Creating a podcast that people can find and subscribe to can be accomplished by almost anyone that has the desire. This is one of the reasons podcasting has become so popular so fast. Hopefully this post can give you the basics for the entire process of creating and publishing a podcast using OS X. The process for Windows users is basically the same except for the software I mention in this post. I will provide some links for Windows users also. Podcasts can also be done using video, but I concentrate on audio podcasts in this post as these are the most popular.

The basic steps to creating a Podcast are:

Record your show
Edit and mix the audio
Convert to MP3
Add ID3 tags
Enhance your podcast (optional)
Publish your show
Create an RSS feed
Submit your podcast to directories and iTunes
Advertise and Promote

Let’s go into each of these steps in more detail. Make sure to see my “Simple Steps to Creating a Podcast” summary at the end of this post.

Record Your Show
You can record your show using many things including an iPod with a voice recorder like the Griffin iTalk, GarageBand, QuickTime Pro, Audacity, Bias Peak or Deck, Microsoft® Office 2004 for Mac, Amadeus II (OS X), Adobe Audition (Windows only), or any of the various shareware/freeware that are available. Even Final Cut Pro can be used to record audio.

Doing all the recording using a computer and software is easier, simpler, cheaper, and faster. Basically, the only hardware you should want to use is the computer itself and a decent microphone. Recording using hardware mixers, tape, external decks, telephones, phone bridges, and CD players are expensive, add un-needed complexity, and probably will waste your time. Podcasting is a digital domain and staying that way from beginning to end will save you time and money. One of the reasons podcasting is so popular is because it can be done inexpensively and easily. Borrowing from “broadcasting past” is probably not desirable for most podcasters. When a software update becomes available you simply download it and you have the latest. When hardware gets updated, you usually throw-away the old and buy again.

Good audio techniques will go a long way to creating a professional sounding show. One thing I learned in the many years working in broadcast engineering is that it is NOT the equipment, but technique that creates a good product. Even with the most expensive and best audio tools, if used poorly, will create terrible sounding and distracting audio. It is amazing that with good techniques you can create great audio, even with inexpensive equipment. Remember even though “content is king”, it does you little good if no one can hear it.

GarageBand does a pretty good job and only costs about $49 as part of the iLife Suite and comes FREE with all new Macs. See GarageBand.com for information on using GarageBand for podcasting.

One of the most popular applications among podcasters is a free, cross-platform, open-source program called Audacity. Audacity is a fairly complete recorder and audio editor. It is so good that Roger McGuinn from the Byrds fame recently recorded his album using a PC, Audacity (Free), and the Samson USB microphone (about $80). The album is being sold on iTunes. This is further proof that it is not the cost and complexity of the tools that make a professional quality recording.

Audacity enables you to perform the following tasks:

Record from microphone, line input, or other sources
Dub over existing tracks to create multitrack recordings
Monitor volume levels, using its level meters, before, during, and after recording
Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and OGG Vorbis files
Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files)
Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library
Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD
Edit with cut, copy, paste, and delete
Use unlimited undo (and redo) to go back any number of steps
Rapidly edit large files
Fade the volume up or down with the Envelope tool
Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises
Adjust volumes with compressor, amplify, and normalize effects
Record at up to 96 kHz
Mix tracks with different sample rates or formats, with Audacity converting them automatically in real time
Load various sound enhancement and effects plug-ins

Recording in nice quiet places, being “on” mic and not so close as to create distortion is a good start. If your podcast recording is poor it will be hard to hold your listeners attention for long. It is also a good idea to use a decent microphone to obtain good audio quality. The one built in to your laptop is usually not the greatest and should only be used as a last resort. There are many USB headsets and microphones now available. There are also some nice USB and Firewire devices from M-Audio and Tascam that will allow you to get an XLR microphone like the “old” reliable Shure SM58 connected to your computer. There are even professional USB microphones now available. The Griffin iMic can also be helpful for connecting non-USB devices to your computer. See below left.

