Six steps to recording the perfect podcast

Ever wanted to hear your dulcet tones on the Internet but didn’t know where to start? Read our handy guide to recording, editing and hosting your podcast and you’ll be there in no time.

We can’t guarantee you’ll be popular, but at least you won’t stay silent.

1. Get the right hardware

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It’s fairly obvious that if you want to record yourself speaking you’ll need some way of getting audio on to your computer.

There are plenty of ways of doing this, but you’ll want to get the best quality piece of kit you can afford if you want to sound good and minimise the amount of tidying up you’ll have to do later.

Podcast Pick:

My absolute favourite mic for podcasting (and indeed many other uses) is the Blue Microphones Snowball USB mic. At around £85 it’s not the cheapest option but it’s used by professional broadcasters and podcasters alike. Simply plug it in to a spare USB port and you’ve got a quality audio recording device for vocals, instruments and ambient sounds…

Tech Digest Podcast #6

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The good news is that Duncan’s feeling better this week. The bad is that he was at home at 9am this morning. So, with the power of Skype, we’ve recorded the show over the airwaves and it’s just as ace as ever.

This week we get a little Windows 7 heavy after a good start about Apple and Twitter, the all new Amazon Kindle and three new games from Activision including the eagerly awaited DJ Hero.

Around half way through we’ve got our regular software vs hardware debate. I totally nail Duncan with my sales technique and get him to part with a whole virtual $38 of his own personal wealth for the teeny, tiny Nubbin while he does so-so on the Windows 7 RC.

As usual we wrap it all up with week’s more amusing items, not least of all the video of the bloke with his home made Wolverine claws. Not to be missed.

You can download the podcast directly here, or subscribe to the RSS feed here. Also, if you use iTunes, we can now be found in Apple’s directory. Search for Tech Digest, and we’ll be there.

Send all your comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about and any requests or words of wisdom to me at d[email protected] or throw us a tweet at @techdigest

Tech Digest Podcast #5

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We are not infected. Actually, I can’t say that for certain. Duncan has a cold and I travelled in on the Tube before we started talking about all the Swine Flu panic on Twitter, the internet maps and the spread of the virus.

Thankfully, Swine Flu cannot be transmitted over podcast and, at the least, we’ve had time to talk about the imminent release of the Palm Pre; Cupcake on the second UK Google Android phone, the HTC Magic; holographic storage and the one billionth iPhone app download.

This week in, er, hard/soft (please help us) it’s all about the cloud-based antivirus program Panda and I try to persuade Duncan to run down to Aldi and buy a Medion laptop. Easier than it sounds actually.

I think we’ve managed to sort out the buzzing problem but the new issue this week is that I’m a lot louder than Duncan. As it goes, I am, but even trying to balance the inputs and some levelling software doesn’t seem to have solved the trouble. Next time. We’re getting there.

Send all your comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about and any requests or words of wisdom to me at [email protected] or throw us a tweet at @techdigest.

Tech Digest Podcast #4

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Fresh back from the Gadget Show Live, Duncan and I tackle the legal issue of a possible mistrial of the high profile Pirate Bay case, we consider a move to 3 with their promise of free Skype calls and we wonder how on Earth Apple let the Baby Shaker software into the iPhone App Store.

Still missing a decent name for the middle section where we pit hardware against software, it’s the turn of Linux Ubuntu’s latest release, Jaunty Jackalope, to force its way onto my desktop, while I persuade Duncan that he really needs to buy the Ion Drum Rocker Premium Drum Kit Controller for his Guitar Hero World Tour addiction.

Go gentle on Duncan this weeks he wasn’t feeling too good after a late night out with his mum and tequila chaser. Most of all, though, please forgive the buzzing audio. We are working on it, and should have a solution next week. Promise.

Download the podcast directly here, or subscribe via the RSS feed.

Send all your comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about and any requests or words of wisdom to me at [email protected] or throw us a tweet at @techdigest

Tech Digest Podcast #3

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Normal service has resumed after the lovely and disruptive Easter break and, with Tech Digest going up to the Gadget Show Live this afternoon, you’re getting your dose of the TD podcast a whole day early. We wouldn’t forget about you for two weeks in a row.

In Episode 3 Duncan dribbles over the new Zune HD, we discuss the tricky legal ins and outs of how one girl’s blog post on MySpace got her family driven out of Coalinga, CA, and we discover that Amazon aren’t actually the bad guys that they seemed after a small case of internet homophobia.

In the middle section, which has no title because “hard and soft” just sounds a bit wrong, Duncan once again successfully persuades me to try out a piece of free imaging software called Paint.net and I just about convince him to part with £169.99 for the Flip MinoHD camcorder.

Download the podcast directly here, or subscribe via the RSS feed.

If you’re getting annoyed by the slight buzzing then the good news is that we should have some high end mics to use very soon. Send all your comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about and general abuse to me at [email protected] or throw us a tweet at @techdigest.

Tech Digest Podcast #2

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Here’s the second podcast from the team at Tech Digest. This week, we got stuck in to Twitter being bought by Google, Conficker’s no-show, and whether or not it’s reasonable for networks to get upset about Skype on the iPhone.

In the middle section, Dan extolled the joys of the Kaleidescape home cinema system, while I tried to convince him to use a couple of services that boost your Twitter experience – Mr Tweet and Topify.

Lastly, we talked about about the death of some poor guy while using Wii fit, and the end of Microsoft’s Encarta encyclopedia. I miss mindmaze so terribly 🙁

A small round of applause to the venerable Andy Merret, a.k.a. the Tech Trumpet, for coming up with some jingles for the start and end of the podcast. They’re rather good, aren’t they? Thanks Andy!

Download the podcast directly here, or subscribe via this URL.

As ever, if you have any comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about, or general abuse, throw it our way by sending us a tweet at @techdigest or emailing [email protected].

Tech Digest Podcast #1

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So, this morning, Dan and I got on Skype and had a go at recording a podcast. We chatted about the big stories of the week – Twitter and Last.fm trying to monetise their services, and the big media companies approaching Google to try to get their content higher in search rankings.

I’m a bit of a software person, whereas Dan’s into his hardware, so as a central feature, we thought it’d be fun to try to convince each other of the joys of a bit of software and a bit of hardware respectively. I plumped for Last.fm, whereas Dan tried to convince me I need Canon’s EOS 500D DSLR in my life.

Lastly, we took a brief look at some of the stranger news stories of the week – the 60ft penis on the roof and the CC all your emails to Jacqui Smith campaign. I wanted to talk about a few other stories here too, but we ran out of time.

Download the podcast as an MP3 here, or subscribe via RSS here.

It’s a little clunky, still – my voice buzzes a bit thanks to the cheap headset I’m using. We’re very much feeling our way around how the whole process works, so any recommendations and advice are more than welcome. Drop us a tweet at @techdigest or email me or Dan.