With eight podcasts under my belt, I’ve picked up a few things here and there. For example: good microphones are a good investment. And don’t blow into the microphone. Yeah, people don’t like that. Sorry.
There’s still plenty for me to learn about the fine art of recording, though, so when I heard that Apple had a free online video seminar on just that topic, well, I was on it like the proverbial white on rice. The seminar features three parts, all conveniently labeled with a plosive-popping ‘P’ word: Perform, Produce, and Promote.
Perform was by far the most interesting of the three. It featured professional voiceover man Joe Cipriano (pictured), whose voice you’ve almost certainly heard adorning many a network promo and trailer (“It’s the television event of the year…”). Joe gives some tips on mics, setting up a makeshift studio, and how to speak into a mic. He’s limited to some extent by the time window, but he’s quite fun to listen to.
Produce was a bit weak. It features Paul Garay, host of the Inside Home Recording podcast, walking you through the basics of podcasting using GarageBand. And I’m talking basics: how to do a simple edit, add pictures and links to the podcast track, and upload it with iWeb. It’s pretty much an Apple shill for GarageBand. As I’m pretty much sold on using GB, this was preaching to the choir. There were a couple amusing moments, but they were all from part one’s Joe Cipriano, who appears briefly (he tries to steal a microphone. Twice).
Promote. Okay, you caught me. I haven’t watched the “Promote” segment yet. From the looks of it, it’s mainly about adding your podcast to the iTunes podcast directory. As we’ve already done that for MacUser’s podcast, and as I’d already had my fill of salesmanship from part two, I decided to forego it for the moment. Maybe I’ll come back to it later. Maybe not.
Anyway, the whole thing is free, so the only thing you lose is a perhaps valuable hour and a half of your life. Still, if you’re interested in some podcast basics, it’s probably worthwhile.
[via TUAW]
Thanks for your comment on the seminar.
Technically, it's true that Paul's segment was pretty basic, but if Apple had wanted advanced editing tips, he certainly could have provided them. But I think the main message was supposed to be not about the technical production, but about how to get an effective flow using various audio elements, regardless of the software you use (and if you do the kind of podcast where you perform post-production).
In our normal production run at Inside Home Recording, we do use GarageBand for final assembly (and I often use it for source recording too), but we use a lot of other tools too, from Pro Tools and Fission to WordPress and Transmit. (In the seminar, John Danty noted that we don't use iWeb to post our files, in fact.)
But discussing that probably would have complicated things pretty heavily and run significantly over time. And of course Apple is going to shill for their own stuff -- if they made mics and headphones, I'm sure those would have been the main choices too!
Sorry if the post came off sounding overly harsh. :) I applaud Apple for putting up these free tutorials, especially in video form: it's certainly a lot easier to get a grasp on things when you see them. For people who have never done a podcast before, I can imagine this is really helpful.
Perhaps it's just time for me to start seeking out more advanced training. :)