note to self: check out podclass

No time to explore this one, definitely want to check it out later:

http://www.podclass.com/

excellent how-to tutorial for recording interviews on skype

Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani of the Conversations Network have put together a fantastic audiovisual guide to recording skype interviews. It’s about 20 minutes of essential info about setting up your system to optimize recording quality. If you’re doing any remote interviewing for podcasting or any other purpose, take the time to listen through, you’ll be glad you did. The word is out: skype quality is there.

Doug and Paul tell what you have to do very nicely, explaining in a simple, straight-forward way (even if you just understand the jist of it and not the whole story). Some of the main tips include:

• use a usb headset, even a cheapo will do
• position your mic up near nose to avoid breathing noise (!)
• close all unnecessary apps! to free up cpu power, especially network apps
• use a good broadband connection
• record stereo with host and guest each on a separate left or right channel
• record in uncompressed, high quality format
• set up your router for permanent private IP address
• set up port forwarding to avoid relays
• use the Levelator on your audio files

The last few items there might not mean much to you, but if you listen to the slide presentation you’ll have all the necessary details and the specific step by step instructions to set up your recording for great quality skype interviews.

An excellent resource, big thanks to Doug and Paul and the Conversations Network!

—

Some links mentioned in the presentation:

Levelator – if you’re doing *any* audio, just get this freebie, it’s amazing.

Skype doh!

SkypeOut

USB Plantronics Audio 650 Headset

dslreports.com

Audio Hijack Pro (mac os x)

CallBurner (windows)

Sox utility to merge mutliple files into stereo file

Bias Peak Pro

podpress plugin for podcasting with wordpress

stats! settings to audio server space! hide, play, download links automatically! premium listeners (selectively hide content)! itunes preview!!

video tutorial to install and use: http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress/podpress-tutorial/

(Adam Weiss uses it in puzzlepodcast.com.)

puzzlepodcast: a fun new challenge every tuesday

puzzlepodcast.com

This new podcast hosted by Adam Weiss, who also does Boston Behind the Scenes and the Boston Museum of Science podcasts (both great), provides a puzzle for you to solve every week. Nice short format,  with friendly info about types of puzzles: a fun break from the workaday to give your brain some unusual exercise.

del.icio.us for learning 2.0

A short video on how to use delicious for learning purposes. Unfortunately, the quality of the video embedded in the page is only barely acceptable, due to the small resolution stretched to a bigger size.

The speaker, Kathleen Gilroy of the Otter Group, provides a good introduction to delicious, how it works, and you can use it to share your links and access other people’s links. It includes a quick how-to followed by specific examples of how del.icio.us can help you when researching the web, or working with groups.

Kathleen’s speaking style is a tad stiff, but she gives a very good overview and nice concrete examples.

The video lasts nice and short 8 minutes, definitely worth a quick listen/look.

podcasting in education, a couple of examples

Podcasting in education, links courtesy of the folks at ProfCast:

Podcasting at the University of Connecticut: Enhancing the Educational Experience

Globalizing Education One Podcast at a Time

Powered by ScribeFire.

Robin Goode reviews podcast recording and publishing tools

like the title says Robin Goode reviews podcast recording and publishing tools

a couple of headset recommendations

one for $99, the Beyer MMXI recommended by Paul Figgiano

another for around $25, Altec Lansing AHS 302i, think that came from the Podcasting Underground

Podcast on podcasting and education from learnoutloud.com

A panel discussion on podcasting and learning that took place at the Portable Media Expo in September 2006. Here’s how they describe it themselves:

“On Saturday September 29th, David and Seth had the pleasure of sitting down with Douglas Welch and Jeff McQuillan to discuss the role of education in the realm of podcasting.”

You can download or listen to it directly at the learnoutloud.com site.

The chipmunk effect

If you’re using a Flash player to play sounds, you might have noticed that some sounds are played faster than they were recorded, also known as the chipmunk effect.

The Flash player prefers sounds that are recorded at multiples of 11.025 kHz. So no problem if you record at 11.025 kHz, 22.050 kHz or 44.100 kHz, you’re all set, no chipmunkying around.

Thanks to 1pixelout for the excellent WordPress plug-in and the tip on getting chipmunk free sound.

Photo stolen from 1574R-09992 PureStock Royalty Free Photograph fotosearch.com