The length of your podcast should probably be about 20-30 minutes long. I suggest you keep it to at least within an hour so listeners can then easily burn a CD of your show if they like.

Some USB Mics, Headsets, and Devices:
M-Audio FastTrack Recording Interface
M-Audio MobilePre
Plantronics DSP-500 USB Headset
Logitech® Premium USB Headset 350
Samson C01U USB Condenser Microphone

Samson C01U USB Condenser Microphone below:

M-Audio Firewire Solo Device below:

M-Audio MobilePre USB Device:

Phone Recording
An important part of podcasts are usually interviews. Interviewing people on the phone can be done inexpensively (free in most cases) and also be podcasting friendly using cross-platform VoIP clients like Skype, GizmoProject, or iChat AV OS X only. GizmoProject has an advantage in that “recording” of both sides of the conversation is built right into the application. Skype, GoogleTalk, or iChat AV can easily be used, but you will need to use an application like WireTap Pro (OS X only) or AudioHiJack (OS X only) to record conversations. Windows users that want to record Skype calls can use HotRecorder or PowerGramo. If you need to use standard phones PhoneValet (OS X only) has a nice package for serious podcasters. Many traditional broadcasters are also moving to this model also, as phone hybrids are usually required to record phone conversations. Phone bridges or hybrids like Gentners are quite expensive and software VoIP packages are catching up. It is no longer uncommon for even some radio stations to use VoIP on the air. See my prior post VoIP: GizmoProject the “Skype Killer?” on this web blog.

If you plan to do your podcast and play clips and sound effects more like a radio show there are some nice scheduling, live mixing, and library management tools out there. MegaSeg (OS X) and TraktorDJ (Windows and OS X) are two I have played around with that you might find interesting. But, even just iTunes can work fine.

I have heard MegaSeg being used by Adam Curry (considered the father of podcasting and ex MTV V-Jay) on “The Daily Source Code”, his podcast.

Some Shareware/Freeware For Recording
Audacity all platforms
Recorder.xhead OS X only
WireTap Pro OS X only
AudioHiJack Pro OS X only

Noise reduction in some cases can be helpful. Soundsoap $99, (OS X only) may be a good choice.

Editing and Mixing
Ok, the show is recorded and now you need to edit and mix for a final version for your podcast. A simple podcast may not need editing or any mixing. But if you need to, what should you use? Well there are many choices and it may depend of your needs, preferences, price, or what is already available to you.

Here are some suggestions:
Audacity is freeware for all platforms, open source software for recording and editing sounds. This is free and all you really need.

Bias Peak - stereo audio editing, processing, and mastering application for the Macintosh. OS X only. Great software but expensive for just podcasting. Cost $599, Peak LE is $179.

Logic Pro professional editing package. Expensive and overkill for podcasting costing $999. OS X only.

Adobe Audition (Windows only), feature-packed, very simple to use, but not free, about $299.

SoundTrack Pro not really made for this but can be used if you happen to have it available. OS X only.

Final Cut Pro not really made for this but can be used if you happen to have it available. OS X only.

Convert to MP3
You must convert your audio to MP3 (.mp3) as downloading aiff or wav files is usually not practical due to the very large file sizes. You can also convert to MPEG4 instead, but not all players can play .mp4 files just yet. So for a wider audience, I suggest MP3 as this is the de facto standard.

So you have to make some choices here. You will have to weigh the file size and the audio fidelity requirements. The larger the file size, the longer the download will take and the more bandwidth that will be used. The smaller the file size, the more compressed the audio will be and that will affect sound quality.

This is not as hard a decision as it may sound. You just need to come to a happy medium. It may be a good idea to test the sound quality before publishing it.

Here are some suggestions on bit rates:
48 – 56k Mono – lectures, audio books, interviews, or talk radio
64k+ Stereo – music or music and talk
128k Stereo – good quality music

What do I need to convert my audio?
Many of the recording software or editing packages you may use can convert your audio on export. Some can even add the ID3 tags required. iTunes will work just fine.

