The Software You ll Need


The Software You'll Need

To make all of this hardware work to build a podcast, you'll need software to tie everything together. The software will need to do several things: Record the basic files you'll want to build into a complete podcast; edit all the component files into your final program; and send the file from your computer to your server or podcast-hosting system. Let's look at the different software that's available for completing the various functions on different operating system platforms.

Recording Software

The first step in making your podcast is recording your wordsthe "glue" that will pull any music or sound-seeing files together, provide context, and make the result uniquely yours. The software must be able to take the audio from an input on your computer (most often the sound card, though the input could also be the USB [Universal Serial Bus] or FireWire [IEEE 1394] interface), control the sound level so that the resulting file is neither too soft nor too loud, and then write the recording to a file that can be used by the editing software to create the final podcast file. It's a straightforward set of actions, but on any platform there will be several products that make them possible.

The software that we'll be looking at is aimed at the beginner who's interested in podcasting. On all three platforms, there are high-end recording software packages available for professional and advanced amateurs who want to record music or the soundtrack for a film. These advanced packages are extraordinarily capable, and create the sort of recordings that you buy at the CD store, but require a high-powered computer and a serious investment in both time and money. The great news is that, for podcasting, the much more reasonable software we'll discuss will produce results that are just as good.

Macintosh Recording Software

Apple's Macintosh is the computer many people think of when audio and video come up. There are several pieces of software available for making recordings on the Macintosh. The first group is available for no money, for a donation, or for a very modest fee.

Audio Recorder 2.2 is freeware software that has a simple interface and simple functions for recording on the Macintosh. Its main competitor in the free software group is Audacity, the free recording package that's available for Macintosh, Windows, and Linux. Both Audio Recorder and Audacity are superb tools for making simple recordings, though you need to keep one thing in mind. For a variety of legal reasons, neither includes the native ability to create an MP3 file. In order to make MP3 files, you'll need to download and install the LAME framework, a free collection of libraries and functions that does nothing but enable MP3 creation. Once installed, you'll simply click on the menu items for exporting to or creating an MP3 file, and the conversion happens without further intervention.

Commercial Macintosh recording software starts with Apple's own GarageBand, software that was intended as a simple way for people to record music, but which works well for recording a basic podcast audio. One of the advantages of GarageBand is that so many people use itit's easy to find user communities online to ask for help or get tips on the software. There are a pair of relatively minor disadvantages, as well. First, GarageBand was created for musicians, so there's a lot of music functionality that you won't use when recording your podcast, and that functionality can get in the way. Next, you can't buy GarageBand by itself; it's part of Apple's iLife package, which includes several other applications you might or might not want.

tip

LAME originally stood for Lame Ain't an MP3 Encoder because it was an interface for existing ISO sample code that encoded MP3 files. Now, it does the encoding itself, and is supported by the LAME Project. You can see their work at www.lame.sourceforge.net.


Industrial Audio Software has an application designed strictly for podcast recording. iPodcast Creator has an interface that looks a great deal like the console at a radio station, so if you think of making a podcast as a recorded radio show, this will be very natural for you. iPodcast Creator does more than simply record your audio, thoughit includes editing, ID3 tagging, XML creation, and FTP services, so there's more to learn in the package, but only one package to learn.

Windows Recording Software

Windows users have more choices when it comes to recording software than do their friends with Macs. There are many options for recording using either free or commercial software, beginning with Audacity, which provides recording and basic editing functions for Windows-based computers just as it does for Macs. You can also use Winpodcast, one of the earliest podcast-specific applications, created by Sascha Siekmann. Winpodcast is not just a recording application, since it helps with show notes, editing, tag creation, and other podcasting tasks.

Commercial software for Windows podcast creation is varied, but there are a couple of packages that provide audio recording as part of a larger suite of podcast-ready functions. MixMeister's Propaganda is a complete package for creating a podcast, with audio recording, editing, ID3 tag creation, RSS feed, and FTP functions in a package that moves through the process in a fairly straight line. Industrial Audio Software has a version of iPodcast Creator for Windows, along with iPodcast Producer, which is designed with a more commercial customer in mind. The two companies take differing approaches to podcast creation, with Mixmeister taking a DJ/editing approach while Industrial Audio Software looks much more like a radio station's console.

tip

New software for creating or working on portions of a podcast appear almost weekly. To get the latest list of products available for your platform, look at the tools section of www.ultimatepodcasting.com.


Linux Recording Software

If you're looking for sheer numbers, it's hard to beat the variety of recording software available for Linux. It is also hard to imagine a wider range in capabilities and quality for software than can be found for Linux.

