Newbie Questions Here ...

Hi all! I decided I wanted to try my hand at podcasting since I love them and listen to about a dozen different ones a week. I have an idea I have been thinking about and I finally am taking the plunge. I even just bought a Blue Snowball Ice and pop filter (I have been doing lots of reading on this) to start with.

Through Googling I found Audacity and I think it is pretty cool and seems powerful. I have figured out how to add new audio clips/tracks to what I am doing and use the move tool to move them in different positions so they aren’t layered right on top of each other. Now for my questions.

Question 1 - How can I normalize my entire podcast when done since I am going to be using many different clips throughout the podcast and I want all volume levels about the same?

Question 2 - How can I cue up a clip so I can play it at some point during my podcast recording? I want to be talking about something and then start playing a clip, possibly talking over it at times, possibly pausing it to talk and the resuming. All this time I want to be recording too. Can I do this with Audacity?

Question 3 - I guess this is similar to Question 2 but how can I have multiple clips/sound effects cued up so at different times of the podcast I can just play one for punctuation to what is going on.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

listen to about a dozen different ones a week.

Let’s see…times two…carry the one…that’s about 20 hours a week. When do find time to watch TV?

I did that, but I did it with two computers and a sound mixer.

Maybe not with Audacity. You may be a Voicemeeter customer.

http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voicemeeter/banana.htm

Once you get a working, mixed show, you can open it in Audacity to even out the levels. I use Chris’s Compressor add-on. That’s a little brute force, but it can make a podcast sound like broadcast (for levels, content is still up to you).

The release version needs a little audio at the beginning rather than flat nothing. You can cut it off later.

Koz

Right. The clips. I was able to run a player to produce music for the mixer, so I just cued up my clips or kept a playlist of possibilities ready. It is juggling multiple balls, so it takes getting used to.

You may not be able to use hotkeys. you will be running two different audio programs at once. If you press Spacebar, for example, who gets it?

Koz

You left out doing a Skype interview.
Koz

So, Koz, what values do you use in Chris’ Compressor?

the same ones that AudacitytoPodcast recommends?

(And which generation of those?)

Thanks

-Allan

I like increasing the Compress Ratio from 0.5 default to 0.77. I leave all the other settings alone. That produces a show with a lot of the characteristics of broadcast radio: even, regular volume so you don’t have to constantly reach over and turn the volume up and down while you’re driving. I compress a podcast that has two performers who have very different speaking styles. I didn’t know that until the first time I listened to the podcast and not the radio show.

“Heavenly Days. This is almost unlistenable.”

Chris does have one bug. It doesn’t like dead zero, flat line at the beginning or the end. I usually leave some trash or microphone hiss in there just so Chris has something to chew on. I compress and then cut it off later.

There is one production shortcoming. Because Chris is doing broad, overall volume as well as word by word compression, it doesn’t like long pauses in the show. Broadcast radio doesn’t, either. So if you break for a cup of tea in the middle of the show, you may get some strange sound.

Post an address for your show. One of our forum curses is the poster who gets their show to work and then vanishes with no forwarding address.

Koz

Note: You still have to get close with your raw recording. If you like to overload your microphone or the sound channel, that’s full stop. The sound will be crunchy and snappy and we can’t help you. If you like recording in a noisy environment, Chris may do some interesting things depending on what it thinks you want and how loud the noise is.

One of the college-level recording tasks is an interview in a noisy cafe.

Chris’s Compressor was designed so he could listen to opera with theatrical sound levels in the car. Say, one soprano sotto-voce in the south-forty (musical term) transitioning to full orchestra and chorus in the next scene. We all assume the opera was recorded in a studio or theater, not in a noisy kitchen.

Koz

Here it is. I’m using Chris 1.2.6. Open the .ny in a text editor and scroll down.

Do Not Save Anything!

Koz
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