PROJECTS: PODCAST www.makezine.com/02/podcast PODCASTING 101 By Phillip Torrone Produce and syndicate audio interviews you record online, on the phone, and on the road. >> Set up: p.89 Make it: p.90 Use it: p.95 Chris Pirillo (left) and Jake Ludington of the Chris Pirillo show. www.thechrispirilloshow.com the Chris Pirillo show. Ludington of Jake and Chris Pirillo (left) 86 Make: Volume 02 pp86_95pod_F2.indd86_95pod_F2.indd 8686 44/19/05/19/05 110:28:340:28:34 AAMM MAKE YOUR OWN PODCAST Podcasting gives me the feeling that I have the keys to NPR; that I can interview anyone I want and then deliver it over the internet to anyone who wants to listen in. Podcasting involves producing your own audio files (usually in MP3, Ogg, or WMA formats) and then publishing them online somewhere, indexed for subscription and reception by an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader. They're then down- loaded to subscribers’ iPods, cellphones, iTunes directories, or other locations to lis- ten to whenever they want. As you’ll see, anyone can do this, using all free tools. The podcasting genre particularly shines for interviews. I’ve interviewed makers from around the world via Skype or iChat (plus in person) and made them avail- able as podcasts. Check out MAKE: Audio on makezine.com for lots of examples. Phillip Torrone is associate editor of MAKE and producer of MAKE: Audio, all the DIY audio you can shake an iPod at. You can check out his blog as well as his audio work on makezine.com. Make: 87 pp86_95pod_F2.indd86_95pod_F2.indd 8787 44/19/05/19/05 110:29:030:29:03 AAMM PROJECTS: PODCAST www.makezine.com/02/podcast ’CASTING CALLS Want to become a leading cultural voice in your spare time, and without spending any money? Here's how. Interviews and other talk audio will record well in mono, with a relatively low sampling rate. So you can do it in person or remotely, using non-professional Once you've recorded your interview, you can trim it, add equipment, and it'll sound just fine. introductory material and music, and do whatever else you Global reach, zero cost. Talk it up! want using an audio mixing application such as Audacity. When you've finished editing your segment, export it to a standard download format such as MP3 or Ogg Vorbis. After tagging the file with basic information about your show (and optional extras like artwork), upload it to your public server directory. People who catch the podcast- ing bug will soon build up an impressive Your RSS file lists and timestamps collection. the set of podcasts that you have available. This allows your audience's podcatcher software to determine which ones are new and prime for downloading. By keeping it fresh, frequent podcasters auto- matically get more downloads. HOW TO RECEIVE: To subscribe to a podcast, paste its one-line RSS address into your podcatcher ap- plication. There's no charge. The app makes periodic rounds and collects new broadcasts for you. If it's good, that's great, and if not, just delete it and move to the next one instantly. Illustration by Tim Lillis by Illustration 88 Make: Volume 02 pp86_95pod_F2.indd86_95pod_F2.indd 8888 44/19/05/19/05 110:29:290:29:29 AAMM SET UP. Visit makezine.com/02/podcast for source list. MATERIALS: Headset — A good Here are some devices alternative to a micro- I’ve used for podcast- phone for Skype and ing. Pick and choose as iChat conversations, or needed. if you’re just recording your own voice. Favorite headsets in the podcast Laptop — You can use community are the this for both recording Plantronics DSP series, and production (you can which have noise cancel- also record onto a por- lation. But before you table recorder, and then buy one, experiment with produce and publish what you have and see the audio on any kind of if you’re happy with the computer). results. Portable recorder — This is handy for field record- ings. Many journalists Microphone — This is love MiniDisc recorders, helpful for recording in- but I personally prefer person. Built-in mics on devices that record onto laptops (if you’re record- a hard drive or flash me- ing directly onto one) will dia. Linux on an iPod may pick up background and not capture MiniDisc’s fan noise. Experienced audio quality, but I can pros swear by the Sony just drag the files into ECM-MS907 and the my directory with no Shure SM-58. conversion required. SOFTWARE Conveniently enough, all the applications and utilities I use to create podcasts are free. Here’s what they are and where you PLATFORM can download them. Windows Macintosh FUNCTION SOFTWARE WHERE TO FIND IT Linux Telephony Skype skype.com iChat/AIM apple.com / aol.com Audio Stream Routing VAC ntonyx.com/vac.htm Soundflower cycling74.com/products/soundflower.html