record a podcast?
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hey, I know this isn’t a WordPress feature, but you folks have mad skills so I thought I’d ask here…..anyone know of a free program that will enable me to make a radio show/podcast? I read a bit about Reaper, which turns out NOT to be free, but I understand it allows for mixing and cueing multiple music files plus adding voice-over. Anyone?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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….like a conventional terrestrial (music) radio show: sets of songs interspersed with voice-over commentary. back in the analog stone age, one would need a mixer plus two turntables and a microphone. those that still have their mixer, ttables and mic can find an interface that makes it all digital (including special “records” that sync with mp3s). What I’m hoping to find is an app that allows cueing of multiple (say, 2) mp3 tracks plus control of a mic. a recorded hour of that would be my homemade podcast.
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I have Audacity and use it for editing mp3s or converting to mp3; I can’t see any way Audacity would allow me to play a set of 2 or 3 mp3s, talk about the artists and titles, then begin another set. Sure, it can record what I’m doing, but I need some app that allows me to cue up one mp3 while playing another, to pan from one to another, and to add mic’ed announcements over, like a mixing console would.
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Then you need to hit Google. Audacity will make an MP3 of virtually anything; what you need is ONE MP3 of everything; in other words, it needs to contain what you’re playing, your voiceover, etc. One MP3. You then add that to your WP.com blog.
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Audacity is the easy part; like I said, <i>back in the day</i> what one needed was a mixer, turntables and a microphone. If I asked the question “what do I need to make a radio show?” back in 1976 and someone said “get a tape recorder”, that’s the equivalent of Audacity today. (if I still had my mixer, microphone and ANY two sources: turntables, CD players, or iPods, I could use Audacity to record my efforts. It’s the ability pan between sources of music and mic’ed voice-overs that I’m looking for. And I started with Google…..it’s a tough search to phrase; “<i>record</i> a podcast” gets Audacity-like hits, as if I want to record Fresh Air off npr.com (THAT I know how to do)….”<i>create</i> a podcast” gets more into creating content but not mixing music. Like I said, Reaper is the one app I’ve found, but it’s a lot more than I need, with multitracking capabilities aimed more at musicians. Sort of the equivalent of going out and hiring a web-guru and buying all kinds of bandwidth in an effort to create a blog, when all one <i>really</i> needed to do was find WordPress!
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But what you’re asking isn’t a WordPress.com question, it’s a digital recording question. So you’ll need to find your answers elsewhere.
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Are you broadcasting live? If not, it doesn’t matter. You can edit your comments and songs together through Audacity. You can drop the songs volume to speaker over them, and crossfade the other one in. Just create a different track for each audio source — two for the songs, one for your voice. It’s just a little more rudimentary and not as intuitive without a mixer. Any program you’re gonna find is gonna work in the same way as Audacity or Reaper: allowing you to create tracks that you can record sound or input existing sound too. Unless you get an external sound board, you’ll have to adjust in the program. My friend has a podcast that is recorded and edited into Audacity, including soundbeds.
If you want to record live you need to get a mixer. That’s the only way you’ll be able to effectively control the sound sources unless you want to mess with the small little digital knobs on the computer screen.
However, if you’re going to be recording and then posting the podcast to the internet — Audacity or Reaper will be fine for what you need. You just need to learn how to use them, and there are several helpful tutorials to get you started. :)
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