- It's no secret that
the RODECaster Pro is an awesome audio tool, but
it has so many features that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Today I'm gonna share my
top five RODECaster Pro tips to help you down the road
faster of becoming a pro with the RODECaster Pro. (upbeat music) And of course I am recording
this video directly into the RODECaster Pro with the PodMic and the WS2 windscreen, the classic combo, and the RODE PSA1, all my favorite things. The first tip to share
is really a reminder that the RODECaster Pro
is not just for podcasts and recording audio, but
it is an incredible tool for live streams, video
calls and basically anything where you need high quality audio. I always keep my RODECaster
connected to my computer via USB, and I use it in
anything that requires audio. So when I'm teaching my Zoom classes, the RODECaster pops up
as a source in Zoom. Actually, let me show you. This basic process should work the same in any of your streaming software. So right here in the Zoom audio settings, you can see that the
RODECaster Pro pops up both as a speaker and as a microphone. I didn't have to do anything,
it's entirely plug and play. And the same thing is true
over here on Ecamm Live, where the RODECaster just
pops up as an audio device. It will do the same thing in FaceTime, in OBS, in StreamYard, in YouTube Studio, directly through your browser. Basically anything that
requires an audio input, you can select the RODECaster. And if you have a RODECaster,
I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be using it all the time for all of your audio, even
beyond recording podcasts and stuff like that. And you can even take it
one step further than that. For example, with the iPad
Pro you can connect the USB-C from the RODECaster into your iPad and use it as a source there. I did an entire video all
about that, where I recorded a song into GarageBand
through the RODECaster Pro, but also I really wanna
thank both Dee Nimmin and Diana Gladney for
explaining to me how to use the RODECaster with an iPhone, which is not something I
knew that you could do. Basically, you just need
an actual TRRS cable, connect it to the smartphone
channel on your RODECaster, connect it to the Lightning
adapter on your iPhone, and then all the audio from the RODECaster will go in to your iPhone. So you can even use RODECaster audio when you're doing any kind
of audio work on your iPhone. That's definitely a step
up and a game changer. So thanks to Dee and Diana,
Diana and Dee, indeed, for sharing that with me. Now, I won't wanna miss this
next tip by subtracting it from the list, and that
is mix-minus, which is one of the most useful things you
can do with the RODECaster. And there are actually two
different ways to approach using mix-minus, and
essentially, what that is, if you're not entirely sure,
is you have audio running into the RODECaster, but
you don't want it to end up on your final recording,
or you don't want it to be output to your stream, your
Zoom call, whatever else you're using the RODECaster
with, like we just talked about. And it might sound strange
at first that you would want audio coming in to the
RODECaster but not going out of the RODECaster, but there are a lot of reasons why it's really helpful. I use it almost every single
day with my Zoom classes, where I want to be able to hear
it when people ask questions or make comments, but I
don't want it to go back out into the Zoom thing because
then they hear themselves and it becomes this crazy echo situation. I also like to use this
a lot when I'm doing remote podcast interviews
and the person is recording high quality audio on their
end, because I'm not gonna record that same quality
audio here, but I still need to hear them to be able to talk to them, so I use a mix-minus feature there. And there are actually two, so let's start with USB mix-minus. And USB mix-minus is in
the advanced audio options. You can click advanced, go
to audio, go to processing. And right there, you've
got USB mix-minus turned on and that will basically
remove this USB channel from your finished recording. And I do usually have
USB mix-minus turned on, pretty much all the time,
but sometimes I need to remind myself that it's
on, if I need to turn it off and I don't wanna forget that it's on, but there is one way around that which is another way
of handling mix-minus. And that involves the
mute and the solo buttons on the bottom of each channel. And so right now for this
video I'm using channel three on the RODECaster Pro, just
because that's the blue channel. I always use channel three, but
if I wanted to use mix-minus I can press the solo button on my channel and that's gonna pull just my
audio out in the recording. So I can actually do
this while I'm recording for this video, and it's not
gonna have a negative effect, or at least it shouldn't. If the audio suddenly changed here that would mean something went wrong. And then on another channel,
like, say for example I am bringing in a phone
call, and I want to include that person as well, I
would need to solo them because when the green button
is on, only that channel is gonna make it through to the final mix. So any channels that
have the green button on will make it through. So in this case, no matter
