Podcasting
has the promise of letting anyone produce
their own 'Home Grown Radio Show' and getting
a huge international audience. Clearly
its all about the quality and presentation
of the content, which is why those that
came from a background in broadcast radio
are finding Podcasting to be easier to
succeed in than most.
But it doesn't mean that it should be
hard for anyone with no background in radio
or broadcasting to succeed as well. Its
really about what you have to say and offer
that makes all the difference.
Now with that all said, a successful radio
host typically always has an engineer nearby.
They almost become the 'sidekicks' of the
show and handle all the technical trickery
of making sure the show works. But keep
in mind that live radio is all about live
reaction and spontaneity. Podcasting takes
a lot of the pressure off the recording
process because you have all the time in
the world to put a great show together.
It is, however, a double-edged sword.
Sure you don't need to do 'live' recording.
But most podcasters don't have an engineer
handy either. They have to double both
as the host and the engineer and for those
that don't have a background in audio recording,
it can be difficult. But its not impossible
and too hard to master, as this article
will explain.
The process of recording your podcast
involves recording your voice for dialog,
inserting content (such as audio clips,
music, advertising, intros, outtros, etc.)
into the show and then producing it all
up into one MP3 file that is ready for
distribution. The distribution part of
it is easy with hosts like CyberEars.com but
the recording of the show is left up to you.
So what do you need to get started? Typically
the first thing is a decent computer. Not
that you have to have the latest, greatest,
fastest most powerful system on the planet.
Any average home PC will be fine. But as
you are going to be dealing with digital
audio, keep in mind that it is often memory
and hard disk hungry, so don't skimp on
RAM or disk storage. I'd suggest having
1-2GB of RAM in your rig, and at least a
120GB hard drive handy. You won't use it
all up initially. But as you start to collect
your recordings, its best not to be running
out of disk space. It'll just slow down
your system and turn what should be an
enjoyable experience in putting your podcast
together into a chore.
You'll need some recording software on
the computer. There are free programs out
there such as Audacity or
you may also find that investing in a commercial
program will pay dividends. I like Industrial
Audio's ePodcast
Creator because it makes the whole process
work the way that a Podcast host would want
it to work. Their software is available in
different 'sizes' to suit the budget and
feature needs of customers. Starting at under
$100 you can have a program that will not
only make the recording process simple, but
will allow you real time insertion of audio
clips, etc. while you are recording the show
(just like how its done on radio) and a full
editing suite afterwards to put the MP3 file
together.
OK, so we have the computer side of this
under control. Now what about the recording
part? Well there are plenty of good quality
microphones out there that you can use.
The problem, however, is that most computers
have a low grade MIC IN connector that isn't
going to be 'studio quality'. The sound
cards that are installed in or on most
PCs these days were never designed for
professional recording, so you'll find
quickly that the audio quality of recordings
made directly into the computer is less
than desirable. Most people will purchase
a high grade microphone and some sort of
audio interface designed for high fidelity
recording. Those that don't do this have
noticeably lower quality podcast recordings.
We would recommend using one of the range
of Alesis
Podcasting Kits for this. Alesis
have bundled all of these items together
into kits that comprise of microphones
& headphones, microphones, headphones and
mixers, etc. to cater for the different
needs of different hosts. If, for example,
its just you doing the show, the basic
Alesis Podcasting Kit product consisting
of a microphone, headphone and audio interface
(USB) will be fine. However if you intend
on doing the show with a partner host,
or frequently having guests on your show
then you will likely need a mixing board
to keep all levels of recordings consistent.
Alesis have that covered to with their
USB and Firewire Podcasting kits including
a 8 or 12 channel mixing board. This might
sound like some > $1000 purchase, but its
not. Alesis Podcasting Kits start at under
$100 for the basic kit, and typically don't
exceed $500 for the top of the line system.
They are available from most musical instrument
retailers or online at places like Sweetwater
Sound or Musicians
Friend.
As you start to dabble in the art of audio
recording, you will encounter a bunch of
dials, faders and buttons with strange
names on them. Don't be alarmed. But be
prepared. Visit your local book store, or
Amazon.com to find any books on basic recording
techniques and you should be well on your
way to recording your podcast.
Once you have all the source material
recorded, then you need to 'produce' the
show. This means simply putting all the
audio clips, recordings and tracks together
in such a way where it all flows together.
A multi-track editing system such as Audacity
is best here. You can overlap and transition
from piece to piece to keep the recording
lively and interesting for the listener.
Then you simply mix (or bounce) it down
to a stereo track for the final production.
You are not quite out of the woods yet.
The digital audio that you are recording
is going to be huge in size. You need to
compress it down so that its easily downloadable
to an iPod or any other MP3 player. This
process is called 'encoding' the audio,
but it really means compressing it. The
computer will do all the work for you here,but
you need to tell it what format file you
want. You will need a 44.1khz Sample Rate
file (CD Quality). If your audio is more
than 1 hour in length, you might want to
consider releasing more shows of smaller
sizes, or you can compress it even further.
The more you compress, the lower the audio
quality will be however. And you should
always compress to a size that is evenly
divisible by 11.025 khz. Why? Because players
that will play it, particularly those on
the Internet, expect it that way and if
you don't they'll try and convert it to
a sample rate they can handle normally
meaning that your audio will end up sounding
like the chipmunks.
Once done, you will have a MP3 file. Then
its time to login to your CyberEars.com
account, Upload the audio and that's it.
It will be automatically syndicated to
all of your fans, and available for anyone
browsing audio to hear it directly from
the CyberEars.com site.
Now this is a basic explanation of the
journey from idea to recording that isn't
rocket science. But you should expect to
invest in some tools, gear and books to
make sure you understand what is going
on. There is so much material available
on the Internet to read that you can't
really go wrong. And don't be afraid to
ask someone who knows more about this how
to do things you don't understand. The
podcasting community is just that - a community.
Its all about free and open audio for everyone
without a lot of radio stations limiting
what content can be freely distributed.
Enjoy! |
