Podcast - Dual audio interfaces for a mobile studio

Do you want to be completely mobile when you record your podcast? And also be able to use more than two microphones? I do. The problem is that it’s very hard to find an external USB audio interface with more than two microphone inputs that only needs power from the USB port. All the ones I’ve found require external power. And it’s not exactly easy to find power outlets if I want to record an episode in a park.

My setup is that I have four condenser microphones that require 48 volts from the audio interface and I want to power everything from my MacBook. So… what to do? Well, I found a tip. Take two audio interfaces. Then you can create an aggregate device of these in OSX.

1. Open “Audio/MIDI Setup” found in the Utilities folder in Applications.

2. Click the + at the lower left and “Create Aggregate Device”.

3. Select which audio interfaces you want to merge. You can of course choose more than two. Then choose which audio interface should be the “Clock Source” — preferably the best audio interface if you have different brands.

4. In the settings of your audio recording program you can now choose your aggregate device. In the image below from Logic Pro 9.