Resources · 7 min read

What equipment do you need to start a podcast?

Less than the gear forums suggest, and probably less than you think. Here is what actually affects how your show sounds and looks, what you can skip, and when it makes more sense to hire a studio than to buy anything at all.

What is the absolute minimum to record a podcast?

A microphone, a pair of closed-back headphones, and something to record into. That is genuinely it for a solo audio show. A USB microphone in the £80 to £150 range plugged straight into a laptop, recorded with free software, will sound dramatically better than a phone on the table and is how a large share of successful podcasts started. Everything beyond that list improves the result at the margins; nothing on it can be skipped without listeners noticing.

Which microphone should you buy first?

A dynamic microphone, not a condenser. Condensers are more sensitive, which sounds like a good thing until they pick up your fridge, your neighbours and every echo in an untreated room. Dynamic mics like the classics used in radio studios reject background noise and flatter the voice, which is why broadcasters have used them for decades. If you want the simplest path, buy a USB dynamic mic. If you think you will grow into multiple guests, buy an XLR version and add an audio interface, because USB mics do not combine well when there are three of them fighting over one laptop.

Do you really need an audio interface or mixer?

Only when you outgrow one USB microphone. An interface converts XLR microphone signals into something your computer understands, and a small two-input model handles a host plus one guest. Where people get burned is multi-guest recording: a four-person round table needs four microphones, four inputs, individual level control and someone paying attention to all of it while also hosting. That is the point where home setups start costing serious money and serious stress, and where an engineered room earns its keep. Our guide to podcast startup costs puts real numbers against both routes.

Why do headphones matter so much?

Because you cannot fix what you never heard. Closed-back headphones let you catch a rustling jacket, a dropped level or a guest drifting off-mic while you can still do something about it, instead of discovering it in the edit. They also prevent echo when recording remote guests, since open speakers feed the other person's voice back into your microphone. Any reputable closed-back pair from around £50 does the job; this is the cheapest insurance in the whole setup.

What about cameras and video?

This is where budgets explode. Audio-only podcasting is cheap to do well at home; video podcasting is not. A watchable video setup needs at least two camera angles, consistent lighting, framing that survives an hour of people moving around, and someone to monitor it all. Doing that properly at home means thousands of pounds and a room you dedicate to it. Yet video is where discovery happens now, because short vertical clips are how most new listeners find shows. The honest answer for most starters is to record audio at home and hire a video-equipped studio for the episodes that matter, or to book a studio for everything and skip the capital outlay entirely. Every session at our studio includes 4K multi-camera video and an engineer as standard, so the clip library builds itself.

Does room acoustics matter more than the microphone?

Usually, yes. A £300 microphone in an echoey spare room sounds worse than a £90 microphone in a duvet fort. Hard parallel walls, bare floors and big windows create the boxy, distant sound that makes podcasts feel amateur, and no plugin fully removes it. Cheap fixes work: record in a carpeted room with curtains, soft furniture and full bookshelves, and get the mic close to your mouth. Skip the coloured foam tiles that dominate podcast marketing; they treat very little and mostly signal "podcast" to the camera. If you are recording video anyway, a treated studio solves sound and looks in one booking.

What software do you need to record and edit?

Free tools cover the basics: Audacity or GarageBand for recording and editing, and a remote recording platform for interviews with guests who are not in the room. Paid editors add convenience rather than quality. Budget your time honestly, though: editing a one-hour episode typically takes two to four hours as a beginner, every single week. Plenty of podfade happens not because the gear was wrong but because the edit became a second job. If that sounds like you, prioritise a recording setup that produces clean files needing minimal fixing, which is the quiet argument for recording somewhere with an engineer.

So should you buy gear or book a studio?

Buy modestly if your show is solo or remote, audio-first, and you enjoy tinkering: one dynamic USB mic, closed-back headphones and free software gets you publishing this week for under £200. Book a studio if your show involves in-person guests, if video clips are part of your growth plan, or if you would rather spend your hours on the conversation than the cables. At £79 an hour with an engineer, broadcast audio and 4K multi-camera video included, a twice-monthly show can run for over a year in our Clerkenwell studio before matching the cost of a comparable home video rig, with no learning curve and nothing to maintain.

The short version

Start with a dynamic microphone, closed-back headphones and free software, and put your remaining budget into the room, not the shopping basket. Add an interface only when you add microphones. Treat video as a studio job unless you have real money and space to commit. The equipment that matters most is the one nobody sells: a recording environment where you can forget the gear and focus on the conversation. When the kit question is settled, our guide on how to start a podcast takes you through the rest of the launch.