(Click here) for the podcast version of this article
You know I have been speaking very highly of the stuff available over at www.mypodcast.com. I have been so pleased with the quality and the ease of using their site, software and little recorder program that I can’t help but give them another big thumbs up. I have been using it regularly for a while now and have become just a bit spoiled I guess. It’s like I said before, “When something works, it works” ( see, ‘Beginners . . . podcast ‘on the cheap’), and I still feel that way.
So, if you’re a beginner and want to get started with mypodcast.com’s “Mypodcast recorder”, I have a couple of helpful hints for you. Please remember, it is a simple recorder and not extremely versatile, but for what it is, it works great! If you just want a simple way of getting started recording your podcast, this is a great place to start.
One nice thing about this simple little program is it can be used immediately after you download it. As long as you don’t make any mistakes or have to restate a statement because you got tongue-tied, it is completely easy to use. It is when you have those moments of brain strained audio garble that it becomes a little tricky.
If you mess up right at the beginning of your talk, it’s probably best to start over from the very beginning. If it is a half a minute or so into it, you can stop, playback or advance to just before the mistake and pick it up from there.
So, how do you do that? I’ll try to ‘simply’ talk you through it. It will help if you have already downloaded it and tried doing a few things with it so that you are at least somewhat familiar with it.
First, when you open the Mypodcast recorder and click the record button (I’m assuming you have a microphone attached) you will notice it immediately starts recording. Notice the line that moves through the time graphic. As you record, it tells you where you are. (You can use this as your guide as you record your production for how much time has elapsed and it is also helpful for correcting a mistake.) When you click the record button again, it stops recording. If you click the record button again,(whether accidently or otherwise), you just erased what you just recorded and started recording all over again. That probably wasn’t what you wanted or expected, so, here is the first really big tip:
- After you have recorded something, either listen to it by clicking the play button to advance it back to the end of the recording, or,
- Manually advance it, either with your mouse or arrow buttons, to the end and you can begin recording again without losing any of the previous information
This particular feature is a mixed blessing. If you accidently double click the record button to stop and listen to your recording, it will stop the recording and start recording again, BUT, it will have quickly erased all of you previous work. I guess the best thing I can tell you about this is just don’t be in a hurry. Take your time and be cautious. While working on a recording, you can make corrections and add to the recording as long as you don’t save it. Once you save it it is fixed in stone, (unless you enter it into another program, like Audacity, for editing it that way.)
Here is hint number 2 for the day. If you are recording your program and notice that you have made a really noticeable mistake, simply stop recording and do the following:
- Click play and listen to what you have recorded up to the mistake.
- Notice where it was and click stop on the play button.
- You can back up in small increments by using your left arrow key
- Hit play and make sure of where you are in the recording
- Hit stop one more time and back up to a good place for starting the statement over
- Work at it until you are sure have the right spot
- Click record and proceed from that point with your recording
At this time, I have found no way to do insert editing with this program. You can go back to where you want to pick it up from, but you cannot insert something in the middle. Once you back up to where you want to record something, the program erases everything beyond that point and starts recording new from that point. This one little drawback to this program is at times a nuisance, but as you get used to using it, you find how easy it is to work with this feature. With practice, you will find you can do things that no one will notice, including yourself.
Just remember, this works only in original recordings. Once you save the recording, it is not able to be added to or corrected unless you put it into another program to edit it.
See ya next time . . .
