The idiots guide to podcasting
This last week I checked into podcasting for the first time. I thought it was great and decided I’d like to make a podcast of my own. The only
problem was I didn’t know how. I read several sites that talked about RSS scripting and stuff and to be honest, it looked really difficult.
After several days of wading thru crap I finally realized that podcasting is a very simple thing to do. All you need is to download a couple of free
programs and your pretty much set up to podcast. I’m going to walk you thru the process and you’ll see for yourself how simple it really is.
Part one: What you will need.
It pretty much goes without saying your going to need a computer with an Internet connection. This is an idiots guide however so I thought I’d
point that out.
You will also need a microphone. This is essential. You can talk to your computer all day long but without this piece of equipment it cannot hear
you. The good news is you don’t need an expensive microphone. The one I’m using costs less then ten bucks at Wally world.
Next you will need to download two programs. The first is called
Audacity and the second is the
Lame library. Both are free and you can get them at the following links:
Audacity
Lame library
Once the programs are downloaded unzip the Lame library and remember where you unzipped it to. You will need this information later. Write it
down.
Now install the Audacity program.
That’s it. Were ready to make our first podcast. Lets move on to the next part of the guide.
Part two: Your first podcast.
Open the Audacity program. On the upper left side of the program is the record button (it’s a little red circle). Click on it and start talking.
You are now recording your first podcast for the entire world to hear. The squiggly lines are not your heart going into arrhythmia; they are the
patterns of your voice. Two buttons to the right of the record button is the stop button (a little yellow square) click on that to stop the recording.
Now click on the green arrow to hear your first podcast.
If yours was anything like mine then it totally sucked. That’s ok though, were still learning. In the upper left hand corner you will see the edit
button, click on it and scroll down to “Undo record” and click on it. Now you can start over.
Now comes the really tough part, you need to think of your introduction to podcasting on ATS. Figuring out what you want to say is one hell of allot
harder then actually making a podcast. I’ll leave this part between you and your conscious while I run to the bathroom.
Brb.
OK, you’ve had time now to record your intro and fine tune it to perfection. Sorry to have been gone so long but I got into the story I was
reading. Anyway,
Now that you’ve recorded what you want to say, we need to save it as an mp3 file. This is very easy. Go to the far upper left of your screen and
click on the “File” tab, scroll down to, “Export as mp3” and click it.
Audacity will tell you that in order to save your recording as an mp3 it uses the Lame library and needs to know where it is located on your
computer. I told you to write this down earlier so it shouldn’t be hard to find. Tell it where its located and then it will save your recording as
an mp3 to whatever location you told it to save your recording to.
You now have a podcast ready to be uploaded to ATS. Congratulations. I told you it wasn’t difficult.
Moving right along.
Part three: Uploading your podcast to ATS.
This is the easiest part of all. Go to the
Podcast thread, on the right of the screen is
the submission form and the guidelines. Read the guidelines first so you don’t mess up and get yourself banned and blame all the # on me.
Fill out the form, click upload and your podcasting my friend. Keep in mind this is simple. As you learn more you can get fancy with your casts but
right now were just going for the basics.
Good luck and if you have any questions, I’ll answer as best I can.
Love and light,
Wupy
