Filed under: Multimedia, Podcasting
Record a multi-participant podcast with GarageBand
A few months ago, I started recording a podcast with some friends. At that time, our process was to gather everyone into one Skype call and record the session with WireTap Studio. That worked reasonably well, but there were a few problems.
The quality of the end result was dependent on everyone's Skype connection. Throw in a bad rainstorm, a large download or an iffy wi-fi connection and quality suffered. The other issue was people talking over each other. Even the most disciplined podcasters do it occasionally. Since the raw audio was a single track, editing the overtalking out of the final show was difficult, if not impossible.
A few episodes into it, we read Dan Benjamin's tips on recording a podcast with participants in multiple locations. He and John Gruber use a time-tested method called a "double-ender" when recording The Talk Show. As they talk via Skype, John and Dan record their own audio locally, and those two files are edited together as separate tracks. We've adopted a similar method using GarageBand, and it's been working wonderfully. Read on for details on our setup.
First, launch GarageBand and connect your mic. I use a Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset mic that cost me about $35US. Hardly a pro-level solution, but it works well (plus, I'm hoping to find something a little better under the Christmas tree in a couple of weeks).
Next, ensure that GarageBand is set to record from your mic. I've found that I get the best results by recording from my mic directly into GarageBand. From the preferences pane, click Audio/MIDI and select your mic as both audio input and output if it has built-in headphones. Avoid using external speakers for audio out, or the recording will seem to have an echo as it records your voice once from your mouth and again from the speakers.
Finally, click the track you're going to use and ensure that the button below that track's title is red, meaning recording is enabled. Once that's set up, I call the others on Skype, and they prep their copies of GarageBand in the same way. From there, we all begin recording and say, "One, two, three, go" together. Believe me, that simple step makes editing a heck of a lot easier.
That's really it. We each record our own audio while Skype simply allows us to talk together. When we're done, each participant exports his or her own track and sends it to whoever has editing duty. When that's me, I make one track for each person, line them up according to the countdown and begin editing. Finally, I add a jingles track for the intro music and any additional sound effects.
This way, the quality of the Skype call doesn't affect the final product, and instances of people talking over each other are easily corrected, as each voice is its own track.
Next, ensure that GarageBand is set to record from your mic. I've found that I get the best results by recording from my mic directly into GarageBand. From the preferences pane, click Audio/MIDI and select your mic as both audio input and output if it has built-in headphones. Avoid using external speakers for audio out, or the recording will seem to have an echo as it records your voice once from your mouth and again from the speakers.
Finally, click the track you're going to use and ensure that the button below that track's title is red, meaning recording is enabled. Once that's set up, I call the others on Skype, and they prep their copies of GarageBand in the same way. From there, we all begin recording and say, "One, two, three, go" together. Believe me, that simple step makes editing a heck of a lot easier.
That's really it. We each record our own audio while Skype simply allows us to talk together. When we're done, each participant exports his or her own track and sends it to whoever has editing duty. When that's me, I make one track for each person, line them up according to the countdown and begin editing. Finally, I add a jingles track for the intro music and any additional sound effects.
This way, the quality of the Skype call doesn't affect the final product, and instances of people talking over each other are easily corrected, as each voice is its own track.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Marzy said 4:36PM on 12-16-2008
Yeah I did the exact same thing when i did a podcast ep awhile back with someone, I also have the same head set he he, I would like too add if you go into the input audio settings in Garage Band turn up the bass and change a few of the other options you can't make your self sound a lot better well it worked for me on my logitech clear chat pro headset.
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Mike said 9:25AM on 12-16-2008
I used a nearly identical process when I used to record Radio Free Nintendo, the weekly podcast for NintendoWorldReport.com. I didn't use GarageBand for recording though. It felt like slicing an apple with a samurai sword, using up far more system resources than necessary to record my voice. I used the bare-bones (and free) "Audio Recorder" app (you can find it on MacUpdate). My fellow podcasters and I would all use a simple app like this and we'd also do the "3, 2, 1" countdown ending it with a loud clap of our hands. That made it super-easy to sync everybody's audio up for editing in GargeBand. You just look for the large spike caused by the clap in everybody's recording.
