t “throttle” between things. And don’t keep any other tabs open during the interview. Put your phone on airplane mode so it doesn’t ring or buzz during the interview.

Location

If you can, it’s best to be in a room where there are textiles to absorb sound and not a lot of windows, which will cause an echo. You can put a pillow on your lap or behind your laptop for more sound absorption. You also should pay attention to ambient noises you’ve never noticed before, like a fridge or fan. They will cause a very loud hum in a the final recording! Turn off things that tend to make noise. You also want to make sure that the background is not ugly, like a door; we are being recorded video and audio. Bookshelves are always a nice backdrop. If you find that you don’t have a suitable location with a pretty background AND good internet, no problem! We can green screen you.

Computer/Laptop

It’s best to restart your computer before the recording. It’s also good to connect it to power. Audio/Video uses a lot of battery. Then you need to go to Google Chrome. In the far right you will see three dots, select those and select “New Incognito Window” so any other devices you’ve used for audio can be disconnected. It’s also a bit faster in incognito. 

Microphone Stand

First thing is to clamp in the pop filter. That will rest between you and the microphone to absorb unwanted sounds. Then set up the rest of the microphone stand. Now screw the microphone in to the microphone stand. If you don’t have a pop filter, no worries. We will make sure you sound great.

Microphone/Headphones

Now is time to plug in your microphone and headphones. Use wired headphones that go into both your ears, like the Apple AirPods that are in your audio kit. Plug them into the aux plug (headphone icon) in the back of the microphone. To connect microphone to the laptop/computer, use the USB or USB-c plug. Once you’ve plugged it in to your computer/laptop, now you will adjust the sound on the computer. On a Mac it’s the gear icon/sound. On a PC you put Sound in the search bar; not sure why there’s not a way to find it! On either device, you would select the Input and Output for the Shure MV7. Make sure sound is not coming from your computer but the microphone because it will sound terrible from the computer! 

Next is volume on the microphone. Look at the green dots or orange dots. The green ones are the output volume. If you see orange dots, select the microphone/headphone icon at the plus sign and the colors will change or green. Make sure not all the green dots are selected or your volume will peak and be too loud. With your finger touching the plus sign, slide your finger towards the minus sign until all but two dots are green. (Just take it two down from all the way up). Next is the orange dots. That is what you hear in the headphones. That can be all but one or two dots up. 

Micropohone placement is important. You want the microphone to be positioned diagonally from your face, lower than your chin, about two handwidths away. It has to be under your mouth and to the side two fists away or we will hear plosives (popping ps and bs and ts). Use books under your microphone stand to position the microphone accordingly. 

Entering Squadcast

Since you’re in Incognito mode, you will have to sign in to your email with your user and password because it won’t be recognized. But don’t open the email from your email server, do it here. Once you’re in your email from Chrome, open the email from Squadcast/One80, “join session”. Once you’ve opened the email you can close the email tab.

Green Room in Squadcast

Stay here in the green room. Don’t enter the session yet. Check your headphones and microphone to make sure that they are the headset and not your computer. Check the box that you are wearing headphones. Look at where you appear on camera and situate yourself and your background accordingly. Make sure you select the button for wearing headphones. Then below that make sure the sound is coming from the Shure MV7 for the microphone and headphones. Run a test to see how you sound. But unfortunately sometimes the sound test is not an option! Join the session when you are ready. Once you are in the session, feel free to further position yourself on the screen to be farther or closer and generally the same distance as the host on the other square. We’ll be saying hi, answering questions, praying together before we start recording. When the host presses record, the show is on. 

It usually takes 90 minutes to record a One80. We edit the interview down to no longer than 40 minutes. We press stop and we’re good to go.

Learn more about being a guest on the show!

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