The one thing I would add is get closer to the mic. Podcasters tend to like to keep their distance, but also because they’re probably used to a mic with its gain all the way up.

It seems that many podcasters think of compression as a magic fix for bad recording. It’s not. Compression is a tool to even out the dynamics a little bit of specific sound sources to allow the engineer to increase the level of that sound source without it getting in the way of the rest of the instruments in the mix.

A good example of this would be a loud bass guitar in a loud rock band. Ideally, you would like to have a lot of bass in the mix, really, as much as possible without overpowering the rest of the band. The problem is that bass guitar has a lot of low & low-mid frequencies that can really interfere with the rest of the mix, and the bass guitar can be very quiet at times, and really loud at times. Using compression, an engineer can amplify the quiet notes and quiet down the loud ones (often referred to “squashing”). If done carefully, you can maintain a natural sound and feel, but gain the ability to increase the overall level in the mix.

Now, when you apply this tool to a single spoken word source, where there isn’t a lot of other sound sources to blend it in with, you amplify the quiet and cut the loud parts. If you have a lot of noise in your recording, compression will usually amplify it, and with no other sounds or instruments to blend with, it actually becomes more obvious.

Levelator appears to be doing something to remove background noise, then compressing, and then amplifying.

The bottom line is this, don’t record noise. In all of the recording examples you used here, one of the following three things could have been done during the recording process.

1) Eliminate the machine sounds that come with recording into computers by using a quality USB audio card or recording to an external recorder.

2) Eliminate or reduce as much as possible the background noise during recording. There is no way to mix out traffic noise. If you don’t want it in, don’t record it,

3) Use a decent dynamic microphone. I don’t know how many podcasts I hear where the condenser mic is picking up the fans of a noisy computer, and the typing on a keyboard, not to mention the echo in the room.

Compression is a tool, and can really sweeten or polish your sound, but it shouldn’t be thought of as a way to fix it.

Again, great episode.

When I did this live on Monday, a couple people in the chat room said, “Now I need to go listen to the Yes Music Podcast.”

If it looks like Audacity is recording, but you just can’t hear it back, make sure you have the right output device selected from the drop-down menu next to the speaker icon on the Device toolbar (Audacity 1.3.13 and later).

I’ll try to take a closer look at SHOUTcast soon.

What do you think of SHOUTcast as a streaming service? Have you ever used it? It seems a bit more complicated to set up than Mixlr but it may be one of those things where once it’s set up you don’t have to worry about it again.

I like a commenting system because of the extra functionality it provides: social login, real-time updating, enhanced moderation, and a mobile-optimized version.

A problem I have with CommentLuv Premium is that the guy with the accent over-promotes it in the video, without explaining what it actually does. It’s a little too much like a landing page with a huge marketing push, in my opinion. But I’m willing to give it a try, too.

I like that IntenseDebate offers a CommentLuv plugin (I’m using that on the Ramen Noodle), but IntenseDebate is too outdated, in my opinion.

I’ll rerereread your post, again. Maybe I’ll look into other plugins to provide a “social login” without having to use a commenting system.

I am using a Zoom H2 at the moment to do my recording. My co-host and I go through a mixer (he’s mix-minused because he’s on Skype) and out to the H2. 
We usually don’t play music during the podcast, even our theme music is added in post. We do play field interviews that we’ve recorded previously so that we can refresh ourselves of what was said and discuss them afterwards and in post we import the original interview file.

I live-mix everything directly into a Zoom H4n, which records in four channels. This gives me two stereo WAV files: one all of my hosts, the other is all sounds (music, sound clips, voicemail). I only compress the vocal track since I don’t want a compressor messing with any of my music fades. This is only an issue if only the music is playing, but I don’t want to check my podcast every time I process it.

For most people, I also recommend they they run a compressor on only the vocal parts, not the music-only parts.

One question I wanted to ask: do you run the FINAL copy through the compressor (the one which has your title music already in it) or do you just do the actual “meat” of the show and add the “potatoes” after?

