A few days ago at a networking event I came across a very funky looking mic, The Blue Ball. It’s ideal for those of you who are intending to capture audio for your podcasts from events and presentations as you can just plug it straight into your laptop and it’ll pick up sound from the room. Alternatively, you can flick a switch and use it as your at home mic.

Why flick a switch? Well, in basic terms, this mic is multi-functional. You can have it on one setting whereby it will pick up sound from all directions so if there is more than one person talking or even a band playing, then it will record everything pretty well.

Then, when you want to record your own voice in your home studio, you change the setting so that it concentrates on picking up just your voice as you speak directly into it.

Want to have a listen to it in action? The producer of Sssh UK tells me it was used in the recording of their podcast. If you have a listen you’ll notice it’s not the best quality mic you can get but it definitely more than does the job for podcasting. And for the price, the quality is ace. If you want one for yourself you can get one here for about £70.

The advantage to using this whilst out and about is the plug and play element but you do have to have the laptop with you. If you can’t deal with the size of it (it’s about 8 inches high) and lugging the laptop around then stick to a tie mic and minidisc player or digital recorder…

If you’re just dying to get your podcast up and running you can start right here and now by signing up with BlogTalkRadio. The service is set up so that you record your show straight down a phone line, without the need for any equipment or other faffery.

This is great for anyone who wants to record a talk type radio show, where you chat to invited guests, as everyone concerned dials into the show with specially allocated numbers, very much like a conference call. It’s all recorded for you and is editable once you’ve finished and you can even upload music and so on to make it more of a ’show’.

I haven’t used this product as I prefer my ’studio’ set up so bear in mind that what I have to say about it is just my opinion. I’d say that the upside to using this type of set-up is minimal outlay, the potential to earn a bit of shared revenue from the advertisers and the ability to dial in and go. What you do lose, however, is quality. There may be lots of people out there who don’t mind listening to audio sent down scratchy phone lines but likewise, there’ll be a lot of people who really don’t like it. 

So if cost is an issue then go for it, but if you like a more ‘polished’ sound then consider spening a little more by going for a different approach.

By the way, a colleague is about to start using BlogTalkRadio to record some shows so I’ll bring more feedback to the table once she’s up and running.

A client asked me today if I could recommend a good digital recorder for her to use to capture interviews whilst out and about as she intends to make more audio products to sell from her website. My initial reaction was that they are pricy options and the less pricy minidisc player does a great job.

However, after having done a good bit of web-sniffing, I think I might be coming round to the idea of the digital recorder. I don’t own a digital recorder, I use a minidisc recorder, I used one back in the BBC days and I still get great quality audio from it. Much of that is down to using a decent microphone and I think that’s what has put me off looking at the digital recorders - they tend to have built in mics.

But what’s to stop us using the digital recorder with an external, good quality mic? Nada. So, after having scoured the forums and the web-o-sphere, here are a couple of digital recorders it could well be worth going for.

The one above is a Marantz PDM620 - it’s not cheap - the one in the link costs £279 and you’d probably have to update the 512mb card that comes with it, which adds to the cost. Then there’s the external mic… Now, these things are made with an inbuilt mic for a reason - because they function perfectly well in that way. I would say that for podcasting, where quality is less important, then go ahead and use the built in mics. But if you intend to sell what you’re producing, I feel it’s more important to go for quality and therefore a good external mic would be better for carrying out interviews (the inbuilt one will pick up all the sounds around too).

Another option, which is slightly less expensive, is the sexy red Edirol R09, which does come with a bigger card at 1GB (you can stuff more on it). Again, I’d go for the external mic option if you want to get higher quality recordings but it totally depends on your preference and your own circumstances.

On a slightly different note - headphones. I’ll write a seperate post about headphones soon but meanwhile, just be careful when taking them off - you wouldn’t want to hit yourself in the face with them ten times in one day now, would you? (Yes, I’m having one of those days). I’ve also just realised I’m still wearing mine, even though there’s nothing coming out of them…eh hem, time for a cup o tea I think (eases the headphones off, gingerly).

By the way, if you’re confused and befuddled by the options available to your when it comes to making audio resources for your website, feel free to email me with any questions you might have or check out my website to see how I can help you.

We all know that in order to keep ahead of the game we need to make ourselves visible in the marketplace, as well as credible (not to mention likeable, trustworthy etc) so it really should come as no surprise that podcasting really is coming into its own as a leading medium with which to do this.

An article published today by eMarketer gives us some stats to show us why if we’re not doing it already, then it’s time to get an invitation to the podcasting party. The article discusses US statistics but I think we can safely assume that the podcasting explosion won’t be far behind in the UK.

