Tips and Tricks for Podcasting - Part 3

This is third and final installment on “Tips and Tricks for Podcasting” and focuses on GarageBand.

Garageband is a powerful software program for creating podcasts and offers enough sophistication to allow you to produce quality recordings.

Now let’s take a look at some tips and tricks for GarageBand.

Create a Template

Creating a podcast template in GarageBand saves hours of work. This is especially important when creating numerous podcasts for yourself or when working with students.

To create a podcast template:

Select “Save as…” under file menu
Then select “Create a Template”when editing a podcast session

It is important to create all the essential elements which will be part of every podcast. You will still have the ability to add any unique elements you need for a specific podcast in the future.

Enhancing Audio

Although you may have taken many precautions to prevent noise from sources other than a speaker when recording, some will probably still be present.

Some tips and tricks to make a voice recording crystal clear include the following:

To add a new effect, open “Track Info Pane,” then go to “Edit” tab and click on the empty spot that says, “Click here to add an effect”.
Select “Speech Enhancer” for reducing noise background noise. It is preset for female/male voices and can be stacked to reduce of eliminate a loud noises.
Select “AUBandPass” for filter high-pitched voices or enhancing a boring voice in an audio recording.

Adding and Editing Markers

If you want to upload podcasts to iTunes or other hosting services you will need to add markers to your podcast recordings.

When you add a marker to a podcast, it appears in the podcast track as a marker region.

Marker regions show how long the artwork or URLs you add to a marker last, and you can move them or re-size them to change their duration.

To begin - select a podcast track.

The podcast track appears above the other tracks in the timeline, and the editor opens showing the marker list, with columns for the start time, artwork, chapter title, URL title, and URL for each marker.

Note: A podcast can have either a podcast track or a video track, but not both. If you try to show the podcast track for a project that contains a video track, a dialog appears asking if you want to replace the video track with a podcast track.

To add a marker:

Move the play-head to the place where you want to add the marker.
Click the “Add Marker” button.

The marker appears in the editor, and the start time for the marker appears in the Time column in the marker’s row. The marker also appears as a marker region in the podcast track.

You can edit marker regions just like other regions in the timeline to control when artwork and URLs appear and how long they are visible when you play the podcast.

Recording Levels

Watch your voice recording levels to prevent clipping. This is accomplished by ensuring strong recording levels do not enter the red zone.

In a digital world, recording meters which enter red zones result in clipping. Clipping causes broken and intermittent audio.

If you need to increase audio levels, do so after during editing.

Keyboard Short Cuts

Learning keyboard shortcuts can save a lot of time when recording, editing, and uploading. Check out the keyboard short cuts here.

Creating a Video Podcast

Creating a video podcast is similar to creating an audio podcast, except that the video podcast includes a video file and does not include artwork.

Use following steps to create video podcast:

Send an iMovie project to GarageBand or import a video file from the Media Browser.
Create the podcast audio in GarageBand.

When you have created your video podcast in GarageBand, you can send it to iWeb or export it to your website, blog, or wiki.

These are fundamental tips and tricks are not intended to be all inclusive, if you have others feel free to share them in the comments section for others to see.

Additional Resources

Tips and Tricks for Podcasting - Part 1

Tips and Tricks for Podcasting - Part 2