Much of the software available for Linux came into being because someone needed a single task accomplished and was willing to write some code to make it happen. This means that Linux software is much more likely than software for either Windows or Macintosh to do one thing, rather than have individual functions integrated into an operational suite. A good example of this is Audio Record Expert, a shareware program that records from sound card or line-in sources. This doesn't mean that there are no programs available that do more multiple jobs. Audacity, for example, does the same blend of recording/editing/mixing tasks on Linux that it performs on the other major platforms. Other packages, such as MultiTrack, SLAB, SMIX, KMIX, and MixViews have strengths in various areas such as editing or mixing, though they perform multiple jobs with interfaces that run the gamut from command-line to gnome, KDE, and more.

tip

Most open-source Linux projects have a presence at Source Forge, found at www.sourceforge.net. While SourceForge is a must for Linux users, Macintosh and Windows users who are looking for software that goes beyond the usual suspects will find plenty to work with on the site, as well. Just be aware that there are enormous variations in the stability, maturity, and usability between different projects; be sure to carefully read the notes that accompany the downloads to understand what you're getting into before you install a package on your computer.


Audio Editing Software

As we've just mentioned, it's quite possible to find Linux software that specializes in editing, though even on the Linux side of things the majority of software products combine two or more major functions in a single package. Packages such as SMIX and KMIX focus on the editing side, and there is a piece of software, EasyPodcast, that performs all of the major functions required for creating a podcast, just like packages such as Propaganda and iPodcast Creator for Windows and Macintosh.

For any of the editing functions that you work with, one of the key issues to keep in mind is the file format that will be used in the editing process. Podcasts are almost always files in the MP3 format. Many editing packages don't work with MP3 files during the edit process, operating on WAV files (for example) until the final mix is reached. Once the sound file has been edited into its final form, it will need to be saved as an MP3 file, and decisions can be made about the quality of the MP3 file and the resulting size of the file.

The software you choose may have the ability to let you decide from a list of MP3 encoding speeds, usually expressed in kilobits per second, and ranging from 4 to 128 or more. You might want to try saving the same clip at different encoding speeds to see the difference it makes in both file size and sound quality. You'll see that it does make quite a difference when you go from 4 kbps to 96, and somewhat less of a difference when you go from 96 to 128. We've found that 96kbps is a good compromise rate between file size and quality, creating a file that is in the neighborhood of 10 Megabytes for a show that's around 20 minutes long, while maintaining a quality that is fine for someone listening over standard headsets or ear buds. Now, if you want to see why the MP3 file standard is so important for podcasting, compare the size of the WAV file you've been using in editing to the MP3 file that you'll publish as your podcast. The 10 Megabyte MP3 file came out of the 100+ Megabyte WAV file on your computer. I think we can agree that the MP3 is far better when you're going to be moving files around and storing them on a portable MP3 player.

If file size is becoming critical, and your podcast is spoken voice rather than music, you might also look at recording your file in monaural rather than stereo sound. When someone listens, your voice will be centered in the sound field, where most stereo recordings place a single spoken voice, so the difference will be unnoticeable by most folksuntil they realize that the file transferred in about half the normal time. This is a great trick when you're doing a podcast of commentary or an interview.

FTP Software

The FTP system is built in to Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems, so in one sense you don't need any additional software to transfer your podcast files from your desktop or laptop computer to the server. The amazing thing, though, is that there are so many different ways to accomplish a task that is a basic feature of virtually every operating system.

The first and most basic way of using FTP, and the way chosen by most truly hardcore computer experts, is the command-line interface, or CLI. The CLI is fast and elegant under the fingers of an expert, but it requires you to know the details of both client and server, the commands to link them together, and a high comfort level with entering commands through this most basic of user interfaces.

Next, a close tie to the operating system means that FTP can be accessed through many common applications. Popular web browsers, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, can serve as the basic interface for FTP sessions. In Internet Explorer, you simply check the box in the Advanced options menu of the Options menu for the Enable Folder View for FTP Sites option. Now, you can drag and drop files from your desktop or My Computer folders into the folder that's in the browser window, and the two computers will handle all the details.

Using a browser method can work very well if the server you're transferring the podcast to provides access to anonymous FTP (that is, FTP with no user authentication or security), and you are only moving one file at a time. If you have a secure FTP site, or need to move a lot of files in one session (if, for instance, you're setting up a website for the first time), then you might want to look at an FTP clientsoftware that's dedicated to nothing but sending files back and forth over an FTP connection.

Whether you are using the Macintosh, a Windows computer, or a Linux system, there are literally dozens of FTP clients available as freeware, shareware, or commercial software. Virtually all work in essentially the same way; you create a script that handles the address and login script (usually just your user name and password) for the server you're transferring to, then navigate to the correct subdirectory on both client and server. You'll see the files on the client on one side of the screen, with the server's files on the other. Now, you simply drag and drop or highlight and click on an arrow to show the direction of the transfer. There will likely be one more small detail you'll need to cover; the client will probably ask you whether the transfer is ASCII or binary. Here's your answer: Your podcast, photos, and any other file that aren't just plain text will be sent binary. The ASCII transfer is reserved for HTML, simple text (not word-processing files), and nothing else. When in doubt, use binary. When the transfer has finished, be sure to click the button for disconnect, and your podcast is ready to meet its listeners.



Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting
Absolute Beginners Guide to Podcasting.
ISBN: B001U8C03Q
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 167

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