Techie Tips

Six little techie tips to help your Podcast:

Tip One: Practice - practice recording, practice your microphone technique, make sure you can make work the software you are using and know how to record.

Tip Two: Ambience and background noise can all be part of the recording, so long as it is not intrusive, so pick your venue with care.  For live interviews, the more carpets and curtains (drapes) the better.  For down the line interviews try and get them to go to their bedroom, or if at work a small meeting room.

Tip Three:  Microphones are sensitive little creatures, try to be close to them, but not too close.  Cardioid (directional) mics are good to cut background noise, omni-directional to include some of that ambience.  Mics like the Blue Yeti have various settings to suit your kind of Podcast.

Tip Four:  LEVELS - after echoey rooms, screwing up the levels is the thing that will ruin a podcast, under-recording can usually be fixed, over-recording cannot.  Recording engineers say sh*t in sh*t out.  Most software programs, mixing desks (panels) have a level meter - like a nuclear reactor - keep it away from red.

Tip Five: MONITOR wear headphones, one ear on, one ear off if you want.  Get the guest to do the same, or if they don't have a professional set-up, it can be better if they put some ear buds on with a chin wire mic, that will often sound better than the laptop built in mic. (The exception would be say a Skype call to a normal mobile (cell) phone, then the phone's mic and noise cancelling is often better.

Tip Six: DON'T MENTION THE FURNITURE, stuff will go wrong, you might forget to switch your mic on, start to record the Podcast .. try not to make a drama out of it, it will put your guest off and you too.