Topic: Making Podcasts
Peter Travis offers tips on creating podcast.
This is adapted from an article that first appeared in the ETP (English Teaching Professional) in November 2007.

Page 1: Your podcasting objectives
Page 2: Tools you need
Page 3: Getting started

Tools you need
- You’ll need a microphone unless you’re using an MP3 player with one built in. A good quality microphone will lead to crisper, clearer recordings, but if you’re just
starting and this is all experimental, keep it simple. Adequate recordings can be made with microphones that are built into headsets. Even cheap karaoke-style models will enable you to get started and once you really get the bug, you can always treat yourself to something more expensive!

- For a recording device, the simplest solution is a PC or laptop. An MP3 player can be a more flexible and portable solution, although remember you’ll need to be able to transfer your recording from the MP3 player to the computer using a USB connection, for example. Check whether yours can do this before opting for this method.

- Headphones give you a better idea of the quality of your recording than trying to listen through the laptop or PC speakers. However, once again, a simple headset will do the job for your early experiments.

- You’ll need a hosting service for your podcasts, which makes publishing them an easy process. Podomatic (www.podomatic.com), for example, is very popular with EFL teachers and will enable you to get your recordings online quickly, easily and for free! You’ll automatically get an RSS feed for your podcast and listeners get the chance to leave comments on each broadcast.

- Eventually you’ll want to use editing software to delete parts of the recording you don’t want, to join separate recordings together, or insert jingles to make your own radio show! You can download Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net), a very popular editing tool, absolutely free of charge.

Page 1: Your podcasting objectives
Page 2: Tools you need
Page 3: Getting started