Teach42

At the ‘advanced’ podcasting session right now. I’m sitting with John Blake, and Dave Warlick wil be joining us soon. Really, it’s all about moving beyond the USB microphone and making your podcast sound professional. I’m sitting next to John Blake who I’ve finally met in person.

First tip, get a ‘pop screen’ that prevents your p’s and t’s from popping so much when you’re talking. He says that you can buy them on Amazon.com for 35 bucks, or make it yourself for a couple of bucks. Embroidery hoops and old stockings seem to work just fine. Gotta make me one of those. Right now I use just a regular ol’ USB headset, but I might just have to modify my set up a bit after this.

Someone is mentioning that different types of microphones have a profound effect one where you want to place your microphone. They’re discussing the different types but most of it is going a bit over my head. Dynamic mics, condenser mics, remote, handheld etc…

One microphone that somebody is recommending is the Marshall MXL 990, for about 55 on eBay. It’s an omni directional microphone, so great for recording multiple people or a room full of people. Looks cool as heck too! There’s also several Radio Shack microphones that people are praising.

They’re saying to avoid table microphones because if you touch your computer, the table, you’ll hear it through the microphone. You can get a shockmount for the microphone which eliminates those issues, but the generic table stands won’t have those. He says that there’s a microphone stand you can buy on Amazon.com for about 20 bucks that would work perfect for most purposes.

Heh, just heard a great little tip. People are talking about their experiences buying audio equipment on eBay. One person mentioned that there’s a Firefox plugin that allows you to highlight a user on ebay, click a button and it will just show you all their negative feedback. So you don’t have to scroll through page after page after page to find the feedback issues that you’re looking for. Just installed it and tried it. VERY cool! Great tip.

Heh, he’s holding up an iPod and saying that it really isn’t the greatest voice recorder. Which is true. What’s great is that he’s also pointing out that the hardware can support much higher quality and if you install iPodLinux. I can vouch for that. Linux is much better operating system for recording on the iPod, but unfortunately it doesn’t play music very well. But who buys an iPod to listen to music, right?

Small discussion about the iRiver, people are recommending the IFP 700/800, or the 799/899. I guess it has a line in jack so you can use a professional microphone that doesn’t require phantom power. However, you have to preset the levels. You can’t listen to it as you record. However, there are some more professional ones, like the Roland Edirol R1, that allow you to hear what you’re recording as you and adjust the levels on the fly. Alright, apparently you CAN monitor things on the iRiver if you turn on the setting (buried within menus), but you can’t adjust the levels once you start recording. Just looked up the R1 and it’s close to $400 though. Not exactly what those on a budget are going to be using, but it looks like the ultimate portable recording device.

One person was suggesting that people record in mono if you’re just doing voice. If you’re recording voice, stereo is just a complete waste of disk space. You aren’t a stereo device, so you’re basically recording the same thing in both channels anyway (mono).

Another few good tips. Somebody shared they were getting a lot of buzz in their recordings. Paul suggested making sure that your cables aren’t coiled at all, and to use as short a cable as possible. A few people have bought the same Shure microphone kit (mic, stand, cable, etc) and have all had similar problems with it. Seems as though you’re able to pick up radio signals with the cable while you’re recording. Doesn’t that sound like fun? People are pointing out that power cables or power bricks can put a hum in your recording as well.

Kevin Rose did a podcast on SYSTM about how to record a podcast on Audacity. Definitely worth checking out. For example, he points out that if you record about 10 seconds worth of sound first, because then there’s a feature in Audacity that will let you highlight it, say “This is what the room sounds like”, and then you can tell the software to filter that stuff out. Didn’t know that. Maybe I have to revisit Audacity before I buy into Mixcraft.

Audio compression, the hardware, is for making the levels more even. It helps you get much cleaner sound into your computer. The one that seems to be pretty popular is made by Behringer. It basically makes it so that if you’re talking loudly, other people are talking quietly or people are changing their volume, it events things out as needed. It’s different from software compression, which is more about reducing file size without losing quality.

Honestly, I’m a bit overwhelmed here. You’ve go the microphone. The ‘pop’ screen. The microphone stand. The cable. The compressor. The mixer. The software. And that’s not even getting into portable setups! Pretty complicated stuff, but then again, this IS the ‘advanced’ session.

I asked about a suggested upgrade path and am getting some fantastic basic tips. Richard Bluestein suggested I take a look at podcastrigs.com, which basically says “buy this for entry level, buy this for pro level, etc…” Basic level starts off around $250. That sounds like a lot, but maybe I should be looking at something like that. In some sense I take pride in the fact that I do it on a ‘teacher’ budget (meaning for next to nothing), but perhaps its time to get a little more professional. I do get schools asking me all the time about what equipment to buy. I usually tell them to just use the stuff you have, but if schools really want to do it right, there are clearly more professional ways to do things.

Heh, I just checked my email and seems that Dave is several rows behind me and commenting on my first post. Hi Dave!

Talking about audio compression now. Richard makes a good point. The better your audio source is to start off with (good quality equipment, quiet room, raw wave file), the more you can compress without losing too much quality. Moral of the story seems to be don’t compress while you’re recording. You can always compress it later, but if you start off with it compressed, you can’t go back.

We’re getting into a little debate about what format to publish your finished podcast in. General consensus seems to be that you really need to use .mp3 because its universal. While other formats may be superior, mp3 is clearly the most flexible. Everyone can listen to an MP3. Not everyone can listen to an AAC. ‘nuff said to me.

Well, that session has been wrapped up. Very informative and well moderated. Now it’s off to lunch and then the teaching and learning strand!

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