As an experienced musician and occasional audio engineer, I was excited by the prospect of producing The Digital Life, a podcast on design and technology, which is sponsored by Involution Studios. Over nearly a year of production, we've learned a great deal about creating an online radio show. Every so often we get requests from friends of the show to describe how we go about generating the podcast. We're more than happy to share our knowledge, so, we thought we'd pull back the curtain today and reveal a few of our production methods.
When it comes to audio production, as with any digital craft, there are a probably a million ways to get to a desired endpoint. However, these tips that follow have been learned in the trenches. So, while we certainly won't have all the answers here, when it comes to producing a successful podcast, these techniques have been tested and refined. We've always been cognizant of the speed, cost effectiveness, and quality of the final product.
1. Get a great USB headset for your show participants
The old truism of garbage in, garbage out definitely holds sway in the realm of audio recording. It's absolutely critical to get the best audio input you can. At The Digital Life, we like both the Sennheiser and Logitech headphones for digital quality. When purchasing a headset, you should seriously consider those priced above $50.
2. Use an all digital workflow
I've been a musician for over 21 years, and when I think of the thousands of dollars I spent on recording equipment over that time period (now packed away in hard cases, collecting dust, thank you very much) it depresses me to no end. The equivalent of maybe 10 grand worth of recording equipment purchased in 1996 is now available as free pre-loaded software when you buy a Mac laptop. That software package, of course, is GarageBand, which gives you the ability to record and mix multi-track audio.
Since The Digital Life podcast features guests from all over the planet, we record all of our sessions via Skype, which allows for multiple participants in a digital conference call. Skype is far from perfect, and there have been plenty of times where the connection has dropped or the software has introduced digital burps and other glitches. But, considering that in Boston we can bring together people as far away as New York, Palo Alto, and Helsinki in the same call, I have no complaints.
We use WireTap Studio to capture that Skype audio call as a high sample rate digital recording and immediately import it into GarageBand for editing.
3. Clean things up
I spend a good deal of time listening to the audio from the Skype session and edit out the awkward pauses, various background noises (like soda cans opening, and cars passing by), and all the ummms, ahhs, and other verbal placeholders that we all inevitably use in conversation. You'll get a much smoother, more professional sounding podcast if you're willing to make a few cuts here and there.
4. Don't forget the music
We were lucky to have Ian Dorsch compose some fantastic music for our show segment intros. Never forget the emotional appeal of a musical piece to set the stage.
5. Master your audio and compress at the end
For the final touch, lately we've been using Peak Studio LE to master the audio and give it that hot, well produced sound. Without getting too much into the technical side, suffice it to say that mastering properly adjusts the EQ and brings the levels of the recording up to the loudness expected from a professional production. Lastly, we compress the podcast, creating an MP3 file for upload.
We've produced 35 episodes of The Digital Life so far, and are going strong. If you haven't tuned in lately, we invite you to check it out and let us know what you think.