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Luke Gedeon said 10:34AM on 12-16-2008
Wow, talk about timing. I am going to be doing this for the first time in a few hours. Thanks, this will help a lot.
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macniacos.com said 10:51AM on 12-16-2008
We made a "double-ender screencast" a few months ago, explaining how to record a double-ender podcast using Audio Hijack Pro and GarageBand. You might find it interesting, although the audio is spanish :
http://www.archive.org/download/macniacos.screencast.01.makingof/macniacos.screencast01.mov
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Murem said 11:04AM on 12-16-2008
Using Evoca's Evoca-Skype Call Recorder, you don't need any SW to record your Skype calls - multi-party or your own voice, . Get it done this way with Evoca's easy-to-use web service: http://www.evoca.com/skype/. When you complete the call, we send you a Skype chat with a link to the recording in your Evoca account --- we host it online and you can email the link to anyone, the ability to instantly download it, and more.
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Rich said 11:39AM on 12-16-2008
This depends on the quality of the network, obviously. What you hear is what you get.
What's needed is a FOSS peer-to-peer VoIP solution that also records locally, and automatically uploads the recorded session to the editor. Given sufficient bandwidth, this upload could happen simultaneously with the low-bandwidth connectionless session. That solves both problems neatly. It's just up to someone to write it. And Skype ain't gonna do it.
Mike said 11:11AM on 12-16-2008
I used to do this but quickly switched back to skype. This method is a NIGHTMARE unless you have regular guest hosts that have fast machines with garage band. We had different guests every episode and most of them had PCs. So we tried getting them to record themselves on audacity. Problem is - audacity would sometimes crash... which ruined the ENTIRE show! You can't just play the other voices with the gaping holes where someone was supposed to speak.
Another problem was occasionally some people's crappy computers would lag, so the mixed recording would slowly get out of sync. No one wants to listen to someone laugh before the joke is told. This nearly ruined our show. Fortunately I went back to recording Skype with Audio Hijack Pro (you can also use Ecamm Call Recorder) and editing with Audacity (which is WAY more powerful than garageband for improving audio and editing) and levelator. If you know what you're doing with editing and your main hosts have decent mics and simple recording skills then it will sound almost like they're in the same room.
Speaking from experience, only use this "double-ender" method if:
- you have regular guest hosts who all have fast, reliable computers
- your hosts are all accountable (it sucks to hound someone for their audio)
- your hosts are not flaky (sucks when someone "forgot to press record") - someone can at least make a backup recording of the whole thing just in case
- you don't mind the extra hassle of importing and aligning every track
- you don't mind multiplying the difficulty, potential for problems by 10 to get a little better audio quality when your audience probably doesn't care anyway
- you are dumb ;D j/k
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elbaso said 1:39PM on 12-16-2008
It would seem that multiple sources of recording would lead to multiple potential points of failure...
If you have 3 people recording their local audio, then you're three times as likely that someone will mess up.
You should definitely have a backup recording of the Skype audio just in case.
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Ender said 2:27PM on 12-16-2008
A pretty darned good lavalier microphone that I've been using for a while, if you want a replacement. Plus, it's only 25 bucks:
http://www.amazon.com/AUDIO-TECHNICA-ATR-35S-Audio-Technica-Microphone/dp/B00006I51V/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1229455159&sr=8-2
(And no, I don't work for them or anything, but I've used this and like it).
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Adam said 2:32PM on 12-16-2008
Why so complicated? You're clearly all using Macs. Just use iChat + GarageBand.
http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=37930&afterinter=true
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Just_a_guy said 4:09PM on 12-16-2008
geez why not use soundflower to pass the audio from skype to garage band? that would make life so much easier. Heck, you can pass audio from ANY source to ANY receiver that is within your computer (for example, I could pass the sound of me playing a MAME game through skype so my friend can guess what game it is, pass an iTunes song to Garage band by playing it, or even... well you get the picture)
just check out soundflower please :)
oh and it's free!
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http:welcome-to-gmail.wz.czindex.php said 8:04AM on 1-13-2009
I tried do podcast but its harder then i think.
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