If you plan to use Audacity for simple podcasts, it is simply a matter of pressing the record button. Of course, it's always a good idea to do a test recording to check audio levels first, and once you have a level that sounds right, it's important to remember to stay at roughly the same distance from the microphone. Ensure that Audacity has the right input selected from the device toolbar. Try a couple tests. Press the Record button or the R key to start recording. Press the Pause button or P key to temporarily suspend recording, but not completely stop it. When podcasting using Audacity, aim for a db level that's between -7db and -14db. This gives you a sound signal that is loud enough, but one that still leaves enough space before hitting the 0db ceiling. You following all of this so far? The term 'podcast' can be used as a noun to refer to content (the sound file) or a verb (the process of making the sound file available to users). Podcasting is the method of distributing the sound files using RSS format so that users can listen to these on their computers, or download from their computer onto a portable mp3 player such as an iPod. Get Audacity to recognize your mic. The show can't start unless your recording program recognizes.
- Podcasting For Beginners Using Audacity
- Using Audacity For Podcast
- Podcasting Using Audacity
- Podcasting Using Audacity Recording
Recording Episodes
Podcasting For Beginners Using Audacity
Recording using Audacity is super easy! Make sure your audio interface is selected in the audio preferences drop-down list, and then double-check your levels by clicking on the levels bar at the top to start monitoring. As long as your levels are between -9db and -18db, you're good to go! Click the record button once you're ready to get going!
Importing Audio
If you've already recorded your audio, you can easily import into Audacity to edit podcast audio. Just click File, at the top, then Import, and Audio. Choose the audio file you want to import into Audacity, we would recommend sticking with using WAV or AIFF formats as these preserve sound quality the best.
Cutting Audio
Using Audacity For Podcast
Cut out any silences or filler words, like 'umms' and 'errs', then you can just click and drag to highlight the audio you want to cut, then hit the delete key on your keyboard.
Removing Background Noise
Sometimes microphones can pick up the audio from the room you record in, or some background static which comes out as a low-level humming noise. You can spot these on the waveform as constant low waves, if you can't quite see them, you can use the +magnifying glass to zoom in.
Podcasting Using Audacity
To remove this background hum, just highlight a section of the background noise. Then click Effects at the top, then Noise Reduction, and then select Get Noise Profile. This captures the print of the highlighted noise, ready to remove it.
Then, go back to the whole audio file and highlight it all. Click Effects and Noise Reduction again, then adjust the Noise Reduction (dB) to 5, Sensitivity to 0.50, and Frequency Smooth (Bands) to 1. Then confirm the changes by clicking OK.
Podcasting Using Audacity Recording
Play some of your file through to see the changes that the noise reduction has made. You may need to go back and adjust some of the settings further to remove the background noise completely.
