This is the final week of the Podcasting theme. I want to bring it all together and have you record a test episode.
Think of this as a dry run. It’s best to test your equipment, software, services, and processes before recording your first “real episode” or interviewing a guest.
It takes some practice to get comfortable speaking into the mic. You’ll also want to experiment with your distance from the mic, tone, volume, and speaking style.
If you’ve never done it before, it will feel a little strange. But, it does get easier.
As I’ve mentioned before, have an outline ready with your speaking points. But don’t try to read a script verbatim. Have fun with it!
You can decide what you want to use to record your audio. I now use a Zoom H6 Portable Recorder with a microphone connected via the XLR input (listed in my equipment here). But, I used to record with a USB microphone plugged into my laptop using the free Mac OS X QuickTime Player (i.e., New Audio Recording).
Once you’ve recorded your audio file, import it into your preferred audio editing software (e.g., GarageBand, Audacity). Buzzsprout has a pretty good tutorial that explains how to record and edit with GarageBand. They also have a tutorial for Audacity.
By the way, it helps to wear over-ear closed-back headphones while you’re editing (without noise canceling turned on). That reduces noise leakage, and you’ll get a better sense of what things will sound like.
