AudioShocker

Recently, someone asked me to tell their friend how to start a podcast from scratch -- this person had no website, no content, no audio editing program, and no nothing except for the desire to podcast. If you find that you're in that same situation, then here's what I suggest:

9. To share your podcast online, you either need to get a webspace hosting plan or start a Libsyn (or other pay-for-podcasting) account. Personally, I recommend that you get a hosting plan, start a WordPress powered blog, and install the podPress plugin to broadcast your audio.

8. Get a USB mic or use your computer's built-in microphone.

7. To record your audio and edit stuff together, use Audacity.

6. In Audacity's "Preferences," make sure you're recording in mono. File size will be an issue down the line, and recording in mono will help keep the size down. (BTW, unless you're doing video, never record at 48.000 kHz -- always 44.100 kHz!!!)

5. For some compression and editing tips if you're using a Mac, check out my Podcast Pointers: Taking the Noise Out blog post. If you're on a PC, it's not quite as easy. SORRY! (But I do love the "Hard Limiter" effect for basic compression in the PC version of Audacity -- hope that helps.)

4. Export the edited audio out of Audacity as a .WAV or .AIF file and import it into iTunes.

3. In iTunes, set your "Import Settings" in "Preferences" to convert the imported audio into an mp3. Since podcasts normally run long and create large files, you have to make sure that the audio file isn't too huge. I suggest using mp3 settings of 80 kbs / 22.050 kHz / stereo channels / joint stereo mode / no smart encoding adjustments. (The joint stereo setting is important because it condenses the file size where possible!)

2. To get the audio file onto your webspace, you should probably use an FTP program (though some services will also offer the option to upload the audio for you -- just remember that the file may take some time to upload!). For FTP, I recommend using Filezilla. FTP is, of course, it's own beast if you've never used it before, but it's not that hard and there are tons of tutorials that can help you.

1. Anyway, there's A LOT more to it than that, but those are the basics. As a final step, I recommend that you look up some more tutorials to fine tune your podcasting experience. I have a somewhat-tutorial of my own on Google Knol called Creating a Podcast. Good luck and feel free to shoot me an email if you need any podcasting advice!

Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = podcasting is for lovers.