Podcasting

Objective:  Students will demonstrate knowledge of Podcasting techniques by studying the concepts and completing a walk-through of the techniques listed.

Podcast Defined:  An audio or video recording posted on the web.

Techniques:

Editing:

• Prioritize and Label Your Tracks:  Similar to reading a page from top to bottom, you can use the tracks themselves to better visually organize the order the segments of your podcast. Audio that is located at the beginning of your show is found at the top of the GarageBand session, while audio at the end of your podcast, is located at the bottom of the viewer. The end result will be a staggered look to your GarageBand session.  Then click on the name of the track and type your own description.

• Use the “Solo” option:  Listen to only the specific track you’re editing by utilizing the solo option which mutes all other sounds. This will help you catch unwanted sounds and background noise that may be missed if you edit voice-overs with the music and sound effects turned on.

• Find a Comfortable Zoom Level:  This applies to editing anything digital. Zoom in! Why have a 20″ display and be editing audio, video or images in a tiny portion of your screen? By zooming in, you can accurately cut audio out, and not clip audio waveforms unnecessarily.  Click on the slider pictured below to change the zoom level of your project.

Mixing:

• Center all Tracks:  Nothing sounds more amateur than listening to a podcast where an interview is being conducted, and one person is coming into one ear, and the other person piped into the other ear. The podcast starts feeling like a tennis match where everyone’s heads are turning from left, to right, and back to the left again. Known as the “pan”, this dial allows you to make sound come from only the left or right speakers. The knob should be set in the center or a “0″ setting. If it says “+10″, it means that you have panned that track the right, and if it reads “-10″, you have panned to the left. Simplify your mixes by keeping everything centered.  Set this correctly on your GarageBand track and your mixing board when recording.

• Balance Volume Levels:  Set appropriate volume levels so that each person talking in the podcasts sounds the same.

• Make Use of the Master Track:  GarageBand has a Master Track element that governs the overall sound of your mix. Think of the Master Track as the big picture view, and your opportunity to shape the sound of your podcast as a whole. Some quick tips are:

  • Use Ducking:  Ducking is essentially a preset system for adjusting the volume of multiple tracks based on how important each track is.  Using ducking allows one track (like a music track) to be lowered in volume when a more important track (your voice) has sound playing.  It only takes one level adjustment to adjust an entire projects, so it saves a lot of time and hassle.  To activate ducking click on the Control Menu -> Ducking. This will show the ducking controls on each track.  To change the ducking settings click on