Podcast: Episode 1

Podcast Channel: Top Movies of All Time

Uploading Schedule: Every Saturday 11:00 PM

Topic this Week: Top 3 Apocalyptic Movies of All Time

Pre-Production

For my podcast, I wanted to talk about something that I enjoy doing - watching movies.

Topic

While I have the freedom to talk about anything in Podcast, I wanted to present something that listeners can agree and disagree with. Podcast is a platform where everyone in the world can communicate and collaborate. I believe that presenting my Top Movie choices will get them to share theirs. This sharing of information and opinion then develops our sense of appreciation of the perspective of others.

Strategy

I wanted my podcast to show more of my personality. My strategy was to just have fun while doing it. I recorded the show at home and would like my family to see that education can actually be fun.

Production

The Room

I recorded my podcast in the living room of our Family Home. I did a test recording of the different rooms in the house and it was the best room so far. Since our home is located in a populous neighbourhood, there were a lot of noise coming from vehicles, barking dogs, loud conversations on the street and construction sounds. To minimize ambient noise, I just asked my family to keep the noise down, turned off noisy electronic devices and closed doors and windows including curtains.

There are a lot of sound absorbers in the room such as thick foam couches and throw pillows which really helped in controlling reverberations.

Recording Device

I used my Macbook Pro as my recording device and Quicktime as my recording software. I modified the sound settings on the Macbook to further eliminate background noise.

Post-Production

Surprisingly even with all the challenges in finding a conducive room for recording, the voice output is satisfactory. The Macbook Pro was effective in minimizing the impact of ambient noise. Reverberations was also not a concern as the recording sounded wonderful.

Background Music

Background music not only gives the recording more life, it is also an effective way of masking unnecessary noise that was picked-up during production. I searched for a background music that will match the the topic and my personality and settled with Energetic Upbeat Pop by Envato Market.

Just like the previously recorded Radio Program, the challenge in using the background music was timing, amplitude and fading effects. While music was a great addition to the show, I had to make sure that it does not overpower my presentation.

Sound Effects

Sound effects is not necessary but I added a few to give it a more of a suspenseful vibe since I was counting the Top 3 best movies.

Editing

Editing of the recording was essential as I had to retake some of my takes primarily to add more discussion points. I also added audio clips of the movies I was reviewing to give the listeners an audio reference . This requires a lot of editing as well. Other than that, no other enhancements was used.

Software

I used GarageBand as my Digital Audio Workstation as it is very easy to use. I used only the basic options of the application (Adding Tracks and Automations) as I am still familiarising myself with the other enhancement tools.