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Creating a Podcast with Audacity

Recording your Audio

Connect your microphone-headset to your computer.

Open Audacity. When the window opens you will see the audio tools in the

empty window.

Click on the red recording button.

As the wave form begins to move across the screen you can begin speaking.

When finished click the yellow stop button.

You should see your new audio track.

Record Stop

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To name this first layer, click on the Audio Track drop-down and select Name…

Type in a name for the file and click OK.

You can edit an entire track or sections of a track. To edit an entire track, press

Ctrl+A or hold the left mouse button down while you drag across the entire track.

Click on Effect on the menu bar.

Three frequently used effects for voice are Amplify,

Compressor, and Normalize.

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Amplify will change the volume if the volume of

your recording is too soft.

Compressor compresses the range of the selection

so that the loud parts are softer while keeping the

volume of the soft parts the same.

Normalize allows you to fix the maximum amplitude at

3dB. (It is recommended that you normalize all tracks.)

The next step is to add a second track which will be an audio track.

There are several free sites on the web, such as Garageband you can use.

You can go through the steps of naming the track.

The next step is to edit the track.

The music track is way too long. Use the selection tool to drag and highlight the

area we want to remove and delete the unwanted section.

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The music track is much louder than the voice track. Use the envelope tool and

shrink the track.

Adjust the volume controls until the sound is at a desired level.

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The next step is to apply ID3 tags.

This is used primarily if your podcast is going to be public.

Click on Project and select Edit ID3 Tags…

Fill in the tags and click OK.

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The tags are used to identify your podcast if you place it on a publicly accessible

website where users can subscribe to your content.

Exporting your Audio

SAVE YOUR FILE!

Click on File and select Save Project As… (it will save as .aup).

Name and save your project.

Click on File and select Export as MP3…

If it is the first time you are exporting an

MP3 it will look for a program called

LAME Encoder. You need to locate the

file lame_enc.dll.

Name and save your podcast.

Congratulations! You have created a podcast! Select the file and click on the Play button

******TIPS******

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You may want to begin podcasting with a written script.

Some people are uncomfortable speaking into a recording device. Enlist a friend or family member (or mirror) if you feel you speak better with an audience.

Forgive your pauses, uhhhs, and ahhhs. If you are speaking in a class you have pauses, uhhhs, ahhhs, etc. You cannot edit them out in the classroom. Let them be in the online communications – or you will spend too much time editing them out! (A lesson I learned after much editing!!!!)

Keep your podcasts short! It is hard to navigate in a large audio file. It is better to have information broken into small packages. Think about logical breaks in the information you are providing.

Uploading Your Podcast to podOmatic

Click on Log In.

Type in your username, example: ken_rovine Type in your password, arcadiaonline

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This screen will come up- Login successful Click on “Post your first episode”

“Now post your first episode” screen will show up Add a title Add tags with commas between words Add comments Add a picture if you want to Click on the box beside “This show is clean”

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Click on Import

Click on browse to find saved Podcast, it should be under My Computer, located on your Arcadia Online Flash Drive

Click open Click Post Episode

The next screen that comes up will be “3 Steps to Get The Word Out”This is where you can add names from your address book if you use GMail, Yahoo or Hotmail

Click skip

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Skip this next step You would use this step to share your podcast on these sites however

This screen lists other options you can do Click on “My Podcast Page”

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You can play your podcast here or send the link to a friend

If you click on My Podcast, there are preferences you can manage Try changing the Theme

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You have uploaded your podcast to podO-matic. Congratulations!