Bariah Qadeer. W14: Software

Hi Everyone,

For recording the podcast I decided to use SoundCloud, but on their website it says that they may not allow you to record if you use music in your podcast. I will use music and therefore I decided that I don’t have time to deal with these issues. This is why I have decided to use Audacity.

Recording on Audacity:

• I already had Audacity downloaded on my laptop. Before downloading, check if you already have it downloaded as well. I opened Audacity and pressed record. This allowed me to record and so I recorded. Then afterwards I checked out how I could edit or more specifically cut some parts out that I don’t want anymore. All you have to do is select the selecting tool and highlight the amount of voice you want deleted from the bar and then click the cut icon (scissors, left hand corner). In order to add music or interviews (sound files) to Audacity, all you have to do is click file, import, audio. This "imported" file will be opened in another bar. If you want to bring the music before your own voice, use the time shift tool. Finally, to save the file click file, export and save as an MP3 file. As you can see the steps are easy to follow and this is why I feel this software will be easy to use.

Here is advice on how to use Audacity for creating podcasts:

http://www.wikihow.com/Record-a-Podcast-with-Audacity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXUJyV6hVHk

Publishing:

• Then I will upload the MP3 file on Podomatic (https://www.podomatic.com/login). Click on sign in and then click sign in with email. Enter your Google account information (you could use the same account that you are using for our course blog). Then click on create podcast https://www.podomatic.com/quick_post. The other steps are easy: you just have to give your podcast a title and finally publish the podcast to the web. Through these steps you will get a link for your podcast. Then all you have to do is create a new post on our course blog and paste your podcast’s link on your post! 

And you’re DONE!

 http://ihistory.wordpress.com/podcasts/how-do-i-publish-my-podcast-on-the-internet/ (This is information on how to publish a podcast). 

Whenever I hear my voice recorded I don’t like it, but then I eventually get used to it. I am in the same situation right now; however, I know I’ll get over it. The good news is that the quality of Audacity seems really good, which means we can expect good results and so I am happy :) 

Can’t wait to complete the final steps! Good luck to everyone!

Software

I have a built-in Sound Recorder program on my laptop which I will be using to record my podcast. It is very easy to manage. The sound quality is not too clear as I would like so I am planning to buy a mic for better sound clearance. At first, I was planning on downloading a free recording program like Audacity but after watching Youtube's "How to Create a Podcast for Dummies" I took their advice and checked if I already had an installed recording program - which I did.

Using Sound Recorder is as easy as pressing Record, Stop, Save in Files - Very simple

For editing my podcast, I will use  Audacity because it allows editing beyond Sound Recorder which is very basic. Sound Recorder being very basic is still very useful because it is easy to manage but this means I need another software for editing. 

I watched a Youtube video called "How to Edit a Podcast with Audacity" to observe how the program functions. The usage looks extremely easy, full of simple dragging and dropping of audio's like your recording and background music files. 

I experimented with a simple 10 second clip I recorded using Sound Recorder and tried applying background music to my recording with a fade-out using Audacity. It was extremely easy to use, just as was demonstrated in the video - even for someone technologically dis-functional as me. I recommend it!!

Emilia Vieni W14 : Software

As of now I plan on using Audacity to record my podcast. In high school, I took a media studies course where we used Audacity for one of my assignments, so I already have an idea of how it is used. I have begun to play around with it, making sure I have a working knowledge of how to record my voice, add and remove sound clips, etc. Here are some tips I have gathered as of now:

1. How to record your voice www.stanford.edu/dept/lc/ats/AudacityInstructions

     I will just post the link for this one, I feel like it is a helpful page that gives a good step-by-step process for recordings. I used it myself and it worked, so hopefully anyone who reads this can use it for themselves.

2 .If you are having trouble selecting sound clips from the feed, zoom in more. By doing this, you can see the more exact location of what you are trying to cut, add, or paste into your recording. When you have a lot of clips added, it can get frustrating finding the exact time/location of what you need.

3.Audacity does NOT used wma. files, so if you are using your computer (like me) to record your voice, make sure you have a converter you can use, that way you can record your voice and upload the files onto the program for editing.

When recording my voice, I am happy with the way I sound. I just have to make sure that when I read my script, I speak clearly with no awkward pauses or word fumbles. If I have a lot of those, it will take me MANY tries to finally have that one good podcast. I also do not want to have to paste together a bunch of smaller files from my recordings, I hope to have just a few longer ones to work with.

I think in terms of the editing itself, using Audacity will be a good experience and shouldn't give me too much trouble. What I am most worried about is the file conversions, I still have to test them out, and I hope it will be an easy process since I am sure I will need to convert a LOT of files. Overall, Audacity has many positive reviews online, so I have faith that it will be the right choice for my podcast recording.