Audio Podcasts

Podcasting is word derived from broadcasting and was originally created to work on the iPod platform. This technology is used to move audio content from websites down to consumers who would typically listen to it on their iPod (hence the "pod") or other audio player that supports mp3 and listen to it whenever they want. The technology has grown beyond just audio to include software updates, pictures, and videos. This article will discuss audio podcasts only.

Before podcasting you could of course record a radio show and put it on your website. When you added new shows, listeners would go to your site and listen to them. But now, with podcasting technology, listeners have much more flexibility and control in how and when they listen to your programs. Listeners can:

• Still visit your site and listen to the podcast
• Have the podcast emailed to them
• Download the show onto an iPod or other audio player that supports the mp3 format
• Subscribe to a series of podcasts and receive automatic updates without having to go to a specific site via:
  • An RSS feed - Podcasting works the same as a standard RSS feed reader or news aggregator (an rss feed is a format to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts), the only difference is that the feed you subscribe to contains an audio file in it. Instead of reading content in your RSS feed reader or aggregator, you can listen to the contents of your feed using a reader or aggregator that supports podcasting or audio enclosures (e.g. FeedDemon).
  • Podcasting software installed on their computer (e.g. iTunes or Juice) where all new shows will be automatically downloaded to their computer as they are published.

Podcasting can be used for:

• 1. Self-Guided Walking Tours - Informational content.
• 2. Music – CD promotional clips and interviews.
• 3. Talk Shows - Industry or organizational news, investor news, sportscasts, news coverage and commentaries.
• 4. Training - Instructional informational materials.
• 5. Story - Story telling for children or the visually-impaired.

Podcasts are only limited by your imagination. They range in length from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, sometimes longer.

Creating Your Own Podcast

Listening to professional (and non-professional) podcasts is a great way to gather knowledge about what works and what doesn't work within the medium. Many radio stations now have podcasts, such as KCRW-FM in Los Angeles , KPFA-FM or CBC's Radio3. Some spiritual radio stations that have podcasts:

• Achieve Radio.com
• HayHouse Radio

And of course, there are directories of podcasts, some with spiritual podcasts. Some being:

• Odeo
• Podcast Directory.com
• Get a Podcast.com

Think about the content of your podcast . What will you talk about? How long will your podcast be? Jot down a rough outline for your podcast so you can keep on track when recording. Finally, how often will you create new episodes? Daily? Weekly? Monthly?

Here's a list of things you'll need to create your own audio podcast.

• A recording device. If you want to make an audio podcast, you will need a USB microphone or an audio interface that can accept input from a microphone. Most notebooks and desktops have something you can use — a built-in microphone, a mic input jack, a line input jack, or a USB connection. A laptop mic will pick up background noise and will generally have poor sound quality. Many MP3 players now also have built-in microphones. For a higher quality recording an external mic that plugs into your computer is best.

• An application that can record sound . You'll need to be able to save the audio that's coming in to your computer via the microphone or line-in connection. Examples of audio capture applications

• RiverPast , and Audio Hijack record whatever's going through your computer's soundcard and save the results as an MP3.

• Audacity is a popular free program for recording and editing podcasts and it's available for both Windows and Mac.

• Adobe Audition and SoundStudio are not free but do allow you to edit, mix, and add effects to your sound files. These applications can be more challenging to use, but they produce more professional results.

An MP3 encoder if your audio software does not allow for mp3 creation. This software converts your podcast into an MP3 file. You can use a variety of different programs. A popular free encoder is the LAME MP3 Encoder. iTunes for Mac and PC can also convert recordings to MP3 for free.

• A good pair of headphones or at least a good pair of speakers.

• Content. The content is really the most important part. Make your topic compelling and interesting and of value to the listener.

• A place to put your podcast . This can be your website, a blog, or any one of the online places to host your digital media.

Create and find content

The first step in actually creating your podcast is to assemble all of the parts. For the spoken portions turn on your recording application, talk into your microphone, and save the results. If you're adding music, you'll need to create some or find some on the web. See the tip in August's Sues News Newsletter for where to find music.

Mixing Audio Files together

Once you have your spoken components and your musical components on your hard drive, the next step is to mix the audio files together to create your podcast.

