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Recording – Hardware

Hardware is the largest up-front cost of podcasting but is an important investment to get you sounding your best for your listeners. The main difference in equipment needs are if you鈥檙e going to be recording solo or with multiple guests:

Solo

For solo recording, I recommend getting yourself a USB microphone which you can plug straight into your laptop and off you go. The is great.

If you want to shop around, your search term is 鈥淯SB dynamic microphone鈥�.

For any microphone you get, you鈥檒l want to get a foam cover to cushion plosive sounds (the bang sound in the recording when strong blasts of air from your lips hit the microphone, particularly with 鈥榩鈥� and 鈥榖鈥� sounds) and a table stand for hands-free recording.

Multiple speaker recordings

For recording with multiple microphones, you鈥檒l need to plug these into a mixer first, then connect the mixer to your computer. The is great, and you鈥檒l need as many XLR leads as you have microphones, as well as foam cushions and table stands.

If you want to shop around, your search term is 鈥淴LR dynamic microphone鈥�.

The best mixer for podcasting is the . It can do ambient recording and has up to four inputs for microphones. It can be battery-powered so you can record out in the field.

If you want to shop around, your search term is 鈥渕ultichannel USB mixer鈥�.

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Setting up the room

Before you start recording, make sure you minimise the noise in the room (unless you鈥檙e purposefully including background noise in the recording, such as a busy street or audience chatter). Things to check for:

• Windows and doors closed
• All devices on silent
• Noisy appliances switched off
• Hard surfaces dampened – sit far away from flat walls or corners of rooms if possible, and place a towel or cloth across your table
• Noisy zips, jewellery or rustly clothing removed

Sit with your microphone about a fist-width away from your face and be aware that any movement away from it will be heard in the recording. If you鈥檙e speaking to one or more guests in the same room, then position yourselves so that you鈥檒l be talking across your microphones, not turning your heads to look at one another.

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Recording software

Once you鈥檝e got your microphones and/or mixer plugged in, you鈥檒l need software to record what people say. The best free audio software to start with is . It鈥檚 relatively intuitive to pick up, and there鈥檚 lots of support for specific problems online. See this video for an on how to get started.

If you want to move to the next level of audio recording and editing, I recommend . This is available as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud package which staff can request through IT services for an annual cost, and students can access at a discounted rate. Click here for more information.

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Recording online

For the best sound quality when recording with someone over video conferencing software, ask them to follow the same 鈥楽etting up the room鈥� instructions as above.

Ideally, when recording over videoconferencing software, your guests or co-hosts at the other end will record their side of the conversation locally on a lovely microphone set-up and send it to you post-recording for editing. This will allow for higher quality audio. Unfortunately, lots of guests don鈥檛 have the means to do this, but you can use your video conferencing software to record it for you. Ask them to use a microphone attached to headphones if possible, rather than their in-built computer audio hardware.

Zoom

The next best thing is using record function because it allows you to get separate audio files for each participant. Download Zoom, open it, and go to:

On a Mac: Zoom.us > Preferences > Recording and tick 鈥淩ecord a separate audio file for each participant.鈥�

On Windows: Click the settings cog on the home screen > Recording and tick 鈥淩ecord a separate audio file for each participant.鈥�

When the meeting starts, click Record at the bottom of the screen.

For better-quality audio, disable the participants鈥� video feeds and click 鈥淭urn on original sound鈥� in the top left-hand corner – that disables Zoom鈥檚 echo cancellation and audio-enhancing features.

Microsoft teams

When the meeting starts, click More Actions > Start recording.

At the end of the meeting the recording will be available as a video in the Chat tab. You鈥檒l have to download this and convert it to an audio file before editing. This audio file won鈥檛 differentiate between voices on the call, so you won鈥檛 be able to edit voices separately.

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Record smart

Experience has taught me that recording smart can drastically reduce editing time later. My top tips for recording smart are:

• Leave a couple of seconds of silence between segments or questions in case you want to change the order later
• If you stumble on words or want to re-record a bit, you can click your fingers near the microphone. This will look like a sharp spike in the audio file waveform and will be quick to spot during editing. This is useful if you鈥檝e got a particularly long recording.
• Speak more slowly to reduce the number of verbal ticks (like 鈥渦mm鈥�, 鈥渆rr鈥�).

