There's a new recording software in town and I'm a fan
Why does recording audio have to be so difficult?
If you’re trying to record audio of a very high standard, you’re often met with a barrage of choices you have to make.
What microphone do I need?
Is my location too noisy?
What am I going to plug my microphone into?
How do I record multiple people at once?
What software am I going to use to record it?
In the consultations I have with content creators, this line of questioning is one of the first topics we cover and I often see their eyes glaze over when I start listing all the options.
I can confirm, there are too many options.
But my advice is to focus on one thing at a time, and today I’m focusing on the software that you use to record.
For the audio only folks out there, there is very simple piece of software that will make your life easy. At least this portion of your life. I can’t guarantee the rest of your life will fall into place based on this decision. Sorry.
Today I’m excited to share a game-changer in the world of audio recording - Shure Motiv Mix, which at time of writing is currently in its Beta phase and it’s completely free to use.
User-Friendly Interface
One of the first things that struck me about the Shure Motiv Mix Software is its incredibly intuitive interface. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the complicated designs of typical audio recording software, you’ll find the simplicity of Motiv Mix a breath of fresh air. The layout is clean and the functionalities are easy to navigate, making it a fantastic choice for both beginners and seasoned professionals.
Simplified Audio Recording
The primary goal of Shure Motiv Mix Software is to make audio recording as hassle-free as possible. And, from my experience, it achieves this marvelously. The Beta version I’ve been experimenting with strips away the unnecessary complexities, letting you focus on what truly matters - your content.
Whether you’re recording a podcast, music, or any kind of audio content, the software’s streamlined features allow you to dive right into your creative process without any frustrating roadblocks. You simply plug your microphone into your computer, it shows up as an input device, drag it into the “mix” area and hit record.
I have a full walkthrough on YouTube if you’d like to see it in action.
Shure Motiv Mix supports DSP (digital signal processing) setting changes for the MV7+, MV7, MV88+ Stereo USB and the MVX2U Digital Audio Interface. This essentially means that you can make changes to the sound of your microphone within the software. This is especially important for live streamers or content creators who won’t be doing any post-production editing. You can pull the sound you want within the software and away you go.
Multiple USB Microphone Recording
This is probably the most exciting part of the Motiv Mix software for me. You can record up to 5 USB microphones within the software at the same time, and they don’t need to be Shure microphones.
I tried this out using the Shure MV7, sE Neom, Rode Podmic, Rode NT-USB and the NT-USB Mini and it blew my mind that I could have them all recording at once.
Obviously I have a decent USB hub to allow that many USB inputs into my computer, but the Motiv Mix handled it with ease. There were no issues, and the sound was great.
So if you’re a content creator who wants to record with multiple guests at once, you can do this using the Motiv Mix software and a USB hub. I’m very impressed with this.
Performance and Reliability - A Beta Worth Trying
Even though the software is still in its Beta stage, I was pleasantly surprised by how stable and reliable it is. Typically, Beta versions can be a bit rough around the edges, but the Shure Motiv Mix Software feels remarkably polished. During my tests, I didn’t encounter any major bugs, and the performance was consistently smooth.
I’m excited to see what additional features and enhancements the final version will bring. If this Beta is any indication, both novice and experienced audio recorders are in for a treat.
If you’ve struggled with complicated recording software in the past or are just looking for a more efficient way to produce high-quality audio, I highly recommend giving the Shure Motiv Mix Software Beta a try. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned vet, this software could very well become an indispensable tool in your audio recording arsenal.
Transcript:
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[00:00:00] Brianna: I have a new bit of software that I wanted to tell you guys about today. Something that I've been playing with for a little bit and I actually did a full review of it and kind of walk through over on YouTube if it interests you. But I wanted to tell you about it here because I think it's something that is going to be really useful for a lot of podcasters.
[00:00:26] And not just podcasters, I mean you could just be a creator, you could be a musician, you could be a streamer, You could be basically anyone that has like a microphone that they need to use to do something. So the application of the piece of software is called the Shure Motive Mix, uh, which essentially what its job is, is to make it really easy for you to record yourself without needing extra
[00:00:53] uh, bits and pieces of like a DAW, kind of like GarageBand or, , Logic or Audacity, Any of those tools, which can be kind of hard to get your head around because there are a lot of buttons and there are a lot of things that you kind of need to click on to record. And so if your whole job for your podcast is just to record audio and there's no video attached to it, , and you want to make it as simple and easy for yourself as possible, then this Shure Motive Mix is probably one of the easiest things that I have seen to use, to set up
[00:01:24] and also one of the best things about it is that it's not just for Shure microphones. That's what I initially thought. I was like, Oh yeah, another software just for Shure, just the same as Rode does for Rode. Rode has this software that you can use for their microphones to record using their microphones.
