Freebies

Creating your own audio products doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Check out this totally free and legal to use editing software and get downloading.

And if you haven’t already, sign up here for my free audio report, ‘5 Ways You Can Use Audio in Your Business’.

Hardware

Whatever the type of audio product you want to create, you’ll need some basic kit to get you started. There are so many different types of hardware available that it could take you a year to trawl through them all. To keep it simple, I’ve selected a range of equipment for varying needs, abilities and pockets. You might want to buy all your kit at entry level and upgrade if and when you get bitten by the podcasting bug. Or, you already know a bit about audio and are quite tech-savvy and you’re prepared to go for the big shebang straight away. Have a look around and either dive straight in or use this as a starting point to do your own research/price comparisons/ebay bargain hunting.

A word before we start. If you have a limited budget, the advice is to spend as much as you can afford on your microphone, followed by your headphones. The microphone is your first chance to get great sounding audio, if the quality is low then no amount of fiddling with the audio in post-production will save it. As a general rule, if you spend less than £50 on your microphone, the quality of the recording will suffer.

Home/Studio Use

A simple podcast kit could do the job for you, giving you everything you need to create your audio resources from home. The Samson COU1 is widely regarded as a top way to get started in podcasting, especially if you’re a laptop user. It has a USB cable which means you can record directly into your computer without having to resort to using the often substandard mic input on your machine. Genius. You’ll also need a pop filter to minimise the pops from the pesky letter p. If you want to dip your toes on a tiny budget then get yourself a USB headset with microphone. Obviously the quality isn’t as good as a better microphone but it will do the job for some easy podcasting and is a necessity if you’re planning on recording via Skype. Just make sure it’s a USB one (rather than one with a jack plug) as you’ll get a better connection.

If you’re planning to gather your audio whilst out and about i.e. interviewing people or recording yourself at speaking engagements you’ll need to invest in some mobile equipment. A minidisc player and good, basic microphone are great for recording interviews. Your top-dollar option would be a digital recorder but they can be quite pricey! If you plan to sell the results of your recording, it’s worth thinking about an external mic to plug into a digital recorder - you will get better quality than without it, especially if you’re recording interviews. The digital recorders below are examples of those at the lower end of the market, again, shop around for the best option. I’ve got the Zoom in my toolkit. And by the way, a mini-tripod is a total boon when using this piece of kit.

Of course, you’ll need to be able to monitor your recording (and playback) so it really is essential to get a decent set of headphones. This really doesn’t have to be expensive at all and the range of options is endless. A good place to start is with Sennheiser for an inexpensive option. I’ve also listed a better quality one for those of you who always prefer to buy high-end equipment.

For most people, using headphones in the studio is not problem because nobody can see you wearing your big, geeky ear muffs. However, out and about it’s a different matter, with lots of people preferring to keep their image (and hairstyle) intact by foregoing the headphone option. Don’t be tempted to go without. Just wearing a simple pair of inner ear bud headphones can mean the difference between knowing you have your recording on location and getting home to find a blank minidisc - disaster!

 

Software and Web Tools

 

Free software which does the job (shop around for bundle deals):

 

Audacity - free on the internet

Cakewalk - free with the Podcasting Pak

Cubebase - free with the Zoom (in some bundles)

 

If you want to record podcasts and web audio using one of the automated packages, check out the following:

 

Audio Generator allows you to very easily and quickly create audio files for your website. You can make audio postcards, audio clips for your site and even podcast using this. There is a monthly fee of $19.99 for unlimited useage but you get a free 30 day trial before you part with a penny so it’s worth having a go to see if you like it. A word of warning - if you’re in the office and you click on the link, the audio will start automatically (you can change the settings on your own version not to do this!).

 

If you want to interview people on the phone for your material then a very easy way to do this is by downloading Skype for free. You’ll need a way of recording the calls and I’d recommend Pamela. Weird name but great little recording tool. Again, you’ve got a free 30 day trial period on this one - just click the banner below to suck it and see!