{"id":6144,"date":"2017-02-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/?p=6144"},"modified":"2017-02-24T19:40:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T19:40:23","slug":"a-guide-to-diy-podcast-recording","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/a-guide-to-diy-podcast-recording\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to DIY Podcast Recording"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little more than two years ago, my friend Dave had an idea: he wanted to do a weekly podcast called \u201cOff the Chain,\u201d on which he would talk about things he thought were off the chain: chiefly, his love of Vin Diesel and terrible action movies. I couldn\u2019t care less about Diesel or action movies, but I like making things, I used to have a radio show on a student radio station here in Madison (it was called \u2018Steel\u2019s Magnolias<\/a>\u2019!), and I have some experience as a DIY audio engineer, so I told him it sounded like fun and I\u2019d help him do it. Dave lives in Arizona, I live in Wisconsin, and most of our friends are scattered across North America, so we needed to figure out a way to record audio conversations with people in 3 or more different locations. It sounded tricky, but I guessed there was probably a cheap, easy way to do it.<\/p>\n

Two years on, we\u2019ve made more than 70 episodes of Off the Chain with Dave & Steel<\/a>, and I have a pretty good handle on how to set up the audio recording\/production for a quick and basic podcast. Our total expenses over the two years have been less than $50: Dave bought an inexpensive USB microphone (which he rarely uses \u2014 we\u2019re rank amateurs!). Our web costs are essentially zero, but only because I\u2019ve been using a subdomain of an existing domain registration and putting up our files on an existing shared hosting account I have.<\/p>\n

\"OTC
The stretch banner for our podcast. Took me roughly 15 minutes to make in Adobe Illustrator.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve had a couple of friends express their interest in making their own podcasts, and since I\u2019m not aware of a comparable guide out there on the open web, I decided to write this article based on my recent experience. If you use a computer running Windows, Linux, or some other operating system, you\u2019ll need to find software replacements. I may get around to updating this guide with suggestions for other OS environments, but for now this will be a Mac-centric article. Sorry!<\/p>\n

Our Setup<\/h3>\n
\"Van
The soundproof audio studio where I typically record episodes of our show (I come in late at night). Photo by my coworker David Macasaet<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s how I\u2019ve been recording podcasts on my mac laptop. I go into a quiet, soundproofed space (here are some tips on soundproofing<\/a> and improving the acoustics<\/a> of your own space), call Dave and our guest(s) using Google Hangouts, and record the audio from our video call. After the call ends, I edit the recording, add bumper music, normalize and compress the audio, and export as a 64kbs\u00a0.mp3 file with the desired metadata. Then I upload the file to my server using an FTP client, write a blog post about the episode, link to the uploaded file (using the free PowerPress podcasting plugin<\/a> for WordPress) and schedule publication for the desired date\/time. When it publishes, our RSS feed is updated, which updates the iTunes and Stitcher podcast listings, and we\u2019ve set up WordPress to automatically post to our show\u2019s pretty basic Facebook page<\/a>. The whole process rarely takes me more 4\u20135 hours per episode, including recording time.<\/p>\n

(FREE) STUFF TO DOWNLOAD:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. LineIn<\/a>: A free, lightweight software application from a company called Rogue Ameoba for Mac OS. This lets you play your own microphone through to your audio input channel \u2014 it\u2019s a super simple application, and literally consists of a single button, but it\u2019s pretty important. It appears they now have a better product called SoundSource<\/a> ($10<\/a> or free if you\u2019ve previously bought something from them)<\/li>\n
  2. Soundflower<\/a>: This free kernel extension for Mac OS lets you mix two or more audio streams into a single stream so that you can record both your own microphone and the people you are talking with in a single application. It\u2019s now being maintained on GitHub<\/a> by Matt Ingalls<\/a>. Rogue Ameoba now sells a similar but even more powerful product called Loopback<\/a> (which costs $99<\/a> for a new license)<\/li>\n
  3. Audacity<\/a> (you can use GarageBand<\/a> if you\u2019d rather, but I was trained on Audacity, and like it because it\u2019s open source). This is the program that I use to record and edit the audio. You\u2019ll also likely want to download an mp3 encoder, which you\u2019ll need if you want to export your audacity files to the\u00a0.mp3 format. [encoder for mac<\/a> | encoder for Windows<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    WHAT TO\u00a0DO:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Install all three applications.<\/li>\n
    2. Open LineIn. Select your recording device from the \u2018input\u2019 drop down menu, and select \u2018soundflower (2 ch)\u2019 from the output dropdown menu. Then press the \u2018play thru\u2019 button.\n

      \"LineIn
      Sample view of the LineIn application<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
    3. In your video\/audio chat tool, open your settings and set your speakers to \u2018Soundflower 2ch\u2019. This will send the incoming audio from your guests to the Soundflower 2ch stream, where your mic is also being set (effectively making them one channel).<\/li>\n
    4. Open soundflowerbed. Under \u2018Soundflower (2ch)\u2019, select \u2018built-in output\u2019. This will let you listen to the pseudo-single channel mix on your headphones (for monitoring purposes) while you record. You should hear yourself and your guests through your headphones. Your own voice may have a slight delay, which you may be able to reduce slightly by changing the buffering settings in Soundflower.\n

      \"Soundflower
      View of the Soundflower controls (they\u2019ll appear in the Mac OS menu bar at the top of your screen)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
    5. Open Audacity. Make sure the recording source is set to Soundflower (2ch). Start a call and start recording \u2014 the recording should pick up both your audio (routed from your mic to Soundflower 2ch by Linein and your other participants audio (send to Soundflower 2ch by your chat applications settings). There\u2019s a few more little things you can do to tweak settings and all that, but that\u2019s basically it.\n

      \"View
      View of the recording dropdown in Audacity<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      OTHER TIPS:<\/strong><\/h3>\n