The Audacity to Podcast

Noise is probably the most-common problem in amateur podcasts. Professional podcasts sound great not just because of the equipment, but also because of techniques. Learn some ways to reduce noise before and after you record. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Reduce noise before you record Turn off noise-makers Fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, computers, and more can all cause background noise in your recording; try to turn them off if you can. I turn off my air conditioner whenever I start recording because I have a loud vent right above my studio equipment. Consider a different room If you can't turn off noise-makers, such as an air conditioner or refrigerator, consider switching rooms. Pay attention to the carpet, walls, and furniture in the room. The less "flat" you can make the room, the less the sound will reverbrate. Reduce computer fan noise Turn your microphone away from the computer and place as far away as possible. If you use a notebook computer, try to minimize your running software to prevent the fans from activating. Switch to a dynamic microphone Condensor microphones can capture a beautiful range of audio, but they're more sensitive to noise from the room (great for ambiance recording). Dynamic microphones are traditionally not as good with the audio range (such as the low pitches), but are more focused in what they capture and aren't as sensitive to room noise. There are cheap dynamic microphones, but they won't have the wide dynamic range of audio that they can capture. There is also my prized Heil PR40 for $325, and it sounds beautiful. Reduce the gain and get closer to the mic The microphone won't eat you! Get closer to it! You may think this will distort your audio and you're right, but that's why you reduce the gain, which is the mic's sensitivity. The more sensitive the mic, the more noise it will capture. Imagine it like a bubble around your mic. Gain makes the bubble bigger, which captures more sound. Make the "bubble" smaller and get inside it! Get a compressor/limiter/gate (CLG)? Not really. I shared in-depth settings for Chris's Dynamic Compressor for Audacity, and also just discussed software and hardware compressors. CLGs are only effective at not allowing any audio in the spaces between your talking. It won't remove noise while you record. Plug everything into one power outlet When you get electronic interference with your hardware (as I still have in some of your recordings), keep all your hardware plugged into the same outlet via surge protector. Also ensure your hardware is not in close proximity with other pieces (like audio cables sitting on power adapters—I made this mistake recently). Use a USB adapter If you record directly into your computer, converting that analog audio signal to digital before in reaches your computer has proven an effective method for reducing computer interference noise. Get either an adapter with 3.5 MM jacks or a Behringer U Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface for RCA jacks. This works great for desktops and notebooks. Removing noise after you have recorded Do everything you can to reduce the noise before you record. It's possible to easily reduce it so much, that you won't need to removal the noise afterward. There are probably some of these steps you can implement to get better recordings. If you still need to edit things after you recorded, here's how to remove noise with Audacity. Select the "silent" section of your audio, where it's just noise. Go to the Effects menu and click Noise Removal. Click Get Noise Profile.

Compression, expansion, noise gate, threshold, ratio—what does it all mean? Should you use a software audio compressor, or a hardware compressor?

