Advanced Media Lab, College of Design

Podcasting Resources January 9, 2009

A lengthy overview and resources available for creating and setting up a Podcast; which is a bit or trial-and-error as well as a subtle artistic endeavor. This is a running document for students taking Universal by Design (iTunes Link) through The Center for Universal Design at  NC State University, College of Design.

Audio and Video Capture

Get good audio.

• Garbage in = Garbage out… Cleaning up scratchy, muffled, inaudible audio is next to impossible.
• Use an external microphone if you can (even better, wireless lavaliere)
  Otherwise — make sure the camera is close to the subject speaking.
• Pay close attention to background noise that may interfere with dialogue.
• Bring a pair of headphones so you can sample the incoming audio signal from the camera microphone output

Video

• Shoot in standard definition when possible
  – Although some video services are accepting HD footage the majority of what you will be producing will be just as visually compelling online
• Sometimes smaller is better (camera size)
• Tape is cheap. Time and opportunity are not.
  – If you’re using SD or Hard Drive based cameras be sure to allocate tape sessions appropriately so you don’t run out of drive space during a shoot
• Tape provides an instant archive – swap, label, shoot, repeat.
• Don’t store projects on IT lab machines.
  – Purchase a good external Firewire or USB2.0 hard drive, 500GB minimum
• Use a tripod to avoid the Blair Witch/Cloverfield look
  – unless you are going for that sort of visual style
• Pretend that the zoom lens was never invented
  – you can get better footage if you cover a wide shot and then a close up without awkward zooming
• Shoot cover footage (ambient)
• Trust your eyes over auto-focus.
• Pay attention to lighting (color, amount)
  – check your camera settings for indoor vs outdoor lighting settings it can make a big difference to skin tone and environmental colors
• Don’t point directly at a light source.

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