mjobrien architect

Jeff Haberl asked how I make these podcasts, so this page will try to answer that question.

Hardware I use:

• a 60 gb second-generation ipod
• a Griffin italk plugin microphone
• a Griffin lavalier microphone attachment (plugs into italk)

But you could use the current generation ipod, a belkin "tunetalk" plugin microphone with a lavalier attachment

I think the new ipod samples audio at a higher rate so you can go directly from the itunes to garageband apps without having to change the sampling rate.

Whichever way you go, be sure to push the button in the center of the ipod wheel to start recording.

As soon as you push the center button, you're recording, put the ipod in a pocket (where the button won't get pushed by your carkeys) clip on the lavalier and you are good to go.

Now give a brilliant lecture...I struggle with this part.

Then push the button to stop recording and head back to your office.

For this next part you need itunes and a macintosh computer. I use the mac because they have made the integration between the ipod, itunes, and the podcasting app (garageband) really simple to use. I'm sure there is an equivalent on the Windows side, I'm just not familiar with it.

Plug the ipod connector cable into the usb port on the mac, plug the ipod into the connector cable and it will ask you if you want to download the new voice memo...your lecture. click ok and it downloads into the itunes library.

That's the end of the hardware part of things, look at the rightside column to see the software side. 

Software I use:

• Audacity a freeware/shareware app that can provide editing of the .wav file that the ipod produces. It's also where I resample the sound files from my old ipod to a rate where they sound more normal when I import them into GarageBand
• Keynote: this is a macintosh application that acts as the translator between powerpoint and Garageband. Opening the powerpoint file used in the lecture (I could just make them in Keynote but I'm still partly a windows user) allows me to drag a slide from the presentation into the timeline for the audio file in Garageband.
• Garageband: This is a macintosh application where you can mix instrument and voice tracks. When you open Garageband it asks you what kind of project you want to make. Click "New Podcast Episode" and we are underway.

Since I use the old ipod, I start the process by opening the itunes file in Audacity. I drag the lecture recording out of the voice memo folder in itunes and drop it on the desktop so I can find it easier. About all I do in Audacity is change the rate by clicking the triangle next to  filename .
I pull down to "other" so I can set the rate to 1500, it was a trial and error process for me to find that this sounded most normal in Garageband.

After that, I just export the file in an AIFF format so Garageband can read it.

We're done with Audacity now so close it out and open Garageband. Click "New Podcast Episode"

Name the file in response to the dialog box. This will open up a project timeline, you'll drag the AIFF file into the voice track (second track from the top)

 You can click and drag this track left or right, I'll drag it left to move it into the 0 position on the timeline. Open Keynote next.

In Keynote, I opened my Powerpoint notes on this lecture about the ADA. I just have to click on the slide in the preview column at left, and drag the slide up into the timeline above the sound track to have it show up when I'm speaking about door clearances.

The slide shows up on the timeline AND on the artwork pasteboard as well. We have to edit slide on the artwork pasteboard to have it show up properly in the podcast so doubleclick on the slide in the artwork column (lower arrow)

See that the slide's aspect ratio doesn't match the square display field from Garageband. To make sure the whole slide is visible in the podcast, click on the slider bar (lower arrow) and drag it to the left. This will shrink the image to fit the display field.

That's pretty much it, I listen to the podcast (to edit out sneezes, etc.) and drag the slides from keynote into the timeline when I've hear that I'm talking about the next slide. Once you have all the slides in, the last step is to export (share) the podcast to the disk.

Name the file. Now you can upload it to your website where it will play from the user's web browser (but be a teeny tiny image) or right click from the website, save it to the desktop and play it in itunes or quicktime.

Let me know if I can help with other questions. Contact me at mjobrien1953@yahoo.com