Some suggestions for converting your audio:
iTunes, free OS X and Windows
Audacity, free cross platform
QuickTime Pro, $29.99

Squeeze, expensive, OS X and Windows versions
Cleaner, expensive, OS X and Windows versions

Add ID3 Tags
Next, you need to add the ID3 tags. These tags provide information about your podcast that can be used by applications or devices to display your podcast’s title, length, date, etc.

Using iTunes to do this is easy. Just add your podcast to iTunes on your local computer. Highlight the podcast in the iTunes Library, and Control + mouse click (right click for you multi-buton mouse users) and choose Get Info. Fill out the information like I suggest below. You just added the ID3 tag!

You can export the podcast out of iTunes if you like and this will now include the ID3 tag information. If you are using iTunes for conversion to MP3 you can do this all at once.

The ID3 tags in use today were designed actually for CDs, not podcasts, so there are some fields you may not use, and some that you may wish existed. There are no set standards yet for using these tags for podcasts. I suggest you check other podcasts for some ideas. Eventually, I bet the ID tags will be updated for podcasts.

Here are my suggesstions:
Title – A good example is the Your Podcast (name of your podcast) for September 16, 2005: YP20050916.mp3. (YP-might be the letters of your podcast, the rest is the date)
Putting the show name first makes it easy to sort podcasts alphabetically. Adding a date stamp, with the year, then the month and then the date, identifies the particular podcast.

Artist – should be the creator of the show.

Album – use this area to include additional information.

Year – well, the year of course

Genre – select the most appropriate category, or use Speech for shows that are primarily discussion.

Comments – include extra information that doesn’t fit elsewhere.

Check out Podcast411 and blog.forret.com for more on ID3 tags for podcasts.

Enhance Your Podcast
This is an optional step, but can greatly improve your podcast. Enhanced podcasts are usually encoded AAC audio files (m4a or m4b, m4p) with new data inside them that can add images or a URL to appear at a certain time within the podcast. Color iPods can skip “chapters” and new images can be displayed when you reach the “time stamp” you created.

An enhanced podcast can include chapter marks and photos. This can be great if your podcast is talking about a subject and an image or diagram is displayed at that very moment in time. When you play an enhanced podcast in iTunes, a menu icon appears to the left of the display at the top of the iTunes window (requires iTunes 4.9 or greater).

This is compatible with iTunes and iPods. Some of the tools for creating these enhanced podcasts are for Mac only at this time. Since not all players are compatible with .mp4 yet, you may need to think about this if you want to use it. Note Apple Docs: You can use Chapter Tool to create Enhanced Podcasts that work with iTunes 4.9 or later. Enhanced podcasts are podcasts that contain chapters. Chapters can be modified to display pictures or web links that can be displayed within the iTunes song artwork pane.

Here are some resources for Enhanced Podcasts (OS X only):
Podcast AV
Apple Chapter Tool download
Wiki on Podcast Chapter Tool
ChapterToolMe
Simple ChapterTool XML
Makezine
Podcast Enhancer
Podcaster

Publish Your Show
Time to publish your podcast somewhere so listeners can download it. Your podcast should be uploaded to your web server and you should open it’s URL in a QuickTime player to test it.

Once you’re happy with your podcast, you can then add it to your RSS newsfeed. If you have an RSS enabled blog site this is easy. All you usually need to do is create a category, put the link to the podcast in a post and the web blog will build the feed for you. It is a good idea to put show notes, information about your podcast, and easy to find links to subscribe to your podcast on your website.

You can easily publish your podcast as an RSS enclosure on blogging services such as Blogger, use WordPress, TypePad, MoveableType, or even create a weblog using RapidWeaver and publish your podcast on .Mac. With RapidWeaver (and some of the other blogging software) you do not need to write a single line of code! Best way to publish, create an RSS feed, and promote your podcast is a blog site. If you are not using a blog site you are doing a lot of extra work in my opinion.

