Speaker 1: If you're looking or thinking about starting a podcast this year, and you wanna start off with a bang when it comes to quality, but you don't wanna break the bank, then you found the perfect video, because in this video, I'll be breaking down my smartphone podcast setup that works with up to two people, and it's perfect for beginners. You gotta just press record. Hey, what's up? It's Omar El-Takrori with Think Media, and I really wanna encourage you to stick around till the end of this video, as we have a free how to start your podcast course that'll help you get started if you're looking to start a podcast. But the first thing I wanna encourage you with is that you should turn on a camera when you start your podcast. I know a lot of people consume podcasts audibly, but just turning on a camera will allow more viewers to see your content, or you just create highlight clips like reels and shorts from your podcast. And so I'm using my iPhone 13 mini with a $20 tripod, and I'll post links down to everything in the description below. And that tripod even comes with a Bluetooth remote that I love to start and stop recording so you don't have to keep getting up, hitting record on your phone, and then sitting back down. But that is the camera setup that I'm using, but if you have a camera lying around, I would encourage you to use it as you start your podcast. When it comes to investing into a good microphone, you want a dynamic mic that cuts out a lot of exterior noises and gives you that nice, rich radio podcast voice. And the mic that I would recommend is the Samson Q2U. This is about a 60 to $70 mic, but here's what's cool about this mic. For under $70, you're gonna get the mic itself, and as you can hear, it sounds amazing. You're gonna get the pop filter, the mic stand, if you so choose to use the mic stand. You're gonna get an XLR cable as well as a USB cable. So if you wanna plug it into your computer or laptop, you can do so as well. You can use this as a USB mic. So if you wanted to get into live streaming or you wanted to use a mic like this for Zoom conference calls and things like that, then this mic would be perfect for that. And another cool thing about this mic is that there's a headphone jack so you can monitor your audio as you use the mic. I don't think there's a more versatile mic that is this high quality on the market for this price. However, if you plan on having up to two people in your podcast and you wanna probably invest in two, which is a good idea to do so, but you can totally have a podcast that is conducted online where you interview people online because this mic allows you to do so with the USB option. And speaking of live streaming and doing interviews online and starting your podcast online, the sponsor of this video is StreamYard. StreamYard is how we conduct our live streams on our Think Media, Think Media podcasts and our private Facebook groups. It gives you the ability to do so many things and it makes it easy to do so. Whether that is bringing on multiple guests onto your live stream and conducting interviews, or maybe you're doing a presentation and you wanna share video or slides, StreamYard makes it easy to transition to and from those slides and videos, really making your live stream look legit. And if you wanna try out StreamYard for yourself, then go to streamwiththink.com or check out the link down in the description below. Thank you StreamYard for sponsoring this video. So we got the camera covered and the mic covered and that comes in at around $100 unless you wanna buy a second mic. But in order to use the XLR cable and plug it into your smartphone and or camera that you already own, you're gonna need a device like the Comica Link Flex. This device essentially takes any XLR and turns it into a 3.5 headphone jack. So you could plug it into the microphone port of your camera or plug it into your smartphone. And for my iPhone, I'm using the lightning adapter to plug it into first and then I'm plugging that into my smartphone, but just straight into the camera, it's producing great audio quality and you don't have to sync it later in post by recording it on a separate device like a laptop or a computer. Now you can buy this device with just one XLR input and it's gonna cost you around $50 or you can invest and get the one that allows you to get up to two mics plugged into it. And that's gonna cost you closer to $80. I have the one that allows you to plug up to two because when we go on the road or we need to set up for a podcast, typically we are doing interview style podcasts with two people. So having those is super helpful. What's really cool about this device is it provides phantom power. So it powers up the mic that you have plugged into it. And most mics that have an XLR output need phantom power to allow you to utilize that mic. And so with a nine volt battery, which is not included, might I say, it gives you the ability to turn on that phantom power, which is really nice. Another cool thing about the Comica Link Flex is the ability to switch it from stereo or mono. So let's say if you do have two people on, you could put it on mono and then your audio will be captured on each side of the recording so that you can in post manipulate somebody's voice and maybe they're a little bit louder than the other person or vice versa. And you can just adjust that volume accordingly because you shot it in mono. This device also allows you to monitor audio with the ability to plug in headphones. And so your guests can also be monitoring their audio as well. And so if you put this all together, you're gonna get a really great start off to getting your podcast off the ground. People won't even realize that you are using a $70 mic because it sounds so good. And you don't need to break the bank in order to get started and have a great sounding podcast, as well as great looking podcasts using your smartphone, shooting in 4K or using the camera that you currently own. Now, I promised that we would give you a free course on how to start your podcast this year. And you can check that out by clicking or tapping the screen. Or if you wanna see a setup breakdown of my office setup that you see here, when I break down the lights, the actual camera that I'll typically use if I'm not using my smartphone, you can do so by clicking or tapping the screen. I can't wait to see you in a future video. Peace.