Recording Audio Podcasts for Beginners

I hate the term podcasting. Not because I have anything against iPods or have a problem with the millions of podcasts downloaded each month. It is just that it is such a lazy uninspiring term to describe a technology that gives us all the power to broadcast audio and video to a global audience.

Audio and video media files have been available to download long before the term podcast was coined. Podcasting describes the way in which the files are distributed. People subscribe to a podcast and every time a new file is produced it is automatically downloaded to a person’s computer and in some cases transferred to their portable media player, be it an ipod or mobile phone.

So assuming you think you have something interesting to say – how do you go about creating a digital audio file?

All you need is a computer, a microphone and some audio editing software. The Samson C01 USB podcasting pack which retails for around £100 is a great way to get started. It contains a studio quality condensing microphone, stand and software that will allow you to produce studio quality recordings. It really is good enough to record music demos if that's your bag.

If your budget won’t stretch to this or if you just want to experiment before you commit, the Logitech basic USB mic on a stand retails for under £10.

Another even cheaper alternative is an analogue microphone with a 3.5 mm jack, these are even cheaper and will work on most computers, but be warned they are notorious for picking up electrical hums. If you have a laptop with a built in microphone then that will be as good as a cheap plug in microphone.

For software you can’t really go wrong with Audacity - a free programme available to download from http://audacity.sourceforge.net It is a really intuitive bit of software that works like a tape recorder on your computer but also gives you access to a range of simple editing features.

The process of distributing your audio file will be covered in future blog entry. But for now here is a guide to producing you own mp3 recordings.

How to record an audio file on your computer

1. Download audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ note there are versions for windows Macs and Linux.

2. You will also need to download LAME MP3 encoder – this little download allows you to turn your audio files into mp3s http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/

3. Plug a usb mic into your computer – asuming it should be plug an play unless your computer is out of the ark

4. Run Audacity

5. Press the record button and talk into your microphone. You should see sound waves jumping up and down as you talk.
   

6. If nothing is recording try playing with your audio settings- go to windows start menu/settings/controlpanel/sounds and audio devices then click on "audio" tab and then adust the volume in the sound recording section

7. If you want to cut a bit of the recording out - then simply highlight it with your mouse and press delete.

8. When you are happy with your recording, click on “file” and then “export as an mp3”. You will probably be asked to locate the Lamemp3.dll file. Simply show Audacity where you saved it and you should be able to save your file as an mp3.

9. If you want to change the quality of you mp3 files click on “edit” and “preferences” you should then select the “file formats” tab and adjust the mp3 bit rate – the higher the number the higher the quality and file size.