a Voice in the Wilderness

Sitepoint recently ran an article by Jon Watson[1] that was a primer for podcasters[2]. Lot’s of tips & links to tools to help a fledgling podcaster get in the ‘bidness.

The tip I’m using right now is the following recommendations for bit & sample rates:

The most suitable bit and sample rates for a given show will depend entirely on its content. Finding the perfect match of rates and file sizes is something of a holy grail for podcasters. A general rule of thumb is that music should be recorded at a higher bit rate and sample rate, while speech may be recorded at a much lower setting. I encode my speech podcasts at a sample rate of 22kHz and a bit rate of 48kbps, which usually results in a file that’s about 6MB per 15 minutes of show. Here are some common benchmarks to get you started, but keep in mind that experimentation is the key:

* Pure speech podcast: 22kHz/48kbps
* Speech with some music: 44.1kHz/64-96kbps
* Mostly music: 44.1kHz/128-192kbps

A new tools I had not encountered is CastBlaster[3]. This tools looks like it has some features built into it that you see the guys on Mike & Mike in the Morning[4]. Pre-recorded snippits can be easily entered into the podcast on the fly, making your podcast more spontaneous, and easier to edit too!.

[1] http://www.sitepoint.com/article/professional-podcasting
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
[3] http://www.castblaster.com/
[4] http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=mikeandmike