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Tips for Better Audio on Your Videos

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Hands down, good audio is the most important quality for your videos. People will suffer through choppy editing and grainy visuals all day before they’ll suffer through a video with audio they can’t hear or understand.

It’s not just about having a good mic. It’s about how you hold the mic to pick up your voice, cancel out background noise, and more. In this video from Olivia Speranza with Robert from JuicedLink, they talk about how you can get better video by using the right mic for your situation and holding it in the right way.

Want more video tips? We had an entire Web TV track at BlogWorld New York 2012, and if you missed it, don’t worry – you can check out our virtual ticket here to get recordings of your favorite sessions. And don’t miss New Media Expo in January 2013, where we’ll again be presenting a Web TV track with tons of educational sessions about how to produce awesome video content.

Choose Your Weapon: Podcasting Tools

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When it comes to setting up your tools for podcasting, it is entirely possible to spend $35,000! You can choose a $10,000 mixer, two or three microphones at $1000 each and a Mac Pro to tie it all together for the low price of $20,000 (seriously, customize it at apple.com to see what twenty grand gets you). Headphones, cabling, software and accessories… sure, you can easily spend $35,000 or more.

It is also entirely possible to spend $300 on a netbook or small laptop and call it done.

Somewhere in the middle is where you really want to be. Podcasting neither needs to cost more than a college eduction nor be so cheap that overall quality suffers. Fortunately, there are some really great podcasting tools in the middle. In fact, there’s gear in the middle that can make it sound—to your average listener—like you’re talking on a crazy-expensive rig.

The Basics

I won’t assume you have a computer for this exercise. You could very well be reading this in your local library or maybe you’ve just got an iPad. It’s possible. So first, you need a computer. PC or Mac, doesn’t matter. If you’re budget-conscious, stick with PC. Off the shelf, they are far less expensive. If you have a bit of money to invest, consider a Mac. Though pricier, they tend to be more reliable for average users. Let’s not have a giant flame-war here, okay? I said consider, right? Any computer manufactured in the last decade will suffice as far as horsepower and capability, so find your ideal price range and pick a computer.

Your next choice (or your first since you probably have the computer covered) is whether or not you want a hardware or software recording solution. Going with software is cheaper but requires more work with results that can vary wildly. Going with hardware gives professional-level results but is more expensive.

If you choose to go the software route, you’ll need recording and editing software at a minimum, but please throw in a USB headset. Recording into your computer’s built-in microphone nearly always sounds terrible. For the PC, try out Audacity, Adobe Audition, Sony SoundForge or Google for alternatives to these applications. I’m a Mac user so I have no personal recommendation, but I’ve used both Audacity and Audition on the Mac side and am very pleased with both. GarageBand on the Mac is also a solid recommendation. That’s really all there is to the software route. Recording/editing software and a web browser are all you really need to publish.

The list of necessary items grows when you get into hardware. In addition to your computer, you’ll need a mixer, a microphone, headphones and cabling to hook it all up at a minimum. I’ve recently added a boom arm (love it) and I’ll be adding a rack-mounted audio processor (a compressor/limiter/gate) in the near future. A nice 8-channel mixer will support a couple of microphones and other assorted input sources – like a computer, tablet or phone. Your microphone can be dynamic or condenser. Your headphones should be comfortable and produce good sound. Your mixer will output to either your computer for recording (via your computer’s audio input jack or USB) or to a dedicated audio recorder (like the Tascam unit that I use, for example). Podcasting equipment needn’t be super-expensive; you can budget for $1000 and set up your own studio in an hour or two.

So, which will it be? Will you be doing your show with a software solution or will you be trying out a hardware set-up?

Podcasting on a Schedule

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The last article I wrote for BlogWorld was posted nearly a month ago. I’m supposed to be writing bi-weekly, but with BlogWorld NY happening two weeks ago, during my normally scheduled time, I skipped. I could have sent an article anyway – in fact, I had intended to. I figured I’d send the article and if they had time to post it during the hectic time, they would.

But then…

Life bit me on the butt. We moved into a new house that needed a bit of renovating and we had to get settled. My daughter was ending her Kindergarten school year. I had obligations to… well, let’s just say that I put off writing that article for BlogWorld until my regularly scheduled time had passed. I missed my opportunity to keep to the schedule that readers expect, and that’s a big deal whether you’re blogging, podcasting or producing any other content on a schedule.

I’m new around here, and I’ve rationalized to myself that being late this early in my tenure here probably isn’t a huge deal – it’s not like I have tens of thousands of readers waiting for Tuesdays to roll around so they can read my stuff, right? But it’s still a rationalization. Ten or ten thousand, one of the keys to success as a content producer is regularity: setting up and meeting audience expectations.

We podcasters have, in my opinion, an even tougher situation when it comes to scheduling. A blogger can often use quantity to overcome regularity. Posting five times a week can mean it’s okay to post on five random days each week, but many (most, I suspect) podcasters only do one show per week. We’ve been trained by decades of radio and television to expect audio and video content at a set day and time – look at any TV show that got canceled after being moved to a new time slot. If your show is posted on Fridays, you’ll lose listeners the week you post three days late. Or the week you skip altogether.

