A $2,490 wi-fi podcasting equipment is absurd, however no less than Nomono’s sounds nice

“A $3,000 podcasting equipment, on this economic system?” That was once my first concept after I discovered about Nomono’s transportable recording setup last year. Since then, the cost has dropped fairly to $2,490. However my major worry stays: Who wishes this factor when you’ll get a small audio recorder and lavalier mics for a ways much less? Nonetheless, I used to be intrigued.

Nomono’s equipment comprises 4 wi-fi lav mics, in addition to an area recorder for room tone and spatial knowledge, all of which price in a transportable sporting case. Your recordings are mechanically uploaded to Nomono’s cloud carrier, the place you’ll optimize their audio high quality (and sooner or later edit them for your browser). As anyone who is been podcasting incessantly since 2008, the perception of an all-in-one equipment that may simply take on native recordings seems like an absolute dream. Nomono’s equipment has the possible to be one thing the podcasting trade has wanted for years, however can the corporate justify its extremely excessive worth?

Obviously, this is not a product geared toward everybody — it is not at all for rookies, and I might argue it is a ways past the scope of what maximum podcasters in fact want. However after trying out Nomono’s equipment for a couple of weeks, I will see the way it might be useful for recording studios and firms that want versatile podcasting answers. It does not require a lot coaching to make use of, it delivers prime quality recordings, and it may be deployed with reference to any place. For the ones other people, spending $2,490 on Nomono’s equipment would possibly make extra sense than having an engineer devote time to each unmarried recording. Upload in a cloud subscription, which will value up to $29 a month, and it for sure does not look like one thing for mere podcasting mortals.

You’ll inform Nomono is striving for Apple-level design just by having a look at its {hardware}. Even if the entirety is manufactured from plastic, not anything feels reasonable. The egg-like charging case has a material care for on the best in addition to a USB-C port. Its two halves snap in conjunction with safe clasps — turn the ones open, take off the highest and you might be introduced with 4 lavalier microphones across the house recorder. It is like an lovely podcasting chicken nest.

The gap recorder serves because the hub for all of the Nomono revel in: It is a oblong tool that includes omnidirectional microphones for taking pictures room tone with spatial knowledge (it will possibly inform the place everyone seems to be situated right through a dialog). There is a small display on the best exhibiting the battery ranges of all of the attached lavs, in addition to outstanding recording and directional buttons. At the facet, it includes a USB-C port and a three.5 millimeter headphone jack. As you might be taking pictures audio, the gap recorder takes in knowledge from the lav mics and uploads it to Nomono’s cloud as soon as your consultation is completed.

The lavaliers don’t seem to be just about as distinctive: They are small, indiscrete sq. pucks that includes 4 LED colours (useful for distinguishing every monitor). They grip onto your garments with small magnets — making them simple to position on, however doubtlessly simply as simple to slide off. The lavs by no means fell off right through my trying out, however I continuously fearful about knocking one off and shedding the tiny magnet. (Nomono comprises some further magnets in its bundled accent equipment, which additionally has windscreen sleeves for the lavs and house recorder.)

Putting in Nomono’s {hardware} was once moderately simple: After charging the case, I downloaded the Nomono Spouse app, created an account, and matched the equipment to my telephone. The app presentations battery ranges for the lav mics and house recorder. To seize audio, you simply want to take away the gap recorder and no less than one lav, then hit file. That procedure was once unusually rapid and dependable — I used to be generally in a position to get recordings began in below 30 seconds.

Wrapping up a consultation is most commonly dependent in your web connection. It took below 60 seconds for a 90-minute recording to get uploaded, after which I needed to wait a couple of extra mins for Nomono’s cloud to procedure the add. It was once a ways quicker for brief recording exams, simply be ready to attend a little bit if you are making plans to push plenty of audio. Nomono’s {hardware} delivers 16-bit 48kHz WAV recordsdata for every lavalier, in addition to an ambisonic WAV record (with as much as 4 tracks) from the gap recorder.

