Reddit mentions of Tascam US-144MKII USB Audio Interface

Hey there,

Back in 2009 I started what we considered Canada's first podcast network called Perpetual Radio. We had produced 7 unique weekly shows by mid 2012 with almost 300 episodes in total. We covered technology topics like Apple, cellphones, photography, social media, and we even had a comedy show. I learned a lot about the technology side of podcasting within my first few months and am always eager to pass along the knowledge I gained to those who can use it.


The most important thing when it comes to podcasting is content. If you don't have something to talk about, no one will listen. Even if your episodes are technically flawless, if you have large gaps of silence between thoughts people will tune out. One of the shows we launched was like this, a group wanted to produce a themed show but none of them were prepared in front of the microphone. Every point or thought someone made was responded by silence. It's important that the flow of the show is smooth and quick, dead-air on an audio-only program is very bad.


The next most important thing is the technology you're recording with. If the audio you produce doesn't sound good, people won't listen no matter how good the content might be. Invest in analog gear. Everything we bought back in 2010 seems to still be available for purchase today. I believe this is the main gear we had:


Behringer Xenyx 1204FX mixer

Tascam US-144 USB Audio Interface

Audio-Technica AT2020 Condenser Mics

Audio-Technica AT2035 Condenser Mic

Along with XLR cables, Rode PSA1 Studio arms, a headphone monitor splitter, and cables to record from 3.5mm headphone jacks. That's the basic audio kit we had from what I remember, everything connected to the mixer, then the mixer went into the Tascam interface via XLR, that went to the MacBook via USB. Now you can buy the Behringer 1204USB to eliminate the second interface device making things a little easier. It's a bit of trial and error if you aren't an audio professional, but I wasn't when we started doing things.

We used Audacity to record the episodes, then exported to iTunes for iTunes to export, an audio engineer we worked with for a few months told us it had a better rendering engine that produced better sounding audio. I just listed to it, some of our early stuff is pretty messy but the shows after we used iTunes sound outstanding.

The studio used to be in Mississauga, however I'm out in Niagara now. Probably too far to meet up but I'd be more than happy to help you out in any way I can. You can shoot me an email at nile@perpetualradio.ca or send me a message here, whatever works for you. Hope this helps!

Behringer is a decent company, I have no doubt that this would be better than an internal sound card or laptop headphone output. That said their cheaper line is cheap for a reason.

The UCA-202 everyone raves about I couldn't spend a week listening to. Sometimes straight measurements don't tell the whole story. People keep telling me I must have got a bad one, but I don't fully believe that explanation. I have a Behringer 802 mixer and it adds a similar layer of distortion to the sound (which is expected as the signal's going through so many tone controls and potentiometers, but still, ultra high quality mixers won't have that issue).

Anyway it's worth trying since it's so cheap, but don't expect miracles. Get it for its feature set and capabilities if you need them. Otherwise I'd recommend other brands—I used to have a Tascam USB audio interface of similar capabilities (the US-144L) and it had an incredible DAC, one of the best I've heard (actually the comparison between it and the Behringer UCA-202 I got afterward is what turned me on to the need for a good DAC in the first place). The latest version is also a good value and I would think still has a great DAC. They also have a nice 2 channel version for even cheaper.

Anyway, perhaps it's just me, but I haven't liked anything I've heard out of a cheap Behringer device. I use them as utilities, but not for critical listening. I'd recommend looking at similar interfaces from other brands, or at least looking into alternatives.

Get one of these. I recently got mine and it's wonderful sound quality. Just go RCA out to 1/4 inch.

If you're looking at audio interfaces, I can thoroughly recommend this:

http://www.amazon.com/Tascam-US-144MKII-USB-Audio-Interface/dp/B002TTKI84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372109607&sr=8-1&keywords=tascam+us144+mkii

I get a fantastic tone through it (direct in, no amp or anything) and it's pretty cheap as far as decent interfaces go.