I have been creating videos for over 10 years now. I started making some for work to help out users with some difficult operations in the software that we were selling. They were pretty raw, but did generally get the job done. My process has continuously gotten better, as I have worked on more and more videos. One thing that I really understood early was that poor audio (no matter how good the content was) was a killer for your project. That’s why I have invested substantial money into my audio.
What is an audio interface? #
Audio devices that are meant to work on a computer generally come with one type of interface, USB. But professional audio devices NEVER come with USB interfaces. A professional microphone for example will come with an XLR connector, however there is no way to interface that to a standard computer.
Enter the Audio Interface. That is a piece of hardware that will work between different audio devices, and will supply a USB interface to plug into your computer. The audio interface will create different virtual sound devices that you can route to allow the external ports on the interface to be recorded on your computer.
At least that’s the way that it’s supposed to work. Right now I can’t get the audio from my R0deCasterDuo to my computer at all, and that’s what I need to figure out. So i wrote this up for anyone else that might be having a similar issue.
Let’s reset first #
I have been making a number of configuration changes to this device, so first I want to factory reset it and step through the configuration again. To reset the RodeCasterDuo press on the gear on the upper right corner of the screen, then press System, then press Information, then press the View Device Information button. You will see a screen like this.
Press the Erase and Reset Device button, it will ask for confirmation, press the Reset button. The device will reboot and present the setup dialog. Let’s step thought it one screen at a time.
RodeCasterDuo Setup #
- Click on the right arrow button to move to the next screen.
- Select your interface language to continue.
- The next screen is to set the current date and time. If you are going to connect your RodeCaster to your local network it will use NTP to keep the date and time current. This screen also allows you to set 12 / 24H time and AM/PM and your time zone. To set the time zone click on the time zone button and then turn the green knob to make your selection. Then press the blue arrow to continue.
- The next step is to connect your RodeCaster to the internet, or your computer so you can update the firmware. Click on either the Wi-Fi, Wired, or RODE Central depending on what you want to setup for your device. In this case, I am going to plug in an Ethernet cable into my RodeCaster, and press the wired button.
- After hooking my RodeCaster to my network, it obtained a DHCP address, and checked for the current version of the RodeCaster firmware. This screen simply shows that my device is properly on my network, and has confirmed that I am running the most recent firmware available (at the time of writing). Click Get Started! to continue.
- The next screen is what Analytics am I willing to share with Rode. In this case, i have deselected the Usage Statistics, and allowed Resource Statistics. Press the right arrow to continue.
- Show Configuration - Now we are at the step where we can start to configure the inputs, routing, and outputs on the RoadCasterDuo. The concept of a show is new to the RoadCasters, and as best as I understand it now, this allows you to save and load configurations as you need them. Let’s setup a very simple show to confirm that the RoadCaster is working properly. I’ll configure a single input and a single output to start. Press the Setup Wizard button.
- Read this screen and press the blue arrow button to continue.
- Then there is a warning if you are wearing headphones while you setup your device. Press the blue arrow after you remove them :).
- First set all faders to unity. Otherwise known as the bold lines near the top of the faders travel. Then press the blue arrow button.
- Ensure that your headphones, if you are wearing any, are set to minimum volume. As you can see by the two light rings the volumes on output 1 and 2 are set very low. Press the blue arrow button to continue.
- Now we need to connect our inputs. First I have removed all audio connections to my RodeCaster. The only cables still attached are the power, ethernet, and USB type C interface to my computer.
- What interfaces are available to us? First are the two combo ports on the back of the RoadCaster. They are called combo ports as they can fit an XLR interface or a 1/4 TRS (Tip - Ring - Sleave) cable. I will start by connecting a single Audio-Technica XLR microphone to the back of the RoadCaster port 1.
- Now I have nothing but a single microphone plugged in. The other option for plugging in a microphone, is to use a headset with a microphone on it. That can be plugged into the TRRS (Tip - Ring - Ring - Sleave) port on the front of the RoadCaster. Since I don’t use one of these, i’ll plug nothing in here.
- Once you have plugged in your hardware press the blue arrow button.
- For the input selection window, I have disabled inputs 2 and 3 since I have nothing plugged into those ports. I have set port 1 as a microphone. We will set the type of microphone next. Press the green arrow to continue.
- Next you need to set the type of microphone that you are using. In my case, I have a condenser microphone, so that is the selection that I have made. Press the green arrow to continue.
- The next step is to properly set the gain on your microphone. Set up your mic in a normal speaking position and speak into it at a normal volume. Watch the green line and adjust the green dial to bring the line within the green area to the right of the gauge. Once everything is adjusted, press the green check mark to continue.
- Lastly, select your microphone preset. This will determine what processing the RodeCaster will perform on your voice. I selected Broadcast, and then pressed the green arrow to continue.
- The next step allow you to add Bluetooth devices like a phone or a tablet. Since I am setting up the most simple configuration that I can, i will skip this step now and press later.
- USB inputs. Again I am not going to configure any USB inputs at this time, and i’ll press the blue arrow button.
- The channel assignments screen. Again, nothing to do here, so press on the green check mark.
- Smart pad configuration. Press the blue arrow.
- Next it will give you some information about the show that was just configured. Press the blue arrow.
- Next we can name the show that we just created. I’ll take the default name and press next.
- You then need to give the show an icon. I’ll select the cat and press the green arrow in the upper right hand corner.
- Once saved press on the green arrow to finish the setup.
Now I have completely reset the RodeCaster and configured a very basic configuration with the setup wizard. Let’s first test audio and video recording to see if it works. The most basic application on a mac for this is the QuickTime player. Let’s set that up. Start QuickTime and when it opens a file dialog ignore that, and under file select New Movie Recording. In the video window select the disclosure triangle next to the record button. Confirm that your camera is setup properly for your system. In the audio selection, make sure it’s set to “RODECaster Duo Main Stereo”. Then you can record a few seconds of video and audio to test.
Once you have the test recording, play it back to make sure that everything worked properly, as it did in my case. Now let’s start to complicate things a bit. I want to add a R0DE Wireless ME to my RodeCaster as Mic 2. Let’s set that up.
Adding a Wireless ME Microphone #
- To add your wireless mic to the RoadCaster, start by pressing the fader button on the top of the fader that you want to use for this mic. I want this on Mic 2, so i pressed the blue button.
- Press the left button at the top of the screen to move to the microphone settings. Then tap on the cog at the top of the screen. The cog allows you to set up your inputs. We need to switch Input2 from Bluetooth to a regular microphone input.
- To switch the input press the Input2 button to select it. Then don’t press anything on the bottom row, just press the green checkmark button. The color of the button on the fader that you selected will change from blue to whatever color you selected on the last screen. Then click the left arrow button to back out to the channels selection screen, then press the red X to move back to the main screen.
- When back at the main menu you will see your channel selected (the channel led is lit) and it will be displaying a mic select screen. Scroll to the R0DE Wireless option and select it. You will see a Pair New Device button.
- When you press the Pair New Device button it will ask you to power on your wireless mic and bring it near the RodeCaster. It should only take a few seconds to perform the pairing and then show you the levels from the mic.
- Your wireless mic setup is now complete. Let’s perform the testing again to ensure that everything is still working as expected. First bring down Input1 to zero, and keep your wireless fader to where it was for the level setting. Then restart QuickTime player and record another test video. And again success!
Adding headphones for monitoring. #
- You should now be able to just plugin your headphones, and raise the volume on the headphone 1 fader. Perform the QuickTime test one more time to ensure that everything is still working as expected.