Podcasting Equipment

So you may be wondering just what you need to record your voice, edit it, save it in a useable file format and send it in for contribution. Well thankfully it is all actually very simple and cheap unless you are living in a tent or something =o.=.O=

First you will want a computer, err this might seem odd to say but to be frank a computer is like 90% of all you need, in fact some computer (such as modern Macs or most high price range laptops) come with in-built microphones of sufficient quality that it can be your entire hardware setup!

Second you will need a microphone; that is in case you don’t have one in your computer or on a webcam. Microphones can vary a lot but you don’t need to spend much to get a decent one for basic voice recording, heck even an Xbox live headset is acceptable; anything with a 3.5mm jack or a USB connection should. Headsets are usually a good safe choice since they are intended for voice chats and the like but if you want to splash out getting a Snowball USB mic is an excellent choice, I myself have recently invested in such an item.

Third and last you will need some software to record your voice with, you may be aware of Windows sound recorder or Macs Garage Band (or Quicktime X record functionality). However these rarely contain good editing features (except for Garage Band but even that is not hyper featured on the editing level compared to some Adobe Software). A simple, elegant and most importantly FREE option to get a piece of recording AND editing software is a little FOSS (Free Open Source Software) program we call Audacity; With it you can do lots of nifty things with audio and with the right plugins can export to most filetypes, though MP3s are appreciated .

Questions? Additions? Ask/Suggest!

Iscin, Director of Uplink Alpha