By • 11:22 am, July 26, 2017 • • My Podcasting setup Photo: Chris Ward with listeners consuming on-demand shows at unprecedented levels, and creators enjoying surprising levels of success with their work. One thing that sets apart the amateurs from the professionals is good content, but the other is production values. Advertisement for about a year, trying different ideas and formats to see what works. While I’m an amateur podcaster, I create tutorial videos for a living and I used to be a professional musician, so I know a thing or two about sound, music, and music production.
I have also been using a Mac since 1997, and have recorded audio with just about every port that Apple has released. For me, the podcast is a great outlet to cover topics I don’t get to cover in my paid writing work. And of course, like many other podcasters, I like the sound of my own voice. Here are some of the things I’ve learned, along with recommendations on the hardware, software and techniques to get you started podcasting using your Mac.
Mac podcasting setup In it’s simplest form, a podcast episode is just audio, and nearly every Apple device has an internal microphone and an application for basic recording. On macOS this is QuickTime, which is a venerable application in the Mac world that has been through many transitions of role, but now serves as an Audio/Visual recorder and player, albeit with limited export options. QuickTime in recording mode. If you’re highly skilled and can make a recording in one take with no mistakes, then QuickTime may be all you ever need. Powerpoint for mac free. But chances are you will need to undertake some editing and processing, or need better export options. Fortunately, there are numerous options for recording and editing audio. Here are some of my favorites: •: If you are looking for free options, this is the most popular and widely used.
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•: Perfect if you already have a Creative Cloud subscription, and need something that allows for more complexity. •: Now free, GarageBand offers good features for recording a podcast (with a familiar interface). •: Aimed more at professional studios, Logic is too much for simple podcasts, but if you happen to have a copy available and know how to use it then it will serve you well. •: WavePad is free for non-commercial use, so is a good option if you’re looking for something more professional whilst you build up profile and experience. Personally, I used Adobe Audition, but if you are just getting started I recommend Audacity as it’s something anyone can download and use. I won’t go into details on audio editing as that is a big subject that you can find plenty online about, but I will cover some general principles to get you started.
Mac podcasting hardware Using your internal microphone sounds fine until you plug in something better and realize how terrible you sounded before. Picking microphones is a vast topic that you can find a lot of existing advice on, and trust me, I have spent hours looking. Again I will cover basic principles and make recommendations but leave you to delve further. Microphones In general, you have to choose between a digital or analog microphone.
The best-value Mac for video editing is the Mac mini. If the iMac and iMac Pro are too expensive you're going to have to start to look at Apple's consumer range. This is great for podcast editing software, for beginners or seasoned veterans. Although, the process may be able to be simplified with a paid option. Still, with Audacity, you can remove annoying background noise, normalize audio, and adjust levels.
As sound coming from your mouth is in analog form, at a certain point in the recording process you will need to convert it to a digital signal to get it into your Mac. There are USB microphones that handle that conversion for you or analog microphones where you will need to convert the signal yourself with an (ADAC). As the Mac mini is currently the only Mac with a line in, this will mean an external device.
You typically won’t need to install any extra drivers to use either option on your Mac, just plug it in and select it as an input. The general principle is that the more you pay, the better the quality and features you get, but balance this what you need, and you can always upgrade later. If you are one person using one microphone then you want a microphone that uses a ‘cardioid’ pattern (), which is common on all digital (USB) or analog microphones. For most of my work, I use the as it’s a good price, and flexible, allowing you to change the pattern for different recording situations. For when I’m on the road or have a co-host, I also have a simpler, which comes with a small tripod, but less control over the sound. Finally, I have an microphone, which are the small mics you see clipped to people’s clothing, for a less intrusive setup.