I recorded a music show and while it sounded okay, I felt something was a bit off – but couldn’t put my finger on it. The music seemed to be stereo, but it wasn’t. There was something up and I had no idea what it could be. Was it just that I was listening to the output of a different mixer after all these years?… No, it was more than that. A few days ago, I had time to delve deeper into the settings of my music channel, and as I went through the processing options to turn each one off, right at the end, the final option was the stereo balance – or panning as Rode calls it.  The default setting out of the box is to send the left signal to both left and right channels – and to do the same for the right channel – leading to an output that I’d call ‘dual mono with a twist’. To achieve true stereo is an easy fix. Click the square button on the channel you want to change, go Advanced Processing > Panning Option (L-R) > turn the left channel 100% left and the right channel 100% right. I would not use this setting for the microphone, as mics are mono – one mouth, one mic, mono. UPDATE: You can also try disabling the panning option by turning it off for channels used for music. Your feedback is always welcome. All the best, Steve.

In this short-and-sweet episode I suggest two apps to record and edit your podcast. One is completely free and the other has a generous free trial period that will give you plenty of time to experiment and try it out. OcenAudio is a superb free app for any platform and Reaper provides a fully-featured and robust alternative to Audition and ProTools (at a fraction of the price). Even if you do use a mixer that has in-built recording options - such as the Rodecaster – I still recommend using an app to record a back-up - just in case the SD card in the mixer fails. Your feedback is always welcome. All the best, Steve.

Well, it's been a long time... Since my last podcast I have moved countries to live in Melbourne and while my Just Jazz radio show has been going great guns, I have missed our weekly chats about all things podcasting. This week marks my return - get the bunting out - and I'm looking at three mic ideas you might find interesting (along with a suggestion on using the mic in your pocket - give it a go). Your feedback is always welcome. All the best, Steve.