by Stephen Schleicher

Last week we talked about the pre-production process and finding a topic that woks for you.  And that you know what your show is going to be about and what type of podcast you are going to create, let's talk about the actual recording of the podcast.

If you’re just doing the show by yourself with no other interaction - all you need to do is record your message and post. 

Let's look at the hardware side.  You're going to need a computer to upload your show, so why not use your computer to record your show? 

The next thing you should think about investing in a microphone. Microphones range from cheap headset microphones to multi-thousand dollar high-end mics that you'll find in a recording studio. 

The quality of the mic will affect the quality of the sound. 

Why use a microphone at all? 
Why not use a built-in microphone on your computer or a built-in microphone on a portable recorder? 

The smaller the microphone the poorer the recording quality.  So a small condenser mics found inside a portable tape player or the small mics found inside your laptop are not going to be that great. 

Also, the further your microphone is away from sound source the more room noise or background noise that device will pick up.

Charlie and I use the Shure SM58 microphone that is very rugged, is balanced, and has a long history of producing a clear clean and consistent sound.  These microphones can be picked up at any good audio store or music store for around a hundred dollars.

If you don't want record your show via computer, you can use a stand alone recorder.  The advantage of the  standalone recorder is that you can take this with you anywhere, turn it on at any time, record your thoughts and continue what you're doing. 

For interviews that we do outside of the studio when we are on the road attending a convention is the Marantz PMD 670.  This is a professional recorder that's used by NPR and other audio news stations across the world - again another product with a great track record.  It’s also somewhat expensive

Now let's talk about software.  There are all sorts of software applications out there for recording your podcast - some are very cheap some are very expensive. 

One piece of software that's absolutely free and is available on both the Mac PC is Audacity.  This piece of software is constantly evolving and gets better with each release.  It allows you to record your voice via your microphone input on your computer, add music, edit the audio, and export the file as an MP3 ready for upload.  Audacity is very very simple to use.

If you have Apple's QuickTime Pro installed on your Mac or PC you can also record directly to that.  QuickTime Pro runs about $35 and not only does it give you the ability to record your audio you can edit and export the files as an AIFF. 

If you are doing a audio centric podcasts and you want to put in your own music or sound effects or recorded phone calls, you should check out Cast Blaster which is a brand new product being used by Adam Curry on the Daily Source Code and many of the producers in the pod show music network.  This application does not allow you to edit your audio easily, but is perfect for podcasters as it will create the feed, your show notes, images and more.  Cast Blaster is only available on the PC, is in beta and will eventually cost you some money.

Staying on the PC side for a moment there's also Adobe's audition This is an excellent high-end application for editing any type of audio, mixing complex projects, and yes producing a podcast.

On the Mac side you have  GarageBand part of iLife 6 which just does a great job for very simple podcasts, enhanced podcasts, music production and more.  We are slowly starting to work with GarageBand and getting used to its interface with our Coolness Roundup show.

However I'm most comfortable with Apple Soundtrack Pro a pro application very much like Adobe Audition.  I like using it because it gives me ultimate precise control over adjusting the audio mixing removing tracks and so on.

Another type of podcast is the multiple host/guest podcast. this is where you have more than one person interacting in your show.  If every one is able to meet a central location all you will need is a microphone for each person and a mixing board to combine all the inputs for your computer or recording device.

If you have hosts or guests a distance there a couple of ways you can record your show.  The first is by using Skype which is a free Voice over IP application.

On the Mac using Skype and an application called Audio Hijack Pro you can record both participants to the same audio track. 

Unfortunately Skype on the PC does not record very well and there are some very difficult work arounds to get them to work together on a single machine. 

If you plan on using Skype on the PC you really need to use two computers.  Computer one is your Skype phone call.  You run a line from the speaker Out Jack to your mixing console, where you can also plug-in your microphone, and you run the output from the console to another computer recording the conversation.

There are large number of shows that use this method;  ExtraLife radio, and This Week in Tech are a few that do this.

If you're on a Mac and you have iChat and GarageBand 3 you are set when doing a show at a distance.  GarageBand and iChat communicate very well with one another and GarageBand will recognize each of the connections in your iChat conversation and create a new audio track for each of the participants.

Charlie and I did our first two episodes of the Coolness Roundup on the PC with Skype.  Unfortunately, Skype has very poor fidelity at times and if there is a large amount of traffic on the network, packets can be lost and audio won't sound perfect like some of the incidents that we've had today.

For those of you who want to sound like you're the same room even though you are miles away you can use a process called double ending.  Double ending is the process where each person in the conversation records the conversation at their end and then edit the two together. 

So for the Coolness Roundup we use Skype just so we can hear each other.   Charlie records his audio on his system and I record my audio on my system then Charlie sends me his audio and in post I line everything up and it sounds like where the same room.  This as a great deal of time to the producing of our show, but the audio sounds great and we feel it's worth it in the end.

Once you've recorded your show you should spend some time post producing.

And that is where we are going to end it today.  Next week, we’ll talk about post production including the all important audio enhancing as well as creating your RSS feed, and promotions for your show.

Next Week: Creating a Podcast, Part 3

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