Guide to Podcast Creation
Creating podcasts is not an easy matter, though it is not so hard, after all. You will need some special software and hardware to be able to create your recordings, and in this tutorial as well.
The Plan
The first stage (mistakenly skipped by many podcasters) is developing a plan. First of all, think what you want to say, and then try to organize your thoughts. It will be very helpful to prepare interviews and make notes. Even experienced podcasters prepare their shows in advance.
The Gear
You will need a PC computer or Mac with either Windows or Windows XP, or Mac OS X or Mac OS X 10.3. Another hardware you will need is a microphone, which is one of the most important elements. The quality of your microphone (and correspondingly the quality of the voice recording) affects the listeners greatly. Never use cheap low-quality internal microphones. It can pick up noise, and the sound of anything you move while recording. For professional sound you will need a condenser microphone. It requires an external power source. As the result you get more realistic sound.
Recording Software
There are various programs for voice recording. You can use Audacity. It is the most popular programs, which can record, post-process and edit your audio. Its main advantage is that it is absolutely free of charge. Besides, it is multi-platform.
The sound you record appears as sound waves. You can select and delete portions you want, as for instance “you know” and “ums”. There are also tools for reducing background noise, increasing or decreasing your voice amplitude, and creating echo effects. Don’t forget to save your audio files in WAV format. Once you’ve finished editing your recordings, export your podcast. You can choose between several formats, such as MP3, WAV and AIFF.
Convert Your Podcast
Now it’s time to convert your podcast. This is done to make your recording easy to share. People will not download your podcast if it is too large.