Podcasts

This page is the base for my audio podcasts: both a link to the podcast itself and any accompanying notes.

(Note to self, 09/11/09: I must get audio recording back under control, and do a few more of these. My audio system is currently defective since upgrading Ubuntu from 8.10-Intrepid to 9.04 Jaunty. Let's see how it will work after a completely fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10-Karmic in late October 09.)

Podcast Episodes: Reverse date order. Each episode link opens/plays in a new window/tab.
The Last Great Frontier Next?: I was tempted to do episodes on -
  1. on the world economy, and how so many 'experts' have not got a clue, and why: maybe, one day...
  2. on ocean rowers/kayakers, and what they are really doing out there: I ended up writing this one, & must publish it one day ...
2009-0305-Linux: 'Status of Linux, & technical notes about Ubuntu Intrepid & sound eg recording'. Other notes:
  1. As mentioned in this episode, I have upgraded to Ubuntu Intrepid since the previous podcast, and now find that I do not need to use the Gnome Sound Recorder as per above. This makes creating the episode much more quickly. Essentially I use two tracks ('backing music' & 'base voice') plus one temporary track is created as I record each clip. I record/append a new voice clip, remove background noise and cut bits out etc, then mix (ie merge) that track into the 'base voice track', then repeat. At each topic end, I just copy and paste a clip of the 'continuation music' into the 'backing track'. If you try Audacity it should be reasonably apparent what I mean.
  2. Also I have found that the Capture device was always set to mute in the Volume Control. This seems to be a bug in Intrepid. I had to run the command 'gstreamer-properties &' to set the 'Default Input' to the correct plugin for my device. For me, I needed to set the plugin to OSS which works for my USB headset. This 'unmuted' my microphone in the Volume Control.
  3. This episode is saved at quality level '1', to keep it within the 11MB file limit required for uploading here.
2009-0112: Introduces how I do these podcasts. As with videos, the objective is to create them as easily and effectively as possible. The method is talked about in this episode, and the steps are summarised here:
  1. Open the Gnome Sound Recorder.
    1. Adjust the recording level to remove background hiss, eg using the Gnome Volume Control (the audio mixer).
    2. Record a voice clip, or several of them.
    3. Save the clip(s) in the .ogg format (Not .flac as these files are empty on import into Audacity!).
  2. Open Audacity and compose an episode as follows:
    1. Each episode is a new Audacity project. Import the standard backing clips (parts of music tracks etc, already created in Audacity) as its own track(s), and the voice clips. Both .ogg and .mp3 files are good, as apparently are several other formats.
    2. For each voice clip/track: remove noise, adjust the volume, trim it, cut and paste, apply fadein/out etc, and I generally can mix each onto a single 'voice' track.
    3. Create the metadata, mainly by loading a presaved template, (The 'Comment' field was meant to have the url of the file as published in it, but I forgot to put it into the final version released here.)
    4. Save the episode, then
    5. Mix all tracks and Export the result in .ogg format: quality level '2' sounds ok and conserves filesize,
    6. Close/nosave the project.
Todo: Set up an rss feed code/widget here.

I also use other than audio formats for broadcasting: ie videos and text/graphics blogs.

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