Resource Center - Podcast - Hamilton College

Podcast

Podcasts are used by students involved in a podcast-based course project. Examples are the RadioLab and This American Life podcasts. GarageBand is one tool that supports creation of podcasts.

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Apple Garage Band

Creating a Podcast with GarageBand Apple Garage Band Beginning a New Podcast 1. Launch GarageBand from the Applications folder. 2. Select New Project on the left, then double-click on Podcast. 3. You will then see a box asking you for the name and location of your podcast project file. Save your file to the Scratch Disk if one is available. Otherwise, save your file to the Desktop. When you are finished working, copy this project file to a safe location, preferably to a Hamilton College file server (MSS or SSS). The other settings can be left alone. 4. The GarageBand window will be displayed. If the Media Browser does not appear on the side, click the Media Browser button to display it. 5. To record audio, you must locate a Plantronics Headset or AK5370 microphone or other device and configure the computer and GarageBand to recognize the hardware. a. Click the Apple icon in the upper left hand of the screen and select System Preferences. b. Click on the Sound icon, and then select the Input tab. c. From this menu, select Plantronics Headset (or other device) and then set your volume to about ¾ of maximum. 6. After setting OSX sound preferences, make sure GarageBand is also configured correctly. a. Go to GarageBand menu in the upper left hand corner of the screen and select Preferences from the menu. b. Select the Audio/MIDI icon. Then select Plantronics Headset (or other device) in the Audio Input menu. Recording Tracks 1. Now you are ready to begin recording your podcast. Click on the Male or Female Voice Track depending on the narrator’s gender. 2. Click the red Record icon and begin to speak into the microphone. Notice that audio waveforms begin appearing in the track. a. You want to make sure that your waveform peaks reach about 2/3 of the way up the track. If it doesn’t, edit the sound input levels in System Preferences. Adding Sounds 1. Once you have recorded your narration, you can add background music, sound effects or jingles. a. Click on the Jingles track on the left and then click on the Loop Browser icon. b. In the Loop View (on the right) you can select from a number of pre-made audio recordings and add them to your Podcast simply by dragging them onto the Jingles or Radio Sounds track. You can also drag the audio below all the tracks to create a new track. c. To bring in a track from an outside source it is recommended that you first import it into an iTunes library and then drag it onto a track, but you may also drag it from your desktop onto a track in GarageBand. d. You may wish to use ducking on your music tracks while your narration is playing. This will cause the music volume to decrease while the narration track plays. To have a track become quieter when another track is played, select the blue Down arrow and to have it play continuously at the specified volume, click the yellow Up arrow. e. To add a new track, go to Track-New Track. f. To delete a track, click on it and go to Track-Delete Track. g. To split a clip, drag the playhead to the desired position on the track and select Edit- Split. Perform two splits to select a portion of audio to remove. h. To delete a portion of audio on a track but not the track itself, click on the portion and then press backspace (labeled Delete) on the keyboard. i. To have the volume fade out at the end of your podcast, go to Track-Show Master Track. You will see a track with a purple line running through it. Click on the line once to create an anchor point and click on it a second time and pull it down to create a volume fade. Adding Photos 1. Once you have finished all your audio editing, you are ready to enhance your Podcast by adding photos. a. Click on the Podcast Track. b. Click the Track Editor icon next to the Loop Browser icon to show the episode artwork area. c. Drag an image from the photos section of the media browser into the Episode Artwork area. This image will appear at the beginning of the podcast and in any gaps between chapters. d. Now make chapter markers so that you can load different pictures to different sections of your Podcast. To do this, put the playhead where you want the picture to start, and click Add Marker. e. As you make chapters, they will appear in the field to the right of the Add Marker icon. f. It is recommended that photos first be imported into an iPhoto library, but they can also be dragged in from the Desktop to their respective chapters. g. You can also rename the chapters by clicking on the Chapter Title and typing in the appropriate text. Sharing 1. You are now ready to share your Podcast. a. Go to Share-Send Podcast to iTunes. This will create an m4a file of your Podcast in iTunes. You also have the option of sending it to iWeb, which will add your podcast to a web page. b. To convert it in iTunes to an MP3, go to iTunes-Preferences-Advanced. Select MP3 Encoder from the Import Using field. c. Now right or control-click on your Podcast in iTunes and select convert selection to MP3.

