Record Your Podcast PDF

# Record your podcast ## 5.3 Record your podcast ### In this lesson - How to record more than one track of audio - How to check the quality of your recording - How to edit the length of your recordings - How to arrange your recordings along the timeline ### Set up and make your podcast In the las...

# Record your podcast ## 5.3 Record your podcast ### In this lesson - How to record more than one track of audio - How to check the quality of your recording - How to edit the length of your recordings - How to arrange your recordings along the timeline ### Set up and make your podcast In the last lesson, you set up your recording equipment and created a test recording. Now it is time to record your podcast. Follow these steps: - Set up your recording equipment in a quiet place with very little background noise. - Decide how you will record the segments in your outline. - You can record each segment on a separate track. - If you are very confident, you can record all the segments on one track and separate them for editing later. - Practise each segment before you record. You will feel more relaxed if you know your content. - Press 'Record' and have fun making your podcast. ### Record segments as separate tracks Record each podcast segment on its own track. You can then edit the tracks and arrange them so that they flow together without gaps. Start by recording your first segment as 'Track 1'. Follow the instructions for recording in the previous lesson. When you are ready to record the next segment, add a new track in your DAW software. ### Adding more tracks to your recording In Audacity, you can add a new track from the 'Tracks' menu. - Add a new track. A mono track is suitable for a podcast voice recording. A mono track uses a single channel of audio. - Place the cursor in the new track area, after the end of the first segment. The recording on this track will start from this point. Make sure you have selected the correct track. ### Trim tracks When you make a recording, there is usually a pause between when you press 'Record' and when you start talking. There is usually a pause at the end of the track too, between when you stop talking and when you press 'Stop'. You can trim your tracks. This means you delete any unwanted silence at the beginning and the end of the track. - To trim the beginning of your track, use the playback controls to play the track from the beginning. Click 'Pause' when the sound starts. Click on the waveform to position the cursor just before the sound starts. - You can do the same to trim the end of the track. Position the cursor at the correct place on the waveform, then open the 'Select' menu and choose 'Region', then 'Cursor to Track End'. - The area before the cursor is now highlighted. Press the 'Delete' button on your keyboard to remove this area. - Now, when you play back your file, your voice will start straight away. ### Record your podcast ### Edit audio in a track Everyone makes mistakes when they are recording audio. You might misread a word or cough. It doesn't matter, because you can fix your mistakes by editing the track. Use the playback controls to play your audio file and listen for parts you want to edit. When you have found a part you want to remove, click the 'Pause' button. - Select the 'Zoom' tool and click to zoom in on an area of the track. Right-click to zoom back out. - Use the 'Selection' tool to place the cursor and highlight areas of the waveform. - Select the area. Click and drag to highlight your selection. Drag the edge of the area to make it bigger or smaller. - Use the looped playback function to check your selection is correct. Press 'Shift' on your keyboard and click the 'Play' button to start looped playback. - To delete the selected area, press the 'Delete' key on your keyboard. ### Move audio in a track When you have edited audio in a track, you might find that the track no longer lines up with other tracks. Trimming the start of one track might mean that it starts before another track finishes. Trimming the end of one track might leave a gap before the audio on the next track starts. You can move the audio in a track to make it line up again. - Select the 'Time Shift' tool. This allows you to move audio in a track. - Drag the audio to the left to close the gap between the audio in the two tracks. - Listen to the result when you have moved the audio. Sometimes a small gap between tracks sounds better than no gap. ## Activity - Record the segments of your podcast on separate tracks. - Play back your audio and decide what edits you need to make. - Use the trimming and time shift tools to edit your tracks. - Listen to the whole file to check you have a complete podcast programme. - Save your work. ## Extra Challenge Your DAW gives every audio track a default name. In Audacity, the name is 'Audio Track'. Name the different tracks to help you stay organised when you are editing your audio. ## Test - Why is it important to record the audio for your podcast in a quiet place? - Explain what the 'Trim' tool is used for in your DAW. - Why is it a good idea to record segments of a podcast on separate tracks? - Most modern music is made using multi-track recording. Explain some of the benefits of recording music in this way.