Transcript Podcasting for Beginners

Podcasting
for Beginners
Broadcasting your voice on the internet!
Brought to you by the
Fulton County Public Library
October 9th/11th 2012
Some information courteousy of:
http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com
What is Podcasting?
Podcasting is online audio content that is delivered via an
RSS feed. Many people liken podcasting to radio on demand.
However, in reality, podcasting gives far more options in terms
of content and programming than radio does. In addition, with
Podcasting, listeners can determine the time and the place,
meaning they decide what programming they want to receive
and when they want to listen to it.
Listeners can retain audio archives to listen to at their
leisure. While blogs have turned many bloggers into
journalists, podcasting has the potential to turn podcasters into
radio personalities.
Podcasting can be used for:
1. Self-Guided Walking Tours - Informational content.
2. Music - Band promotional clips and interviews.
3. Talk Shows - News, sportscasts, news coverage and commentaries.
4. Training - Instructional informational materials.
5. Story - Story telling for children or the visually-impaired.
How Do I Podcast?
To podcast, you really only need to do 4 things:
• Plan – Come up with a topic, format, and
location for recording
• Produce – Create the sound files to be
uploaded
• Publish – Get your file(s) on the internet
• Promote – Find listeners for your podcasts
Plan - Topic
To start from, try to think of what your podcast will be
about. It can be about anything at all, really, but you
should really ask yourself a few questions to help you
come up with ideas:
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What hobbies do you have?
What do you love to talk about?
What things would you do whether or not you got paid?
What are your areas of expertise?
What do people ask you for help with on a regular basis?
If you choose a topic that is fun for YOU, you
will have fun with your podcast, no matter how
long you end up doing it for! Remember, the
goal of a podcast should be to have fun!
Plan - Format
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Will you be doing the podcast solo or will you have other hosts?
What segments do you want to do (e.g. tip of the day, reviews, breaking
news, interviews etc.)?
How long will your podcast be?
How often will you release new shows?
Will you just be talking or will you play music as well?
Maybe you will buck the norm and come up with something completely
different?
SIDENOTE: If you plan to use music in your podcast that is not your own, you
need to get permission to use it. It's not legal to use copyright material in
your podcast without permission.
At the very least, your show should have the following:
• Intro/Welcome
• Announcements
• Content of Podcast
• Final comments
• Outro/Goodbye
Plan - Location
• Have a place setup (probably wherever your computer is) with
your podcasting gear ready to go when you are.
• Choose a spot that is quiet and free from distraction.
• Make sure the room doesn't have too many echoes or too
much reverberation when you record.
• Try recording in your closet. Your clothes will make a great
audience as well as dampen the sound. Of course, your
family might wonder why you disappear into the closet so
much.
• Find a quiet room where you can record in private. Shut the
door.
• Let your family, roommates or whoever else is around know
that you will be recording.
• Be aware of the noise going on outside.
• Turn off fans, A/C, & extra computers that generate noise.
• Does your chair squeak when you shift in it? This will get
picked up by the mic. You may want to buy some WD-40.
Plan – How To Effectively Record
• Be sure to talk as closely to the mic as you can (without
distorting the sound) to make sure your voice is above the
noise being picked up by the mic.
• Do a test recording to make sure the surrounding noise isn't
too loud or distracting. Record 30 seconds or so and listen to
it.
Here are some ideas of what other podcasters use to
record on the go:
• iRiver or Creative MP3 Players: These are MP3 player brands
that often come with a built-in microphone.
• Your Digital Camcorder: The sound is relatively good and it
even records in stereo.
• Your Laptop: For recording at a meeting or other such location,
a laptop is a great way to go. Just use a microphone and some
headphones.
It’s a good idea to get permission before you record in a meeting or
other public venue, or before recording someone else’s voice.
Produce – Podcasting Gear & Software
You will need:
• A computer
• A microphone
• Headphones
• Audacity (free audio editor)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net
• Self-confidence
(a little can go a long way!)
Publish – Creating an mp3
Audacity will help you to record and save your voice to
an mp3 computer file, so that you can upload it to your
podcasting website. You will want to listen to it first, to
ensure it meets your standards.
If it does not sound the way you want it to, you may
wish to re-record it, or edit it in Audacity, to cut out any
mistakes.
Remember, you may not get it right the first time, so
feel free to practice a lot!
When you save your mp3, you will want to name it
something meaningful, so that people who download it
will be able to tell what it is. Include things such as the
date of the podcast, the NAME of the podcast, and the
topic of that installment, for easy future browsing.
Making it easy for the next person can only make them
want to come back!
Publish – The Basic Steps
The Basic Steps of Publishing Your Podcast
To publish your podcast to the internet, you usually need to
do the following:
• Register a Web Address – also called a domain name
• Find/Buy Web Hosting – to store your blog/site and your
audio files on the internet
• Start a Blog - this is your web site for posting your show
notes, links, etc.
• Create an RSS Feed – this is the feed that your listeners
subscribe to so they can automatically download new
episodes of your podcast
Publish – The easy way
You can also do things the FREE way, which, while limiting your
options, also allows you to try podcasting out without spending any
money.
You can use Google’s free Blogger service as your website’s host.
To create an RSS feed that is podcast-enabled, Feedburner is a free
service that adds a lot great features to your feed including subscriber
stats. Blogger by itself uses what is called an Atom feed. This is the
wrong kind of feed format. Feedburner converts the feed to a podcastready RSS format.
Finally, for storing your podcast files online, you can use SoundCloud.
http://soundcloud.com/101/podcasting-101
This is a non-profit service that allows you to store media files for free.
You just register an account and start posting. SoundCloud provides a
way to upload your files to their site through your web browser.
Once you upload a podcast file to SoundCloud, you will be provided
with a link to that you can use in your blog and feed. Your listeners will
download the MP3 from SoundCloud through your site and/or feed.
You are limited to 100 downloads of the sound file by SoundCloud, so
if your podcast becomes VERY popular, you may want to invest in a
paid service to host your sound files.
Publish – Show Notes
Show notes provide an outline of the content in an
episode of your podcast. They are usually posted as an
entry in your blog.
You can post the link to your file from SoundCloud on the
same page as your Show Notes, for the convenience of the
listener!
Notes should contain a captivating Title, a Summary of the
episode, some keywords to help your fans find particular
content, and any pertinent web links to help them out.
Promote – Get Listeners
Of course, by now, the real question in your heads is likely “How do I
get people to listen to my podcast?”. The answer is simpler than you
might think: TELL PEOPLE!
Tell family who might be interested, tell friends who share your passion
for your5 podcast’s topic…heck, tell Facebook Friends about it!
Once you have a few podcasts under your belt, you could browse the
internet for Web Forums about your topic. Many forums have a place to
post interesting links. Post a link to your podcast blog, and let the ones
who are interested come to you!
You can track how many people have listened with the Download
Count on your SoundCloud page.
Questions?
Contact Us!
574-223-1003
[email protected]
New Basics Classes
Fulton & Aubbee Branch1st & 3rd Mondays @ 10 & 12:30,respectively…
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Kewanna PL- 2nd & 4th Wednesday @ 10 a.m.
10/9 & 10/11– 6 p.m. & 11 a.m., respectively
Social Media: Podcasting for Beginners