A $2,490 wireless podcasting kit is absurd, but at least Nomono’s sounds great

“A $3,000 podcasting package, on this financial system?” That was my first thought after I discovered about Nomono’s moveable recording setup final 12 months. Since then, the value has dropped barely to $2,490. However my foremost concern stays: Who wants this factor when you will get a small audio recorder and lavalier mics for a lot much less? Nonetheless, I used to be intrigued.

Nomono’s package consists of 4 wi-fi lav mics, in addition to an area recorder for room tone and spatial knowledge, all of which cost in a transportable carrying case. Your recordings are robotically uploaded to Nomono’s cloud service, the place you possibly can optimize their audio high quality (and ultimately edit them in your browser). As somebody who’s been podcasting repeatedly since 2008, the notion of an all-in-one package that may simply deal with native recordings feels like an absolute dream. Nomono’s package has the potential to be one thing the podcasting trade has wanted for years, however can the corporate justify its extremely excessive value?

Clearly, this is not a product aimed toward everybody — it is actually not for freshmen, and I would argue it’s miles past the scope of what most podcasters really want. However after testing Nomono’s package for a couple of weeks, I can see the way it could possibly be useful for recording studios and corporations that want versatile podcasting options. It would not require a lot coaching to make use of, it delivers top quality recordings, and it may be deployed nearly wherever. For these of us, spending $2,490 on Nomono’s package might make extra sense than having an engineer dedicate time to each single recording. Add in a cloud subscription, which may value as a lot as $29 a month, and it undoubtedly would not seem to be one thing for mere podcasting mortals.

You’ll be able to inform Nomono is striving for Apple-level design just by its {hardware}. Regardless that every little thing is made from plastic, nothing feels low cost. The egg-like charging case has a fabric deal with on the high in addition to a USB-C port. Its two halves snap along with safe clasps — flip these open, take off the highest and also you’re introduced with 4 lavalier microphones across the house recorder. It is like an lovely podcasting fowl nest.

The house recorder serves because the hub for all the Nomono expertise: It is a rectangular machine that includes omnidirectional microphones for capturing room tone with spatial info (it could possibly inform the place everyone seems to be positioned throughout a dialog). There is a small display screen on the high displaying the battery ranges of all of the linked lavs, in addition to distinguished recording and directional buttons. On the facet, it incorporates a USB-C port and a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. As you are capturing audio, the house recorder takes in knowledge from the lav mics and uploads it to Nomono’s cloud as soon as your session is completed.

The lavaliers aren’t almost as distinctive: They’re small, indiscrete sq. pucks that includes 4 LED colours (useful for distinguishing every monitor). They grip onto your garments with small magnets — making them straightforward to placed on, however probably simply as straightforward to slide off. The lavs by no means fell off throughout my testing, however I continually fearful about knocking one off and shedding the tiny magnet. (Nomono consists of some extra magnets in its bundled accent package, which additionally has windscreen sleeves for the lavs and house recorder.)

Organising Nomono’s {hardware} was comparatively easy: After charging the case, I downloaded the Nomono Companion app, created an account, and paired the package to my telephone. The app exhibits battery ranges for the lav mics and house recorder. To seize audio, you simply must take away the house recorder and at the very least one lav, then hit document. That course of was surprisingly quick and dependable — I used to be sometimes capable of get recordings began in underneath 30 seconds.

Wrapping up a session is generally dependent in your web connection. It took underneath 60 seconds for a 90-minute recording to get uploaded, after which I needed to wait a couple of extra minutes for Nomono’s cloud to course of the add. It was far sooner for brief recording exams, simply be ready to attend a bit for those who’re planning to push numerous audio. Nomono’s {hardware} delivers 16-bit 48kHz WAV information for every lavalier, in addition to an ambisonic WAV file (with as much as 4 tracks) from the house recorder.

The standard of these recordings are crisp and detailed even in barely noisy out of doors areas. The lavs do not sound almost as wealthy or nuanced as a premium dynamic or condenser microphone, however I did not actually count on them to. I would take into account them on-par with different wi-fi lavaliers I’ve used throughout video manufacturing (our podcast editor, Ben Ellman, described the sound as being best for video shoots). A dialog with my spouse additionally sounded surprisingly clear, with not one of the crosstalk points or echoes I’ve encountered with cheaper multi-mic options.

To provide your recordings a bit extra polish, Nomono additionally provides three ranges of enhancement by means of its cloud platform: on the sunshine finish, it incorporates a high-pass filter, cross-talk discount, notch EQ filter, de-noising and de-essing (for eradicating harsh “S” sounds and different sibilants). Medium enhancement provides loudness normalization, a tone-shaping EQ and adaptive degree, whereas full enhancement goes even heavier on the latter two options. Whilst you can nonetheless obtain pure, unfiltered tracks, these enhancements are helpful for the much less audio savvy.

Ultimately, you possibly can select to spatialize your recording by means of Nomono’s on-line platform, which makes every audio monitor sound like they’re coming from totally different instructions (relying on the place the house recorder was positioned throughout the session). That characteristic wasn’t obtainable whereas I used to be testing the package, and to be trustworthy, it is also not one thing I would ever think about using in a podcast. 

Nomono’s full audio enhancement did an honest job of slicing down freeway sounds and different avenue noise whereas I used to be recording in entrance of my native Starbucks (see above), however it additionally made my voice sound a bit tinny and compressed. Principally, do not count on any miracles. Whereas It is helpful to have easy methods to chop down background noise, you may nonetheless must discover a comparatively quiet recording house to seize one of the best audio. (In any other case, why even purchase such an costly podcasting package?!)

The corporate plans to launch its on-line editor by the top of 2023, which may additionally probably embody the flexibility to edit spatial recordings. Since this isn’t precisely a shopper answer, I’d guess that most individuals shopping for Nomono’s {hardware} have already got extra refined methods to edit audio.

Here is a comparability of Nomono’s lavalier versus the Rode Procaster XLR microphone: 

Whereas Nomono’s {hardware} largely impressed me, its on-line platform made it robust to take care of bigger information. It took over 5 minutes for it to arrange a 90 minute monitor for obtain (together with its bundled spatial audio file). And that didn’t embody the time it took to truly seize the file, which might be dependent in your web connection. I perceive the attraction of a seamless on-line audio answer, however it’s annoying after I know it could be sooner to simply seize a file from a tool sitting proper on my desk. 

The house recorder didn’t present up on my Mac or PC after I linked to it, sadly. Nomono representatives say the corporate is planning to make offline options obtainable subsequent 12 months, however for now, it is centered on a cloud-based workflow as a result of they consider it is the “most handy and time-efficient” answer for customers. That additionally means livestreaming is out of the query with this package, although it might present up in a future Nomono product, the corporate tells me.

I’d have a a lot simpler time justifying Nomono’s excessive value if I knew I may use its {hardware} with out counting on an internet site. This isn’t my first time on the gadget startup rodeo: What good is that this $2,490 recording package if the corporate goes out of enterprise in a 12 months or two?

It’s clear that Nomono has developed one thing particular, however it’s exhausting to think about this recording package being the one answer for an audio-savvy firm. You’ll nonetheless must have a devoted podcasting house with hard-wired microphones. What Nomono provides is flexibility: What if you have to document in one other room, in another person’s workplace, or at a resort? In these conditions, a self-contained $2,490 podcasting package may not appear so wild.