What do you think the total podcast audience was in the States for 2007? A few million? A few more million? According to eMarketer, we’re looking at 18.5 million. That’s 18.5 million potential listeners who could be listening to you and your niche subject. Are you already putting together your first podcast or do you need more? How about if you knew that this figure was a 285% increase? Now it’s getting interesting.

And what if you knew that the at the predicted rate of growth, the podcasting audience stands to increase to 65 million by 2012. Surely you’re reaching for your microphone now?

One more thing, how recently was it that you’d never even heard the term ‘podcasting’? Isn’t it time it became as much a part of your daily vocabulary as ‘blogging’? Don’t be shy, open your mouth, let people know who you are and shout it from the rooftops…

I’m very excited because my new show has been launched! So I thought I’d talk a little bit about planning your podcast and getting started. Listen by clicking the play button above. Or you can download the mp3 here.

The Audio Pod Artist Show - Episode 1 

There are lots of opinions on creating familiarity for your audience by producing a ’signature’ sound and format and sticking to it but the flip side of that is it can delays us in getting started, especially those of us who are time starved and prone to procrastination (what a combination!).

It’s daunting enough being faced with getting to grips with the physical part of the podcasting process. But if we then take into account that we’re not ‘allowed’ to start until we’ve found the perfect intro and outro music, decided on whether or not we’re going to have a guest speaker segment and worked out the exact format of the show it can take forever to just get out there and start podcasting!

I agree with the ‘planners’ to a certain extent. Yes it’s really important to know the theme of your show , after all, you don’t want to hit record and find yourself rambling about what you had for dinner last night. And it’s useful for you to have a little plan as to how you’re going to break up the various parts of the show and it would be ideal to get your theme music sorted out before you add your dulcet tones. However, don’t sweat it if it’s not all perfect, it’s never going to be. Just keep it simple so that you can get started.

So, whilst I have a theme for my show (talking about podcasting of course - did you expect a show on budgerigar management?) I’ve decided to take the pressure off myself and allow myself to do several things with it as it grows organically:

• If I feel like changing the music then I will!
• I might decide to introduce new segments or remove old segments, depending on what me or my audience prefer.
• I may or may not stick to the length that I’ve started off with (it’s roughly 12 minutes at the moment)

There’s a lot to be said for allowing a show to grow organically - remember, your show is to help mark you out as an expert that your clients can grow to know, like and trust - they don’t expect a professional radio show. Meanwhile, you will learn what works and what doesn’t, and therefore be able to polish your show as you become more familiar with podcasting as a way to get your voice in their head.

Part of the reason you’re creating audio products and resources is so that your potential customer base has the opportunity to get to know like and trust you. They’ll buy (eventually) from people they know, like and trust, right? So, what if you don’t like your voice? What if you don’t like your voice on tape?

If you’ve chosen the audio route as part of your marketing strategy it would be ideal for the customer to hear the real you, especially if you’re a small business or a solopreneur. There aren’t that many people I’ve come across who actually like hearing their voice on tape but if you can get past that hurdle then it’s so much more effective for your customer to hear you talk with passion, integrity and knowledge about your subject area.

What about accents?

I have an accent, being a little Scouse mouse, although these days it’s not so strong. I did have to think about how to present my podcasts before I started because, believe it or not, I still come across people (grown adults) who, upon meeting me, make the odd comment about their tyres still being on their cars and their wallet still being in their pocket etc. So, if normal adults can still hold and give voice to prejudices around accents, does that mean potential clients would be put off me because my accent has so-called negative associations?

I didn’t have to think about this issue for too long. I like myself, I like my accent, I love where I come from and I don’t feel the need to hide it. You can’t please everyone. Some will like how you write your blog, others will find fault and a reason not to buy from you if it doesn’t sit right with them. It’s the same with your audio products and podcasting. So go for it, stamp your mark with your voice on all your audio products. Be yourself and the right clients will come to you.

Well, here I am, trying to spread the word about the joy of audio and podcasting and I’m blogging about it! Why would I do that? The thing is, I feel my podcasts need a complimentary blog so that I can go into more depth on certain aspects of what I say in my podcast, which provides you with a bit of a reference tool that you can come back to whenever you need it.

So what’s the point of the Audio Pod Artist blog and podcast? I aim to give you no-nonsense, honest-to-goodness, non-geeky, useful information about creating audio products and podcasts so that your clients have your voice in their head.

There are so many tools out there at the moment to make you and your business ’sticky’ (and I don’t mean in a tarred and feathered kind of way). Audio is a fab way to get people talking about you, remembering you, coming back to hear more from you, knowing, liking and trusting you
and ultimately, buying from you.

So, quite simply, I want you to use audio to its best effect and as this blog grows I hope to start a conversation with those of you who want to make your voice part of your marketing strategy. Bring on the noise!!!