Working on a podcasting project? We’re here to help! The Student Technology Consultants team has prepared a short 1-2-3 guide to walk you through from the moment you set up your microphone to the time you click “publish”. You can tailor this guide to your needs or preferences by using the "Scaling this Step" tips to dive in deeper (+) or simplify (-).

1. Recording your Podcast

Recording clear, pleasant audio can be a daunting first step as you’re starting out. The video below will go over how to pick your location, set up your microphone, and judge when a recording is ready to move on to the editing phase. You’re free to use whatever audio recording software you’d like, but if you want to follow along with the Editing Your Podcast video, we’d recommend the free software.

Scaling this Step

(+) Have access to the Adobe Suite? Try recording in the Adobe Audition Program. The tools in that program can be a bit trickier to learn, but will pay dividends down the line.

(-)ĚýRunning short on time? You can also record directly in the Anchor.fm platform, described in Step 3. You won’t have much control over the final product and concurrent recording can cause problems for shared accounts, but it’s the fastest way to finalize your podcast.

In this video, I'll give some recording tips so that you can get audio you're happy with, faster. Fixing audio issues before you even click “Record” will save you tons of time fixing them in post-production. The first thing to consider is location. Listen for ambient noise like air conditioning or a laundry machine. Background sound with more variance like a squeaky chair, traffic, or distant conversations will be even harder to filter out. Avoid as many of these as possible to keep your audio clear. Taking a look at the size of your room and the surfaces in it can also inform your decision. Large rooms or hard surfaces like wood or tile can muddle your audio with echoes, while absorbent material like carpet can reduce unwanted noise.

The next thing to consider is your microphone. Cardioid mics, or mics that are used to pick up sounds in one direction—those in our phones, for example—are best used for a single speaker. They tend to filter out noise coming from other angles. Omnidirectional mics, or mics that pick up sound coming from all sides—like those in our laptops—capture more ambient noise. If you don't have a good setup for recording multiple people with separate mics, consider using an omnidirectional microphone for a multi-speaker podcast, but beware the sound will lose clarity. In general, you'll want to set up a cardioid mic at a 45 degree angle. This will capture your voice while avoiding excess air from plosives, or sounds like "p" and "t."

Make a few test recordings to make sure your mic is at the right distance. This means aiming for sound between -6 and -12 decibels (db). Try to keep your mouth in generally the same spot to keep this consistent. When you hit record for real, give yourself five to seven seconds of silence before you begin talking.

Finally, always listen back to your recording. Is your breathing distracting? Do you need to speak with more clarity? Did you keep saying "um" without realizing it? If you didn't get it on the first take, don't lose heart! That's what the “Delete” key is for.

2. Editing Your Podcast

Once you have a recording to use as a foundation, it’s time to tidy up your sound. This video goes over basic editing tools you can use in the Audacity program to cut, reduce noise, and equalize your sound. While sound editing can go much further than what we’ve outlined here, this is a good starting point if this process is new to you.

Scaling this Step

(+) For a deeper dive into EQ, I would recommend reviewing by Larry Jordan. He’s editing in Adobe Audition, but the frequency benchmarks are generally the same. If you’re using Adobe Audition, try using the “Vocal Enhancer” quick tool instead. If you do end up having problems with plosives, you can use the “Kill the Mic Rumble” setting in the FFT Filter effect.

(-)ĚýIf you only want to make simple cuts to your audio, you can do this directly in the Anchor.fm program. Again, if you’re sharing an account, concurrent editing may not save on the first try.

This video will go over how to do some basic editing with the Audacity program. This is a free software used to record and edit audio, and you can download it at .

Once you've downloaded and opened Audacity, you can start recording. Select your preferred microphone from the Audio-In dropdown and your preferred speaker from the Audio-Out dropdown. Microphone and speaker volume, or gain levels, can be adjusted right above those. When you're ready to record—the recording tutorial video can help with this—click the red circle icon. When you have a take you're happy with, it's time to clean it up. With the selection icon enabled, you can pick parts of your audio to delete, isolate, cut, or copy. You can play with the zoom icons on the right if navigating your project becomes unwieldy.