[00:01:40] But I never liked that you can't use other microphones with this software. Certainly at the time of recording that. That was the case, but with the Shure version, with the mode of mix, you don't have to have a Shure microphone to actually use this audio system. I tried it [00:02:00] out with a Shure microphone with the MV7 that I have here and that I've done a review for.
[00:02:05] And then I also tried it with my SE Neom, which is another USB microphone. I tried it with the Rode PodMic in the USB setting, the Rode NT USB, the Rode NT USB Mini. I connected all of them. In fact, I connected five USB microphones to my computer at once. Obviously I had a hub so that I could make that actually happen, but it was able to record every single one of those microphones onto your computer.
[00:02:34] All at once, which is like game changing to me, because this is not a system that has existed before. You haven't been able to connect a bunch of microphones to the one device, meaning a computer, and then have all of those actually work because the computer would freak out when there was more than one USB device, but because this software has firmware, I guess that it makes it possible,
[00:03:01] it means that you can plug in multiple microphones and you can record all of them and if you had a bunch of people that you wanted to record all together, sitting around the one laptop With, you know, up to five microphones that you wanted to record. You've got a host and then a bunch of guests.
[00:03:17] You could have a panel discussion as long as you've got enough microphones and they're all USB microphones and you've got a good hub, like a USB hub,
[00:03:25] You can actually have them all in there and I'm actually going to give you a little taste as to what that sounds like. So for this context right now, it's just going to be me and Alex.
[00:03:35] We recorded ourselves using the MV seven microphone and the SE neo microphone, so one is a sure product one is a non shore product.
[00:03:43] I have the SE microphone and he has the MV seven microphone. I hadn't made some changes to the MV seven to make it sound as good as possible, but obviously I couldn't do any of those setting changes on the SE product, but you will get a feel for how it sounds right out of that software.[00:04:00]
[00:04:00] Didn't make any other changes, literally just exported it and then have imported it into our editing software so that I could put it together for you and you can take a listen. If you wanted to watch us having a bit of banter, then that's over on the YouTube review as well. Okay, so let's get into how that sounds and yeah, let me know what you think of that as well.
[00:04:21] Alex: would you rather your
[00:04:23] hands be sticky all the time
[00:04:26] or
[00:04:27] you have an itch that you cannot scratch? Like when you think it's on your back, you scratch, no, it's not there. It's kind of on your hip. Oh, you scratch there. Nope, it's not
[00:04:37] Brianna: no. It's on
[00:04:38] Alex: on your nose. Oops, scratch there. Nope, somewhere
[00:04:40] Brianna: Oh
[00:04:40] Alex: Sticky hands. Unscratchable itch.
[00:04:43] Brianna: Sticky hands versus unscratchable itch. That's diabolical. That's a, that's really hard because sticky hands are really annoying. Sticky, like just sticky hands? It's just the hands?
[00:04:57] Alex: palmar surface is just sticky skin. and an itch that you can't, like you literally can't scratch. So how bad is the itch? Like,
[00:05:04] It's not crazy bad, but it's enough to be like, Oh, this is annoying. so it's probably won't stop you sleeping. but it'll stop you enjoying life. Oh, God. Okay. I think it has to be an itch, though. I think it has to be the itch. 'cause if I've got sticky hands all the time, then I'm like picking up my glass and it's just sticky. And then if I'm like hugging, you know, anybody, or like trying to put moisturizer on my face, then it, it's like, stick down, you know?
[00:05:29] Brianna: Mm-Hmm. . So I feel like it has to be an itch that I can't scratch
[00:05:34] that would probably slowly drive me insane.
[00:05:36] Alex: that I can't scratch. That would, that would probably slowly drive me insane. But, worse. Perpetually those competitions where you have to grab cash in that like wind blowing chamber,
[00:05:53] Brianna: You just bloop,
[00:05:54] Alex: and then you can just
[00:05:55] Brianna: bloop.