LAME is still the best MP3 encoder, but further tests and conversations reveal that it just may not be the best for podcasting. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Variable bitrate (VBR) MP3s and LibSyn Bob Jordan wrote in to point me to LibSyn's PDF on their Podcast Companion App, which reveals an incompatibility with VBR MP3s. Avoid using VBR (Variable Bit Rate Encoding) as it is not compatible with our system. I exchanged several emails with top people at LibSyn and they confirmed that VBR files are absolutely not compatible with the iOS app they offer as part of their larger hosting packages. Extensive study revealed a few portable digital audio players that have trouble with VBR, and even some minor issues in iTunes. LAME versus Fraunhofer As I explained in more detail in episode 6, LAME is the best MP3 codec for quality, that is, when you use it with variable bitrate (VBR). LAME is terrible at constant bitrate (CBR). However, Fraunhofer, the creator of MP3 compression, has an MP3 encoder that is the best at CBR. Fraunhofer's MP3 encoder is not free—it's usually included in expensive audio-editors like Adobe Audition. However, Fraunhofer IIS's own site tells how you can get their MP3 encoder for free. If you are an end user and would like to use the Fraunhofer mp3 encoder or decoder, please use Apple iTunes or Windows Media which integrate the Fraunhofer mp3 software. Please note, that although mp3 was developed at Fraunhofer IIS, we do not sell any mp3 products to end users and do not provide end user support for mp3 devices and software. [Emphasis added] I've known that Fraunhofer was credited in iTunes, but didn't realize until reading this that iTunes does use his actual MP3 encoder, not just parts of his technology. So if you don't already have iTunes, download it now for free. Encoding MP3s: convenience and potential incompatibilities vs. speed and hassle The method I'm about to show you for encoding Audacity projects into MP3 via iTunes is more of a hassle, with several additional steps and some cleanup. But when you have everything set right, it may be a whole lot faster. 45-minute stereo podcast in Audacity on a Core i7 MacBook Pro: Export from Audacity as LAME, VBR quality 5, joint stereo: 8 minutes, 10 seconds Export from Audacity to uncompressed WAV, use iTunes to convert to 128 kbps CBR, joint stereo: 2 minutes Although it's a little more of a hassle to use iTunes, the above test revealed a 75% savings in time and produces a file guaranteed to work everywhere. How to make an MP3 from Audacity and iTunes 1. Export as WAV In Audacity 1.3 (beta), go to the File menu and click Export, name your file, change your format to "WAV (Microsoft) signed 16-bit PCM," and then click Save. There are no options for WAVs 2. Drag into iTunes I suggest for creating a playlist or smart playlist to hold your new files. But however you drag the WAV into iTunes is fine. 3. Configure iTunes for MP3s Go to the Edit menu (Windows) or iTunes menu (OS X) and click Preferences, click Import Settings… under General, set Import Using to "MP3 encoder," Setting to "Good quality (128 kbps)," then click OK and OK. 4. Convert Right-click your imported WAV and click Create MP3 Version. 5. Find the MP3 Search your iTunes library for the new MP3 file, drag it out of iTunes back into your folder, and now it's ready to be tagged and uploaded. You can also delete the uncompressed WAV and delete the files from iTunes if you want. Although this is many more steps and leaves a little cleanup behind,

I get a little controversial in the episode as I address four of someone else's reasons why you shouldn't use Audacity. Don't worry, I remain loyal. I also share news about the BlackBerry Podcasts app for BlackBerry Smartphones. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Bradley Bradwell's four reasons against Audacity From Brad's World of Online Trends (part of Chris Pirillo's network) comes his blog post, "4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use Audacity." Although Bradley Bradwell makes some good points, I argue that they are mostly invalid and he even concludes that Audacity is "the best on the market in terms of free audio editing software." What do I think? Check out his blog post and listen to my responses! 1. "You need to download the LAME" Yes, it's disappointing that LAME (for encoding MP3s) cannot legally be included with Audacity, but I explain that it really isn't hard to find because it's linked from the Audacity download page, and Audacity 1.3 even gives you a link straight to the instructions for Mac and Windows. The installation process is actually simple enough that you don't even have to find the program you installed, just try to save the MP3 again and Audacity knows where LAME is. 2. "It’s unstable" Although Audacity can crash and it has on me, I know exactly what I did to cause it. Usually, I tried to cancel a heavy process or I got impatient. During the live show, one of the chatters reported that he has used Audacity for six years and never saw it crash. Make sure you're using 1.3 (beta)! A lot of problems may be due to using an old version on new software and hardware. 3. "It has difficulty handling longer track" This can make sense if you don't have much RAM, are running an intense process, or have several other programs running at the same time, but I have never had problems with long tracks. I have even recorded for more than two hours and edited the file! No problems there. Again, make sure you have the latest beta version. It's always a good idea to save often. 4. "The user interface can be challenging for beginners" Interestingly, Bradley says within this point that Audacity is simpler than Garageband and concludes by saying, "Audacity is a great program for the everyday user." I actually think that the best programs start with a blank "canvas" for you, the artist—or would you rather have Clippy? As long as you know base select, cut, copy, paste, and delete commands, you can do decent stuff with Audacity. Also consider that it's the most-popular free audio-editor, so there are loads of video tutorials and step-by-step instructions on the Internet. I'll be producing some video tutorials myself! I still stand by my recommendations of Audacity and will continue to use it until I have put my money first into equipment. Even then, I may buy something else instead of replacing Audacity. Podcasting news: new BlackBerry Podcast App Research in Motion (RIM) have released a free BlackBerry podcast client so you can find, subscribe to, and listen to podcasts on any BlackBerry smartphone. This is great news for consumers and us podcasters! To submit your podcast to the new app, sign up for a free account (your username/email will be case-sensitive), go to the Podcasts menu in the upper-right, click Submit New, complete the simple form, and then Submit. It may take a little time to be approved, but I recommend that you jump on this right away. UPDATE: One of my listeners, Rob Robideau, quickly made an excellent blog post with screenshots to show you, step-by-step,

