northernvoice
More Northern Voice!! Podcasting with Tod Maffin.
CBC Radio Tech Column /Nerd

iloveradio.org
techreviews
futurefile.com – business focus

Definitely a room filler, even though most of the people in the room are not familiar with podcasting.

Update: Tod has posted his notes here.

How does podcasting work

HTML -> WYSIWYG -> Content management -> RSS

With RSS a) you get a webpage others can read AND, for the first time b) RSS code is published for machines to use

RSS is feeds to follow blogs. So, how do you attach audio files? Using tags you can attach mp3 files that podcatchers can read.

You can subscribe to this RSS with audio just as you would a regular blog, but using a podcatcher. The Podcatcher watches the feed to see if there is new content – when there is, it is downloaded, added to a library, and even a step further to dump into your mp3 player.

WAV or AIFF files
uncompressed pure audio in PC and MAC format
huge files with great quality

MP3 or AAC
compressed audio – much easier to stay on your bandwidth limit!!
much smaller

To encode audio you need to know:
the bitrate – kbps
the sample rate – kHz (44,100 is standard MP3)

A professional sample rate will be mich higher kHz.
For comparison, a phone is only 8 kHz. Yes, 8.
The sample rate is a basic measure of how closely the sound is to the original. Much smoother and clearer the higher the rate goes.

Content of your Podcasts

-have something to say: what’s your passion, have a clear show focus/topic that is unique or original or something you know well, tell a story (it is live, unscripted, real)
-speak to one person – there is NO EVERYBODY. There are individual people. My thought – if you want to talk to the masses, go into marketing (and yes, I am, kind of, in marketing). Imagine them in real life situations. Not in their underwear
-be brief. Everyone is busy. Your podcast must fit into standard commute time.
-mix up sound. have an onramp. What is an onramp? An audio header. A little thing that introduces you. Listen to TV commercials, radio shows, or even TV shows. They all have a little “ba dum bump” entry. Have a voiceover/sweeper for your show.

Radio is the most visual medium – you are not limited to what you can imagine in your head! Great quote!

Recording other people

Microphones

-Meant to be near your mouth! You cannot increase the volume of low talking without also increasing the ambient noise (room tone)
Where: 2″, on an angle
-Patterns
-Avoid USB mics

A little interesting tip – If you have problems making popping noises, use a pop screen. It will filter it all out.
DIY – use nylon and embroidery hoop to make this

Avoid Verbally listening
-do NOT go “oh” or “ah huh” or any other natural conversational bits

The secret of double enders
-To maintain broadcast quality on both ends, do not record the phone conversation. Have each side record their own to ensure maximum quality. You can then put both together in an audio mixer to mimic the actual conversation you had on the phone.

Collect roomtones

Legal issues of the phone
It is legal in Canada to record a conversation so long as ONE party (ie you) is aware. You are, however, not necessarily permitted to broadcast it. Ask. It’s your best bet.

Recording yourself

Capture tools: PC – audacity, Samplitude

Posting
ID3 Tags
Show notes (at min x I talk about x)
Feedburner – instant enclosures. You can point Feedburner to your RSS feed and looks for MP3, converts it to for you, and then you can see the stats of who has downloaded it

Promotion and Feedback
Regular Schedule
Creative Commons (allows for use so long as it is not commercial)
Show notes
Blog with RSS (you MUST distribute it – this is the only way to spread the idea virus, which is basically what blog posts are – a collection of ideas meant to be spread easily. The ultimate WOM (word of mouth))
Ask for feedback!
Incorporate comments into your new podcasts
Free voicemail-to-email (k7.net) is a free service that lets people call in to you and it will send to you

Myths of the law
You can play legally if:
- I only play 15 seconds
- I talk over the intro of the song
- I bourght and own the CD
- The artist agreed (ahem, they probably don’t have the rights to the music – if they are truly independent it’s ok)

Fair comments
- You do have the right to comment on something and use excerpts of the songs. You cannot play the whole thing or a substantive portion. You must have good comments on the topic.

licencing
-ASCAp.com/weblicence
must be non-interactive without revenue
no show notes listing song titles
no ability to have users select songs online
costs $360/yr

Thanks Tod for a great session!! Very informative. I really knew nothing of podcasting

What Tod Recommends listening to:
Daily source code
Doug’s Applescript
Coverville
cbc.ca/nerd