Podcasting: tools and tips
Way back, in the dawn of time (or, sometime last week, when I was still in the midst of figuring this damn podcasting thing out), I thought that this stuff was complicated. Now I am old and greystill blonde, and wise in the ways of OMG that *stupid* rss feed! And I know better.
For I found three things, and learned that life can be easy and simple and shiny. Kinda.
One: Audacity, a free piece of software for recording and editing those recordings. Make sure you download the LAME plugin (and make a note of where you extracted it to) so that you can use it to extract the Audacity project files to mp3 format.
Two: a headset/mic set. True, it doesn't entirely stop me bashing the mic around as I wave my hands in a slash reading frenzy (I gesticulate and pace while I'm on the phone too), and if I'd *really* gone for it I'd've got something snazzy in bluetooth so I could pace around (see: phone conversations), but I understand that unless you have a really clean connection, wired is better than wireless. The headphone/mic set I got were about £30 and is made by logitech. There was a picture of a woman shouting orders on it. I imagine she was playing Halo on x-box online. That's what my brothers look like when they're yelling into their communicators at any rate. (Did I ever mention the time I was watching my brothers playing online, and Slide suddenly said, Dude, it is not cool to beat your girlfriend up online. Which led to an odd conversation about when it *was* okay to do so, but I digress. Quite badly.)
Three: Listgarden. Listgarden gives you a nice template to fill out your data and then generates an rss file for you. Naturally I didn't find it until after I'd already made one of my own by hand, in the snow, uphill, *both* ways, but next time I shall know better. Indeed, if you look at my xml now it has a nice line in called and I don't care who knows it.
Other suggestions, that I have implemented but am still, ahem, debugging.
Speak slowly. There's no hurry, and it's amazing how difficult it is to say demolecularized at speed. Likewise, it's amazing how many authors write in tongue twisters, under the impression that no human tongue will ever be called upon to say it intelligibly.
Enunciate. When people know you or can see your mouth moving, they can guess what you meant even if there were absolutely no consonants in there at all. When they can't, and you don't speak clearly, they're screwed.
Dead air is ok: don't delete all of it, your listeners will start holding their breath, waiting for you to breathe. This will gradually eliminate all podslash listeners from asphyxiation. This is Bad. Also, it's kind of handy for marking out changes of character.
But don't pause for too long, especially if it's all in one person's dialogue etc. because it'll sound like you've forgotten the next line. Which, when you're reading off the page is just... O.o Seriously, people are comfortable at 5 seconds of dead air, but they start shuffling their feet by ten seconds. Five seconds feels horribly long when you're recording: it's not.
Doing the Voices. Ahem. I have learned the hard way that there is a limit to how many voices I can do *consistently* in a story. Dead air and 'Ford said' will suffice for the rest. *nods*
Have some water nearby. But if you're recording in bed, and this is important, don't leave the cup on the mattress. It will only end in soggy pyjamas.
Try not to click or sniff when breathing. You'll see what I mean, but don't sweat it -- just pause and cut it out later.
Enjoy it. You can hear it in your voice if you're not enjoying it. If you sound bored you'll *be* boring. Smile if they're happy -- it lifts the larynx and brightens the voice. Frown or gesticulate right along with McKay -- it's more fun that way. And if your voice has just croaked out, pause and grab that water I mentioned earlier. Oddly enough, 'frog' doesn't work so well for voice recordings. Although this is SGA fandom so never say never...
Don't shout -- regardless of the temptation. You'll just max out the mic, and in turn, the headphones/speakers. This isn't exactly high tech sound boards we're using. Watch the spectrum analysis. Mid range is good. Mic settings at between 0.2 and 0.4 is good.
Don't mumble or speak too quietly -- if people have to keep futzing with the volume control to be able to hear you they'll not bother a second time.
Breathe. It's okay. We're used to it. No one will even notice unless you're some sort of snufflopagus with the headcold from hell. In which case, consider taking a break until the cold's gone. The fiction will still be there next week.
Edit. Seriously. If you foul up a line, pause a couple of seconds and then say the line again. Say it from the last point you paused -- you have no idea -- yet -- how hard it is to edit a single word into a sentence. Don't try, just re-say the sentence. It'll sound much more natural. Just go back and cut the duff one. Don't be afraid to loop a line out if it doesn't work. Audacity lets you record and undo, record and undo record and undo. Cut stuff, silence stuff and speak over it.