Here are some ways of creating a site for podcasts:
RapidWeaver$35, OS X only
WordPress free all platforms
Blogger free all platforms
TypePad free all platforms
MoveableType free all platforms

Two important resources for publishing podcasts and just podcasting in general are Feedburner and Odeo.

Additional Resources
How To Publish a Podcast on the iTunes Music Store

Here is a great list of podcasting software for all platforms

Publish Your Podcast With FeedBurner FeedBurner is the missing link between creating an audio program and creating a true podcast that your listeners can subscribe to. They will guide you through the process of recording, hosting, and publishing an audio program, then show you how to convert this into a podcast with FeedBurner.

QuickStart Using Blogger

Feed Validator check your feed

Create an RSS Feed
Ok, you have no blog site that generates RSS and you do not want to create one even though there are free sources, or you just want to create your own XML feed. Well you can write a RSS feed by hand if you have the skills. There may be some reasons to do this if you are the “coder” type that wants complete control over what your feed contains and looks like. Some advanced feeds can contain show notes and other information. For most podcasters Feedburner or the blogging software I mentioned above like WordPress (that powers this site) is the best deal.

But if you insist on creating your own feed here are some resources to assist you.

Resources on creating your own RSS feed:
Understanding RSS News Feeds
RSS Specifications
How to Create MP3 and RSS / XML feed
XML.com
Introduction to RSS
RSS Wiki
RSS 2.0 Specification
Feed Validator check your feed

Here are some other resources:
Feed Editor is a powerful and easy-to-use RSS feed editor.

FeedForAll allows users to easily create, edit and publish RSS feeds. Mac and Windows.

MyRSSCreator web-based tool that lets users upload, host, and produce the RSS feed for podcasts.

AudioBlog podcast recording service that enables people to post to blogs, post to RSS, upload audio and video, record MP3 files over the web, and phone.

Submit Podcast to Directories and iTunes
Now that your podcast is all set to go you will want to “alert the media” or at least some listeners. Listing your podcast on several directories is a great start for allowing people to find your podcast and hopefully you did a good enough job with the content so they will want to subscribe and listen to everything you say.

You can submit your podcast feed to iTunes from within the iTunes application. If you have iTunes installed on your computer just submit here. And you will see the submit window in iTunes like below. Just put in your “feed’s” URL and submit.

You should submit your podcast’s feed to other directories on the Internet.

Some Directories You Should Know About:
iTunes
iPodder.org
Podcasting News
Podcast.net
Podcast Bunker
Podcast Alley
Podcast Central
Odeo
Podzinger

Advertise and Promote
Listing yourself on iTunes and in the online directories may not be enough for your podcast to really take off and be listed with the top podcasts today. Advertising and promotion will be needed. First step is advertising it on your own web site. If you have your own blog site, submit a Google site map. A great idea is to go to forums, groups, and other websites that you think will be interested in your podcast’s content and tell them about it. Tell everyone you know.

iTunes only features the most popular podcasts on the front pages of their podcast section. It is hard for your podcast to become that popular unless people can discover it, and you can “peak” the interest of listeners. See the challenge here?

Podcasts are a lot like websites in the regard that just because you built it does not mean they will come. I always tell clients building a company website and just thinking traffic will appear is like “opening a milk store in the middle of the wilderness with the lights off and thinking people will show up to buy your milk.” The milk may sour long before it is sold. With podcasts you can get listed in all these directories so that will help. But to rise to the top of the thousands and thousands of podcasts will take a lot of work.

Adding MyYahoo!, MSN, and Bloglines buttons on your website giving visitors an easy way to subscribe to your website is another way to increase interest. Depending on the intended audience for your podcast, this might not matter much to you.

Next, what happens when your podcast gets “wildly” popular!

