Vocaster Two Studio is the ideal audio interface for podcasting or voice recording using a Mac, PC, or iPad, and can be used by one or two live contributors. A typical set of connection possibilities is shown below.
This setup shows a typical configuration for recording from two microphones using software on your Mac, PC, or iPad. You can record your voice (the Host) and another person (the Guest), while monitoring yourselves and any other audio via headphones.
Apart from the headphone sockets, all Vocaster Two’s connections are on the rear panel. Connect your computer or laptop to the USB port using the USB cable supplied. Turn the unit on with the Power button.
The microphone inputs are XLR sockets and work with microphones with an XLR connector. You can use Vocaster Two with most models of microphone, including dynamic and condenser types.
We recommend dynamic microphones for speech recording, as they deliver good quality in the frequency range of the spoken word, and can help reduce unwanted noises in your surroundings from being picked up.
Typical dynamic microphones (the Vocaster DM1 and DM14v pictured)
Vocaster Two Studio can provide phantom power (48 volts) at the XLR inputs if you’re using a condenser microphone. To enable phantom power, press the Host or Guest button to select the input and push the 48V button on the rear panel: the 48V LED lights red to confirm it’s active.
Dynamic microphones don’t require phantom power. It’s rare, but you can damage some microphones using phantom power. We recommend turning off phantom power when you use a dynamic microphone. If you are unsure whether your microphone needs phantom power, please check its documentation.
The Vocaster DM14v microphone supplied with your Vocaster Studio is a dynamic microphone optimised for voice recording, and is suitable for Podcasting, Voice Over, Audiobook Narration or any other spoken word application. Connect the Vocaster DM14v to one of the Vocaster’s microphone inputs using the included XLR cable.
A guide to microphone technique is beyond the scope of this User Guide, but if you are new to recording with a studio-quality microphone, you should follow some guidelines:
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Make sure you have the correct level. Use Vocaster’s Auto Gain function to get to a useful starting point. It’s not unusual to turn the gain up high. If the level is too low, turn the gain up or move closer, if the level is too high, reduce the gain or move slightly further from your microphone.
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Use a mic stand. As the Vocaster DM14v is a dynamic microphone, handling noise is low, but a mic stand is always a good idea. The Vocaster DM14v’s suspension mount has a standard 5/8” thread and a 3/8” adaptor is included. One of these thread sizes will fit almost any mic stand.
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Understand the microphone’s pickup pattern. The Vocaster DM14v is an ‘end address’ microphone; you need to speak into the end of the microphone and not the side. If you point it the wrong way, it will sound odd.
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Experiment with the angle of the microphone. Recording with the microphone pointing directly at you can work great, but if the sound is ‘breathy’ or you hear plosives, angling the microphone slightly ‘off-axis’ can reduce these. (Plosives are the popping sounds you sometimes hear with the letters like ‘P’ or ‘B’.) Try different angles to see what works best for you.
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Experiment with your distance from the microphone. Speaking close to the microphone (about the length of a fist) reduces the effect of the room’s acoustics, but increases the bass response, so your voice might start to sound a bit boomy. This can be good for voiceover work, but for a more natural voice sound, move away from the microphone slightly (15- 30 cm).
If the room you’re using doesn’t have great acoustics, the further you are from the microphone, the more aware you’ll be of room sound when you listen to the recording. Natural reverberation from a room is neither good nor bad, but often inappropriate for spoken word recordings.
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Don’t blow into a microphone to test it! Lightly rub or scratch the end instead.
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Don’t forget a microphone will pick up any other sound source in the room: a clock, air-con, heating, a creaking chair etc.
You might not notice these sounds at the time, but the microphone will, and you’ll hear them on the recording.
Use Vocaster’s Enhance feature or a High-Pass Filter (HPF) in your recording software to reduce any unavoidable low-frequency rumble.
Vocaster Two Studio has two ways of setting the correct microphone levels. ‘Gain’ is the term we use to describe how much you are boosting a microphone signal.
You can either set the level automatically with Vocaster Two Studio’s Auto Gain feature, or manually. Both methods are described in the next sections.
Vocaster Two Studio’s Auto Gain feature allows you to get a good recording level without guesswork.
Activate Auto Gain by holding the Auto Gain button ; press the Host or Guest button according to which microphone input is to have its gain set. Or, if you have Vocaster Hub open on your computer, by clicking on the on-screen Auto Gain icon.
Vocaster Two
Vocaster Hub
When you activate Auto Gain in software or using the button, Vocaster disables all input controls for the other channel.
Now you - or your guest - should speak into the microphone for ten seconds, using a normal speaking voice you will use for the recording itself.
The inner halo on the knob acts as a count-down timer, starting fully white, then extinguishing anticlockwise. A progress bar is also displayed on Vocaster Hub.