Keep up the great work,
FlyingDan

Honestly, I think both approaches to the encoding rate are logical. iTunes’ method is focused on the resulting quality, i.e., 128 kbps stereo has essentially the same audio quality as 64 kbps mono (the audible “surrounding” difference of stereo vs. mono aside). 

But Audacity and LAME’s method is focused on the actual number, i.e., you tell it 128 kbps and you get 128 kbps no matter how many channels you have.

Unfortunately, they’re both “right.” I prefer a quality-focused setting, like iTunes’, so I don’t have to change my settings if I switch from mono to stereo.

The differences between LAME’s CBR and Fraunhofer’s CBR are only noticeable at the lower, recommended quality levels, like 64 kbps mono / 128 kbps stereo. I can hear the difference and others can, too.

However, the quality issues aren’t as noticeable if you’re not encoding high-quality audio. I didn’t notice this same thing until I upgraded my mic.

LAME was designed for VBR and it is the best MP3 encoder for VBR. VBR is perfect for music. But CBR is better for voice, especially for podcasts (because of compatibility with several software and hardware players, and other odd glitches with VBR), and Fraunhofer was designed for CBR and it excels at that.

Take a look back at my explanation of using iTunes to encode the MP3s or when I told how to make MP3s with LAME and I played some sound samples of different qualities.

As I also discovered, iTunes encodes the MP3 eight times faster than LAME, even when accounting for the extra workflow steps (Audacity > WAV > iTunes > MP3 vs. Audacity > MP3).

- if I understand correctly your issue is that when you select 128 Kbps and mono it uses all that bandwidth (128 Kb) for one channel instead of halving it – personally I find this behavior more logical and intuitive than the presented alternative (setting 128 and getting 64)

- CBR issues: I couldn’t find any other references (or maybe I was just using the wrong search terms ) to substantiate the claim that LAMEs CBR mode has quality problems. In fact in every article I found the claim was that LAME is better than anything else (CBR/VBR/ABR) – a little slower maybe, but better quality

I’m asking because if we can narrow it down to a specific issue we could send some info to the developers to improve the program, but as I see it the iTunes exporting / importing isn’t really bringing anything substantial to the process and it overly complicates it.

I had already emailed support about the LastPass issue, and the response seemed that it wasn’t something IntenseDebate was interested in fixing. However, I’ve also noticed the problem doesn’t occur on other sites running IntenseDebate. It’s probably something I have setup in my ID options. I’ll continue to test on one of my other podcast sites.

Thanks for the heads-up on the LastPass layout issue. We’ll dig into that along with the comment link issue. 

CommentLuv is pretty cool – there are some awesome people working on it. They made a CommentLuv plugin for IntenseDebate which you can access in your Plugins page.

Hope to see you back some time.

I have to be vague for now, but we’re working on some very exciting things, so keep an eye out for what we’re doing over the next few months.

This seems to be no issue with LiveFyre – I can have all Javascript disabled and still see comments on pages using LiveFyre.

I would call LiveFyre the service I want to use, but can’t.

• No HTML formatting.
• Guests can’t subscribe to comments to be notified when someone replies to them.
• And some annoying syncing issues on two separate sites.

I almost totally agree with your post / podcast: yes you should work in mono most of the time (if you are recording a “mostly speech” podcast where the localization of speakers is not important – ie. not audio-dramas). Two additional reasons for this would be:

- putting the two speakers (interviewer – interviewee) on different channels (left-right) can be surprising and not in a pleasant way (I observed that when I listen to these kinds of podcast on the street I have the feeling that somebody on the street is talking to me – a feeling which I don’t like and which I don’t get if the audio is centered)

- sometimes my cheap earphones give up their ghost partially and as such I can only hear one channel until I can be bothered to get a new earphone

However I would make slightly different recommendations:

- Work in mono but encode in Joint Stereo – Joint Stereo means that it encodes one track + the differences relative to that track from the second track. Given that you use mono as the input, there will be no differences, thus the filesize will be identical to the mono case, but it will work better with some exotic (read: cheap) players.

- Never record more channels than the physical device has. Ie. if you are using a mono microphone (as most mics are) don’t record stereo.

