Suggestions for podcasting

Hi everyone

I was working the the book "Wishcraft" by Barbara Sher the other day and I found that I love audios. So I would love to do some audios as a product and as a way of communicating with people and sharing what I've learned.

I've never made a podcast nor I haven't installed any audio in my website. Is it difficult?

I currently use a digital recorder for doing my numerology reports, which then I record into a CD and send it along with a written report. I've made a survey among my clients and they all say the sound is good, but I'm not very satisfied with it because previously I made those reports with a cassete recording (then I upgraded to something digital to be able to send CDs instead of cassettes) and I found the difference in the sound quality is disappointedly worst with the digital recording compared to the cassette).

Can you give me any suggestions? How would you give your audios? My first intention is to install a brief presentation and welcome in the index page, then a 30 minute interview about myself in the "about me" section of my site, this way people could know me better (i've asked my husband to be the interviewer, how weird is that? but it also sounds like fun :-) ), What do you think?

Do I just make the recording with my digital recorder or is there a better way? Would the sound quality be enough? My idea is to have those audios with free access to them (of course, who would suscribe just to hear about my life :-) ), and then make some more with a opt in suscription to the site (but I won't be able to do that until I install the autoresponders) What kind of mp3 quality would be suitable for that? How do I install the audios if I would only like to be listened on line? (that's an idea am ponding but don't know if it would be better just to let them be downloaded.

All your comments will be more than welcome
Love
Charo

www.propositodelalma.com

Hi Charo,

Yeah - audios can be incredibly effective - although video can be even better... I'd say a rough-and-ready video is probably better than a well produced audio, because the extra dimension helps people to connect with you in a much stronger way.

.... one of our members, Claire Gillen, has recently been down this road...

http://club.inspired-entrepreneur.com/forums/t/35.aspx

... with some good results.

 If you can do video, I'd to that instead, but audio is a great place to start.

... getting plain old streaming audio on your website is fairly easy, but podcasting can be a little more involved. With podcasting you produce audio content on a regular basis - people subscribe to it - and the audio is automatically downloaded to their PCs (or MP3 players) when they go online. Check out friend Sarah Rourke who does this stuff for a living. I'd look into this after you've done got confortable with audio streaming.

If you decide to produce some audio for you website, and you don't want to spend a lot on a professional digital audio recorder just buying a really high quality microphone and plugging it into your sound card will enable you to record directly onto your computer and can give solid results. You can use a products like Goldwave (shareware) or Soundfourge to edit the recordings (Nick always says that SoundFourge is the equivalent of MS Word for audio because it's quite easy to use) and then you could stream the audio to visitors using a product like Wimpy Button (as we do on our site).

If you also wanted people to be able to download the audio, you'd just need to provide a link next to the play button directly to the MP3 file, so you could choose which files you'll allow people to download. If you're just doing voice, I'd produce the audio in mp3 format at 22500hz mono (this give you small files - which are better for streaming - but without sacrificing too much quality).

Hope this helps,

Niki

Hi Nikki

Thank you for this valuable information. :-)

Since you say video is best, I gave it a try and recorded myself the other day with my digital camera and, well, I couldn't stop laughing during the recording! and then when I saw the video I felt awful (ha,ha,ha) but today I see it with different eyes, maybe, with some more rehearsals I could do it. :-)

Anyway, audio seems quicker, and while I do EFT to low my fears enough to appear in front of the camera, I will keep on working with the audios, but surely I'll also give video a try. 

The streaming option seems much quicker too, so that's my first step. I really enjoy your monthly ezines, mixing the video and the written text. But I imagine that mixing audio and text could also be interesting. I'm almost exploding with inspiring ideas! I need to put them into practice now.

I'll keep you updated on that.

Thanks for you support

Love
Charo 

Hi Charo

Just to say (on the rehearsal front) that I've found I need to have 2 or 3 goes before I'm okay with a video and think 'that will do'.  Any more than that and it feels false and 'staged'. 

The first go is usually a total shambles and I feel foolish and look and sound a bit miserable to be honest!  The second or third go, I'm more natural and relaxed about it all and have a better idea of what I'm trying to say.  I have to keep it 'rough', as if I try and do a 'script' it doesn't work at all for me.

Sounds like you're having fun with it anyway!   I've cracked up with laughter too and have some very interesting 'out-takes'.

The only other thing to say is that we are usually far more self-conscious about ourselves than anyone else is.  There was a time when I couldn't even listen to a tape recording of my voice without cringeing.  Now, I just think 'yup.... that's me'.

Lots of Love

Claire

PS Must learn Spanish so I can enjoy your site!

If you are looking for a high quality microphone, you could try the Rode Podcaster. It connects directly to your computer via a USB connection and bypasses the computer's built in soundcard- this would give you far superior results than plugging a microphone into the soundcard on your computer. It's available from loads of shops in the high street and online.

Lee

Thanks for the tip Lee.  I shall investigate that one.  Nick suggested a Sony clip on microphone but it's been discontinued (at least I couldn't find it onliine anywhere).

Great to have another expert on board!  Welcome!

Hi Lee

Thanks for your advice and a warm welcome to you!

Will that mic be also suitable for a digital recorder? I was wondering if I could also use it to record my life events.

Love

Charo

Hi Charo,

The mic would be suitable as a digital recorder with your computer, but it is not really designed to be handheld. If you wanted a USB mic that could be handheld, you could look at the Samson C01U but I don't know how good this one is.

Lee