2. Record
A. Record your podcast
Find a quiet place to record. Open your sound recording program and begin recording your podcast.
Audacity users: Click the "Record" button to begin recording. When you're done, just click "Stop."
GarageBand users: Start a new song and create a new track using "Real Instruments" and "Vocals" with no effects. Click "Record" once to start recording, and click it again to stop.
For more pizzazz in your show, add some background music and sound effects.
Audacity users: Select "Project/Import Audio" and import your own WAV or MP3 sound files.
GarageBand users: You can add AIFF, MP3, or ACC files or Apple Loops to jazz up your podcast. Just drag the audio file into the song and drop it below the existing tracks. GarageBand will automatically create a new track for this audio file.
If your sound recording software comes with editing tools, experiment with these to improve the quality of your podcast. For example, if your recorded voice and imported music are at different volumes, use your editing program to balance out these levels. Adding some cool effects like echoes and fading can make your podcast sound more dynamic and engaging, although you don't want to go overboard with these.
Audacity users: Add sound effects like reverb, fade in and fade outs, and bass boost by highlighting portions of your sound waveform and selecting an option from the Effect menu. To quickly balance sound levels, select the effect called "Normalize."
GarageBand users: To add effects to your recording, select a track, and click "Track Info." Then click the Details triangle to see all the effects. Use the checkboxes and sliders to add and adjust effects. If the track is playing, you'll hear any changes as you make them.
Note: You should make sure that any music or sound effects you add are not copyright-protected. Read more about legal considerations here.
B. Save your podcast
Save your podcast as an MP3 file.
Audacity users: Select "File/Export as an MP3..." If this is your first time using this feature in Audacity, the program will prompt you to identify the location of the MP3 encoder file. Simply find and select the MP3 encoder you downloaded earlier. Once you've done this once, Audacity will never ask you to do this again.
GarageBand users: Select "File > Export to iTunes." In iTunes, first go to "iTunes > Edit > Preferences" and click "Importing." In the "Import Using" pull-down menu, choose "MP3 Encoder." Then select your recording in the iTunes Library, go to the Advanced menu, and choose "Convert Selection to MP3." You can click and drag the MP3 to your desktop or into an FTP program.
When you name your MP3 file, we recommend that you use a name that will help you organize your podcasts. For example, a standard naming convention is: Show_title-year-month-day.file_extension (for example: "My_first_podcast-2005-06-15.mp3").
Be sure to fill out your MP3 ID3 tags when you save your MP3 file. ID3 tags store information about your audio file like: song title, artist (you), and genre. These tags are really important, since this is the information that will be displayed when listeners play your MP3 file in a normal audio player.
Audacity users: You will be automatically prompted to edit your ID3 tags when you select "File/Export as an MP3..."
Garageband users: If you haven't already, drag your MP3 file into the iTunes window. Select "File > Get Info" and click on the "Info" tab. Edit the appropriate ID3 tags and then click "OK" when finished.
Note: If your MP3 file is too big, you can make it smaller by reducing your podcast's recording rate and/or your podcast's bit rate. We recommend a minimum of 32k bits for talk-only podcasts, and 128k bits for podcasts containing music. 64k bits should be the minimum bit rate for music podcasts.
