Recording your Podcast

- On-line and batch recording
- Six steps to recording your podcast
- Tuning your gear
- Two tracks, or not?
- Testing
- Recording
- Listening
- Done

On-line and batch recording

Here at The PLATFORM we distinguish two kinds of recording:

1. On-line recording:
   The all-in-one-go kind of recording. For the Podcaster it means having all songs, sound-effects and microphones ready to be triggered and blended into the recording. Having done the recording, there are some limits in editing in post production. If you want a high quality podcast, on-line recording is the most difficult.
2. Batch recording:
   Spoken voice first, sometimes even in several separate recordings, and adding music and sound-effects at a later stage (in post production). It leaves more room for editing out mistakes, improving sound quality, and perfecting the overall experience of your podcast.

For podcasting rookies, we highly recommend the batch recording method!
The section below is useful for both methods of recording, and we specifically say so, if it is not.

Six steps to recording your podcast

1. Tuning your gear
2. Two Tracks, or not?
3. Testing
4. Recording
5. Listening
6. Done

Tuning your Gear

The first thing to do is making sure your sound is OK, meaning:

• No Clipping: Regardless of your setup, you always have to make sure that the sound is not too loud, causing an input-overload. This would cause the sound in being cut-off, resulting in a sever loss of quality of your overall sound. This effect is called clipping. Fortunately, all recording equipment and software is equipped with VU-meters to indicate the signal-level. (Yes, it's the green-yellow-red things going up-and-down or right-to-left with the same rythm as the noise.) Make the loudest sound that you would normally make in your recording, like a cough, a well pronounced "P" or "T" sound, and make sure you set you levels just high enough to avoid the meters to go into the red. Well done!
• No Distance: On the other hand, also make sure that you are audible enough. Nothing is more irritating for your audience than having to turn up the Volume, only to have their eardrums blown out when they switch to another Podcast.
• Right Timbre: When your input-levels have been correctly set, it's time to listen to the vibe of the sound. (If you don't like the sound of your own voice when you hear it played back, no worries, most people don't! You'll get over it!) Check if the "S" doesn't sound too shrill (equalizer: less high tones), or the "O"-sound not to bassy (equalizer: less bass tones). Just play with the setting of your recording-equipment until you are satisfied. And please ask others for feedback about your sound!
  Depending on your Podcast Studio (probably also known as Bedroom, Bathroom, Study, Shed or Trinity) you might have to deal with some environmental sound-issues. What usually works best is avoiding background noise as much as possible (which also means speaking close to your microphone), and
  If you are using a microphone pre-amplifier (pre-amp, for short), or a more advanced piece of recording software, you might even setup the compressor, limiter and noise gate. (A compressor modifies (compresses) the sound-level of your input, thus avoiding changes in volume. A limiter, on the other hand, limits the input-level, thus avoiding clipping of your sound. And lastly, a noise-gate blocks the input-signal when it falls below a certain level, thus avoiding a lot of background noise during silent moments in a recording.)
• Rock-steady Quality If you are ready, please note all settings! Recording your next episode will be a lot easier when you only have to look up the previous settings. And it also comforts your audience if they recognize your sound. Keep in mind that, during the day, your voice shifts in pitch. In the morning you have a deeper sounding voice than at the end of the day. If possible, plan your recordings at the same time of day.

Two tracks, or not?

Or maybe even more tracks!
If you are using multi-track recording software, and you are not of the "on-line recording" persuasion, you might consider using tracks for each individual piece of sound you are using in your recording. This enables you to set the sound-settings, and sound-effects (like equalizer, delay, pitch-shifter and what-not), for each voice, song, and other sounds you might be using. It gives you maximum control over the way way your Podcast sounds in the end.

Testing

Before you really start, just play around a bit and create a recording to test if everything comes together the way you planned. This saves a lot of time, and headache, compared to doing you show all over again.

Recording

Before you hit record, just one last check.
Make sure that you are recording at the highest quality possible. (The settings are usally found at the input/output section, with sound-card related information and settings.) Recording at 44,100 Herz/24 bits, creates CD-quality audio. The secret of creating a high-quality mp3-soundfile, is to keep all audio before the compression-process (that's when the mp3-file is created) at the highest quality possible. OK, now that we're ready...
press Record!

Listening

Now that you recorded everything there is to record for this episode, lean back and listen to it. And, if possible, have others listen as well!
When you are still at it, you can decide to do some recordings over again. The moment you decide to move to the next step, post-recording, it will be a lot more difficult to get into the recording-mode again. When quietly listening to the recording, you usually notice some background noise, stuttering, or other imperfections that you didn't notice during the recording. And, depending on what you want to offer your audience, you might want to change that piece of audio.

Done

Now that you're done, it's time to celebrate!
Save the file, still at the highest quality possible (because there's some post-production ahead), and take a nice and cool bottle of Heineken from the fridge...

The PLATFORM TEAM
;-)