Monthly Archives: March 2019

How I Podcast 2022

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**Updated 4/2022**

Product links are affiliate links. These are products I use and stand behind but I get a commission when you use my link to purchase them.

Here’s a diagram of my current podcast setup. I’ll attempt to explain what equipment I’m using and how it’s connected. Click to make the image larger.

Equipment:

Software:

  • Adobe Audition CS6 – Editing and encoding
  • Mp3tag – ID3 automated tag editing
  • Photoshop CS6 – Editing episode images
  • Absolute RSS Editor – Feed Generator
  • Podcast Soundboard – For playing music, intros, voicemails live
  • Discord – Free voice and text chat

Online Services:

Recording Setup:

  • Main Mix:
    • Mic 1 plugs into the first channel on the mixer.
    • TRS (Tip Ring Sleeve) cable from the back of the mixer into the Compressor/Limiter/Gate and then back from the Compressor to the channel.
    • Audio goes through Tape Out (L/R) using a stereo RCA to 1/8″ cable and into the H4n recorder.
  • Aux Send (Provides a Mix-Minus for my cohost via Discord):
    • Mic 1 plugs into the first channel on the mixer.
    • Aux Send is output from mixer via stereo 1/4″ TRS to 1/8″ stereo plug and a Ground Loop Eliminator to Line In on the Podcast Machine.
    • Discord is set to receive sound from Line In so co-hosts can hear everything but themselves (called a Mix-Minus).
    • Line Out on the Podcast Machine sends incoming audio from Discord into Compressor/Limiter/Gate and then into Channel 3 on the Mixer.
  • Input from Discord:
    • Output from the soundcard runs through a mono1/8″ to 1/4″ cable into the second channel on the Compressor/Limiter/Gate and then into the 4th channel on the mixer via a 1/4″ patch cable.
  • Soundboard:
    • Soundboard software plays sounds when triggered sending audio out of 2nd sound card in Podcast Machine and into Channels 7/8 on the Mixer.
  • OBS:
    • I’m not currently live streaming video and audio to Twitch, but when I did I ran the Main Mix through a Ground Loop Eliminator and into the Line In on the 2nd sound card on the Podcast Machine.

Recording Procedure:

  • I turn on the Power Conditioner which powers up my Mixer, Compressor/Limiter/Gate, and H4n Recorder.
  • I insert the SD card and once the H4n boots I hit record on the remote twice to begin recording.
  • Throughout the show, I can press the Record button again to place a marker in the waveform that I can see later in editing. Helps me find things later that I want to modify.
  • During recording, I mix everything live. All music, fx, bumpers, voicemails, and mics are recorded to the H4n.
  • After recording, I turn off the H4n and eject the SD Card, place it into a dongle on my Main PC and import the waveform.
    • I import each episode to its own directory (example: podcasts/tss/283/wavform.wav)
  • I open the Wav file in Audition. I trim the front and end of the episode, plus make any edits I may have tagged during the recording of the show.
  • I run a Multiband Compressor and Hard Limiter on the waveform to get the most volume possible and then save it as a 16-bit mp3 file (thus keeping the original wav unedited and archived).
  • I open the mp3 file into MP3tag, and I give the mp3 a title (234: The Tree Dude). then using an Action I created (see how here) I automatically add artwork, episode numbers, and other information with one click. My mp3 filename is also automatically generated (ex: 234-the-tree-dude.mp3)
  • I then upload the tagged mp3 file to SoundCloud, enabling the permission to download the file.
  • Using the RSS Feed SoundCloud automatically generates, I locate the address of my uploaded file and copy it.
  • I log in to WordPress and create a new post and using the PowerPress plugin I paste the address of the mp3 into the appropriate box. I add a featured image, show title, and description and hit Publish.
  • For That Story Show, I do not use PowerPress. Since the feed contains over 400 episodes I use Absolute RSS Editor to create a very bare-bones feed that will allow all of my podcasts to be listed at once.

Conclusion

If you have any questions about my setup, equipment, or software and you are a hobby podcaster, feel free to touch base. If you are podcasting for your business or to get rich I would urge you to find and pay a podcasting guru.

For more (possibly outdated) information on podcasting check out other podcasting articles I’ve written: