How to podcast with your Mac, a complete guide
Macs have been ideally suited for creative endeavors for years. If you are looking to break into podcasting but don’t have a huge budget for equipment and software, your Mac will be your best tool.
Right out of the box Macs have the basics needed to create a simple podcast. Whether you want to stay traditional with audio only or create a more current video podcast, you will be able to do most of it using tools that come with your Mac.
The Mac’s built in mic and iSight camera give you basic audio and video input. Sure, the camera is limited in that you must sit directly in front of it, and it doesn’t have much in the way of alternative shots or on-the-fly video capture control, but it will suffice for your initial foray into podcasting or video podcasting. One thing you will need to purchase that the Mac doesn’t come with is a set of headphones to prevent getting echo and feedback on your recording from the built in mic.
Every Mac ships with GarageBand, iMovie and iTunes. This is a wonderful suite of tools for the beginner. You can go with the strictly audio podcast and use GarageBand to record it, then create an iTunes capable audio file and setting up an iTunes podcast subscription for people to find your podcast and subscribe to it.
You can also choose the video podcast options offered by iMovie and iTunes. Quicktime, another preloaded option, also has a few podcasting tricks up its sleeve for you, and the quality of Quicktime videos is smooth.
The first thing to remember when recording a podcast is to have a plan. Making an outline or agenda, setting up your guests, panel or interviews in advance and generally formulating your approach will go a long way to avoid nervous laughter, filler words like “um”, awkward pauses and tangents. Having a time frame as well will also help make your podcast sound professional and crisp.
When recording an audio podcast in GarageBand, start by creating a Real Instrument track in a new GarageBand file. This track should be set to your preferred voice setting. Apple recommends using ‘Gate’, for example, to prevent background noise from being recorded when you aren’t speaking. Compression is the magic tool to modulate your vocal tone and make your voice sound a bit smoother.
Use the Gain control to modulate the level at which your voice is recorded, but mainly just remember not to sit too close to the mic or fidget too much. Sitting to close to the mic can create feedback and uneven levels, which causes your voice to jump from too quiet to super loud without warning on playback. Fidgeting mainly affects you if you have a headset with a mic of its own that is close to the mouth – when you move your audience can hear your clothes rasp against the mic.
At this point you can start adding background music if you want. Personally, I find it distracting. The production values on most podcasts are so low that any music in the background can take attention away from your voice. If you have some knowledge of putting music behind dialogue you should be able to adjust the balance between the background music and the actual speaking during the podcast, but if not, I’d recommend avoiding background music until or unless Apple creates an even better tool that handles the background noise for you.
It’s important to avoid trying to correct mistakes while recording. That’s a job for the future, when you are successful and have a producer in house. For now, record your podcast and then go back and edit later, still using GarageBand (I will cover editing in GarageBand in the next post in the series, “Podcasting with your Mac, beyond the basics”).
Once you have recorded and edited your audio podcast, export the file you created to iTunes. Once you see it in iTunes, create an AAC file of it. You can then embed the AAC file onto your blog (this is especially easy if you use your Mac’s built in web editor, iWeb). If you want to get it out on iTunes for people to subscribe to, you will have to create an RSS feed for the podcast on your blog or website, then submit that to iTunes for people to subscribe to.
If you desperately want to do a podcast but want a more interactive way to do it, your solutions may vary. One current favorite is TalkShoe and another is Skype for recorded podcasts. With TalkShoe you are confined to its less than stunning sound quality on the call ins, but it automates the recording and subscription process as well as the iTunes subscription, and they offer a chat room and stats. Recording on Skype is best left to the next series post to detail, as it requires some finesse.
In the end, the best bet for a beginner is to go with GarageBand, iTunes and the built ins on your Mac, or with a free online service like TalkShoe (or whatever similar service you may find personally useful). As you gain experience you can play around with editing, theme songs and more, or choose a more advanced recording and distribution medium.
Related Posts:
