PROFESSIONAL PODCASTINGA guidebased on a coupleofyearsofpodcastingexperience MarkusVoeltervoelter@acm.orghttp://www.voelter.de

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent Consultant

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent ConsultantSoftware ArchitectureDSLs & MDSDProductLines

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent Consultanthttp://www.voelter.devoelter@acm.orgskype: schogglad

Software Engineering RadioExperience based on almostthreeyearsofand a numberofsmallerpodcasts

Thissetupis not intendedfor live recording/mixing (DJ-ing)Weuse a separate postproductionstep.Go to Adam Curry ifyouneed live recordingtips!

IRecording

Mobile RecordingRecorderM-Audio Microtrack 24/96-or - M-Audio Microtrack II

Mobile RecordingUSB PowerSupplyAPC Power Pack

Mobile RecordingMicrophonesAKG C 520

Mobile RecordingSetupWiring

Mobile Recording/SkypeSetupWiring

Mobile RecordingPricing

Studio RecordingMixerMackieOnyx 1620incl. Firewire Adapter

Studio RecordingMicrophonesHeil PR 40Shock Mounts Heil SM2Plus Pop Filters!

Studio RecordingRecorderNotebook with Audition orAudacityorTracktionMakesureyourharddiskisdefragged!

Audition or

Audacityor

Tracktion

Studio RecordingImportant!Echo Cancelling

Studio RecordingWiring

Studio RecordingSettings

Studio RecordingPricingplus Micbooms EUR 100 each

Studio Recording with Voice StripVoice Stripdbx 286A – Preamp, De-Esser, Enhancer, Expander/GateConsiderablyimprovesthequalityofyourvoice!

dbx286A Voice StripCompressorSmooth thelevels, compresspeakamplitude87

dbx286A Voice StripDe-EsserReducesthehisssssingof „s“ and „sh“ soundsVeryuseful!4k4

dbx286A Voice StripEnhancerEnhancesthelowfrequenciesandthehighs – betterthan anequalizer, goodwith de-esser6.53

dbx286A Voice StripExpander/GateBasicallyreducesquietbackgroundnoisetozero-281.6:1

Studio Recording with 286AWiring

Studio Recording/PhonePricing

Studio Recording/PhoneTelephone HybridTELOS ONE

Studio Recording/PhoneWiring

Studio Recording/PhoneSettings

Studio Recording/PhonePricing

Studio Overview

Makesureyoudon‘tsaturatethelevelswhenrecording.

Striveforgood Signal/Noise.Thisiseasierthancleaningituplater.

Usegoodcables!Cablescanbethesourceofsignificantwhitenoise!

EQAdd somelowandmid-low, removesomehighfrequencies(people will listen withbadheadphoneswithbad bass – andhigh hiss isannoying)

THE ENDPROFESSIONAL PODCASTINGA guidebased on a coupleofyearsofpodcastingexperienceTHANKS!

PROFESSIONAL PODCASTINGA guidebased on a coupleofyearsofpodcastingexperience MarkusVoeltervoelter@acm.orghttp://www.voelter.de

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent Consultant

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent ConsultantSoftware ArchitectureDSLs & MDSDProductLines

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent Consultanthttp://www.voelter.devoelter@acm.orgskype: schogglad

Software Engineering RadioExperience based on almostthreeyearsofand a numberofsmallerpodcasts

Thissetupis not intendedfor live recording/mixing (DJ-ing)Weuse a separate postproductionstep.Go to Adam Curry ifyouneed live recordingtips!

IISound Editing

1 Normalizing

1 Normalizing

1 Normalizing

Do not normalizemusic – destroysthedynamicrange.

2 Denoising(optional)

2 Denoising(optional)

2 Denoising(optional)

Do not denoisetoomuch.A littlewhitenoisesoundsnatural. Over-denoisingmakesthingssoundlike in a bucket.Bettersoftwaremakes a bigdifference (Audition > Audacity)!Adaptive Denoisingisconvenient.

3 Compressing(Dynamic Processing)

3 Compressing(Dynamic Processing)

3 Compressing(Dynamic Processing)

CompressorSettingsCompress 50 :1 above -20dBExpand 2:1 below -20dBFlat 1:1 below -30dB3 Compressing (Dynamic Processing)

3b Multiband-Compressing(Thisis an alternative tothecompressor in step 3)Don‘tbotheraboutsettings – usetheBroadcastpreset

4 Normalize (again!)

5 Filter (optional)

6 Nullingthe „quiet“ track(optional)Only do thisifnormalnoisecancellingis not enough.E.g. in caseofmicshufflenoises, coughing, backgroundtalking

6 Nullingthe „quiet“ track(optional)

6 Nullingthe „quiet“ track(optional)

6 Nullingthe „quiet“ track(optional)Attention!Don‘tmakethingstooquiet!(cf. Noisecancelling). Nullingsomethingreallymakesitabsolutelyquiet!

