Podcasting is ever-expanding and RØDE came up with a dedicated microphone for it, just as the name clearly implies: the RØDE PodMic is intended for podcasters who like to use an audio interface to get more control over their sound (and more setup flexibility) over the simplicity of USB microphones. The PodMic is a small, great-sounding microphone that does a lot of things just right at an affordable price point.
Disclaimer: RØDE kindly provided me with a free unit. The PodMic sells for $99. You can find additional info on the manufacturer’s website.
TL;DR: recap
| Pros |
Cons |
| + Sturdy, robust build
+ Neutral-ish, slightly warm sound signature + Built-in pop filter + Affordable |
– The design prevents it from standing vertical |
Rating: 8/10
Packaging & Accessories
There’s not much in the way of packaging and accessories: the box contains the microphone itself and an adapter to screw it on 3/8″ supports. The microphone doesn’t come with a base, so you will have to buy it separately.
Design & Build
The RØDE PodMic looks fairly simple, with a silver grille encapsulated by a black cage. It looks fairly classic, yet modern at the same time. The grille hides a pop filter that helps contain plosives and sibilants, which comes in quite handy and adds no clutter to your setup – a rather useful feature. Affixed to the body is the swing clip, which allows you to use the PodMic with both a table stand and an arm; the only caveat is that it doesn’t leave enough space for an XLR connector if you want to keep it aligned with the microphone. In other words, you can’t put the microphone on a table stand and have it stay vertical as there’s not enough clearance for the cable.
Other than this (admittedly minor) detail, the PodMic looks and feels great. At 865 g, it weighs quite a bit and this makes it feel quite solid. This feeling is reinforced by the fact that it is entirely made of metal, which makes it really sturdy. Given this weight, you will need a decent table stand for it, or an arm that can take this kind of weight.
Specs & Features
RØDE says that the PodMic is able to capture sounds between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, with a sensitivity of -57 dB re 1 Volt/Pascal (1.60mV @ 94 dB SPL) ± 2 dB @ 1kHz – which makes it fairly sensitive. Output impedance is rated at 320 Ω. As the PodMic is a dynamic mic, you don’t need phantom power and this makes it compatible with a very wide variety of audio interfaces.
Sound
The integrated pop filter really helps the RØDE PodMic deliver a clean, clear sound which in turn means you don’t need to do extensive editing, e.g. to remove plosives. In fact you really need to make an effort for plosives to cause any issues, and unless you really go out of your way you won’t be able to overload the capsule.
The microphone is meant to record voices and has a relatively warm tint, but it’s a minor tweak to tonality that is barely noticeable. In order to get the deep, rich sound that many broadcast microphones have, however, you need to speak quite close to the microphone – less than 10 cm away, in my experience – which some could find a bit inconvenient. Still, this close proximity effect doesn’t mean that you need to stay really close to the microphone to get good sound quality out of it; on the contrary, you can get nice results even when speaking more than 50 cm away from it. The cardioid pattern does a good job at rejecting noises from around you and works well in case you want to record multiple people, each speaking to its own microphone.
Here is a sample recording I have done using the RØDECaster Pro II:
The RØDE PodMic doesn’t really require any intervention sound-wise to achieve great results, which is quite something considering its price. Despite having an XLR connector, usually reserved for more pro-orientated gear, even newbies can get recordings that sound clean, clear and professional with very little intervention or preparation – you basically just need to speak into the microphone after connecting it to your audio interface.
Final Thoughts
The RØDE PodMic pro is a great microphone for beginners and experts alike. At just $99 (and a similar figure in pounds and euros), it is quite affordable despite being built and sounding like pro gear. It has fantastic clarity and an easily likeable, slightly warm sound signature that works really well with human voices (but possibly not that well with instruments). If you need a microphone for podcasters, you just can’t go wrong with the PodMic.
