I’ve been saying for a long time now that the real power of blogs, wikis, podcasts, and social networking is not in the technology. The technology itself is rather trivial. The power comes in the user-centric nature of their interfaces.  In other words, blogs make it really, really easy for a non-techie person to create a website with current, vibrant content.  Podcasting is a little more complicated since it is basically a blog with some added audio bits.  However I get it done in a short amount of time using only free software. So in the service of user-centricity I’ll describe my methods for my weekly comic-book discussion podcast that I post here.  

In a happy coincidence, the first broadcast of my content happens on the radio, at WESN 88.1 FM. I use a PC in the next room to record the broadcast. I use a free open-source audio editor called Audacity. Another more complex one is called Reaper, but that is for people who want a much more sophisticated mixing/editing experience. I had to install Audacity along with the recommended LAME plugin in order to produce an MP3 at the end of the day. I went ahead and installed some of the free plugins just in case someday I might need to get fancy. I haven’t had that need yet.

I record the audio in stereo at a 44.1 kHz sample rate, which is the default in Audacity. This is the same sample rate as a CD. This gives me a good quality starting point which I can always go back to later if I have a yucky sounding product.

I take a few minutes to edit out any copyright-restricted audio, like any songs played during breaks from talking. I usually cut out the Public Service announcments which are mandated by the FCC for FM broadcasts but not for podcasts. If I’m feeling up to it at this point I might edit out (highlight and delete) any audible pauses or extended uncomfortable silences. I always take care to save the project in Audacity a few times during this process.

Since my audio is just talking I usually convert the file to mono to acheive a smaller file size. In Audacity this is easy: split the stereo track, convert both left and right to mono tracks. Reduce the gain slider to -6dB to prevent clipping when they are mixed. Then select all (Ctrl-A) to highlight both tracks. Then I use the “Quick Mix” feature to mix down to a single combined mono track. I always double check the MP3 bitrate in the Audacity preferences. I usually use 96kbps even though it is overkill for talk. I feel like file sizes are pretty reasonable at that bitrate, about 48MB for an hour long program. Then I use Audacity’s “Export to MP3” option and save the file to my computer.

The next step can be very complicated or very easy – inserting the audio file into a blog. That is the full sum of a podcast by the way – a blog with media files. Podcast software checks the feeds on a blog site for media file “enclosures” and discards the text entries. That way people get the latest installments delivered right to their e-door.

I use a WordPress blog with a specialized plugin called Podpress. Podpress automatically generates the proper enclosures and metadata so that software like iTunes can find, categorize and accurately describe a podcast. You can do this manually with just a WordPress blog, but Podpress makes it easier. Before I can link up the media file to my blog post, I have to upload it to my server space. I use WinSCP to do the transfer, making sure that my file name is consistent and free of spaces or extended characters. WordPress has a built-in upload tool but I find the MP3s are too big for this method and the process winds up timing out. I always make sure to include a conventional link to the MP3 for someone who might not want to subscribe to the podcast. Podpress also provides a small integrated Flash-based player at the bottom of the blog post that buffers the file and plays while it is downloading – effectively streaming the audio!

Submission to iTunes is actually quite easy and is described in detail on the Apple site. I would wait to do this until you have a few episodes in the can. Otherwise you’ll have a single episode up on iTunes forever and noone will ever notice. Unless an episode comes out periodically it really ceases to be a podcast.

I’ve worked out the process to the point where I find it quite easy. I can have a podcast episode up on the web within two and a half hours of completing the actual recording. It would be considerably faster if I didn’t take the time to edit out copyrighted music, but that is a legal requirement and I suspect that people might not want to sit through 2-7 minutes of some song when they are ostensibly tuning in to listen to the insightful discussion.

Apple claims to have an easier podcasting solution using Garageband, iWeb, and the .Mac hosting service. Sounds great, but expensive. I’ll stick with my process until something faster, easier, and free comes along.