- Use standard sampling frequencies (22.05 KHz or 44.1 KHz) – others won’t work well with exotic players

- Use CBR 64 Kbps Joint Stereo encoding. Lower bitrate might save you some space / bandwith (as would VBR), but it’s not compatible with exotic / cheap players.

REMIND PEOPLE to fill in the information when converting to MP3 completely. Many of the newbie pod-casters leave the information a blank. If someone downloads MP3 files to a computer they get stored everywhere but where a person can find them. A podcast shows up in UNKNOWN in Windows media.

Sorry I do not plan to buy any services. My podcast is a HOBBY and I communicate with quilting friends; who are less tecky than I am, so they are forgiving of bluppers, goofs and audio imperfections. Their interest is what I bring to the quilting knowledge and community. GOOD LUCK with your future endeavors.

NONNIE

I have an older version and the newer .13 version and always get a notation if I try to open a file direct. If I go to my .13 version then open the file it works fine.

THANKS

.

Are you on Windows, OS X, or Linux? If you have OS X, then you probably already have iMovie.

I sometimes think about upgrading to Adobe Audition, but then I can never answer my own question of "Why?"

I had a chance to catch you demonstrating many of these techniques during your live feed of this episode. Great content and very useful explanation of several key Audacity features. I look forward to your training product.

Audacity has gotten it's share of knocks for being too basic to be really useful. There are several highly advanced and incredibly useful audio editing / production software apps and suites that can get very pricey. As a free alternative to what can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, Audacity is pretty functional. Certainly there is a lack of documentation and pro features, but for a free app, it's terrific!

I'd encourage those just starting out to take a look at Audacity and give it a spin. You may migrate to more advanced editors like Adobe Audition, Reaper, or Logic Pro in the future, but Audacity may suit your needs for quite some time!

Thanks for the great topic!

Anyway, this process of having different voices in different ears makes a podcast almost un-listenable. I spend a lot of my listening time with the ear-buds or headphones in just one ear, and obviously that makes it impossible to listen to a podcast produced in this format.

Again, I just wanted to give the listener's perspective on that very helpful piece of advice.

How high are you setting your gain? How far away from the mic do you speak? The higher the gain and farther from the mic you are, the more hiss you'll get.

But it is starting to sound like you could have a bad mixer. It wouldn't heart to call Behringer for some support.

HostGator is good, too. In fact, HostGator and Site5 use the same servers from ThePlanet.com.

Very nice post. It's sparked an interest in me to look into pocasting myself. I just thought I'd throw in my 0.02 cents and say that I think HostGator is probably the best WordPress host out there… Also, it should be mentioned that it is of utmost importance to keep your "core" WordPress and all plugins up to date in order to avoid your site being hacked. Again, great post.

The mic channels, however, with nothing even connected to them, appear invite more noise than the mixer's other input channels when compared on similar levels. This is the troublesome noise. By the time I turn the gain and level up high enough for the mic to be heard adequately, this hiss has really impacted the quality of the audio – incredibly obvious and loud in moments of quiet during the recording. I've got some ideas how to get rid of this problem and I'll be trying them as they become possible for me to do.

The guide here has helped me plenty enough already and gave me the idea of how I had to route my audio in the first place to do what I'd like to. And I can do that now. Right now this is more an issue with my specific hardware where the potential to do beyond what I'm using it right now for seems to be limited. Anyways., I'm fine for help now. Thanks.

If you're recording into the computer using the analog inputs, the quality of your mixer won't matter because the analog input is adding a lot of the noise.

No, you don't need your podcast-only feed redirecting from your site like your whole-site feed is. Website visitors will never need your podcast-only feed as long as you're in the most-popular directories and you tell them to subscribe there.

Instead, grab your category feed from yourpodcast.com/categoryname/feed/ and run that through Feedburner. Then use that RSS address when submitting your podcast to directories like iTunes, Zune, and any others.

On a completely different note, while I found the actual content of your podcast excellent, I found the presentation lacking- specifically you repeated the points way too many time- why go over points 1-4 then 1-5 then 1-6 then 1-7 then 1-8 then again 1-9? I think you’ve just added an unnecessary 5-10 minutes to the podcast length (especially as episode 56 is essentially a bullet-point list).

