Tech Geek

There might be several reasons you want to create a Podcast such as distributing sermons or make-up Confirmation lessons, training your volunteers, or letting others listen in as you and friends “talk shop” about youth and family ministry. One idea is to record a weekly ten minute training podcast for your adult leaders. You can then podcasts the training (and burn CD’s to hand to your volunteers for those not podcasting). 

As we talked about in an earlier session; a podcast is simply a sound or video file with a special piece of code that lets your computer automatically download new “episodes.” Today we’ll talk about some tools you’ll need to create an audio podcast locally and then we’ll talk about some tools for distributing your podcast on the internet. Many of the same principles can be used for creating a video podcast, but for the sake of simplicity we’re going to stick with the audio realm today. 

Tools for Creating a Podcast 
You can create a recording very easily using a typical computer. I’m going to share with you some of my tools, which are very inexpensive. You can always upgrade equipment or software, but I’ll assume you’re just getting started and want to start cheap and then upgrade. 

Microphone: The first thing you’ll need is a microphone. I recommend one of the several USB headset microphones (look in the gaming section at the store). A USB microphone will bypass the microphone input in your computer. The headset will allow you to hear the audio output clearly and the USB signal is, in my experience, cleaner than with microphones that go into the microphone plug on your computer. 

Recording Software: You can use any program that records audio. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) is a great, free program that allows you to record audio and edit it later. On a Mac I understand Garage Band is a great program for recording and editing sound files. MP3 is the preferred format for podcasts, be sure to choose an editing program that will save or export your finished product as a MP3. 

Many podcasts are recorded with the participants, or hosts, being in different locations. Often this is done using Skype, a free internet telephone program. If you plan on using Skype you will want to download a Skype plug-in such as Pamela Call Recorder (http://www.pamcorder.com). You can then import your recorded call into an audio editing program such as Audacity. 

Another Recording Option: Many churches have a sound board in the worship space that includes microphones and CD recording hardware. This is a good option for a high quality recording, especially if you want to have a recording with multiple microphone inputs. The recording from the CD can then be converted, edited, and uploaded using your computer. 

Adding music to your podcast: Many podcasts begin with introduction music or a theme song. You can find music for your podcast on the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com) or at IStockPhoto (paid, http://www.istockphoto.com). Be very careful about the music you include in your podcast because you are now “distributing” your recording and this can create a copyright infringement.

Once you have recorded and edited your podcast, now we have to find a way to distribute it. There are a couple of “services” that make this very easy. Podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com) let’s you create a profile and podcasts simply by signing up on their website and uploading your files (also check out http://www.mevio.com, http://www.ourmedia.org, and http://www.audioblog.com). 

You can also create your own RSS feed to distribute your podcast, though this is a little more complicated. If you are using a web publishing tool such as Wordpress or Joomla there are extensions that you can install that will create the RSS feed for you. One can create the web code for the RSS feed themselves, but I’ll assume if you know how to code XML you don’t need my tutorial. 

Once you have created an RSS feed, post the links to the feed on your website. I would also recommend posting a link to the individual audio files so that those who don’t want to subscribe can still download and listen to the files. 

The final step to distribution is to submit your RSS feed to the ITunes store. You don’t have to do this, but this will be a great tool for those that want to describe as most of them will probably be using ITunes. Inside of ITunes, go to the ITunes Store, click on Podcasts. On the ITunes podcast store, go to the bottom left of the page in the Learn More box click on Submit a Podcast. In this window there is simple wizard that will walk you through setting up your Podcast. 

As you can see, with some simple and free tools you can create a podcast. There are a number of other services not mentioned here that will help you with the distribution of your podcast. Here’s a link to a video (http://revision3.com/systm/podcasting) that will give you a good introduction to the hardware side of podcasting and show you a very high level setup.