Prof. Almeida's Podcasting Instructions
Prof. Nora Almeida has provided instructions on how to record your own podcast. This can be done in the library's Multimedia Resource Center on the 4th floor.
Step-by-Step Podcast Instructions (modified for general use)
Technology Needs:
Microphone Headset, Computer, Audacity* (recording & editing), Soundcloud (hosting & metadata—including license)**
Set-up
Finalize / print podcast script
decide about your podcast: image, title, and the Creative Commons license you want to use.
- Media Lab: Plug a USB Microphone Headset into your computer workstation and make sure it is recognized as a device.
- Open Audacity from the main start menu. Check to make sure that the program recognizes your USB Microphone Headset.
Recording & Editing
- To record, hit the red radio-button on the upper left menu in Audacity. You can pause, stop, or playback the recording at any point.
- To record over something, you can either rewind using the radio button or by zooming in and manually selecting a point on the recorded track by clicking with your mouse.
- To include multiple people in your audio recording, you can either pause the recording and pass along your headset and then continue, or you can record different voices as separate tracks
- To record a new track, click on ‘Tracks’ on the upper menu and select “Add New” and then “Audio Track.” New tracks can be selected, copied, and pasted into a single continuous track using keyboard shortcuts or the ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ buttons under ‘Edit’ on the upper menu.
- This same process can be used to ‘cut’ parts of a track that you want to discard.
- You can selectively re-record a section of your podcast by creating a new track and ‘pasting’ it into your main audio track.
- To save your project as an Audacity file, click on “Save Project As” under the ‘File’ tab on the upper menu.
You can edit your Audacity file on your computer or on a workstation in Multimedia.
You can experiment with the audio effects under ‘Effect’ on the main menu but should save an un-doctored version of your recording before adding effects to ensure that you don’t ruin your recording.
To export your podcast once you’ve completed recording and editing, click on “Export” under the ‘File’ tab on the upper menu and select the ‘.wav’ file type. Save your .wav file.
Upload to the platform of your choice.
For Soundcloud:
- Select ‘Upload’ on the upper right menu, then ‘Choose file to upload.’
- Browse for and select your .wav file in the ‘basic info’ tab, fill in your title, choose 2-3 tags (keywords), and upload the image that you selected for homework.
- Save your podcast as a ‘public’ audio file.
- In the ‘metadata’ tab, include a date and select ‘Creative Commons’ under ‘license’, specify the kind of license you want to apply by selecting and deselecting the radio buttons.
- Save your podcast.
*You can also use GarageBand
**There are other hosting sites as well. Choose the one that suits your needs best.
