Bryan Schwartzman and Rachael Burgess Podcasting 101 Session 2: Technically Speaking, How Do You Make A Podcast? Bryan Schwartzman and Rachael Burgess

Network Roadmap

Today’s Agenda What tools do we need? The nuts and bolts of editing Finding and posting your podcast Q & A

The Right Tools & Equipment Bert Kleinman—Kehillat Israel

Why KI Podcasts The changing environment The challenges Push - showing up at a particular time Pull - accessing on demand Reaching people where they are The challenges Complex societies Competing opportunities People construct their own Judaism like a quilt Reaching a wider audience among our congregation Global vision Spreading the ideas of progressive Judaism

What Does KI Podcast? Friday Torah study Other learning sessions Shabbat speakers High Holy Days Sermons

The Challenges of Recording Different listening situations On a computer On portable In the car Dealing with ambient noise Live events Recording the speaker Dealing with Q & A Torah study and other classes Recording both the teacher and the class Balancing recording with environment

Equipment Remember listening situations Keep it simple Medium quality microphone Digital recorder How many channels? What kinds of mic inputs?

Editing and Processing Open and close Grab the audience Pre-written and pre-produced Remove problem areas Levels and compression Software Keep it simple Just editing or multi-track? Adobe Audition Audacity

Content is the most important Content is the most important! But it's useless if it can't be heard and understood

Ins-and-Outs of Editing Sam Wachs—Reconstructing Judaism

Recording/Editing Software No “right” editing program – use something you’re comfortable with Some PAID options include ProTools– the industry standard. (They also have a free “lite” version called ProTools First) Adobe Audition – from the makers of PhotoShop & Illustrator FREE Options include Audacity – an open source program. Very powerful free tool Garage Band – for Mac users Try out different software and see what works for you. For recording remote interviews/conversations Test everything as close to recording conditions as possible. Software options include Zoom Skype ZenCastr

Editing/Recording General Tips It’s easier to make something louder than to make something quieter When recording, pay attention to the audio levels (I like normal talking voices to be around -12 DB) Take notes while recording to help the editing process. After recording, IMMEDIATELY save and back up your media. If possible, have your media at in at least 2 physical locations AND the cloud. When editing, Ctrl + S (Command + S on Macs) is your best friend – that is the shortcut for “Save.” There is NO such thing as saving too often. If your program has an auto save feature, use it! You will not internalize this point until your project crashes and you lose hours of work. When in doubt, close your eyes and listen to the audio without any distractions Does it sound natural? If you hear something “off,” pause and mark down the timecode. Plan on the editing to take a bit of time, especially at first - at least 3x the length of the episode. As you gain experience, consider steps you can take in the recording process that will cut down editing time. Check your work when you’re done! Export the episode and (this is the worst part) LISTEN TO IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH. If you find mistakes, fix them all and then repeat the process. Your other best friend is Google.

The Platform Rabbi Michael Fessler—Reconstructing Judaism

Publishing: Discovery and Listening

Anatomy of a Podcast submit cover.jpg https://example.org/rss.xml ep20.mp3

Publishing Tools Basic capabilities: Fill in details of the podcast (description, topics, etc) Upload show art (min. 1400x1400 pixels, containing legible title even when small) First episode: Upload MP3 files, description, title, publication date, etc.  Copy provided feed URL, paste into Podcasts Connect, Google Play, etc. Wait for approval, then publicize! A few options (note: avoid Soundcloud!) Provider Monthly Fee Fireside.fm (our chosen host) $19/1 + $8 per additional podcast Squarespace $12-$16 Blubrry for Wordpress $12 and up Libsyn $5-15 (less full-featured)

Fireside.fm Features We Like Excellent and detailed download tracking and analytics Accompanying website – automatically creates pages for each episode, list of guests, individual bios, etc. Auto-publish at a certain date and time.  Special tool for compiling show notes from web browser Able to either host on fireside.fm or own domain name (weekly-torah.templeshalom.org). Episode preview links Ease of use + good support

Q & A

Monday, February 11 at 2 p.m. ET Coming Up… Papa, Can You Hear Me? Monday, February 11 at 2 p.m. ET