If you are using an audio editor that allows multi-track recording, you can add "imbed music," which is music that plays quietly under your voice track.

Specific instructions on how to assemble your podcast varies depending on the software program, but most audio applications work the same way. Sound files will appear in your editor as waveforms. A waveform is a drawing of the "peaks and valleys" of sound information contained in the left and right channels of an audio track.

To string sound files together, you can paste the waveforms together using standard copy and paste commands. Most audio editors also have a "Join" tool that will make one big file out of several smaller files. Some applications even let you drag and drop sound files onto the waveform as you build it up.

Additionally, and for a more professional-sounding product, you can apply crossfades that blend two waveforms together. This makes one sound file fade, or bleed, into the next. Most audio applications have menu items for adding files, joining files, and for applying crossfades.

Normalize your audio

This brings all of the different pieces of audio up to a consistent and regular volume level, which makes for more a comfortable and uniform listening experience. You can usually find this function under "Edit" or "Filters". After normalizing, save the whole thing as an MP3 file.

ID3tags

Most audio applications will give you the ability to add ID3 tags to your podcast. These tags are an easy way to add detailed identifying information (such as your name and url) to your podcast. Here is what the tagging dialog looks like in Amadeus 2 on the Mac — yours will probably look similar.

If you don't have the ability to tag your podcast with your URL or your name, you can simply drop the MP3 into iTunes and add the information there.

Be sure to save the file when you're done so that the tags stick.

Publish and syndicate

Upload your podcast to your website

When your podcast is finished you can upload your podcast to your website. Be sure to check with your webhosting company about whether or not a podcast is allowable. Every person that wants to hear your podcast is going to have to download it. If your podcast is 50MB, you can rack up a lot of bandwidth usage in a short amount of time. When talking to your webhosting provider make sure you know how large your podcast is.

If you don't have space online to put your podcast, you can use one of many free or paid hosting services. Yahoo! provides some great web hosting options through Yahoo! Geocities or http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com. Ourmedia.org provides free storage and bandwidth. Sites like PodcastPickle will allow you to add your podcast to a categorized directory and help you manage your RSS feeds. Odeo.com also offers this service, but also provide a tool that lets you record your own podcast using your computer's built-in microphone. You can create a podcast without ever leaving your browser!

Syndication

With your podcast online, you now need to help the world find it. A podcast basically consists of an MP3 file and a text file called an RSS feed. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," and the file tells Yahoo! Podcasts and other podcatchers, like iTunes, how to find and get your podcast. An RSS feed also lets people subscribe to your podcast and automatically get updates of your new content.

If you utilize RSS on your website or blog, you can publish a syndication link and allow people to subscribe to your podcast.

Methods for adding a podcast to your RSS feed

• Use Media RSS.
• Use the enclosure tag in RSS 2.0 to merge your podcast into your site's current RSS feed. This method is useful if your podcast is an extension of your blog or your regular website.
• Create a separate feed just for your podcast.

If you're using a blog tool such as WordPress or Movable Type, then your tool should be able to generate all of your RSS files for you. If you have an account at the iTunes Music Store, you can submit your podcast there.

Once you've finished adding the enclosure to your feed, run it through a feed validatior (which will tell you you created the feed properly or point out where the problem occurs).

You can also publish your podcast under a specific Creative Commons license by including the creativeCommons module in your RSS feed.

If you're unfamiliar with creating an RSS file, or if you need a little guidance on adding your podcast to your current feed, check out this simple tutorial from Audiofeeds.org.

Advertise your podcast

List your RSS feed on podcast directories. Right after you submit your podcast, make sure you take a quick minute to also tell people what the podcast is about by entering some genre and content categories (such as: "talk show," "comedy," "hip hop," and "movies"). These categories will help listeners find your podcast more easily.

Here is a list of some podcast directories:

• Yahoo! Podcasts
• iTunes
• iPodder.com
• Podcast Alley
• Podcast.net
• Odeo
• Podcast Pickle
• Podnova

 

Note: some of this article is based on “All the World's A Podcast” by Michael Calore at www.webmonkey.com/05/52/index4a.html.