Podcasting 101 : Part 2 — Recording your Podcast
In order to do a podcast, you need some way to record yourself. You can make a perfectly good podcast by plugging a microphone or telephone headset into a computer’s mic jack or USB port and recording it using free software like Audacity, an open source multi-track recorder. Some people even use their mp3 player’s voice recorder!
Another option — especially if you want to do interviews or have more than one host — is to use Skype and a program designed to record Skype calls. This page lists several software options. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any free software for this task yet. Or you can use a service like BlogTalkRadio to record podcasts using your telephone (you can even take live callers!) — BTR is free.
Video podcasts are a little trickier — you could use a webcam, but for real quality, you’ll need to use a video recorder that can download onto your computer. Most computers today come with rudimentary video editing software that should be fine for putting together your show.
I listed a few software titles that record any sound that come through one’s computer, including Skyppe calls. Read it at: http://becoming-a-writer-seriously.com/2007/12/11/today-only-free-downloadable-audio-recorder-for-your-computer/
Getting a good microphone will also help. The Snowball from BlueMic is one of the best USB mic’s on the market. Definitely consider it.
Also, if you sound like a little schoolgirl when you should sound like a lumberjack (you should hear me tra-la-la), think about hiring talent to record the podcast. We used Voice123 http://voice123.com/ at work and found some awesome talent at a very reasonable price.
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