Lastly, I wanted to note that using software workarounds in Mac or Windows to mix several devices to put into Audacity misses out on one of the chief advantages of multi-device recording – being able to edit tracks from different devices separately. I found a piece of freeware called Krystal Engine that allows me to record multiple devices, which I then import into Audacity for editing.

Thanks for the podcast!

But my podcast is one category of my site… do I need to worry about setting up the Feedburner feed in WP?

This is a common problem and I run into it sometimes, too. There are two ways that you could try to fix this.

1. Normalize to -1 db first. Note that the value is already negative, so you just enter "1," not "-1." But this will increase the volume of your noise, too.

2. Remove the "Noise Gate Falloff" or lower the "Floor" in Chris's Dynamic Compressor.

Let me know how these work for you.

I had the same problem since I would like to give truly beautiful X-mas gifts for my loved ones too. I was searching on the internet for several days and

I had luck to find WEXONMART On-Line Store. They guys have a lot of beautifil goods. I bought the wonderful garnet bracelet and the necklace for my fiancee,

the gorgeous vase and amazing figurine of Marilyn Monroe for my mother too. They are selling the antique phone which I just installed in my living room right now.

I think that you could get a lot of inspiration for unique and amazing X-mas gifts on their site.

Have a great day.

Best regards

Ed Langridge

One issue with Chris's Compressor is that the if the original volume of my recording is low it doesn't seem to work properly, it keeps fading out the ends of my words.

Yes, you can connect another XLR input. Skype isn't connecting to the second one in this illustration, the line is just going through there because of the space. Just make sure you adjust the second XLR's knobs the same as the first XLR, if you want Skype to hear both of you.

If recording into your computer, the absolute best thing is to convert from analog (on the mixer) to digital outside of the computer. So I recommend a USB input. But depending on your computer and software, it may not accept multiple USB inputs.

Does that help?

And better to ask now.. what connections in the end will I need going to my computer? I've got a limited array of connectors working a laptop with integrated sound. You mention USB? I'll need some converter I guess?

You still need a directly downloadable link. If SoundCloud doesn't provide this, consider using Archive.org or DropBox's public folder to host your files for now.

BTW, it may be easier to track this conversation if you click Reply to keep everything threaded.

If you're not using PowerPress to insert your podcast episodes, then you should use Feedburner > Optimize > SmartCast > "Create podcast enclosures from links to any rich media file." But this still requires that you post link directly to the media file.

PowerPress and Feedburner will take the media and turn it into an enclosure, which is a specific tag iTunes and other podcatchers need in order to recognize the feed as a podcast.

You're looking at Audacity's built-in compressor (Effects > Compressor). But Chris's Dynamic Compressor (Effects > Compress Dynamics 1.2.6 (may not have a version number) …) has the options to which I refer.

But it's free software so I guess I can't complain too much.

Even though I'm a Mac user now, I will still defend Windows! It's totally a matter of preference. I happened to start liking more about OS X at my previous day job, but would come home to podcast and design on a Windows 7 PC. So when I got my first MacBook Pro, it became my primary and now only PC for all of my tasks. But I'm far from an Apple fanboy (just watch my tweets whenever there's an Apple announcement).

Answering your specific questions.

1. USB mics

There are two answers to this. Firstly, an analog mic (with the small 1/8" plug) going straight into your computer isn't a good idea because this normally introduces a lot of line noise. In laptops, this can often be eliminated by unplugging the power and running on battery. On desktops, unplugging the power also eliminates the noise, but may make podcasting a bit harder. Converting an analog signal to digital outside of your computer (with a USB adapter or USB mic) will almost always eliminate the noise.

Secondly, I actually don't recommend a USB mic. Once you buy it, you're locked in and can't upgrade without the USB mic being useless. If you decide to get a mixer, have cohosts, or play sounds straight into your recording, this is a lot harder or impossible with a USB mic (especially on Windows).

Instead, I recommend starting with future-friendly audio equipment like I recommended in episode 43. This gives you a small mixer with USB interface, XLR dynamic mic, stand, pop filter, and XLR cable for under $100. Then if you want to spend $300 on a nice mic, you can plug it right into all the same equipment. Or you can replace the mixer to add more mics. It's modular and easy to upgrade (like a Windows PC).

