Sean created a podcast for a class project. He wrote a script in Microsoft Word so he could access and edit it from home and school. When recording, he used Audacity at home with a higher quality microphone to avoid interruptions. He accidentally recorded 20 minutes of audio when only 5 minutes was required. Sean cut out unnecessary parts, pauses, and stutters to meet the time requirement. He added audio effects like noise gates and compression to improve sound quality. For the intro, Sean used funny noises from his classmates in Garage Band and exported it to Audition. The finished podcast was exported as a .WAV file as required.

1. Production Reflection
Sean Cawood

2. Process
First I wrote the script at college using Microsoft word on Monday. Unfortunately I didn’t finish
it before Tuesday but I continued with recording anyway. I wrote it on Microsoft word because
that is one of the most efficient and most used text editors which I could use at home and at
college. Having access to the file at home and college is a big advantage because I can
always open it and work on it. I felt like this script wasn’t right because I wanted something
with a bit more room to talk about what I wanted to talk about so instead I used the script as
talking points and suggestions about the subject I was talking about
In my formal proposal I said I would talk about recent stories and things I watched recently. I
think this works well but as I realised this might be difficult to do within the 5 minutes
specified in the project brief.
On Tuesday at home I then recorded my lines on audacity using my AT2020 mic. I didn’t
want to do it in college because there would be too many people interrupting and my
microphone at home is much higher quality. I recorded them in 6 parts and exported them
into .Wav audio Files. Since part of my script wasn’t finished on some parts I decided to
make it up as I went along going along vague points I made for the script. I Exported them as
.Wav files because its one of the most common format for audio files apart from .mp3 files. I
knew audition would accept .Wav files. I said I was going to record this at home instead of
how I recorded it in college like I did in my experiment.
I then imported these .Wav Files into audition and I found that I accidentally recorded 20
minutes of audio when the requirements are 5 minutes. This instantly caused a problem and i
knew I had to cut it down a lot to try and make it fit the criteria. This made it difficult because I
didn’t know what I should cut down. I wanted to use audition because it has the tools for what
I need and its relatively easy to use. I also said I would use it in my production experiments
which I made before the main production and they worked out well.
I decided to remove 2 parts of my Podcast. This was difficult to do as I wanted to stay true to
my Proposal while meeting the specifications given to me. But in the end I feel like I cut it
down enough so it could work as both.

3. Process
After I clipped off the parts I thought the podcast could do without to fit the criteria; I
started going into the clips and cutting out long pauses and stutters I did during
recording. I also cut down huge parts I felt were unnecessary to make it fit within the
specification. Cutting out the pauses and stutters was necessary not only so the audio
could fit but because it makes it feel more professional. I also wanted to do this after I
did the same thing in my Experiment. I think this worked well so I moved onto adding
effects.
For some reason I ended up having a clip with sound only coming out of one ear and
one with no volume when they were playing in the multi track. I managed to fix these
problems but the unmuted track I fixed started coming out of one ear and I didn’t know
how to fix it so I kept it in instead of doing all the work again on those clips
Once I was finished cutting out pauses, stutters and bits I didn’t need. I started to add
the audio Effects to improve the audio. I wanted to use these audio Effects because
they are the same effects I used in my Production experiments and it worked out well. I
used a Sound Gate to get rid of any background noise coming from my computer in
the podcast. I also used a Multiband compressor to try and make the audio more clear
so the S’s and T’s could be heard more easily, this would mean they also wouldn’t be
cut out by the Noise gate. I also used a Graphic Equalizer to change the frequency of
the sound so it sounded more professional. I think this all worked very well and greatly
Boosted the audio quality of my podcast.

4. Process
On Monday I had others in my class make funny noises I could use in
my intro. I eventually settled on Andrew “Ree!” sound which imported
into Garage Band. I thought this was a good idea because using sounds
we made in the class would make it more unique.
I decided to use garage band because it’s a software designed for
making music and I had it on my ipad so I have access to it at college
and at home. This is a huge advantage because I can then catch up or
continue the work at home when needed.
Once I had finished importing the sounds I then made a tune out of them
and exported it using my email. I think making a tune in garage band
was a good idea because it avoids any problems with copyright and it
also makes people think of the podcast when the music is heard.
I then imported them into audition. I decided to use audition because its
specialized for audio even if it can be hard to use at times. I think using
audition is a good choice but even if it doesn’t work out I can change to
using premier which is a lot easier to use but is specialized in video and
not audio.
I then clipped the audio together with the intro and I had to cut the intro
down to make it fit. I then realized that the clip was short and I intended
for it to be a clip of Lewie sayig “Hello” in a deep voice from a clip
Andrew and Allan gave me, But I must have got it mixed up and It
somehow changed to nutjob alex jones saying “Turn the frickin frogs
gay” and I decided to stick with it and its within fair use as its only being
used for a second. In the end I think this worked well as it made it very
different from what you would expect from a Podcast intro
I exported the project as a .Wav and handed it in. I Exported it as a
.Wav as its what I was specified to do