I’ve been asked a few times what A/V gear I use for work calls (and podcasting, once I get back to that). So here’s my gear!
Video#
I bought a Lumix GH4 years ago when it was the first 4K DSLM camera that supported longer than 30-minute video recording. It’s been a great camera, but these days I’d probably go with a newer model or an entirely different brand as many of these features now exist elsewhere.
One of the drawbacks to the micro four-thirds cameras was low-light performance, so I got a Metabones Speedbooster and a Sigma lens (designed for Canon).
All to say, if you are purchasing a new 4K camera, you probably don’t want to bother piecing together my camera kit, but I’ll include info below.
Camera Body#
Lens#
Metabones Canon EF Lens to Micro Four Thirds Speed Booster
Audio#
The Mic#
This mic is simply amazing.
XLR Cable#
Definitely go with higher quality here, especially if you have local RF interference. Cheaper XLR cables picked up local radio stations like a proper radio antenna. After testing several cables, Mogami Gold cables block all RF interference I was encountering, giving a nice clean signal.
Audio Interface#
A good alternative to this is the Focusrite Scarlett. I got a Zoom F6 because I wanted a portable recorder. The Zoom F6 was the first field recorder to use 32-bit floating with dual ADCs - thereby practically eliminating audio clipping. Not having to monitor audio levels constantly is quite nice. The Zoom also duals as an audio interface.
But if you want to save some money and don’t need the field recording capabilities, I’d go with a Focusrite Scarlett.
Channel Strip#
The audio gear here is still stuff I would buy again today, with the possible exception of the Behringer UV1 channel strip. It’s a decent channel strip, but there are better ones out there. It replaced my DBX 286s, which died. I loved the DBX, but other folks had theirs die on them as well after a couple of years. So I decided to try the UV1, which was clearly launched as a competitor. The UV1 comes very close to the DBX 286s, but lacks a bit of the warmth of the DBX.
If I upgrade my channel strip, I’ll probably go with an ART Voice Channel Tube Channel Strip. A bit pricier, but really nice jump in quality.