If you have background noise you'd like to eliminate, do this first. In the opening silence I recommended including at the beginning of your clip, select a few seconds. Go to "Effect," "Noise Reduction," and click "Get Noise Profile." You can stick with the default or play around with how aggressive you'd like the filter to be here.

Since we're dealing with human voices, I'd also recommend adding an EQ filter. This can add back in some of the vocal color that might disappear during the recording process. Equalization, or EQ, allows you to pick specific frequency levels to bring out or reduce rather than increasing or decreasing all frequencies at once with a volume change. On a basic level, you can reduce sound below 60 hertz and above 4,000 hertz for a human voice. You can add more warmth by increasing levels around 300 hertz or more clarity by increasing levels between 3,000 and 4,000 hertz. Consider your vocal type as you do this, as a higher, brighter voice will need boosting at different levels than a low, rumbly one. External factors can also influence this, like the cold I have at the time of recording.

Check out the documentation provided for more help on this. Don't overdo it, and make sure to listen to any EQ edits with headphones on to make sure the clip doesn't sound wacky or distorted. If this is too overwhelming, you can nix it. After all, we're not looking to do a professional-level edit here.

When you're finished, save your project as an Audacity file. This will allow you to go back in and edit where you left off, if needed. However, you'll also need to export your audio to use in your podcast. A dot wave or ".wav" file is probably best. It's uncompressed and higher quality, like a high resolution image. If space or uploading size is an issue for you, you could try an ".mp3" file instead, but this will be of lower quality.

And those are the basics! Audio editing can go much deeper than this, and considering components like the headphones you are using is crucial at that level. But if you're just looking to stick your toes in and create a podcast project you're happy with, this should have your bases covered.

3. Assembling Your Podcast

Our podcast consultations use theAnchor.fm platform to house and assemble podcasts. It boils a fairly expansive variety of options down into a user-friendly, drag-and-drop platform. The nitty gritty of your Anchor account may change if you’re working on this in class, though all of the information discussed in this video should still apply.

Scaling this Step

(+)ĚýYou can adjust the sound levels for background music in the pop-out menu that displays after you click the music notes icon. If it applies, you can also organize your podcast into seasons and check out the viewer analytics in the “Dashboard” tab.

(-)ĚýIf you’re really in a crunch, the fastest way to blast through a podcast is to log in, click “New Episode,” record your audio in-browser (again...just be wary of this with shared accounts…), click “Save Changes,” and then click “Publish Now” or “Save as Draft,” whichever is applicable.

In this video, I'll be going over the basics of Anchor.fm. This is a free platform built to help people record, edit, and publish podcasts. I'll be using the web browser interface for this video, but feel free to use it on your phone or other smart device, if you prefer.

When you open Anchor, you'll be defaulted to the "Dashboard" tab. This contains information and analysis of your podcast as a whole, which really doesn't help us here. If you're starting fresh, you can click on the "New Episode" tab from here to immediately get to the "Editing" menu. Otherwise, head to "Episodes," find yours in the list, and scroll down to "Edit Audio."

If you're recording in-browser, head to the "Record" bar. If you're sharing an account, be wary of this, as having more than one person in the system at a time can cause issues with saving these files. If you've pre-recorded content, upload it on the right-hand side, or access previously uploaded content at the "Library" bar. If you'd like to add some of Anchor's background music, you can click the music notes icon.

You can add clips to the episode via the plus sign or drag and drop your files. Once they've been added, you can also split and cut your audio. The "Music" tab and "Voice Messages" tab you can probably ignore, but you might be interested in exploring some of the options in the "Transitions" tab. You can see how everything sounds by clicking the "Preview Episode" icon in the bottom right. This can help you make sure everything flows and identify awkwardly long gaps between pieces.

When you've finished, click "Save Changes." Here is where you add your title, description, and thumbnail icon. If you'd like to publish, click "Publish Now." Otherwise, you can keep it in draft form by clicking "Save as Draft."

We hope this guide makes your podcasting project more attainable. Make sure to review your instructor’s project guidelines for additional information specific to your course, if that applies to you. If you’re interested in tweaking this for your class, please let us know!