Practice. that includes rehearsing reading the story all the way through. Out loud. A couple of times. Yes, it does take a while *g*
And oh yeah. Send me a link *g*.
For I found three things, and learned that life can be easy and simple and shiny. Kinda.
One: Audacity, a free piece of software for recording and editing those recordings. Make sure you download the LAME plugin (and make a note of where you extracted it to) so that you can use it to extract the Audacity project files to mp3 format.
Two: a headset/mic set. True, it doesn't entirely stop me bashing the mic around as I wave my hands in a slash reading frenzy (I gesticulate and pace while I'm on the phone too), and if I'd *really* gone for it I'd've got something snazzy in bluetooth so I could pace around (see: phone conversations), but I understand that unless you have a really clean connection, wired is better than wireless. The headphone/mic set I got were about £30 and is made by logitech. There was a picture of a woman shouting orders on it. I imagine she was playing Halo on x-box online. That's what my brothers look like when they're yelling into their communicators at any rate. (Did I ever mention the time I was watching my brothers playing online, and Slide suddenly said, Dude, it is not cool to beat your girlfriend up online. Which led to an odd conversation about when it *was* okay to do so, but I digress. Quite badly.)
Three: Listgarden. Listgarden gives you a nice template to fill out your data and then generates an rss file for you. Naturally I didn't find it until after I'd already made one of my own by hand, in the snow, uphill, *both* ways, but next time I shall know better. Indeed, if you look at my xml now it has a nice line in called and I don't care who knows it.
Other suggestions, that I have implemented but am still, ahem, debugging.
Speak slowly. There's no hurry, and it's amazing how difficult it is to say demolecularized at speed. Likewise, it's amazing how many authors write in tongue twisters, under the impression that no human tongue will ever be called upon to say it intelligibly.
Enunciate. When people know you or can see your mouth moving, they can guess what you meant even if there were absolutely no consonants in there at all. When they can't, and you don't speak clearly, they're screwed.
Dead air is ok: don't delete all of it, your listeners will start holding their breath, waiting for you to breathe. This will gradually eliminate all podslash listeners from asphyxiation. This is Bad. Also, it's kind of handy for marking out changes of character.
But don't pause for too long, especially if it's all in one person's dialogue etc. because it'll sound like you've forgotten the next line. Which, when you're reading off the page is just... O.o Seriously, people are comfortable at 5 seconds of dead air, but they start shuffling their feet by ten seconds. Five seconds feels horribly long when you're recording: it's not.
Doing the Voices. Ahem. I have learned the hard way that there is a limit to how many voices I can do *consistently* in a story. Dead air and 'Ford said' will suffice for the rest. *nods*
Have some water nearby. But if you're recording in bed, and this is important, don't leave the cup on the mattress. It will only end in soggy pyjamas.
Try not to click or sniff when breathing. You'll see what I mean, but don't sweat it -- just pause and cut it out later.
Enjoy it. You can hear it in your voice if you're not enjoying it. If you sound bored you'll *be* boring. Smile if they're happy -- it lifts the larynx and brightens the voice. Frown or gesticulate right along with McKay -- it's more fun that way. And if your voice has just croaked out, pause and grab that water I mentioned earlier. Oddly enough, 'frog' doesn't work so well for voice recordings. Although this is SGA fandom so never say never...
Don't shout -- regardless of the temptation. You'll just max out the mic, and in turn, the headphones/speakers. This isn't exactly high tech sound boards we're using. Watch the spectrum analysis. Mid range is good. Mic settings at between 0.2 and 0.4 is good.
Don't mumble or speak too quietly -- if people have to keep futzing with the volume control to be able to hear you they'll not bother a second time.
Breathe. It's okay. We're used to it. No one will even notice unless you're some sort of snufflopagus with the headcold from hell. In which case, consider taking a break until the cold's gone. The fiction will still be there next week.
Edit. Seriously. If you foul up a line, pause a couple of seconds and then say the line again. Say it from the last point you paused -- you have no idea -- yet -- how hard it is to edit a single word into a sentence. Don't try, just re-say the sentence. It'll sound much more natural. Just go back and cut the duff one. Don't be afraid to loop a line out if it doesn't work. Audacity lets you record and undo, record and undo record and undo. Cut stuff, silence stuff and speak over it.
Practice. that includes rehearsing reading the story all the way through. Out loud. A couple of times. Yes, it does take a while *g*
And oh yeah. Send me a link *g*.