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Guests

Unless your podcast is monologue or scripted, at some point you鈥檙e probably going to feature someone else鈥檚 voice, either through back and forth interviews or small monologue features. Here鈥檚 how to get the best out of them:

• Start the recording but don鈥檛 tell them you鈥檙e hitting the big red button. Ask them how their day鈥檚 been or what they鈥檝e been up to to put them at ease.
• Seamlessly start the interview by asking them to introduce themselves. You may or may not want to use this audio, but it鈥檚 an easy first question and will help your guests to relax.
• Phrase questions as asking them to tell stories and signpost what you want them to use. e.g. don鈥檛 ask 鈥渉ow did you become a blacksmith?鈥� ask 鈥渢ell me the story of how you came to become a blacksmith. Feel free to go back to your childhood, family, schooling and training鈥�
• If you鈥檙e asking someone about their work, don鈥檛 just say 鈥渢ell me about your work鈥�, ask them 鈥渨hat piece of work are you most proud of?鈥� – that鈥檒l allow them to go into detail about something that puts their work in its best light.
• Towards the end of the interview, ask them what鈥檚 next? Are there any unanswered questions? What are their hopes and dreams?

If you have guests on your podcast, you should always ask them to sign a or undertake a written agreement on what you鈥檒l be doing with their audio.

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Editing

Audacity is quite intuitive software, but there are lots of online help pages if you get stuck, and there are some out there to get you going.

Top editing tips:

• Always edit with each voice in a different track. This will allow you to make edits like cuts, mutes and control the volumes of each individual person.
• Don鈥檛 bother taking out every 鈥榰m鈥� and 鈥榓h鈥� – it will take hours and the audience won鈥檛 notice if you do or if you don鈥檛
• Increase the play-back speed on your editing software so it takes less time to listen through, particularly if you鈥檙e editing with a light touch.

To make your audio sound optimum with any software, you might want to use the following Effects:

• Amplify: makes it the right volume. Use the recommended amplification, and uncheck the box to not allow clipping.
• Equalisation (鈥淔ilter Curve EQ鈥�): makes it sound bassier and smoother. Boost lower frequencies (below 200Hz) to between 10dB and 20dB. Lower the higher frequencies (above 4,000Hz) to between -3dB and -6dB.
• Compressor: makes the audio consistently loud. Set the threshold between -10dB and -16dB, leave the rest as default.
• Pan: pan each voice different amounts left and right (their track will be slightly louder through one headphone than the other) so that it sounds to the listener like they鈥檙e hearing people all standing in different places in the same room.

Check out this recording for a demonstration of these effects:

It鈥檚 not always easy to tell which section of your podcast is which on your recording just by looking at the waveform. Use the Labels tool in Audacity (Edit > Labels > Add label at selection) to annotate the tracks.

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Exporting

Once you鈥檙e done editing your voices, have added music, jingles and listened to it all through one last time, you need to export your track. I recommend exporting as an .mp3 file using Audacity鈥檚 pre-sets for a reasonable file size (if you鈥檙e interested, you want about 160 kbps).

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Distribution

Once you鈥檝e got your file for uploading you need somewhere to put it where people can find it. This is called a host. Some of the most popular podcast hosts are:

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You can expect to pay for your podcast to be hosted by these services. Prices vary but are around 拢10-15/month. Some, like Acast, will automatically put adverts at the beginning, middle and end of your episodes, and pay you money back, depending on the number of listeners. Shop around and see which host is best for your needs.

Your host will give your podcast its own RSS Feed. This looks like a web address, and you need to give it to podcast distributors like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Each time you upload a new episode onto your hosting website, this RSS Feed will pick it up and automatically push it onto the distribution platforms, so that if your audience are subscribed on a platform, they鈥檒l get a notification and download it.

Your chosen hosting site will probably help you submit your RSS feed to the major distributors, but if you need to do it manually, you鈥檒l want to give your RSS feed to:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcast
• Stitcher

When you upload your episode, you鈥檒l have to give it a title (it鈥檚 generally a good idea to make these consistent in style and format), and you can do an episode artwork too if you like. This is separate from the title podcast art, and could show the episode name and/or an image of the guest or content.

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Marketing

You鈥檒l want to advertise your new episodes across your social media. A great way to do this is with images of your guests or subject matter, and creating a snippet video using a site like .

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Growing your audience

It鈥檚 always best to be as specific and targeted as possible with reaching audiences, but here are some general tips to follow too:

• Share with family and friends across your personal social media
• Post content on your podcast鈥檚 social media feeds, using relevant hashtags
• Promote on web forums and social media groups relevant to your audience
• Start a mailing list
• Pay for targeted ads across social media
• Cross-promote with other similar podcasts; create a 30s audio advert you can send to your friends to put on their podcasts, and return the favour with theirs
• Film your recordings and upload them to YouTube to access new audiences on a different platform

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Accessibility

Whilst podcasting is a very accessible medium, you can broaden your accessibility by creating transcripts of your episodes. There are various , or you can pay a small amount for an online service to do it for you, such as . Put the transcripts on your podcast鈥檚 website.

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