Sometimes life will bite you on the butt. Times like that, you need a plan. You can suck it up and record the next show, or you can do something a little more… elaborate. For example, I recently turned unintended downtime of a week or two into a six-week long hiatus for all but one of my shows. I’m building a podcasting studio in my new house, and I’m going to debut that along with a reboot of all my shows all at once. It will be a great jumping-on point for new listeners and hopefully generate some buzz as well.

Whether you go simple and just jump back into your groove or go elaborate and come up with a big plan, you’ve got to stick to the schedule you set for yourself. Your listeners expect nothing less.

P.S. Are you a podcaster? Did you attend BlogWorld Expo? I couldn’t attend this one (for what should be obvious reasons after reading this article!) so I’m curious what your take on it was. I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments!

5 Reasons I’m a Podcaster

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I’ve done a lot of things online—blogging, forums, Twitter, Facebook and much more—but what I’ve loved the most is podcasting. When I tell people that I meet that I’m a podcaster, I invariably get two questions. The first is usually “what is podcasting?” The second is almost always “why do you do that?”

  1. Podcasting is the most portable form of information dissemination there is. If you’re looking to consume information, nothing beats podcasting for consumption anywhere. With television, you need a screen to look at. Same with websites and books. Try doing any of those three things while driving a car. But you can listen to a podcast anytime, anywhere. With an iPod, a Zune or a similar device, you can consume that content in the car, at the gym, on a train – heck, you can listen to a podcast while skiing down a mountain. Podcasting even beats radio, as anyone who travels through a tunnel on their way to work can attest.
  2. It’s completely unregulated and open. Remember that movie Pump Up the Volume? These days, Harry would be a podcaster. Why bother with pirate radio that only reaches the people in your town when you can podcast and reach nearly everyone on the planet? The government isn’t going to come down on you; you can use any profanities you like, talk about any topics you want, and not worry about getting fined or arrested. The only thing that movie had that’s missing here is Samantha Mathis.
  3. Not everyone is doing it. Unlike blogging, which feels like everyone and their dog is doing, podcasting is undertaken by a relatively small number of people. I’d never suggest that it’s easy to dominate the top spots in the various directories and search engines for your topic, but where there might be 100,000 blogs about marketing and how to make money online, there’s probably only 99,999 podcasts about… wait, that’s a bad example. Don’t let the number of podcast producers fool you into thinking that nobody is listening, though. Billions of episodes are downloaded yearly—and that’s just the stats from one service. Podcasting has fans.
  4. It’s inexpensive to do on your own. For a beginner, a computer and a headset are all that are required for a decent-sounding show. For those that want to make more of an effort, some good equipment can be had for under $200. Want something a little more Pro? You can get into some excellent gear for under $1000. That’s it. Compare that to producing high-quality video: a camera or two, lighting, sound, set elements and editing software can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Yes, you can do video on the cheap, realtively speaking, but on the whole, DIY podcasting is far easier, financially, to get into.
  5. People don’t expect something from you daily. This is an important one for me, despite my desire to put out four or five shows a week. The common wisdom with blogging is that you should write something every day (or several times a week at least) in order to build an audience. That was always a problem for me; I found that I hated trying to come with something worthy of being read every day. Podcasts though, are expected weekly for the most part. If you’re putting out a new 30 minute episode once a week, you’re doing great! If you’re doing multiple shows, you’re downright prolific.

At the risk of ruining my third point, I do encourage people to podcast! Why not see if you can work it into your existing online efforts? Try producing a 20-30 minute show once a week for six weeks and see what happens; you might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

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The Professional Amateur Podcaster

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To my mind, podcasting has matured significantly in the past few years. Production values are high. Money is being made. Big name people, companies and networks are producing shows. But… what about the individual? What about people like me, who don’t have a background in professional media like Leo Laporte or aren’t professional stand-ups like Greg Proops? Have you been to the podcast directory in iTunes lately? You’ll find podcasters that have A-list celebrities as hosts and guests, shows published by major universities on a variety of advanced topics, archives of TV and radio talk shows… and… us. The thousands of people that have produced amateur shows over the years.

For me, podcasting is where it’s at, baby. I’ve been doing it since 2008, and this is [briefly] my story, and the reason I’m here on the Blogworld blog to write, bi-weekly, about podcasting.

I’m what you might call a professional amateur podcaster. I started with one show, Geek Dads @ Home, with two partners. We went just over a year, then rebranded the show Geek Dads Weekly (with a few changes in the hosts along the way). I started my second and third shows last year, and my fourth – a Q&A show about podcasting – about a month ago. Those shows are produced under my QAQN banner. I’m a co-host on a fifth podcast, Road to Thin, as well. So, I’ve got chops. All in all, I’ve published a few hundred episodes – not exactly a world record, but nothing to sneeze at, either.

I don’t have $20,000 worth of equipment, but I use high-quality hardware. I don’t have a team of people working for me, but I’ve got co-hosts that I’ve been working with for a couple of years. I don’t have an audience numbering in the millions, but I do get emails when I miss a scheduled recording. I teach podcasting and I’ve made some money as well. Is that the definition of a professional amateur podcaster? To have good equipment, good people to work with, and a good audience with some income?

I’m looking forward to exploring the craft of podcasting with you here at the Blogworld blog. I’ll offer my experience and opinions as well as how-to’s and instructional material. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated; any feedback will help me make future posts better for you.

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