what the other channels are doing, nothing is gonna come through except for channel three
and the smartphone channel. But if I don't want the smartphone
audio to actually make it to the recording, then I also mute it. And now this is basically
mix-minus from here. This is the only thing
going to the recording. This, I can still hear
through my headphones but it's not going to
make it into the output. And the same thing then, if I
wanted to add in sound effects that everybody could
hear, I can add that here, if I wanna add in the
computer, and I don't wanna turn on USB mix-minus, I
can do the same thing there. I use this a lot, especially
when recording remote podcast with just one other person,
like when Peter Lindgren and I do our podcast,
that's pretty much how I'm doing his audio, 'cause
he has a RODECaster on his end all the way over in Sweden,
he's gonna get better sound recording there in his studio, that I'm gonna get through
FaceTime over here. And so I use that version of
mix-minus so I can hear him, we can talk, and then he just sends me the high quality audio file. Did a whole video all about that too. Now this can get out
of hand pretty quickly 'cause what you could
find is that you want multiple channels to be included but then multiple channels to be
excluded, but still heard. And eventually you end up with
like almost all the channels except for one or two being
either soloed or muted or both. And that brings me to the next
point, or the next question, which is, when to use multi-track. The multi-track feature
on the RODECaster Pro is pretty amazing and I'm sorry to say it took me so long to fully embrace it. But you access it through
the advanced menu. Again, you click on audio, and
then you go to multi-track. Right now for me, the SD
card option is not there because I'm actually
recording to the SD card, but you can also do
USB multi-track output. You can have your multi-track
ignore any processing, which would mean if you're
streaming or whatever, the processing will be heard there but it's not gonna make it
to your finished recordings. The times when I use
multi-track the most are when I have basically more than one track that I would wanna mute and solo. So if it's like just me
and one other person, I like to just do it that way because it keeps things simpler. I'm just importing one
stereo file to my computer. As soon as you dive into
multi-track you're importing all of the tracks, even
if you're not using them. It just takes a lot longer,
especially if you've recorded for a while, like an hour or more, which is not uncommon for podcasts. And it's just an easier workflow to work with one simple file. So that's what I try to
stick with as much as I can, but multi-track can be super helpful if you have more people, more
inputs, and you just wanna make sure you have the ability to go back and fix everything later. It's also great if you
do wanna keep a backup. So sometimes if I'm doing
an interview for a podcast or something, even if they are
recording high quality audio on their end, I might just
use multi-track over here. So that way I can have their
track as a backup audio source. Even if it doesn't sound
perfect, at least I know that if something goes wrong on their end and they can't send me the
file, or after the interview they just decided to ghost me
because they don't like me, I still have their audio
and I can still use it. I really wanted to include
this point because I get a lot of messages that are
questions about multi-track and it seems like a lot of
people feel like they need to make a decision about their
workflow with the RODECaster. Do I use multi-track, do
I not use multi-track? Make the decision and then stick with it. And I really wanna remind you that you're not married to that decision. You can change it at any time and you should always use whatever's best for what you need at the given moment. It's not uncommon for me
personally to switch between multi-track and the stereo
file mode several times within the same day, depending
on what I'm working on. So just know what tools
you have in your toolbox and then use them when
it's gonna best help you accomplish whatever it is
that you're trying to do. Speaking of accomplishing
things, I don't know if you know this, but I found
my old iPod and it was broken, but it finally started working again, it just needed some time to heal up. And then I podcast, I podcast, I do podcast, actually,
I have three podcasts. You could check them
out in the links below. So let's move on to tip number four, which can really affect your audio. And that is the, are the,
is the onboard effects in the RODECaster Pro. I think it can be really
tempting when you first get your RODECaster to go into
your audio processing, turn everything on, and then just think that you need all these
things all the time, but I really don't recommend that. So if I turn on the high-pass filter, turn on the compressor,
turn on the noise gates, turn on the aural exciter
and the big bottom and turn on the de-esser,
it's really going to have an effect on my sound. And the biggest thing with the effects is to really keep them subtle. So let's go a little crazy right now. I'm gonna go over here and
go into the high-pass filter, and if I just crank that all
the way up 'cause I feel like I wanna use that and I wanna