You have probably heard a lot of false things about stats, especially Feedburner's RSS stats. I'm here to tell you the truth! Make sure you listen to the episode because I explain everything in much more detail than I'm writing in the shownotes.

I take some time to answer questions on Audacity and podcasting. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Inspired to podcast again Don't wait until the planets align to start podcasting again! Just jump in, but try not to make it a huge ocean, which will just sweep you back on shore. How to change the "author" in iTunes You can't just change the individual MP3s to have the correct author displayed in iTunes, you also have to change the RSS/XML information. This is easy if you use Feedburner. Go into your Feedburner settings. Click your podcast's feed. Switch to the Optimize tab and then click SmartCast. If SmartCast is activated, you'll be able to change your podcast author field to your desired name (your real name, your company, your podcast network, or whatever!). Which visualization in Audacity? Waveform or Waveform (dB)? Both visualization methods are handy depending on what you're doing. Waveform shows you the shape of your audio, not necessarily its volume. Waveform (dB) shows your audio's volume, which is great for seeing how much noise you're recorded while you're not speaking, but it can be harder for editing. Mono or stereo for voice-only podcast? Unless you have a really good reason to release your podcasts in stereo (such as special effects, audio drama, music or sound clips), then mono will always be half the size (taking up less hosting space and bandwidth) and thus download twice as fast. How can you get cover art to display on iPods (or other players)? Having your podcast cover art in iTunes or your RSS feed is not enough, you also need to add it to each released episode by inserting it in the ID3 tags. Although iTunes can do this, it saves tags in an different, not-so-compatible version (ID3v2.2). You can use MP3tag (free, Windows-only) or ID3 Editor ($15, Windows or Mac) to easily insert your cover art into each file. I recommend 600x600 pixels, but 300x300 is also okay. If you need great-looking cover art, please contact me because I'm a designer! I currently use MP3tag on my Mac OS X computer. How? I use Code Weavers Crossover to run Windows applications seamless in OS X without installing Windows (like Parallels Desktop for Mac requires). Do you have questions? Please ask your questions or share your thoughts here in the comment, email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com, or call our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221. Also follow me on Twitter and please consider leaving a five-star review for the show in iTunes. If you enjoy The Audacity to Podcast™, please subscribe to our other podcasts on the Noodle.mx Network: Are You Just Watching?™ and the Ramen Noodle™.

Stop making crappy MP3s with Audacity and LAME! I tell you how to encode MP3s the way LAME was designed to, so you get a great audio quality and small file size.