Halo countdown on Vocaster
Vocaster Hub countdown
After ten seconds, Auto Gain sets the input level for the microphone, and you’re ready to start recording.
To apply Auto Gain to the other input, hold the other Auto Gain button , and repeat the process.
After using Auto Gain, you can still manually adjust the levels with the gain knob any time you like: short-press the other Auto Gain button first if the input you want to adjust is not selected.
If the halos flash amber, the signal is too loud or too quiet, so Auto Gain couldn’t set the correct level and sets it to the minimum or maximum level. If the halos flash red, Auto Gain couldn’t set a usable level.
This could be due to a Mic Level that was too low:
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Test a different microphone or cable.
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Make sure 48V is on, if you’re using a condenser microphone.
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Make sure you switch on your microphone (if it has an on/off switch).
On Vocaster Two Studio, the large knob marked is used to set the microphone gain for both the Host and Guest microphones, and the levels to your recording software.
You can set the gain of the two microphone preamp independently. To select which preamp is to be adjusted, press the Host or Guest buttons. (A long press activates the Auto Gain function, which is described above.)
The buttons light bright white to confirm which preamp is selected.
When you’re adjusting the gain by turning the knob, the left halo changes to white to show the gain setting.
The gain knob is surrounded by LED ‘halo’ indicators: the inner is continuous and the outer shaped as two arcs.
The outer halos light in various colours to show you the microphone signal level: the left halo shows the level for the Host input, the right halo for the Guest.
To set the gain for either microphone preamp, select the input to be adjusted with its gain button (a short press). Speak into the microphone as if you were recording, adjusting the gain knob until the halo just starts to turn amber when you speak at your loudest.
At this point, turn the knob down a bit until you don’t see any amber. If the halos ever turn red at the tops, you will definitely need to turn the gain knob down: red means your recording is likely to distort. (See diagram below.)
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Good level. |
A little too high. |
Your recording will distort. |
You can also adjust the gains from Vocaster Hub by moving the on-screen Mic Level sliders: drag them to the right to increase the gain.
The Host and Guest inputs in Vocaster Hub
Both microphone channels have mute buttons, marked .
Vocaster Two Studio
Vocaster Hub
You can press these at any time to turn a microphone ‘off’: the mute and Auto Gain buttons light red and the relevant gain halo pulses red while the microphone is muted. Press the button again to unmute.
You can also click one of the Mute buttons (with the same icon) on Vocaster Hub. (Broadcasters often refer to this feature as a ‘cough switch’.)
Vocaster Two Studio’s Enhance feature optimises the microphones’ audio processing to achieve the best possible recording.
It uses compression to control the level of the microphone signal, equalisation to help voice recordings sound clearer and inserts a high pass filter to remove unwanted low frequencies such as rumbling and microphone handling noise.
You can use Enhance on either or both microphone inputs.
Enhance has four presets for you to tailor the sound to your voice or your intended. You can select one of the four presets using the drop-down arrow in Vocaster Hub:
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Clean
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Warm
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Bright
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Radio
To use Enhance, press one of the wand buttons . If you have Vocaster Hub open, click the on-screen Enhance icon.
Vocaster Two Studio
Vocaster Hub
The button lights green when Enhance is active. Press it again to turn Enhance off.
You can connect headphones to the front panel headphone sockets marked with headphones icons so you and/or your guest can hear what you are recording.
The two sockets provide the same ‘default’ mix of the two microphones and any other audio sources, such as audio from a phone or computer playback (the Loopback channels). You can adjust the volume of individual audio sources using the mixer in Vocaster Hub.
You can adjust the volume in each pair of headphones independently with the controls on Vocaster Two Studio marked with the speaker/headphones icons for the Host and for the Guest: these controls do not affect your recording level.
The Host level controls both the headphones and speaker outputs. When you’re using headphones we suggest muting your monitors in Vocaster Hub see Listening with speakers.
Use the ¼’ jacks marked Outputs R and L to connect speakers.
You can connect powered monitors or an amplifier to these outputs. Speaker volume is controlled by the same knob used for headphones volume.
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Connecting to active speakers. |
Connecting to passive speakers via a power amplifier. |
The outputs are balanced ¼’ TRS jack sockets and provide line level. Small powered monitors have unbalanced inputs, typically a 3.5 mm jack plug intended for direct connection to a computer. Separate power amplifiers are likely to have phono (RCA) sockets.
You can also mute the speakers using Vocaster Hub software. Click the speaker icon in the top right of the Vocaster Hub software to toggle mute on (red) or off (black).
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Note
You can create an audio feedback loop if your speakers are active at the same time as a microphone! We recommend you turn off your speakers while recording podcasts, and use headphones for monitoring.
You can connect a phone to Vocaster Two Studio record a conversation, or to record music from the phone.
The rear panel has a phone connector, marked with a phone icon . This is a 3.5 mm TRRS jack socket, use a 3.5mm TRRS jack cable to connect to the phone’s headphone socket, which is normally a 3.5 mm TRRS socket.
A 3.5mm TRS cable will work, but you may not get two-way communication with your phone guest.
If the phone does not have a 3.5 mm headphone port, you can use a 3.5 mm TRRS headphone adaptor.
The phone connector also feeds Vocaster Two Studio’s output back to the phone so the person on the phone call can hear the whole podcast mix, but without their own voice. This type of mix is known as ‘mix-minus’: it ensures the caller will not hear their voice delayed or with echoes.
The signal level to the phone depends on the setting of the input channel sliders in Vocaster Hub's mixer. The signal fed to the phone is a mono version of the stereo mix, because the phone’s input is a mono microphone.
Vocaster Two Studio’s Bluetooth connection lets you wirelessly stream audio to* and from Bluetooth devices, such as your phone, to the Vocaster to include in your recording.
To transfer audio between a phone and Vocaster Two Studio, you must pair the two devices.
To pair and get glitch-free audio, Bluetooth needs your device and your Vocaster to be within range of each other. The range is approximately seven metres in open space: outside this range, the devices may not pair. At the limit of this range, or with obstructions, you might experience problems such as dropouts or glitches.
Your Vocaster can only connect to one Bluetooth device at a time.
*Bluetooth audio can only be sent from Vocaster to phones during phone calls to communicate with your guest. The guest hears a mix-minus, the whole mix, but without their own voice.
To pair a device to your Vocaster’s Bluetooth input:
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Press and hold the Bluetooth button
on the rear panel for three seconds. The Bluetooth icon pulses white to show it’s in pairing mode.
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Go to the Bluetooth pairing menu on your Bluetooth device and scan for new devices – how this works can vary between devices, so if you’re unsure, please see the user guide for your device.
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Choose Vocaster BT from the list of available devices.
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Allow your Bluetooth device to pair with the Vocaster, if prompted.
Vocaster Two Studio’s Bluetooth icon lights blue after a few seconds to show your device has connected. When you play audio on your device, it appears in Vocaster Hub’s Bluetooth mixer channel, for you to include in your Show Mix and recording.
You can also stream audio from your Bluetooth device to speakers connected to Vocaster Two Studio, and both Host and Guest headphones outputs. Your Vocaster sends its audio, e.g. sounds from your computer and the Host/Guest inputs, back to your phone via Bluetooth for your caller to hear.
You can control Bluetooth audio level in Vocaster Hub, and on your connected device. Level control in Vocaster Hub only controls the Show Mix level and won’t affect the
Bluetooth L/R recording tracks.
Note
Vocaster Two Studio cannot pair with Bluetooth headphones. Vocaster Two Studio's Bluetooth feature is for streaming Bluetooth audio from a phone to the Vocaster Two Studio and sending Bluetooth audio back to your phone so your guest can hear you.
You can break the Bluetooth connection in three ways.
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Press the Bluetooth button
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Turn off Bluetooth on your device. Next time you re-enable Bluetooth on your device, the device reconnects with Vocaster.
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In your device’s Bluetooth settings, select the Vocaster and choose the option to Forget Device. (Note the description of this option varies between devices.)
What do the Bluetooth icon’s colours mean?
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Grey - Bluetooth is off. Press the button on the back panel to turn on Bluetooth.
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Orange - Bluetooth is on but not connected to a device. If you’ve paired your device before, make sure it has Bluetooth enabled and is in range of the Vocaster.
If you’ve not previously paired your Bluetooth device, follow the steps above to pair it for the first time.
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Pulsing White - Vocaster is in pairing mode. To pair a device, start from step 3 above.
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Red - Bluetooth connection has failed. Press the button to turn off Bluetooth on your Vocaster, re-enable Bluetooth on your device and repeat the steps above. If the Bluetooth icon stays red, please contact our support team.
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Blue - Vocaster has paired and the a device is ready to stream audio to the Vocaster. To disconnect, press the button, or disable Bluetooth on your phone/device.
Vocaster Two Studio’s Bluetooth icon
If you are working with video, you may want to record your audio into a video camera.
Vocaster Two Studio has a dedicated output connector for this purpose, the 3.5 mm TRS jack socket on the rear panel marked with a camera icon .You can connect this output to the audio/mic input on your camera using a 3.5mm jack-to-jack cable.
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Voice from phone.
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Audio to/from computer.
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All audio is routed to camera.
If your camera input uses a different connector, use a suitable adaptor cable. Ensure you select your camera’s external audio source rather than its internal microphone.
The camera output carries the same mix as the USB recording output, and what you hear in your speakers and headphones.
You can set the mix and levels going to the camera using the sliders in Vocaster Hub’s mixer.