A $2,490 wi-fi podcasting equipment is absurd, however at the very least Nomono’s sounds nice

“A $3,000 podcasting equipment, on this financial system?” That was my first thought once I realized about Nomono’s transportable recording setup last year. Since then, the worth has dropped barely to $2,490. However my major concern stays: Who wants this factor when you will get a small audio recorder and lavalier mics for much much less? Nonetheless, I used to be intrigued.

Nomono’s equipment contains 4 wi-fi lav mics, in addition to an area recorder for room tone and spatial information, 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 finally edit them in your browser). As somebody who’s been podcasting usually since 2008, the notion of an all-in-one equipment that may simply deal with native recordings feels like an absolute dream. Nomono’s equipment 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 geared toward everybody — it is definitely not for learners, and I would argue it is past the scope of what most podcasters really need. However after testing Nomono’s equipment for a number of weeks, I can see the way it may very well be useful for recording studios and corporations that want versatile podcasting options. It does not require a lot coaching to make use of, it delivers top quality recordings, and it may be deployed nearly anyplace. For these of us, spending $2,490 on Nomono’s equipment might make extra sense than having an engineer dedicate time to each single recording. Add in a cloud subscription, which might price as a lot as $29 a month, and it undoubtedly does not appear to be one thing for mere podcasting mortals.

You may inform Nomono is striving for Apple-level design just by its {hardware}. Despite the fact that every part is product of plastic, nothing feels low cost. The egg-like charging case has a material 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 offered with 4 lavalier microphones across the house recorder. It is like an cute podcasting chicken nest.

The house recorder serves because the hub for your entire Nomono expertise: It is a rectangular machine that includes omnidirectional microphones for capturing room tone with spatial data (it will probably inform the place everyone seems to be situated throughout a dialog). There is a small display screen on the high displaying the battery ranges of all of the related lavs, in addition to outstanding 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 information from the lav mics and uploads it to Nomono’s cloud as soon as your session is finished.

The lavaliers aren’t practically 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 doubtlessly simply as straightforward to slide off. The lavs by no means fell off throughout my testing, however I continuously anxious about knocking one off and shedding the tiny magnet. (Nomono contains some extra magnets in its bundled accent equipment, which additionally has windscreen sleeves for the lavs and house recorder.)

Establishing Nomono’s {hardware} was comparatively easy: After charging the case, I downloaded the Nomono Companion app, created an account, and paired the equipment to my cellphone. 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 report. That course of was surprisingly quick and dependable — I used to be sometimes in a position to 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 number of extra minutes for Nomono’s cloud to course of the add. It was far quicker for brief recording checks, simply be ready to attend a bit should you’re planning to push a lot of audio. Nomono’s {hardware} delivers 16-bit 48kHz WAV recordsdata 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 outside areas. The lavs do not sound practically 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 preferrred 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 offer 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. When 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 completely 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 equipment, and to be sincere, it is also not one thing I would ever think about using in a podcast. 

Nomono’s full audio enhancement did a good job of slicing down freeway sounds and different road 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. Mainly, do not count on any miracles. Whereas It is helpful to have easy methods to chop down background noise, you will nonetheless must discover a comparatively quiet recording house to seize the very best audio. (In any other case, why even purchase such an costly podcasting equipment?!)

The corporate plans to launch its on-line editor by the top of 2023, which might additionally doubtlessly 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 subtle methods to edit audio.

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

Whereas Nomono’s {hardware} principally impressed me, its on-line platform made it robust to cope with bigger recordsdata. 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 once I know it could be quicker to only seize a file from a tool sitting proper on my desk. 

The house recorder didn’t present up on my Mac or PC once I related to it, sadly. Nomono representatives say the corporate is planning to make offline options obtainable subsequent 12 months, however for now, it is targeted 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 equipment, although it could 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 might 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 equipment 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 arduous to think about this recording equipment 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 report in one other room, in another person’s workplace, or at a resort? In these conditions, a self-contained $2,490 podcasting equipment won’t appear so wild.