Getting Started

How Do I Podcast?  Here's part 6 of Paul Colligan's 6 part series on podcasting.  This video makes some important points - podcasting does not have to be complex.  While Paul's emphasis if on podcasting for commercial purposes, educators and learn a lot from his simple, direct presentation.

Creating Webcasts & Podcasts in 8 Easy Steps

Step 1:  Determine Content & Format

• Content, Content, Content - know what you want to share
• Identify audience - gear message towards them
• Decide if you what type of podcast you want to create:  audio, enhanced audio (with still pictures), or full video.
• Think about tone, style, scripting/storyboarding, participants, voices, and music.
• Understand legal issues.  For a downloadable, printable guide from the Berkman Center, Clinical Program in Cyberlaw, Harvard Law School, click HERE.
• Planning prevents poor performance - like everything else in life, remember the 4 Ps.
• Use music with care, complex copyright issues.  Licenses and experimental licenses can be sought, probably better to use "podcast safe" music.  Some sources include:
  • CCMixter
  • Freesound Project
  • Opsound
  • PodSafe Audio
  • Podsafe Music Network
  • Podsafe Music Sources
• Think about creating usage rights for your content.  For information about how to legally protect your content, check out Creative Commons licenses and review their suggestions and their "Podcasting Legal Guide."

Step 2:  Assemble equipment and people

• Content is important, but quality audio is what keeps people's attention.  Even when using pictures and video - thinks, "radio with pictures."
• Don't spend any money before getting commitment for all other support you will need.
• Keep it simple, especially when getting started.  All you really need is a microphone and a PC.
• Choose audio editing software.  A good, free choice is Audacity - get the LAME MP3 encoder as well.  Here are some resources to learn Audacity:
  • How to Podcast (screencast):  Audacity Tutorial
  • Recording a Podcast
  • Mastering Podcasts with Audacity

Step 3:  Recording

• Breathe, enunciate, slow down - it may feel unnatural but will sound natural.  Remember, audio-only presentations loose all visual cues from speaker - slightly exaggerate emphasis to make up for this. 
• Monitor your recording and edits- headphones are best.
• Record intro and outro last - use editing software (Audacity) to add them later.

Step 4:  Post Production

• Get started by learning to increase volume, cut segments out, and "time shift"  Everything else else will be easier to learn after getting comfortable with the basics.
• Create ID3 tags, metadata about the audio files you create.
• Expert to MP3 (this is what LAME MP3 encoder,is for) setting  bit-rate (amount of information processed (kb) per second, higher number means higher quality.  For voice, use 64 kbps.  For music, use 128 kbps.

Step 5:  Review your "final" product

• Did you meet your objectives?  Does the project server the purpose you intended?
• Is quality acceptable for purpose?  Don't be too hard on yourself - you can learn from each production.  When getting started, think about how usable the media is.

Step 6:  Upload to server

• Podcasts should have "homepages" - Webs that summarize content and provide links and additional resources to support podcasts.  These can be blogs and can contain comment sections so that podcasts become a 2-way communication vehicle.  For more about creating Webs, please see Mr. B's Web Seminar.
• Use FTP or SSH client to transfer file from PC to Web server.  When choosing a Web server host, be sure to consider storage space and bandwidth usage. 
  • For FTP, try Coffeecup (basic program, free)
  • For SSH, here are some comparisons and options
• Be aware that once uploaded, file is available even if there are no links to it.  Don't assume that no one will find something that is uploaded to the Web!
• At this point, you have created a Webcast

Step 7:  Generate RSS Feed (This makes your work a podcast instead of a Webcast)

• Create images for your directories (Many like iTunes, want 300 X 300 pixels, but this may vary)
• Identify keywords - think about the words people would use if they wanted to find your podcast.
• Have URLs for uploaded MP3/video files ready.  Be sure you understand any directories (/) in the final Web address of your files.
• For maximum control, hand-code XML in notepad (channel section with image section and then item sections for each podcast in your channel).
• Consider using iTunes specifications - while there can be "issues" with this service, they are the largest directory.
• For many, an easier option is to use a feed generating service:
  • Feedburner
  • Poderator
• Validate your feed to identify any problems by uploading your feed to your Web server and submitting that URL to a feed validator service.

Step 8:  Publish RSS feed URL

• If you like, submit your RSS feed to directories so that others can find it.
• Teachers may not need to submit to directories, instead opting to post or email the RSS feed URL to students.

[PFL HomePage] [Finding Podcasts]
[BreitLinks Podcasts] [For Teachers] [What You Need]
[Getting Started] [RSS Feeds] [Promoting]
[Tips & Tricks] [More Resources]