EQAdd somelowandmid-low, removesomehighfrequencies(people will listen withbadheadphoneswithbad bass – andhigh hiss isannoying)

Data ExchangeUse a losslessformat!WAV, FLAC, AIFF

IIIContent Editing

Don‘tcut all thebreaks!Cutting out breathingbreaksmakesthingssoundartificial.Don‘tmakeittoodense.

Be sure that the intonation of the resulting sentence still works!For example, if you want to cut out relative clause that typically does not work, since in the original the sentence before the relative clause ends on a high pitch (because of the imaginary comma). If you remove the relative sentence, the remaining part would need to end on a low pitch (because you’ve replaced the comma with an imaginary full stop).

Cut on a zerocrossingor on „s“-sounds These always sound exactly the same for a given person. Vowels sound differently depending on where they are used.

THE ENDPROFESSIONAL PODCASTINGA guidebased on a coupleofyearsofpodcastingexperienceTHANKS!

PROFESSIONAL PODCASTINGA guidebased on a coupleofyearsofpodcastingexperience MarkusVoeltervoelter@acm.orghttp://www.voelter.de

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent Consultant

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent ConsultantSoftware ArchitectureDSLs & MDSDProductLines

AboutMarkus VoelterIndependent Consultanthttp://www.voelter.devoelter@acm.orgskype: schogglad

Software Engineering RadioExperience based on almostthreeyearsofand a numberofsmallerpodcasts

Thissetupis not intendedfor live recording/mixing (DJ-ing)Weuse a separate postproductionstep.Go to Adam Curry ifyouneed live recordingtips!

IVMasteringandEncoding

Makesureeverythinghasthesame level.MaybeuseLevelator!

Mix Intermediate music a littlebitquieter(itisperceivedtobelouder)

Mix Stereoitdoesnotresult in biggerfiles!

Ifyouhavetwopeopletalking, mix theirvoice+20/-20 left/right.

Create themixdownand save itasWAVuse a variant that LAME understands, eg. Windows PCM, 4 byte PCM

UseLAME‘scommandlinetoencodethe MP3lame.exe -q 0 --lowpass 10 --resample 44 -b 96 ./%1.wav ./%1.mp3// highest quality// filter high stuff// sample to 44 KHz// 96 Kbps// in/out files

UseLAME‘scommandlinetoencodethe MP3 --tt <title> --ty <year> --tn <number> --ta <author> --tl <album> --tg Speech// Episode title// Publication year// Episode no.// Author// Podcast// Category

MP3 BitrateSample Rate 44100

Makesureyouset all theMP3 tags, includingthe cover image.

VLicensing

Youhavetodefine a license.Do not try to come up with your own license!

CreativeCommons

Customize a licenseforyourwork

ExampleLicense

VIMusic andStuff

Unlessyouknowspecificallywhatyou‘redoing, stayawayfromcommercialmusic.(it‘s a swampof legal risks: licensingfees, GEMA, RIAA)

http://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideoshttp://music.podshow.comhttp://podsafeaudio.com/

Jingles & Stuffhttp://newmediacreative.com/http://thegeoffsmith.com

Voiceshttp://eurovoice.de

Production MusicLicense-Free Music youcanuse in yourproductions(youpay a fixeddownloadfee, that‘s it.)

Production MusicOftenyoucangetseveralvariants, cuts, loops, etc. for a song.

Production Musichttp://www.opuzz.com http://www.neosounds.com/http://musicbakery.com http://www.smartsound.com/sonicfirehttp://www.stockmusic.net/ http://www.proudmusiclibrary.com/ http://www.shockwave-sound.com/ http://www.massivetracks.net http://www.stockmusicvault.com http://freeplaymusic.com http://www.themusicase.com/ http://www.soundloopstudio.com http://www.waynejune.com/production_music.html

Sound Effectshttp://www.audionetworkplc.comhttp://www.stonewashed.net/http://www.freesound.org/ Thisoneisgreat! ManyEffects, for Free!

VIIDistribution

HostingBlogging Engine w/EnclosuresUnlimitedBandwidthadditional 250 MB storageeachmonth… acceptabledownloadspeed… acceptableavailability$10 per month!

Podcast Directoriesmakesureyouregisterwith all themainstreamdirectories

Podcast Directories: iTunes Store

THE ENDPROFESSIONAL PODCASTINGA guidebased on a coupleofyearsofpodcastingexperienceTHANKS!