The Online Guide to Creating Podcasts Presented by The Portland Public Schools Multimedia Library Recording and Saving your Podcast

Within this tutorial are the instructions on how to create and save your podcasts as MP3 files for distribution over the internet.

Locate microphone port on computer. On most laptops it is either on the side or front. On most desktops it is located on the back or front of the CPU.

Double Click Icon

Click Edit

Scroll down and click Preferences

Click and set Playback Device to Output Click and set Recording Device to Input

Click and set Channels to 2 (Stereo)

Click OK

Click Here

Scroll down highlight and click Microphone

Adjust input volume to someplace between 0.7 and 0.9. During recording you may be required to adjust these settings in order to avoid “clipping” or digital distortion.

Click Record button

A line will move across the screen denoting the progress of the recording. The blue blobs illustrate the recording of sound. The larger they are, the louder it sounds. Adjusting the input will make the sound louder or softer. Avoid blue blobs that fill the entire recording area since they are more likely to create noise. Between 0.5 and-0.5 on the graph is adequate enough.

These red bars show the volume of sound as it enters the program. The longer they are the louder and shorter the quieter. If they are constantly hitting the far right (over 1.0) then you have a high chance for noise. Anywhere between 0.5 and 0.8 is fine.

When finished recording click the Stop button here.

You can edit to remove unwanted sound or to clear spots of silence. Highlight the area you want to remove by clicking and dragging with the mouse. Then press the delete key. You can zoom in and out for editing with a finer touch on places where you don’t want to cut too much

If you are not pleased with the edit or want to replace something you just cut. You can undo the edit. Click Edit

Click undo edit

The edit is replaced. The undo option has a memory that takes it back quite a few steps. Though with each step you have to revisit all your edits, including the ones you do not want.

In order to save file as an MP3 you need to click on File.

Scroll down and click on export as MP3

Give file name Click Save

MP3 files can be saved with ID3 tags. These provide information such as artist and title and are carried with the file until changed. These tags appear when the file is played in any media player on a computer or MP3 player. For our purposes click the ID3v1 for more compatibility. Then you can fill in all the information you desire.

You may also want to save the entire file as a project. The project is a file created by the Audacity program that can only be opened in Audacity. This project file allows for easy editing and adjusting if needed for the future. This is done under file and scroll down to Save Project or Save Project As…

Create a title Click save

Ta da!! You have finished your first podcast. As with all forms of specialized equipment and recording, the best way to perfect and learn is to play and experiment. It takes a little time to get started but with practice you could eventually become quite the audio engineer. Here’s one more pointer to help you create a clearer, louder sound… Click Continue…

Right click on the small speaker icon here Highlight and click Open Volume Properties If your sound does not seem loud enough you can give the microphone a boost. Here’s how…

Click Options

Scroll down and click on Properties

Click Recording Make sure that Microphone is checked then click OK

Click Advanced

Click to put a check next to Mic Boost. Then click close. There may be other settings located in here. Feel free to adjust them if you feel they can give better sound. Everything can be adjusted while Audacity is running and while you are recording.