We're talking Audacity this time! Adobe Audition has its fantastic multiband compressor, but did you know you can get fantastic audio compression from a free plugin to Audacity? Listen to the episode to learn move! Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. What are a compressor, a limiter, and a gate? A compressor fits your audio within a selected volume range by increasing the volume of quiet sections. A limiter does the opposition by decreasing the volume of loud sections. A noise gate will close (like a real gate) when it receives audio quieter than its "floor," and opens again when it receives audio louder than its "floor." You can accomplish these audio enhancement effects by hardware such as a Behringer MDX4600, or by software, which is where we will focus. Too simple and too complex Levelator is a popular and free, standalone compressor/limiter/gate. Simply drag your .wav or .aiff audio onto the program, and it processes the audio into a new file (appended with ".output"). This works great for some people, but I don't like the results, which I can't customize because Levelator has no options. On the other side, you can get some complex multiband compressors for Audacity. I highly recommend upgrading to Audacity 1.3 beta if you use any of these plugins. A compressor that is just right for Audacity I introduce you to Chris's Dynamic Compressor. It has simple controls and produces great results. Although it's free, please support his excellent work! In the audio, I explain how to set Chris's Dynamic Compressor just right, and demonstrate the audible differences. Here are some screenshots of the different results. Your results may vary. Remember that Audacity will only maintain your compressor settings while Audacity is still running. If you restart it, the compressor settings revert to their defaults and you can't save them. Share your thoughts and experience! How did Chris's Dynamic Compressor work for you? Please share here in the comments or email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or call our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221. Also follow me on Twitter and please consider leaving a five-star review for the show in iTunes. If you enjoy The Audacity to Podcast™, please subscribe to our other podcasts: Are You Just Watching?™ and the Ramen Noodle™.

After several podcasts were recorded in front of a live audience at PodCamp Ohio, I hosted a panel with most of the podcast hosts as we discuss our equipment and workflow for live-podcasting. Please support our content We have expenses for our podcasts. Please look at these options for how you can support us by supporting our sponsors (or outright hiring me). Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. Save money by shopping at Amazon.com. Live podcasts at PodCamp Ohio Social Media Serenity (Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. ET) the Ramen Noodle™ (Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET) The iPad Show (Sundays at 3:30 p.m. ET) The iPad Possibilities Podcast (Sundays at 9:30 p.m. ET) Podcasting equipment used among the hosts Alesis 18-channel mixer CDVU02IP Webcam Video switcher and VGA switcher Behringer Xenyx 1204usb mixer Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone for the best-sounding microphone Zoom H4n Handy Portable Digital Recorder for four-channel recording—vocals on one stereo track, music and other sound clips on another stereo track Edirol R 09 HR Recorder Blue Microphones Yeti USB Microphone MDX4600 by Behringer Elgato 10020196 Turbo.264 HD Encoder/Accelerator to speed up H.264 encoding Podcasting software used among the hosts Chris's Dynamic Compressor for Audacity or Levelator for any audio Skype for bringing in audio cohosts Ustream.tv embedded player for live broadcasts, because of mobile edition for iOS Ustream.tv's chat room or Chatango, but sometimes the chatroom is distracting for live-recording. ChatRoll is a non-Flash chatroom, but the free edition is limited to 10 simulataneous chatters. Look at Leo Laporte's live setup Stitcher for listing your podcast in a radio-style playlist Adobe Audition 3 for audio-editing, or free Audacity PodProducer for playing sound effects QuickTime Pro for high-quality video recording Why podcast live? Improves mic-presence Builds community and allows the community to contribute to the show Encourages better preproduction resulting in a better flow when you record Can encourage you against spending too much time in postproduction Scheduling a regular live show creates accountability Committing to a schedule results in consistent release schedule and thus more episodes General answers on podcasting Editing takes a lot of time, avoid it by honing your on-camera skills. Stop saying, "we'll fix that in post"! One episode per week seems the sweet spot for subscribers Use the mixer's equalizer settings to enhance your audio as it's recorded instead of postprocessing Releasing video seems to promote your podcast a lot more, but still offer an audio edition and remember to maintain a context for the audio-only subscribers Video podcasts require a lot more bandwidth, use a provider like Blip.tv or Libsyn so you don't crash your own server Apple TV and Google TV may drastically increase the demand for video content, look at what NetFlix is doing by being on nearly all high-end media devices Use Blip.tv or TubeMogul to upload your video media once and distribute it in various formats Follow us on Twitter Daniel Lewis @theRamenNoodle Dave Buchanan @AudioCollective Tim Chaten @tchaten Steve Bostedor @sbostedor Cliff Ravenscraft @GSPN Is your head exploding? If you're feeling overwhelmed thinking you need to buy all of the equipment we mentioned, go listen to my episode "The Bare Minimums" to learn how you can podcast super-cheap. Share your thoughts! I'd love to know how you podcast live or what kind of hardware and software you use. Share those and any other ideas or questions by sending them to feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or call (903) 231-2221.