Podcast

Creating a Podcast with GarageBand Podcast Beginning a New Podcast 1. Launch GarageBand from the Applications folder. 2. Select New Project on the left, then double-click on Podcast. 3. You will then see a box asking you for the name and location of your podcast project file. Save your file to the Scratch Disk if one is available. Otherwise, save your file to the Desktop. When you are finished working, copy this project file to a safe location, preferably to a Hamilton College file server (MSS or SSS). The other settings can be left alone. 4. The GarageBand window will be displayed. If the Media Browser does not appear on the side, click the Media Browser button to display it. 5. To record audio, you must locate a Plantronics Headset or AK5370 microphone or other device and configure the computer and GarageBand to recognize the hardware. a. Click the Apple icon in the upper left hand of the screen and select System Preferences. b. Click on the Sound icon, and then select the Input tab. c. From this menu, select Plantronics Headset (or other device) and then set your volume to about ¾ of maximum. 6. After setting OSX sound preferences, make sure GarageBand is also configured correctly. a. Go to GarageBand menu in the upper left hand corner of the screen and select Preferences from the menu. b. Select the Audio/MIDI icon. Then select Plantronics Headset (or other device) in the Audio Input menu. Recording Tracks 1. Now you are ready to begin recording your podcast. Click on the Male or Female Voice Track depending on the narrator’s gender. 2. Click the red Record icon and begin to speak into the microphone. Notice that audio waveforms begin appearing in the track. a. You want to make sure that your waveform peaks reach about 2/3 of the way up the track. If it doesn’t, edit the sound input levels in System Preferences. Adding Sounds 1. Once you have recorded your narration, you can add background music, sound effects or jingles. a. Click on the Jingles track on the left and then click on the Loop Browser icon. b. In the Loop View (on the right) you can select from a number of pre-made audio recordings and add them to your Podcast simply by dragging them onto the Jingles or Radio Sounds track. You can also drag the audio below all the tracks to create a new track. c. To bring in a track from an outside source it is recommended that you first import it into an iTunes library and then drag it onto a track, but you may also drag it from your desktop onto a track in GarageBand. d. You may wish to use ducking on your music tracks while your narration is playing. This will cause the music volume to decrease while the narration track plays. To have a track become quieter when another track is played, select the blue Down arrow and to have it play continuously at the specified volume, click the yellow Up arrow. e. To add a new track, go to Track-New Track. f. To delete a track, click on it and go to Track-Delete Track. g. To split a clip, drag the playhead to the desired position on the track and select Edit- Split. Perform two splits to select a portion of audio to remove. h. To delete a portion of audio on a track but not the track itself, click on the portion and then press backspace (labeled Delete) on the keyboard. i. To have the volume fade out at the end of your podcast, go to Track-Show Master Track. You will see a track with a purple line running through it. Click on the line once to create an anchor point and click on it a second time and pull it down to create a volume fade. Adding Photos 1. Once you have finished all your audio editing, you are ready to enhance your Podcast by adding photos. a. Click on the Podcast Track. b. Click the Track Editor icon next to the Loop Browser icon to show the episode artwork area. c. Drag an image from the photos section of the media browser into the Episode Artwork area. This image will appear at the beginning of the podcast and in any gaps between chapters. d. Now make chapter markers so that you can load different pictures to different sections of your Podcast. To do this, put the playhead where you want the picture to start, and click Add Marker. e. As you make chapters, they will appear in the field to the right of the Add Marker icon. f. It is recommended that photos first be imported into an iPhoto library, but they can also be dragged in from the Desktop to their respective chapters. g. You can also rename the chapters by clicking on the Chapter Title and typing in the appropriate text. Sharing 1. You are now ready to share your Podcast. a. Go to Share-Send Podcast to iTunes. This will create an m4a file of your Podcast in iTunes. You also have the option of sending it to iWeb, which will add your podcast to a web page. b. To convert it in iTunes to an MP3, go to iTunes-Preferences-Advanced. Select MP3 Encoder from the Import Using field. c. Now right or control-click on your Podcast in iTunes and select convert selection to MP3.