Podcasting is huge, but the budget for a professional setup doesn’t have to be. Here’s how to build a fully-functional podcast studio with less than $500 that you can use for your own show or even rent out to clients to recoup your investment!

Microphones

First things first, you’re going to need something to talk into and a way to hold it up.

For that I recommend the Audio Technica ATR2100-USB USB/XLR Microphone with Knox Studio Stand and Pop Filter on Amazon

It’s $89 and you get the ATR2100, USB cable, XLR cable, Pop Filter, and Scissor Stand all for less than $100.

There’s many mic/stand bundles floating around the internet and a lot of misinformation around what kinds of microphones are actually good for podcasting (Blue Yetis suck!) so I’ll do a full product review on the ATR2100 in the future but for now here’s the short story of why it’s the best value per dollar microphone in podcasting:

XLR/USB Combo

This is incredible because...