By Robert Nelson

When Covid 19 shut down the Marriott Library, drastic (temporary) changes made podcast recording in the Audio Studio less than ideal. There was no access from mid-March through August, 2020. Occupancy rules made it so that two or three in-studio podcasts would have to perform masked-up. Not ideal. Not what regular and one-off podcasters were used to in a spacious, soundproof recording room using professional audio microphones.

In the interim I created a Podcasting from Home Libguide:

https://campusguides.lib.utah.edu/c.php?g=1040349

In addition, we ordered four podcasting kits that could be circulated from the Marriott Library’s Knowledge Commons Desk.

About a month ago, I received an email from Devin Donaldson, who works at the Knowledge Commons. There was a backlog of requests for the kits.

The podcast kits contain the Snowball USB condenser microphone. It sits on a tripod and captures 360-degree audio. Perfect for a two-person podcast recording. It is the microphone I used at home when I needed to create radio shows for local station KRCL during the pandemic quarantine.

Since they are in high demand, we rush ordered five more kits. It took a while to receive the plastic carrying cases to house the microphone, tripod, and USB connector. But now we have nine podcast kits for students, staff, and faculty to use for at-home audio production.

Sometime in the next few weeks we will have a Podcast Booth in Protospace where the University of Utah community can schedule a soundproof space in a public area to generate podcasts. In July of 2021, the occupancy levels in the Audio Studio will increase enough to go back to recording “regular” podcasts.

Before Covid, 26 student groups and 20 faculty/staff podcasters used the Audio Studio for content generation. The podcast kits appear to have bridged the gap in the fallow period necessitated by the virus lockdown.

Robert Nelson | Head of Media Studios
Creativity & Innovation Services / Media Studios
robert.nelson@utah.edu[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]