Podcast Recording Tidbits
The first actual podcast came and went. After it, I felt- odd. The product I ended up with wasn't quite what I expected it to be.
A bit on the actual process.- After tons of experimenting in the living room, on the stairs, in the laundry room and even crouched under a table I managed to find the perfect recording place. My cramped closet. Yes, many people did say it was a good recording place, but I was very skeptical until I heard the sound.
- It took me multiple tries to get a good recording mostly becasue the pitch black closet kept freaking me out with imaginary spiders and other things. (Note-to-self: stop watching "A Haunting" until remaining podcasts are recorded.)
- I followed Tamara's FAQ page- I felt a bit silly doing the stuff on there, but it definitely made recording a bit easier and less awkward.
- I didn't have a proper script. I just had the main points jotted down, but the closet was too dark to read any of that. Everything in that podcast was from memory. And apparently my memory is not what it should be.
Things I liked
- The music- it was definitely something that made me feel more upbeat about my podcast. I loved it the moment I heard it and just knew it had to be in the podcast.
- Editing in Audacity- There was something really magical about cutting out odd pauses and awkward sentences and making youself sound a bit better. But, it did get annoying when I kept missing obvious things.
- I didn't get too injured in the dark closet. Sure I smacked my elbow a couple of times and stubbed my toe. And maybe I almost slammed into the closet door in a panicky attempt to escape from the closet. But I'm glad to say I didn't need any band-aids.
Things that made me wince... repeatedly
- Oddly enough even though the content in my final podcast came from one recording- my tone changes a lot. Sometimes I sound fun and suddenly it's like I'm reading for an encyclopedia entry/funeral.
- My skit/sketch to demonstrate a scenario. I think my editing was lacking for this. Even though I had the materials and worked on the parts- it just became a mishmash of sounds.
- Mono, stereo and other odd things that popped up when I tried to add in sound effects. I realised if I messed with certain settings I ended up killing most sounds without knowing what I changed. One minute the sound was clear and the next it became a long drawn out wailing sound.
- Posterous posting- I know it's a new blog and everything. But I just despised the lack of options to attach filens directly when you create a web post. Attaching files to email and then not having proper editing functions for that post made it annoying.
Things I definitely need to keep an eye out on next time
- Transitioning from one part/point to another. I probably need to use a sound effect to move between different points. Or at least take a bigger break/pause.
- Definitely include more research. The thing I realised was that I skipped mentioning a lot of the historical research becasue I thought it was too bland. The lack of script definitely showed here.
On the whole, I think it could have ended up a whole lot worse. At least my paranoia of constantly saving my files and backing up things kept most of the stress away.

