May 10, 2007...7:50 am

5 ingredients for a do-it-yourself podcast

At work I’m the “producer” of a podcast, and here are the tools we use:

1. Apple Garageband — Found on every Mac, this free app makes it easy to record and combine tracks, add effects and art, and create podcasts.

2. Logitech USB Headset — This isn’t a professional mike, but it works fine for us and it’s comfortable to wear and use.

3. WordPress — The best open source blogging platform. You’ll need web hosting and your own domain to install this.

4. PodPress — A powerful WordPress plugin that turns your blog into a podcasting platform. This plugin takes care of all the nitty gritty (podcast enclosures), offers an embedded Flash player for easy listening, and provides stats.

5. Mime Config — If you plan to publish “enhanced” podcasts for iTunes, chances are your server isn’t configured to recognize the “m4a” format. Install this WordPress plugin and add the mime type “m4a = audio/mpeg”.

What other tools are you using for creating podcasts?

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3 Comments

Filed under Blogging, Mac, Main, Podcasting

3 Comments

  • Trent
    May 10, 2007 at 2:11 pm
    I use the open source Audacity to edit my files since I don’t run on a Mac. Audacity isn’t as polished as Garage band but in my opinion is just as powerful, and is simple to use (and free). So, if you don’t have a mac pick up audacity. Other than that I use the same tools as well as a custom php class for certain things.
  • Richard K Miller
    May 10, 2007 at 3:03 pm
    Trent, good point about Audacity. I actually should have mentioned Audacity because one of our podcast personalities uses it. He’s on a PC so he records his half of the podcast with Audacity and then sends it to the Mac user for mixing and publication.
  • Jake Spurlock
    May 15, 2007 at 9:14 am
    Final Cut Pro, Sorenson Squeeze, Wordpress, CS3, Good Stat trackers… The longer I have been podcasting, them more tools that I use. It has been interesting shooting in HD, and then down rezzing for an iPod… ;)

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