The standard of the ones recordings are crisp and detailed even in fairly noisy outside areas. The lavs do not sound just about as wealthy or nuanced as a top class dynamic or condenser microphone, however I did not in point of fact be expecting them to. I might imagine them on-par with different wi-fi lavaliers I have used right through video manufacturing (our podcast editor, Ben Ellman, described the sound as being excellent for video shoots). A dialog with my spouse additionally sounded unusually transparent, with not one of the crosstalk problems or echoes I have encountered with less expensive multi-mic answers.

To present your recordings a little bit extra polish, Nomono additionally gives 3 ranges of enhancement thru its cloud platform: at the mild finish, it includes a high-pass filter out, cross-talk relief, notch EQ filter out, de-noising and de-essing (for doing away with harsh “S” sounds and different sibilants). Medium enhancement provides loudness normalization, a tone-shaping EQ and adaptive point, whilst complete enhancement is going even heavier at the latter two options. Whilst you’ll nonetheless obtain natural, unfiltered tracks, those improvements are helpful for the fewer audio savvy.

Ultimately, you’ll make a choice to spatialize your recording thru Nomono’s on-line platform, which makes every audio monitor sound like they’re coming from other instructions (relying on the place the gap recorder was once positioned right through the consultation). That function wasn’t to be had whilst I used to be trying out the equipment, and to be truthful, it is usually no longer one thing I might ever imagine the usage of in a podcast. 

Nomono’s complete audio enhancement did a good activity of chopping down freeway sounds and different boulevard noise whilst I used to be recording in entrance of my native Starbucks (see above), but it surely additionally made my voice sound a little bit tinny and compressed. Mainly, do not be expecting any miracles. Whilst It is helpful to have easy techniques to chop down background noise, you’ll be able to nonetheless want to discover a moderately quiet recording house to seize the most efficient audio. (Another way, why even purchase such a pricey podcasting equipment?!)

The corporate plans to release its on-line editor through the top of 2023, which might additionally doubtlessly come with the power to edit spatial recordings. Since this isn’t precisely a client resolution, I’d guess that the general public purchasing Nomono’s {hardware} have already got extra refined techniques to edit audio.

Here is a comparability of Nomono’s lavalier as opposed to the Rode Procaster XLR microphone: 

Whilst Nomono’s {hardware} most commonly inspired me, its on-line platform made it tricky to take care of better recordsdata. It took over 5 mins for it to organize a 90 minute monitor for obtain (together with its bundled spatial audio record). And that didn’t come with the time it took to in fact clutch the record, which might be dependent in your web connection. I perceive the attraction of a unbroken on-line audio resolution, but it surely’s tense after I understand it can be quicker to simply clutch a record from a tool sitting proper on my table. 

The gap recorder didn’t display up on my Mac or PC after I attached to it, sadly. Nomono representatives say the corporate is making plans to make offline options to be had subsequent yr, however for now, it is involved in a cloud-based workflow as a result of they consider it is the “maximum handy and time-efficient” resolution for customers. That still approach livestreaming is out of the query with this equipment, regardless that it is going to display up in a long term Nomono product, the corporate tells me.

I’d have a far more uncomplicated time justifying Nomono’s excessive worth if I knew I may just use its {hardware} with out depending on a site. This isn’t my first time on the device startup rodeo: What excellent is that this $2,490 recording equipment if the corporate is going into bankruptcy in a yr or two?

It’s transparent that Nomono has evolved one thing particular, but it surely’s tough to believe this recording equipment being the one resolution for an audio-savvy corporate. You’ll nonetheless want to have a devoted podcasting house with hard-wired microphones. What Nomono gives is flexibility: What if you wish to have to file in any other room, in anyone else’s place of work, or at a lodge? In the ones scenarios, a self-contained $2,490 podcasting equipment may no longer appear so wild.