Becoming More Sophisticated
with Podcasts
While the new FirstClass client
has podcasting built right into it, there are good reasons to look for
other was to make your masterpiece a little more professional.
To review, visit the February Newsletter and the FirstClass page. Right within FirstClass, you can record your own episodes. Why would you want anything else?
I would consider the difference as similar to live radio (complete with bloopers) compared to a radio program where you have multiple takes to get the reading of the content perfect. While there are times when going live is preferable, having the ability to record and re-record may be preferable.
Enter Audacity.
This open source product is just the perfect tool for doing a little audio editing and putting a number of clips together to make your podcast production. You can download it from its sourceforge site.
The use of the software is very intuitive. To record yourself or a group, connect your microphone, click on the record button and start talking. Audacity automatically starts a new track and records your voice faithfully. When you're done, click on the stop button and you've got it.
Buttons for skip to start, play/replay, record, pause,
stop, skip to end
You'll notice that, as you speak, Audacity displays graphically what your sound looks like. When you're done speaking, click the stop button and the recording is halted. Otherwise, Audacity will capture everything that you do from that point on. (voice of experience)
Click the play button and Audacity will play back your recording. It's fascinating to watch your recording as you listen to it. It may take a couple of takes before you get the audio just the way that you want it. (voice of experience again...)
Microphone adjustment
The power of using Audacity as opposed to straight forward recording into FirstClass becomes apparent when you have longer podcasts. Unless you have the stamina and consistency of Larry King, you may have more success in breaking your podcast into smaller pieces. Perhaps 15 seconds each.
With Audacity, just record - do your talking and click stop. Record and talk again. Audacity will record another track for you. With the track moving tool, you can arrange the tracks in sequence so that they play in the proper order. With these smaller pieces, it may be that you decide to rearrange the content of your Podcast after the recording is done. Not a problem, just move them into place.
Track movement tool
If that wasn't enough, we can go that final step to really make your production professional. Suppose that you have a little jingle that you'd like to play to begin your podcast. Import it into Audacity and move it into sequence. Tinker with your production until it's ready to go.
The final step is to convert your epic into a web format so that common applications can hear your work. From the File Menu, note that you have a number of formats that include WAV, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis. Be kind to your listeners and choose the MP3 format. It's easily playable by everyone and is reasonable in size.
To put your podcast online, it's now a matter of dragging the file just created into a new episode window in your FirstClass podcasting area and just like before, you're an instant podcaster.
Happy recording!
| previous |