2. Setting up a web page.

Depending on your web host (like BlueHost, Site5, or Dreamhost), installing WordPress may be a very easy procedure with a few clicks. But if this isn't that case or you really don't want to get your hands dirty with that, you can hire me to setup your site for you to the point that all you have to do is upload and publish your episodes.

A website powered by WordPress software already creates an RSS feed, so you just have to have the right plugins to ensure that RSS feed works for iTunes. Again, this takes work in the beginning, but it's easy after that.

Also try Transport > Rescan audio devices.

I have an Audacity question for you.

A few months ago I upgraded my desktop PC from an old Win XP box to a new custom built Win 7 machine. Since then, Audacity always "forgets" where to grab the incoming audio from. In other words, I run the output from my mixer into the line in jack on the PC, but if that cord is ever unplugged and then plugged back in, Audacity doesn't recognize the line in input and I have to restart the machine with the cord plugged in and then Audacity has no problem seeing that audio input.

Have you heard of this or similar issues? Any ideas on what might be the problem?

Thanks!

-JD

Hey wonderful podcast you have going on. I'm a P.C. guy myself and was so scared to hear from friends that setting up a podcast on a p.c. may have it's troubles since most everyone has a mac. Well I heard about your podcast from a friend named Adam Saverian, whom has started his own podcast. I'm somewhat familiar with Audacity since I use it for submitting some of my Amateur Voice Acting Skills to Audio-book publishers who are seeking new talent all the time. So once I got to your page here and saw that it's a podcast about "How to podcast" & "How to use Audacity" it really just struck a chord with me. It's absolutely perfect!

I have a few questions for you and maybe you answered these in later episodes that I haven't gotten to, I've only listened to the first 5 episodes of this fine podcast.

1) Why are USB Microphones preferred in Podcasting? Why not the simple plug and play type? (I have a microphone that plugs into the Microphone connection of my p.c., it's not a usb type.)

2) I don't have a clue as to how I can set-up a webpage or site to upload my audio-file mp3's and have people subscribe to me via an RSS Feed. I tried to read over this with the "Complete Idiots Guide to Podcasting" and it's really confusing. I looked at wordpress but it had me download some pack – and when I looked at the pack I had no clue what I was actually looking at. Have any advice on where to host a podcast, even for those who don't know how to set up an RSS feed?

-Thanks a ton for everything you do here on the podcast Daniel. You got yourself another long term listener right here.

-Jonathan Slater.
Seattle, Washington

You're close on the layers analogy. Consider Audacity's effects to audio tracks like Photoshop's not-smart filters on layers. Once you've applied and done other things, you can't go back and re-adjust the filter.

But editable effects would be like Photoshop's smart filters on smart objects. I can apply the filter and it looks the same, but I can come back later and change the filter I applied.

Saving your Audacity project with multiple tracks is the same as multiple layers in Photoshop. Having separate layers is great, but it's also important to keep the unedited edition somewhere. Either "Save As…" to get a working copy, or keep you raw recordings separate.

But I trust your judgment, I like what I read here and what others have said about you, so if you think Audacity is the way to go, then that's what I'll do.

In the audio of this post it sounded I liked your Photoshop layers analogy, so if I could run with it a bit more… if I save an audacity file with its different tracks (layers) before I export it was a wav file, I could always go back, open the saved Audacity file, tweak it and then re-export it?

Staying with the Photoshop theme, as a photographers the rule is never to edit the original file, copy it and work on the copy, sounds like the same rules should apply to audio files.

Okay, off to learn Audacity.

Thanks again.

I have high-end audio gear that cost over $1,200. But I still use Audacity because it's free and gets the job done very well. I and most other podcasters really don't need software any better than Audacity, unless there's a particular tool or way of doing something that we prefer.

I've talked to many other professional podcasters who also still use Audacity (many of them listen to this podcast). Other software will range from $50 to $350. You would be better to put any money you have into nicer equipment before spending it on software.

