Words4TheWebwise – Copywriting and Website Design and Development.

[image error]Podcasting Software.

In previous Words for the Webwise (way before Christmas and New Year disrupted everything) I was talking about writing podcasts. If you've been following the series, you'll have a script ready and your mic setup. Now it's time to get the software so you can actually record your voice. There are a number of options depending on what you want to use to record - PC, Mac or even your phone.

With all recording software, audio is recorded into tracks, running horizontally. Time progresses from left to right and often a waveform can be seen in the track you can get an idea of how loud your signal is. The best thing is to plug in a mic and give the software a whirl. We only need a vocal track and a background track (if you have music), so recording is pretty simple.

If your mic is setup properly, and 'Built in mic' is selected in Preferences, you should be able to see the meters jump at the beginning of the first track. There isn't space here to offer a full tutorial on software, but if you have questions feel free to email me.

Audacity (PC/Mac: Free)
Available from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
For a free program, Audacity is laden with features, but it is still simple to use and works very well for our purposes.

Garageband (Mac: $14.99)
Once included with iLife, Garageband is now available by itself. Not only is it great for recording multitrack music, it has a specialized podcasting feature. Drag your background music track to the application and a new track is made. After recording a track of your voice, the vocal track will automatically 'duck', or lower the volume of the music everytime the voice kicks in. Grarageband also makes it easy to add links and chapters.

iTalk (iPhone : free)
iTalk is great app for recording your podcast no matter where you are. No need for a mic, or even to have to wait until you're back at the office or at home. You will have to transfer the audio to your computer when you're done, so you can add background music and convert it to an mp3 for uploading.

There are many other options for recording audio, but these are the lowest cost and most useful available. Perhaps you have access to a ProTools studio. Good for you! No matter how you do it, make sure you have an mp3 file when you're done. Next time, we'll upload it to iTunes and get your podcast on the air.


I can be reached by e mail (Contact at nburmandesign.com) and Twitter (@nburmandesign). NBurman Design can be found online at http://www.nburmandesign.com and you can also visit my blog LifeImitatingDesign.