turn on the compressor and go a little crazy with it and
make things a little louder. And then I wanna turn on the noise gate and then I'm gonna turn on the de-esser, get rid of all those S's
and then I'm gonna turn on the big bottom to add
some bass in my voice but I'm also gonna turn on
the aural exciter to really just sort of give me that
nice, like crazy radio tone. Is that everything, oh,
bring in the big bottom more into the mix. And now obviously I'm
taking this to the extreme to make a point. I don't think anybody would
just do that, but I think it can be very tempting
when you get your RODECaster to kind of go in and go a little crazy. This is a highly processed audio. This right now is just the PodMic with basically a little bit
of a big bottom processing and little bit of a high-pass filter. But a lot of times I will
just turn off all the effects altogether and let the
natural sound come through. And if I wanna edit it I can do that in Adobe Audition or something like that. So I'm not saying don't
use the onboard effects, they can be incredibly helpful. Just, it's like cooking
you don't wanna just dump like all of the salt and all
the seasoning into your dish. You wanna just be subtle with
it, so that way it brings out the flavor and it doesn't
overwhelm the flavor. That was a great analogy. And my last tip has to
do with the protection of your RODECaster Pro. I strongly recommend that you always use some kind of cover, case, or dust cover when you're not using it just to keep it in perfect working order. For the past year or so,
I've been using this cover from decksaver.com. This is not sponsored, they
did originally send me this when they started making it,
they sent it to me for free but since then I've purchased
others as gifts for people. So it's free, but I've also bought some. And when you put it on your RODECaster it just keeps all the
buttons from getting moved. It keeps all dirt and
dust from getting in there and it just keeps the
whole unit protected. And I love that and it's a
really snug, really good fit. I've gotten into a pretty
good habit of putting this on my RODECaster when I'm
done using it every day and taking it off in
the morning every day. And it really helps, I live in the desert and we have two very sheddy dogs. If you do any kind of
audio stuff, you know that once dirt gets into the
knobs and into the sliders it can really have a negative effect on your overall sound quality. And of course, what would
a video like this be without a bonus tip and/or trick, and I don't wanna phone it in. So let's talk about headphones
with the RODECaster Pro. And this is sort of, this
really is more of just a tip and a bit of general guidance. The headphone pre-amps
on the RODECaster Pro, I'm sorry to say, just aren't that great. It is amazing that there
are five headphone outputs built into it, and everybody can listen to what's being recorded, and I love that, and individual volume knobs are great, but it's not the quietest preamp. And what that means is
oftentimes when you're listening with headphones, you're gonna hear a little bit of hiss and
a little bit of noise that's not actually going to
be on the final recording. And I bring this up because I also get a lot of messages from people asking. They're like almost going
insane trying to get rid of this hiss and they can't
find the source of it. And it turns out it's not
actually even affecting their recordings or their
streams or the output, it's just the headphone preamps. So all in all, it's not
the end of the world because whatever you're
hearing in your headphones, the final recording or the final output is actually gonna be higher quality. So that's kind of a good thing. It's a good idea, do some test
recordings, play those back, you know, on your computer or something, and listen to what it
actually sounds like. Don't rely on the headphone
preamp for 100% accurate reproduction of your sound quality. And now that I've said that,
the bonus tip sort of became a negative, and I don't want
the negative to outweigh the positives of the
other tips that I gave. So let's end this video
on a really positive note. The RODECaster Pro, I've
said this, time and again, is one of the best tools
I've ever invested in. It's not unusual for me to
get comments where people are asking for cheaper
alternatives to the RODECaster with all the same functionality,
which just doesn't exist, or they just say the price is too high, at about $600 usually. And I really do want to invite
anyone who feels that way to price out, individually,
items that will do all of the functionality of the RODECaster, and then factor in how you
have to daisy chain them all together to create your audio setup that is accomplished in
this one compact unit. And I say that because
I've done that, many times, and even more than that,
I'm just such a fan of the RODECaster Pro
community, because the people who are excited about this and using this, it's just a really exciting
group to be a part of and everybody's making stuff. And that's just really exciting. And I get psyched when something
helps people make stuff. And so here is a playlist all
full of videos to help you master the RODECaster Pro. There's a lot of sound advice for your sound device up in there. (upbeat music)
