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In the first article in this series, I talked about the hardware you will need to start to record your podcast and for later post production of your Audio. In this article, we will look at some of the software for recording and editing your audio content. If you use a standalone audio recording device, such as the Zoom H2 recorder I mentioned in the first article, you will be ready to go, as far as recording goes; as all the software needed to do this is embedded into the device. The device will have options as to the file format you wish to record in, such as .wav or .Mp3, and some recorders may be able to record in .ogg or .flac formats.
Depending on your needs and the amount of post production you are planning, then .wav or .Flac will give the best high-quality lossless audio where the audio file retains as much of the audio detail as was picked up during recording without loss of quality. The .wav format is the standard CD audio format, and will take up the most file space, typically around 8.7MB per minute of audio, whereas for a .Flac file, at full quality, is typically around 5MB per minute. If you have limited storage space on your recording device, you may wish to record in .Mp3, which, at standard quality of 128kbits per second, will generate a file of about 1MB per minute of audio recorded (or transcoded from one of the other formats). But, apart from the decisions you need to consider regarding file formats when recording your audio, with a standalone device like the Zoom H2 you are good to go. Put a set of batteries in the device and read the Manual so you know the way it operates and start to record.
If you plan to record your audio on a mobile phone, then obviously you will need a recording application for this. As I don’t use an iPhone, I can’t comment on their software for this job, but there is a list of recommended apps here. And I’m sure it will have a voice recording app by default and this may be good enough. Android has numerous applications in the Play store for audio recording. A couple that get fairly good reviews are: • ‘Easy Voice Recorder’ which has both a free (with Ads) and paid version, and can record to several different audio file formats. • The other is simply called ‘Voice Recorder’ and again comes as a ‘Free’ with ads version and an ad-free paid version. • A full list of some of the other options are here.
Remember that, as with many Android apps, you will want to check out what the app wants access to on the phone when you consider if you want to install it to your device. I’m not sure how much of an issue this is with Apple devices. You may just want to experiment with the default option on your device and stick with that if you feel it is adequate, but there are a number of applications that can record audio on your mobile device, be it an Android or iOS device.
If you will be recording on a Desktop or laptop PC, then your options in Linux are very good indeed. A quick search of the web comes up with many lists but the most common used by most in the Linux community, and I include myself in that, is Audacity – which is top of the list. Ronnie did a great Basics of Audacity tutorial in FCM#109, which is a great place to start with this powerful audio editing tool. Another good choice is Ardour although I have not personally used it. I know several people who have more professional audio editing experience than myself, and who feel this is a more complete solution if you have more professional recording editing and mixing needs, but it is not going to be as user-friendly to someone starting to get to grips with the basics of audio editing as Audacity. My recommendation would be to start with Audacity as there are lots of tutorials on the web to get you started, and the basics are fairly easy to master.
We started this by looking at software for recording, but you will also need software to edit your audio if you are going to do anything to it before you post it to the internet in your chosen way. If you are using an Android device, and I would not recommend a phone for this, but with a 10”+ tablet it is probably possible. There are a number of applications that can edit your audio once recorded, although as I have not tried this method and this is about using Linux to start your podcasting journey, all I’ll say is that this is a link to 8 such programs (https://techwiser.com/audio-editing-apps-for-android/).
As for using Linux for editing, the list above (which I suggested as solutions for recording audio) also work for editing. Again my suggestion for the beginner would be to start with Audacity, and, as you get more confident and your needs become more complex, you may wish to check out Ardour or one of the other more task-specific programs that may have the more complex functionality you may need. If you are recording a solo podcast then the above is all the software you may need, but if, like myself, you have decided to jump into the world of recording with more than one person, and you are not all able to be in the same room, town, or even continent, at the same time, then you will need some software that will enable you to talk to each other and record at the same time.
There are a number of solutions for this in Linux, but the two that spring to mind, and that I have used, are Skype and Mumble. • Skype, while not being open source, if there are only a few of you, might be your simple option as you do not have to have a server set up to do this – the infrastructure is provided by Microsoft. • Mumble however, while it is open source software, will require the setting up of a Mumble server which can be hosted either in the cloud or on a local server, and if you do not have the ability to do this by yourself or have access to someone else's server, it might not initially be a solution you can use. Although if you are recording content for a podcast that already has a server set up, such as Hacker Public Radio, and you ask nicely, then they may allow you to use theirs when it’s not in use.
There is also the ability to record the conversation on Skype and Mumble, but it is also advisable for each of the participants to record their audio locally as well. This is for two reasons: first you will have a better quality of final edit using the local recordings and mixing them together in post production than the server audio, but you can then use the Skype/Mumble recording as your backup solution if, for any reason, things go wrong with any of the local recordings. I‘m not sure about Skype, but Mumble allows the recording of separate tracks for those on the call, so you can use the audio track for whoever's local audio went wrong, and not the whole of the recording from the call stream, if needed. So in these last two articles, we have looked at the hardware and software you will need to get started in the podcast world. In the next episode, I will look at your options for getting your audio out to the listening public, and how to go about this.