I had planned on using Audacity (which brought me to you) and as I will be producing my podcast I will need to learn the software, and I would rather start with what I need at the very beginning as opposed to "swapping horses in the middle of the stream".

Thank you for your time and response.

What do you want to do that Audacity doesn't do?
What kind of functionality or features are you looking for?
How much can you spend?
Windows, OS X, or Linux?

Thanks.

Isn't it actually a good thing that we don't have thousands of people listening to our first episodes? That's where we make the mistakes and are trying to figure out how to do things.

So my advice to those of you who are thinking of starting a podcast but have doubts in your mind is to just start recording. Yes, it will not be perfect but you will get better and better with each podcast you release and your fears will start to subside once you start going. Again thanks for the good show Daniel, keep up the good work!

Yes, I replied to your podcast cover art request. I look forward to working together.

Here's a quick way that you can disable it to get back to your WordPress.

1. Delete /w3-total-cache/ folder from wp-content/plugins/.
2. Edit your .htaccess file and remove anything between "# BEGIN W3TC …" and "# END W3TC …" (there may be multiple blocks like this).

Thanks, Debbie! I'm sure you'll find that you'll have a lot more listeners when you turn your live broadcast into a podcast and let people download anytime and listen anywhere.

Currently, I host a podcast (although I don't call it that) on BlogTalkRadio (BTR). I use an Audio Technica 2020 usb mic with pop filter via Skype, and my listeners and I are relatively happy with the sound quality.

I'm ready to set up my own hosted podcast, though, but don't want to lose the ease of bringing live callers on the line. (The BTR studio makes this super-easy). Currently, I use Replay Telecorder to record all of the audio and my local webcam as I broadcast the show. (of course, BTR automatically records the audio, too).

I love the energy of broadcasting live, and will likely begin to (finally) use my Livestream account to stream video live simultaneously. Like you, I realized that the live scheduling has forced me to do the show on a regular schedule…my listeners expect it.

Thanks for all that you do.

Debbie

Yes, I would suggest processing each voice differently, especially when you'll be recording people not as comfortable or experienced behind a microphone. While the same settings may generally apply to everyone, you may have to tweak for some people.

Chris's Dynamic Compressor does not affect every second of sound the same way. This is why it's dynamic. It will amplify one second of sound while de-amplifying another.

But the values you tell any compressor to use will sound differently on different voices. Take notes of what you find works best.

I just found this podcast, I'm very interested in the audio production topics (like this one). I loved your invitation to send in samples. I'm just launching a family audacity project, in which different folks will be reading the parts to a chapter from winnie the pooh. The first to record has been my 5 year old, Julian. Given the range of ages, genders, and levels of experience that my "talent" will exhibit, I've been wondering about whether I should do this kind of editing to each part, then mix them, or try to edit a mixed whole.

I'm leaning toward improving each track through your equalize-compress-normalize and *then* try to mix them. BTW, I'm using a Samson Gtrack into audacity running on a macbook pro.

Any suggestions? Would it make sense to send you a short clip of my little guy, before-during-after, or wait till I've got all the parts on board?

Thanks, again!

Ian

Congrats, buddy – and here's to many more.

The "compress bright sounds" and "boost bass sounds" are options added in the 1.2.7 beta that Chris never finished. There are some bugs with that version, which I'm getting help to fix.

I could be wrong, but I think Chris's dynamic compressor is now included by default in Audacity 1.3.12-beta. After installing the version from your website, this is what I found on the Audacity menu system – http://kernelsofwheat.com/ccc-menu. Your (Chris's) version looks like this — http://kernelsofwheat.com/cdc-old. What is apparently the new version has the same five options, but adds two more — "Compress bright sounds" and "Boost bass sounds" — http://kernelsofwheat.com/cdc-new.

I apologize for the "Pretty Links," but I didn't see an option to upload screenshots.

That being the case, I’m wondering if it would be better to fiddle with the hardware compression settings further (though I don’t feel I know enough about the three middle dials — even after reading the manual — to experiment intelligently), try your suggested Audacity compression plug-in, or work at it from both directions. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Yes, it was a great loss. I've been in touch with Chris's dad and the family is still in pain but trying to keep on living.

But what happens when we all dominate?