<aside> 👉 Teachers sometimes need more specific equipment to record, this guide talks more about what is needed
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So the first thing you're going to need is a computer, a Mac computer. Whether it's a laptop or a desktop is personal preference but I personally use a MacBook Pro and have done since they were first launched in '06. When speccing your computer there's a few things to know about them, in order of needs it typically goes RAM → CPU → HDD. You'll want as much RAM as you can get, a minimum of 16GB, as everything wants more RAM than you can give it.
A good CPU is also pretty important when making recordings, currently I recommend at least 8 cores, non-M. With the advent of the M-series of chips we're seeing they're much more powerful than the old-style chips and have the added bonus that they're fanless too — so there's no fan to kick in when you're deep in recording! — but they're not yet fully supported by all the software we use. Expect this to change in 2022.
For the hard-drive you're usually good with whatever the base is but Screenflow — the recording software we use — uses up a lot of HDD space, if you do go with a lower-end hard-drive — and even if you don't — you're going to want a good external HDD to back up your files to. Which brings me to #2;
At the very least you'll want to be regularly uploading your final files to Dropbox — note that this is best done as a manual process as if you just tell Dropbox to sync everything you're going to very quickly run out of space — and also offloading your working files to an external HDD to make sure you have plenty of room — at least 40GB spare — when making recordings to make sure that Screenflow isn't going to bug out on you. An external HDD by any of the big names — LaCie, Samsung, Buffalo, Seagate, Western Digital, etc. — will do you well. If you're not going to be lugging it around you can get a 3.5" model, but if you're moving back-and-forth between home and the office then you'll want to get a 2.5" or solid-state hard-drive. SSDs are generally more reliable but also more expensive. You can also use this hard-drive as a Time Machine device, set up to backup your entire computer onto it on a regular basis.
On top of all this — Dropbox, manual backups, automated backups — I'd also recommend a service like Backblaze. With Backblaze it'll upload your files throughout the day — or at a set time of day — making sure that you always have your files backed up to a secure, external location. If anything does happen to go wrong they'll mail you out a USB stick with all your files and you'll be back up-and-running in days. You can use your tech-budget Ramp card to set this up.
The most important piece of hardware after the computer itself! We recommend the Shure MV7 but any good Shure or Rode microphone will do you well, just make sure that it records on a Cardioid pattern so that you're not picking up sounds from all around you, students only need to hear you speaking into the mic directly and not the trains — or tractors in my case — as they go by.
A quick piece of advice here; each mic has a designated way that you're supposed to speak into it: how close, into the side or into the end, etc. You can look up YouTube reviews of your microphone to see what methods work best for others and then replicate them in your own environment.
Now that you have a microphone you're going to want to mount it somewhere. Boom arms are great because they can fold in and out of the way but little adjustable stands that sit on your desk can also be very useful. Just make sure that if you are mounting it to, or on, your desk that you also have some kind of isolator between the microphone and the stand itself, otherwise the sound of you typing or using the computer is easily transferred into the mic via the stand.
You may also want a pop-filter if the microphone doesn't have one built-in.
A good external monitor is super helpful when recording, you can dedicate your main screen as the recording screen and have notes and other information displayed on the external. Most of SuperHi uses Dell UltraSharp monitors of one kind or another, and I'll wholeheartedly recommend whichever model Wirecutter want you to buy this week.