Don't think that you have to spend thousands of dollars to launch your podcast! I give you some tips for podcasting decently with the cheapest equipment. Need a website or presentation designed? I freelance through my own company, D.Joseph Design. If you need a website or presentation designed or need help launching your podcast, please hire me to make your message look or sound great! Contact feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or (903) 231-2221 and I'll give you 10% off your first invoice. "New & Noteworthy" I already blogged about it, but here's a newer screenshot now showing The Audacity to Podcast™ as #5 in "New & Noteworthy" on iTunes' front page of podcasts. My expensive podcasting equipment Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone ($325) Behringer XENYX X1204 USB mixer ($130) On Stage MS7510 Microphone Stand Pro-Pak with AS400 Mic 34500 ($50) Zoom H4n Handy Portable Digital Recorder ($300) And more I started with the cheapest podcasting equipment A free Laptec mic that came with my computer and a passion to podcast was all I had to start. Sure, I also used Audacity and had a background in profession multimedia production. But it worked for starting out. I also used Levelator and simple bass-boost in Audacity to sound better. To make a pop filter, I got someone's old pantyhose (very embarrassing to do when you're a single guy) and wrapped it around a loop made out of a metal hanger. It worked decently. Tips for sounding good on a cheap microphone Don't talk too far away from the microphone. This catches more room noise and makes it harder to hear you. Don't talk too close to the microphone. This will result in plosives and clipping audio. Use a pop filter like  the homemade one described above. Never touch the microphone or anything else touching it while you're recording! Get an amazing voice for your podcast I had a great time working with Ewen from BagelTechNews to record some stuff for the Ramen Noodle™. Follow Ewen on Twitter and contact him to do some great voice work, and let him know that I recommended him. Tell me about your budget-podcasting setup I'd love to know what workflows you have found that work with cheap equipment. Share those and any other ideas or questions by sending them to feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or call (903) 231-2221. Again, please consider hiring me to design your website or presentation, or help you launch your podcast from start to finish.

PodCamps are for more than just podcasters, but how can PodCamps specifically benefit podcasters? I share my thoughts and the three benefits. Before I begin, please note that I sponsor my own podcasts through my freelance design company, D.Joseph Design. If you need a website designed, help starting a podcast, or presentation designed, please contact me. What is a PodCamp? From the official PodCamp website: A PodCamp is a usually free BarCamp-style community UnConference for new media enthusiasts and professionals including bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, social networkers, and anyone curious about new media. The first PodCamp was held September 8-10, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. PodCamps are now being held worldwide. PodCamp isn't just about podcasting! If you're interested in blogging, social media, social networking, podcasting, video on the net, if you're a podsafe musician (or want to be), or just someone curious about new media, then please join us -- and bring a friend or colleague. I have attended all three PodCamp Ohio unconferences and the first-and-so-far-only PodCamp Cleveland and have presented multiple sessions at both: web design, tweeting for your organization, podcasting, Audacity, and even comedy! Look at the schedule from last PodCamp Ohio. The three benefits of PodCamps Get to hear from great speakers on great topics—but we're all rock stars, so the speaker is probably your peer! Opportunities to give back to the community by sharing your knowledge and passion. Meeting and networking with lots of fantastic people. Find a PodCamp near you, or come to … PodCamp Cincy 2011 I am the organizer for PodCamp Cincy to be held near in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 2011. For more information, email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or follow @PodCampCincy. Send me your feedback and questions! I hope you're enjoying the show! You will get even more out of the show if you tell me what you want to hear! Send your feedback and questions to feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com, comment here, or leave a message on our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221.

Welcome to the first-ever episode of The Audacity to Podcast™! I share my vision, talk about the POD of podcasting, and more. The POD of podcasting Passion—you have to be excited about what you have to say! That passion will drive you to find or generate content without much labor Organization—be professional, have your sites and information together Dialog—big media is one-way, social media is social! Connect with your audience and they will grow Share you thoughts! I have the next thirty-five episodes planned out, but you can change that by telling me what you want to hear! Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or call our listener voicemail line at (903) 231-2221. Also follow me on Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter below.