3 replies to this topic

[Jason]

Not sure whether the question has been asked before -- but what platform (PC or Mac), apps and hardware are being used to produce the show's podcast? I ask because a few friends and I have been looking to start a music show, but weren't sure which apps were available. We live approx. 1,000 miles apart and were wanting to do a live audio show only (no video). Any insight you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[cskenney]

If you are looking for help with a Podcast then check out this blog post by Dave McCabe http://homeserversho...to-creator.html

[HSS-Dave]

Whoa. This may take a while.

I've used a lot of software and hardware to mix and record. Some good, some not. If you are going to do voice and have multiple mics in the same room I would go with a small mixer. If you will only have one mic on the computer you can just use a good USB microphone. Jim uses the Yeti and it's a good one. http://www.bluemic.com/

If you are just mixing then you can use any software mixer you are comfortable with. I would start with Audacity. I'll just run down my steps on show 192 to see if that helps and then answer any questions.

I record the G+ Hangout with Garage Band on a Mac. I also capture my microphone only with Audio Hijack Pro. So I have two recordings going at once. Depending on the quality of Jim and John's recordings I'll either mix theirs with mine or use the master from Garage Band.

I remove noise with Audacity then export as a WAV file. Then I use Levelator to level all of our voices.

Re-import to Audacity and add the jingle track to front and back.

Export again as a WAV. Import to Adobe Soundbooth and export back out as MP3. I like Adobe's MP3's better than anything else I've tried. LAME encoder, iTunes, etc.

Then I tag it with MP3Tag, add album art, and then FTP it to Libsyn.

I can do all of this on Windows or Mac. I have both and have done it with both. If you are doing Skype there are a ton of options to capture Skype voices. It's much easier too. Piezio for Mac or Pamela for Windows. I like working with high bitrate files and then exporting down to the low grade MP3. Capture as high as you can. I prefer WAV. My files are over a gig in size each week but Jim and John capture to MP3 and they sound just fine. Just preference.

I would start getting to know Audacity. It's your best friend and test a lot!

[HSS-Dave]

I forgot about more hardware. Sound cards. I've used a ton but mostly have relied on built in audio on motherboards. My last Windows 7 build had a bad hum in the audio. It was easily filtered out in Audacity but still a pain. It was probably the power supply as I swapped in several sound boards and it never changed. I suppose it could have been the mobo as well.

Get a good headset mic or USB mic. Get on Skype in a quiet room and talk to your friends/cohosts. Record your Skype conversations. You don't have to podcast just simply record your conversations. Export that MP3 to your music player and listen to it via earbuds and in the car. Doing both will help you find the audio level you need to be at and if there is noise being recorded. Do this several times until you feel you have a good system of editing audio, fixing amplification levels, and exporting to MP3.