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Tutorial
for Audacity
Download
your free copy of Audacity
In order for audacity to use the
LAME encoder, it needs to know what the path to it is.
- In the dialogue where it
says the file is not found, there should also be a
button to click to locate the library, so that audacity
can open it. This only needs to be done once, and then
will work each time you use the mp3 export.
- Alternatively, go to File
> Preferences > File Formats and click on the
'Find Library' button in the bottom right hand corner,
and browse to the location where the LAME file is
located.
MP3 exporting will then be
available.
Download
Lame.
I know how difficult learning a whole lot
of new software can be when you are just starting so I have
produced a video where I can show you exactly how to do it.
Because of constraints of time I will use two audio files I
created earlier.
Here is a
complete tutorial for Audacity.
How
to prepare a great Podcast!
"Podcasting"
is making audio files (most commonly in MP3 format)
available online in a way that allows software to
automatically download the files for listening at the user's
convenience.
While looking around for a
way to do my own podcasting show, the only website I could find about this is this
one on engadget. But it assumes you have a Mac. After
some playing around on my Windows XP computer I got it to
work here too. This is how I did it.
What you need
- Windows XP
(or maybe an earlier version, haven’t tested)
- Audio recording
software, I used the open source Audacity.
Be sure to also download the lame encoder library there
to convert your output to mp3
- A microphone
- Optionally: Some songs,
jingles, whatever and a player to play them (iTunes,
Winamp)
First you have to connect
your microphone to your computer. Depending on the
microphone and how close you sit next to your audio
speakers, you might want to route your audio output to your
headphones instead.
Then, the hard part. You
have to find the correct settings to record both your voice
and music at the same time. To do this open up your volume
controls. You can do that by clicking on the Volume tray
icon or through Start > Control panel > Sound and
audio devices > Audio tab > Click one of the volume
buttons.
You’ll most likely see a
screen looking like this:
You’re now on the Play
Control screen. You can switch between the Play
Control screen and the Record Control screen through File
> Properties:
In this window you can also
enable the volume controls you see. Be sure that with the
play controls at least the Microphone one is enabled. With
the recording one, be sure the Record Master one is enabled.
Go to the record control
screen and select the “Record master” volume control as
the active one. This will make Windows record all audio
being played (including media players, but also MSN
logon sounds, so be sure to switch that kind of software off
during recording).
If your sound card does not
accept the record master function then you may have to do a
work around by recording all your different elements
separately and then simply mix them together. There is a
video later on to show you exactly how to do it.
Alternatively go and purchase a better sound card if you are
going to produce a lot of audio. They are very cheap these
days.
Now switch to the play
control screen and uncheck the Mute checkbox on the
“Microphone” volume control. If you talk into the
microphone you should now hear yourself through the speakers
(or headphone, if that’s what you’re using). If not,
increase the volume of the microphone using the slide bar.
You should now be set.
Start up a media player, play a tune and while it plays
start talking, if you hear both through the speakers
you’re probably OK. Now, start up your audio recording
software. In my case Audacity:
Record a little something
and play it back to see if it works. If not, the problem
most likely is in your play and record control settings,
fiddle around with them a bit until it works. It’s really
hard to give settings that work with every soundcard setup,
so you’ll just have to test things out.
Click
here to watch the full tutorial on how to create
your audio file. It will open in a new window.
Now you’re almost ready
to record your show. First you have to set the sample rate
to something lower, I use 16Khz. This is done in Audacity by
going to File > Preferences…
On the “File formats”
tab you have to locate your lame encoder installation and
set the bitrate for your target MP3
file (I use 48kbit):
After this, you’re ready
to record your first show.
When you’re done you can
export it to an MP3 using File
> Export As MP3.
When that’s done, test
your MP3 file in a media player to
see if it’s OK. Then, upload it to your webhost and
somehow get an enclosure into your RSS
feed. Such an enclosure is placed within the <item>
tags and looks something like this:
<enclosure url="http://www.yourdomain.com/podcast/yourdomain.com%
20podcast%201.mp3" length="10306438" type="audio/mpeg" />
People can now aggregate
your podcasting show using iPodder
by adding the URL to their list of
channels.
Have fun!
Expect Success
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