Make sure to check out Libsyn
Liberated Syndication (Libsyn) goes beyond traditional webhosting- we are syndication providers. You get a home to store your media, a simple but powerful blog engine, an RSS feed, and an interface to distribute your podcast to a limitless audience. Our service also works with your existing blog. Use libsyn just for storing your ever expanding media library and manage your RSS feed yourself.

Server Costs and BitTorrent
The one downside to a podcast that gets very popular, is the server costs. Each person that subscribes to your podcast, downloads it from where you are hosting it. Bandwidth is NOT free. Hosting companies and ISPs allow a certain amount of bandwidth for your account. When you exceed this amount they charge you more or simply turn you off. Depending on your allowed bandwidth for your account this may not be a problem for a small podcast audience. But, success can actually cost you a lot of money, so you should be aware of this. This is why some podcasters are putting ads into their shows to pay for this bandwidth. Picking the right host and understanding your bandwidth transfer allowances is very important, read your hosting agreement carefully.

Here is a Nice List of Hosts with Special Podcasting Plans

The economics of podcasting has not really matured just yet. No one has figured out how to charge for subscriptions or pull in advertisers to pay for the bandwidth costs. Basicially, none of the podcasters out there, make money. They mostly do it for the love of it, or to promote themselves, a product, or a service. Here is an idea to lower those bandwidth costs.

The regular Internet is a point to point system for downloading content. This means the bandwidth needed to download your show is directly on the server where you host your podcast. Some people are using BitTorrent to help alleviate the costs. BitTorrent uses a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network that uses file sharing to distribute content. Basically, the more people that have downloaded your podcast the easier it is to get your podcast using BitTorrent as all the participants are sharing the uploads and download bandwidth. Bandwidth is then distributed by all the content users and not downloaded from your web server by each listener. This a great way to distribute large file downloads to lots of people.

The downside of using BitTorrent for your podcast is that iTunes will not list you. This may change some day as many think the BitTorrent model is the future for distributing content over the Internet.

BitTorrent Software
BitTorrent All Platforms
Tomato Torrent OS X only (below)

The Podcaster’s Friends (OS X only)
This a list of shareware and freeware that podcasters will find helpful.

Line In – play sound coming in through a microphone or any other device plugged in to your sound in port.

Nicecast is the easiest way to broadcast music from OS X. Broadcast to the world, or just across your house.

Detour lets you control where audio from all your programs is going. Whether you send it to your speakers, your headphones, or mute it all together, you’re in charge.

Soundflower is a virtual audio device (in 2-channel and 16-channel flavors) lets you mix sound in the computer by routing both input and output sound to the same virtual device.

Licensing and The Legal Stuff
Ok, what shouldn’t you do in a podcast. Well commercial music that you have no rights to are a no-no. Remember that commercial music is intellectual property and all the rules of “broadcasting” applies. There has not been any agreements for ASCAP or BMI payments to owners of commercial music for podcasting as of yet. So you must stick to “podcast safe” material.

There are some musicians that make their material available for podcasting for the promotion. If you want to play music, seek these people out. Here is an example. You can play royality-free music, check the agreements. Do not just assume that a classic Bach piece is public domain, as the performance probably requires a license to use. As I am not a copyright laywer, I will advise you to speak to one if you have any questions.

The PodSafe Music Network is a good source for “podsafe” music. Here is a nice list to help you find “podsafe” music and free music for the web. The Roadhouse and Coverville are great examples of a music podcast using all “podsafe” music. Also see FREEPLAY MUSIC for some podsafe music, free.

Explicit content can also get you barred from some directories that list podcasts, especially iTunes. As I am not the “morality police” I will leave it there.

Podcast Aggregators
Ok, your podcast is published. How do your friends find it? Well it is a nice idea to let them know they can download your podcast and subscribe using an aggregator. You will probably find that many Windows users are not as privy to RSS as Mac users are at this point. This is due to IE not yet supporting RSS. Mac users have had more exposure than some Windows users, as Safari the OS X default browser is RSS enabled. NetNewsWire has also been very popular among some Mac users. We can all thank Apple for making podcasting more mainstream with iTunes.

