“A $3,000 podcasting package, on this financial system?” That was my first thought after I realized about Nomono’s transportable recording setup final yr. Since then, the value has dropped barely to $2,490. However my primary concern stays: Who wants this factor when you may 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 information, all of which cost in a transportable carrying case. Your recordings are routinely uploaded to Nomono’s cloud service, the place you may optimize their audio high quality (and ultimately edit them in your browser). As somebody who’s been podcasting recurrently since 2008, the notion of an all-in-one package that may simply deal with native recordings seems like an absolute dream. Nomono’s package has the potential to be one thing the podcasting business has wanted for years, however can the corporate justify its extremely excessive worth?

Clearly, this is not a product aimed toward everybody — it is definitely not for freshmen, and I might argue it is past the scope of what most podcasters really want. However after testing Nomono’s package for just a few weeks, I can see the way it might be useful for recording studios and firms that want versatile podcasting options. It does not require a lot coaching to make use of, it delivers prime quality recordings, and it may be deployed nearly anyplace. For these people, 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 does not appear to be one thing for mere podcasting mortals.

You’ll be able to inform Nomono is striving for Apple-level design just by taking a look at its {hardware}. Although every little thing is manufactured from plastic, nothing feels low cost. The egg-like charging case has a material deal with on the prime 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 cute podcasting hen nest.

The house recorder serves because the hub for your complete Nomono expertise: It is a rectangular system that includes omnidirectional microphones for capturing room tone with spatial info (it could actually inform the place everyone seems to be situated throughout a dialog). There is a small display on the prime displaying the battery ranges of all of the linked lavs, in addition to outstanding recording and directional buttons. On the facet, it contains 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 completed.

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

Establishing Nomono’s {hardware} was comparatively simple: After charging the case, I downloaded the Nomono Companion app, created an account, and paired the package to my telephone. The app reveals battery ranges for the lav mics and house recorder. To seize audio, you simply must take away the house recorder and no less than one lav, then hit report. 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 just a few extra minutes for Nomono’s cloud to course of the add. It was far sooner for brief recording assessments, simply be ready to attend a bit in the event you’re planning to push plenty 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 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 anticipate them to. I might 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 perfect 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 present your recordings a bit extra polish, Nomono additionally provides three ranges of enhancement via its cloud platform: on the sunshine finish, it contains 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 may select to spatialize your recording via Nomono’s on-line platform, which makes every audio observe sound like they’re coming from totally different instructions (relying on the place the house recorder was positioned in the course of the session). That characteristic wasn’t out there whereas I used to be testing the package, and to be trustworthy, it is also not one thing I might 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), nevertheless it additionally made my voice sound a bit tinny and compressed. Mainly, do not anticipate 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 package?!)

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

This 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 powerful to take care of bigger recordsdata. It took over 5 minutes for it to arrange a 90 minute observe for obtain (together with its bundled spatial audio file). And that didn’t embrace the time it took to really seize the file, which might be dependent in your web connection. I perceive the attraction of a seamless on-line audio resolution, nevertheless it’s annoying after I know it will 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 out there subsequent yr, 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” resolution 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 worth 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 package if the corporate goes out of enterprise in a yr or two?

It’s clear that Nomono has developed one thing particular, nevertheless it’s laborious to think about this recording package being the one resolution 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 it’s good to report in one other room, in another person’s workplace, or at a resort? In these conditions, a self-contained $2,490 podcasting package won’t appear so wild.