Soundflowerbed (optional) cycling74.com/products/soundflower.html LineIn rogueamoeba.com/freebies AudioHijack Pro (optional) rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro Audio Recording / Mixing Audacity audacity.sourceforge.net GarageBand apple.com Encoding LameLib spaghetticode.org/lame LAME mitiok.free.fr Podcast Receiving (called iPodder ipodder.sourceforge.net a podder or podcatcher) Other apps at ipodder.org/ directory/4/ipodderSoftware Make: 89 pp86_95pod_F2.indd86_95pod_F2.indd 8989 44/20/05/20/05 99:58:03:58:03 AMAM PROJECTS: PODCAST www.makezine.com/02/podcast MAKE IT. PODCAST PRODUCTION STEP-BY-STEP START>> Time: An Afternoon Complexity: Low RECORD YOUR 1. MATERIAL RECORDING IN PERSON RECORDING REMOTELY OVER SKYPE OR ICHAT On a laptop. If you’re just recording yourself or Using Skype. This free internet telephony applica- conducting an in-person interview, you can use a tion is a great way to conduct remote interviews and laptop and a microphone. You’ll need an audio conference calls for podcasting (and I use it now for application. If you already have one you like, then most of my regular phone calls as well). Download, great — stick with that. Otherwise, I recommend install, and sign into Skype. If your interviewee has Audacity, a free, open source, cross-platform audio done the same, the call is free; otherwise you can recording and editing tool. Download Audacity and pay 2 cents per minute to call their regular phone, take some time to familiarize yourself with it. Try anywhere in the world. recording and importing WAV and MP3 files, and cut- ting and pasting sections around. Also, see if you like Using iChat. On the Mac, you can use iChat instead how your microphone sounds. of Skype, but it only supports conference calls in Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) and above. Route the output. Now we need to route Skype or iChat’s audio output into our recording application, Audacity. Unfortunately, operating systems still have a hard time routing audio between applica- tions, so we’ll need to chain them together with a hodgepodge of platform-specific utilities. Given the variety in sound setups, sound cards, input devices, and recording applications, be prepared for a little trial and error. On a portable device. On the street, an iPod or other small recording device is an even more portable way to capture in-person interviews. I’ve SOUND QUALITY VS. FILE SIZE recorded audio on my iPod using Podzilla (see Mod Your Pod, page 135) and using Griffin’s iTalk acces- I record most things at 44 kHz, 16-bit stereo, but you sory. If you’re an old pro, you’re probably already can choose lower or higher quality to reduce file size or improve the sound. If you think you might want to save sporting a MiniDisc recorder. your audio to CD or another “audiophile” format later, record at a higher quality; you can always compress or convert it later. 90 Make: Volume 02 pp86_95pod_F2.indd86_95pod_F2.indd 9090 44/19/05/19/05 110:30:190:30:19 AAMM Skype/iChat recording on the Mac. Skype recording on Windows. 1. Download and install Soundflower and LineIn. On the PC (Windows XP), we’re also going to use Restart after installation. Optionally, you can also Skype and Audacity. See the On the laptop section download and install Soundflowerbed, which adds a (previous page) for Audacity setup (it's the same for handy menu item for quick switching. PC and Mac). What’s different is how to configure Skype and route its audio. Note that the recipe 2. Open System Preferences/Sound. Set Output to below, which uses XP’s Control Panel/Sound Playback and Input to your microphone or headset. Properties window, works for many systems. But with the PC’s zillion possible configurations, sound 3. Launch Skype. In Preferences/Audio, set Audio cards, and audio drivers, your mileage may vary. Output to Soundflower (2ch) and Audio Input to your microphone or headset. 1. Launch Skype and Audacity. 4. Launch LineIn. Set Input From and Output to 2. Open XP’s Volume Control Properties by your recording app (e.g. Audacity). Then click Pass double-clicking the volume icon on the task bar. Thru. 3. Call Echo123, the Skype testing service. 5. Call Echo123, Skype's testing service, and make sure you hear the test message and your own voice 4. Click Playback and select Microphone in Vol- through the speaker. ume Control/Options. Raise microphone level and click OK. Then click Recording and select Stereo Mix. Troubleshooting Try switching the settings before or during a call, and watch the sound input levels in Audacity to detect when the sound is being routed. You can also use VAC (Virtual Audio Cable), which routes audio from all your devices to Audacity or other sound applications.