For more information on how to use iTunes to listen to podcasts visit The Complete Guide to iTunes’ Podcasts.

As good as iTunes is, there are better aggregators out there for Macs and Windows. Here are some podcast aggregators available so they can find your podcasts and others.

iTunes OS X and Windows
iPodder, now called Jiuce all platforms
iPodderX, now called Transistr OS X only

iPodder (remaned Juice)

iPodderX (renamed Transistr

Here is a great list for clients for all platforms

The future of podcasting looks very promising. Video services are already popping up to provide content to interested users. Think “TiVo” for your computer. There is a start-up companies called Blinkx and Podzinger that specializes in search of content located within audio and video podcasts. They allow users to know which podcasts to subscribe to using their own hi-tech search technology that catalogs content from video and audio. Also check out Podscope. Podscope is the first search engine that actually allows you to search for spoken words within any audio or video file. We’re starting with podcasts and will be adding all types of multimedia in coming months.

Read Previous Posts on Podcasting on this Blog

Here is some other sites that provide information on podcasting
PodWagon
Podshack – Podcasting Studio Service

A step-by-step guide to setting up a videoblog for free. Check Freevlog for some nice tutorials for Macs and Windows.

If you are planning on doing video podcasts check out Video Cue, many video podcasters are using this.

Simple Steps to Creating a Podcast Summary

Ok, this is ALL you really need to do a great podcast.

Software
GarageBand – $49 as part of iLife (comes free with all new Macs) or
Audacity – Free and
iTunes – Free
Skype or GizmoProject – Free or
iChat AV – Free and
WireTap Pro – $19

Hardware
USB Headset or
USB Microphone or
USB Device and standard XLR microphone

Blog
Best way to publish and create an RSS feed is a blog site!
WordPress or Blogger – both Free

Feedburner – Free

Updated list of Podcast Helper Applications

• GarageBand 3 Comes as part of iLife ’06 included with new Macs or purchase for $79 – New version has tools for enhanced podcasting built-in.
• Vodcaster, Free – RSS feed help.
• Podcast AV, Free – Enchanced podcasts helper.
• ChapterToolMe, Free – Chapter tool for enhanced podcasts.
• AudioBinder, Free – Chapter tool for enhanced podcasts.
• Feeder, $29.95 – RSS feed and publish.
• FeedForAll Mac, $39.95 – Publish RSS Feeds and Podcasts with Software for Mac.
• Cast Easy, $19.95 – help for enhanced podcasts, RSS feed and publish. Also includes file convertor and has a nice interface.
• Podcast Maker- help for enhanced podcasts, RSS feed and publish. List of what some podcasters are doing with Podcast Maker software
• Podcast RSS Buddy, $19 – Simple way to produce iTunes compliant RSS feeds.
• Podcaster, $29.95 – enhanced podcasts helper, RSS feed and publish.
• Podcast monkey, $19.95 – RSS feed and publish help.

Low Budgets
Ok, Stephen I have no budget. How can I do this for free? Simple, use Audacity, iTunes, GizmoProject (they even give you 25 cents in phone calls for new accounts), Blogger, and Feedburner! Hopefully, you can afford a decent mic or borrow one. iBooks and PowerBooks do have a mic built-in and you might find it acceptable.

You can see from my list that you can indeed create, publish, and distribute a podcast for almost no money barring hosting and bandwidth costs. Need a way to lower your hosting and bandwidth costs when you get popular? Does $5.00 a month sound decent? Try out Libsyn. That is their starting point for 100MB of storage.

Most of the more expensive solutions add complexity and may not significantly improve your podcast. Remember “content is king”. Spending more money is not usually worth it, especially in the beginning. Buy a decent microphone solution, use the free stuff and spent lots of time planning great content. Let me know how it goes. I am always looking for new stuff to listen to. Good luck.

    | Tags: podcast, Podcasting, record