[00:05:56] You just grab all the cash in there. Numerous times.
[00:05:58] Yeah,
[00:05:59] [00:06:00] uh, you
[00:06:02] Alex: a unbeatable itch there, you know impressing anyone with
[00:06:05] Brianna: You're not impressing anyone with that. Um, I'm gonna
[00:06:15] Alex: gonna go with sticky hands.
[00:06:17] Brianna: Sticky flippin hands. Wow. And he hates sticky. So that's saying something about the itch. The itch
[00:06:23] must be really bad. Thanks for joining us for this.
[00:06:28] Would you rather conversation?
[00:06:29]
[00:06:30]
[00:06:30] Brianna: Okay, I'm back. What did you think of that? Could you tell? You shouldn't have been able really to tell. I mean, obviously the, the level was a little bit different versus my audio right here and I'm nice and close to the microphone and I'm using an XLR microphone plugged into a fancy preamp and all the things, but that was just him and I in the same room that I'm in right now using two USB microphones plugged into the same system.
[00:06:55] So the Motive Mix system.
[00:06:57] Lots of people started buying the Rodecaster Pro and the Rodecaster Pro 2 because it was a cool, you know, mixing desk with buttons and knobs. And I've got one as well, which I use for all my music making in my separate studio just for music. And so that's a really great system, but
[00:07:15] now there's like software version of a similar thing, which is a mixer being the Shure Motive Mix. So it just means that you can plug your microphones in, you can change settings on that too, like on the actual microphone. So If you have a Shure microphone, then you may be in luck because there are actual settings that you can change on that microphone to make it sound even better, let's say you're a streamer for example and you want to make sure that your Sound coming out of your microphone is the best that it can possibly be because you're not going to be doing any post production It's live. So you want it to sound really good straight out.
[00:07:51] And so with this Motive Mix software, you can actually go into the settings of that microphone on the software and then change things. You can improve [00:08:00] the EQ, you can improve the compression, have the tone of it, uh, you can limit it. You can do all sorts of things, which is really cool.
[00:08:07] It's not for every Shure microphone though. So they only have support for that for the MV7, the MV7+ the MV88+ stereo USB microphones, and the MVX two U digital audio interface. So it doesn't work with absolutely everything, but certainly in this context, a lot of people use the MV seven or the MV seven plus, and so they're gonna be in luck, which is really cool.
[00:08:33] So in that YouTube video, I actually just went through and showed you all the settings that you could change which meant that it was just really easy for me to sound good, and I showed you how to set it up for my voice, but also what those settings all mean.
[00:08:46] Because there is still a learning curve for anything that's a new piece of software, but in saying that, You don't need to change any of those settings as well. And certainly if you don't have a Shure microphone, you won't be able to change any of those settings. You just plug it in and your microphone will work and you'll be able to just hit record.
[00:09:05] So this is something that I'm actually really excited by. I'm not an affiliate of Shure. I don't get any kickback for even making this content, but it's something that I just felt like was important for me to share, especially for you audio only folks. So if you're only recording an audio podcast, then you can get a really simple piece of software that you can set up, have on your computer, drag your microphone into the mix, hit record, and then export it out.
[00:09:34] Very easily. it's absolutely awesome. it would be something that I would recommend you check out if you're sick of recording in the way that you're currently recording, like maybe garage band is annoying or audacity is just.
[00:09:46] Hard to deal with or you know, like you just wanna make it simple for yourself.
[00:09:50] also like if you are a client of ours or if you have a podcast production team doing your actual editing for you, then this makes it really, really simple for you [00:10:00] too, because you just record it. Export it and then upload it to whoever's going to actually do your edit. and it's definitely less hassle.
[00:10:09] So go and check it out. I'm really impressed with how it is. It's only in beta mode at the moment and even in beta it just is really good. so I can't really imagine what else they need to change but at this point in time, definitely worth a look. Hopefully that was helpful for you. Go and watch that YouTube video if you want a full walkthrough of how it all looks.
[00:10:29] I would be really interested to see whether you use it, take it on the road with you, record people, go somewhere on location, record you and someone else with your laptop only, and that will be amazing.
[00:10:42] Have a good day, and I will talk to you next week.
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