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Today Rusty talks about the stuff he uses to make his podcasts and other productions
Today, I thought I would take a little time to mention some of the software and hardware I use to turn out my podcasts and other productions. Some of it I have used for a while but I still use it even though there are newer items coming out quite often and I find my older stuff still serves me well, at least for the present. Some hardware and software has come along to make things faster, better and simpler and I have never been afraid to try new things but I have never been one to use something simply because it is new if it doesn’t make my job faster, better or easier.
Some things may have looked good early on but their usefulness quickly faded as other items came along and far surpassed the abilities of those former items. It has been a learning experience ever since day one and I don’t claim to know all I need to know even after several years of doing these different things. One thing I do know; everything has, or is, getting easier simply because of the advancements in technology and software and that is a very good thing. As long as quality isn’t sacrificed along the way, I’m very happy about that.
Since I started in podcasting quite awhile ago a lot of things have changed and some things have stayed the same. When I go back and listen to some of my early podcasts, I am amazed at the quality of them compared to now and how much easier it is to make and post them than it was at that time. I’m even surprised at what I was able to turn out even though I didn’t know a lot about podcasting or streaming and didn’t have a lot of money to invest in equipment either new or old. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I would continue with it so I didn’t want to make any major investments and tried to find ways to turn out decent recordings with limited resources and equipment until I was sure I wasn’t throwing my money away. Besides, at that time, it was a much more expensive and complicated process than it is now.
As I’ve said before, I’ve been working with audio for a long time and, even though I liked the “old days” of recording and editing and producing the final products, I absolutely love the “new days” that are upon us.
If you’re new or just getting started in this thing called podcasting, recording, editing and getting the product out to the listeners or viewers (whether you are talking about audio or video) has never been easier than it is right now. The technology has really come of age and working in the digital arena makes so many things easier than it used to be. You don’t have to believe me when I tell you that but, if you’ve been around any type of producing and recording or editing audio and video even over the last seven to ten years or so; you know what I’m talking about. The changes to audio and video technology in just the last few years have been absolutely astounding.
Over 38 plus years, I’ve worked with many different types of equipment from reel-to-reel to the latest digital capture devices. I try out different software and hardware and still find that I like some of the more simple-to-use things I come across. The podcasts (or blogcasts as I like to call these) are done on very affordable and easy-to-use equipment and software programs and, although I have tried and like to use the pro versions of some of the software I use, I still turn out many of my productions using the “consumer end” programs that are less expensive to purchase and do everything I need them to do. Those other things have their place but for turning out very good general productions I find the simpler items fill my needs quite well for the time being.
Yes, I know the pro versions have many more capabilities, but I have found I don’t use all of the bells and whistles that might be offered with some of the more sophisticated ones so I use the lesser versions to their full extent. So far, I think things have turned out pretty well but I do admit there are times I could save time “IF” I had the Pro versions of the software.
Just for your information, I presently still use either Audacity or Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio to capture and edit the audio portions of my productions and I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio as a simple multi-track audio mixer to do the final mix down simply because it is a little faster than using Audacity. That isn’t a knock against Audacity, I just find Sony Vegas Movie Studio a little less clunky and therefore faster. My favorite microphone is my Blue Yeti USB mic and I store my downloadable print and audio files on Amazon S3. Needless to say, I know there are advantages to having more expensive and possibly better equipment, but, I choose to continue working “On the Cheap” but do not want to sacrifice quality for price.
Why would anyone want to listen to a poor sounding, poorly produced presentation of any kind? I know I wouldn’t want to so I have chosen to pay attention to the smaller details and turn out productions that sound better than some I have heard produced with some of the big ticket items. Is it coincidence that I have somehow done something well with the lesser equipment or is it because I pay attention to some small details for the quality of program I turn out and save money at the same time? Personally, I don’t think so. I think paying attention to some small details can make some of the biggest differences in any production.
Like I said above, I use the software and equipment listed here to accomplish everything you see and/or listen to here … but… then again I fully intend to tell you more about the products and procedures I follow in the very near future. In fact, next time I will tell you about a couple of products I am trying and quite happy with. Who knows? They just might work quite well for you, too.
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© August 8, 2015 – all rights reserved – Rusty Norman – PodCastNorm.com
All audio productions by PodCastNorm dot Com and PodCastNorm Productions
All music used is from Two Buck Themes by Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated
