For any podcast you will need an input, a mixer or audio interface and then something to record on like a computer or audio recorder. The same flow path is used for any recording situation whether it is a solo show or multi person show. First thing to get is a pop filter! For the cheap investment on eBay this will get rid of the harsh P sounds from your recordings straight away.
A fantastic starter microphone would be an Audio-Technical ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone. You can plug this great quality microphone straight into your computer or into an audio mixer depending on what stage of podcasting you are at. Perfect starter microphone and very cheap. If you are using your using your smartphone however for recording your audio, a simple microphone such as an iRig Microphone that you can purchase from almost any Apple store is a great start. Cheap and comes with software to start recording straight to your iPhone.
The mixer or audio interface is where you plug your microphones into before it goes to the recording device. You can use a small portable audio interface that connects directly into a computer for personal broadcasting. Having it small and portable means that you can travel and visit the people that you want to be interviewing in the podcasts at their office or on location. If you are setting up a recording studio however, a mixer might be a good choice. The mixer will allow you to amplify your sound of your microphone as well as other adjustments to the audio signal making it better even before it hits the recorder. It helps create the professional studio sound. To make sure that your audio recording is going well and that the audio that is being produced is sounding right, you will need good quality headphones that will block out any background noise to that the audio recording is isolated.

Pod casting grows in popularity at great lengths these days. Many may not know what pod casting is, but it is an audio file, which you syndicate through RSS feeds. This is downloaded and listened to with portable devices or a computer and there you have a podcast.
The difference however, between a podcast and an ordinary RSS feed is that the audio is included in an enclosure field as a feed that actually talks to you. It is so similar to talk show radio as a podcast can take the form of an interview. You can range your broadcasting topics from anything ranging in hobbies and business.
Podcasting lengths vary, but typically runs anywhere from 10 minutes and longer and the nice fact is that you will not need any special programs to listen to a podcast. Almost any RSS reader has podcasting and broadcasting capabilities built in. any software you have built into your computer or portable device will be able to play a podcast.
You can subscribe to different podcasts exactly in the same manner as you subscribe to RSS feeds. Business owners often use podcasting as an avenue in promotion of their services and products and it is a simple yet effective way in syndicating any audio files online. It is such a simple method of reaching a target audience that it seems unbelievable. Many people do not wish to read something, but would rather listen and respond. Podcasting makes reaching a target audience more personalized than them reading an article.
Article creation and promotion is something that has been around for many years and everyone continues to write articles. Even this article may have reached a much wider audience if it was a broadcast message. When you look at podcasting in that manner, it is obvious that you would prefer a personalized voice message that reading an article.

If you are one of those people who love to listen to new music every day you can use the open pod casting software from jPodder which will download files to your system and then transfer them to your media player. This jPodder program is hosted on the SourceForge platform and as you know, SourceForge projects offer great support facilities. With the necessary forums for any questions as well as a requests section and a mailing list, you will be sorted in no time, should any problem arise. It has many great features built with java technology and below is some of the features of the free download:
General user interface
• Multi- language
• UI menu and popup menu’s
• System tray with minimizing jPodder to download in background
• Java based multi platform program

RSS Feed management
• File association for one-click subscription
• Synchronize feed list with online synchronization
• Import and export feed list in OPML format
• Drag and drop podcast links
• Extensive status bar
• Extended feed information stored in easy XML format
• View detailed Feed information
• Move feeds up and down
• Sort feeds by name
• Add, edit and remove feeds
Directory
• Add feeds from transit directory
• Built-in browser with popular directories
RSS Feed reader
• Support for iTunes tags such as image, categories, etc.
• Read feed items
Enclosure previewing
• Highlights previous downloads
• Highlights partial downloads
• Show previous downloads from the feed
• Show enclosure status
• Preview enclosures including size, date and name
Downloading
• Proxy Server Support including authentication
• Feed authentication
• Manual and automatic download retry
• Resume partial downloads
• Maximum downloads, limiter to the number of downloads
• Smart download
• Download latest only
• Single enclosure download]multiple simultaneous downloads
• Scheduled downloads
Media Player interface
• Native operating system association
• MIME – Type association to plugin players
• Player plugin facility
• Natively supports transfer to WMP and iTunes
Logging
• Bit torrent logging
• Color coded logging

Podcasting software is available to anyone in need of creating a professional sounding broadcast. You do not need to lay out huge amounts of money in order to let yourself be heard. You need all-in- one software which are simple to download and straightforward to use. Recording and editing of sound files before you publish it to the Internet are your basic requirements. Some of the podcasting software listed here has all the basic requirements you need for your first broadcasting to go live.
• PodProducer is one of the easiest to use Podcasting software’s on the market and great news is that it is free. The greatest strength of the podproducer lays in the fact that it is a single user interface which unifies the complete software’s functions. If it is uncomplicated functionality and simplicity that you want then it is the right choice. The only downside of this podcasting software is that it lacks a bit in the editing department.
• Evoca Podcasting Software is great software for broadcasting and cloud based. A great feature of Evoca is that you do not need a set studio and you will record and publish anything from anywhere. The phone-recording feature which is built-in is super, although the editing features also lacks tremendously. It would have been the top podcasting software if it was not for the lack of editing features.
• Podcast Wizard is especially great for first time users of podcasting software. It is a very easy to install and used software for anyone who doesn’t have knowledge on how to proceed with their first broadcast. It is a very simple process and as with the above two software’s it also lack editing tools. It does have editing tools, but users will not be able to do any advanced editing. Podcast Wizard sells for $34.97 with very easy to follow instructions.

The number one podcasting software for 2013 is the Propoganda with an overall rating of 9.63 out of 10. The Propoganda 1.2 sells for $49.95 and its pros are the great high-fidelity sound files for publishing and editing. The cons are that the graphics are not very good and the general feeling is that the software could do with a cosmetic facelift. This broadcasting gear is far above all the rest of the competition.
EPodcast Producer has a review rating of 9.10 and its pros include all the features and tools to create professional sounding podcasting. The cons are the user interface which is not quite up to scratch and the tutorials must be followed for instructions. The selling price of the ePodcast Producer is $71.95.
WebPod Studio has a rating of 8.55 and sells for $89.95 and the pros include the ability to support video podcasting and the cons are that the editing platform provides minimal editing features and no available tools for advanced users.
Podcast Studio is fourth on the list of best podcasting software for 2013 and has a rating of 8 out of 10. It is economical broadcasting software that sells for $39.95 and the pros include that all the right tools to edit, record and publish the podcast are included. The user interface doesn’t leave much to the imagination and quite outdated.
Audacity is ranked 5th for 2013 with a rating of 7.25 out of 10 and it is a free podcasting software. It is super in the editing array and the only con is the fact that you cannot publish directly so another service must be downloaded to publish.
Hipcast ranks at number 6 and has a rating of 6.63 and sells at a monthly premium of $9.95 with its cons that is a cloud platform and recording and publishing are possible from anywhere even your iPhone. Hipcast’s downfall lies in the fact that there is no editing tools available.

One great thing about podcasting is that you can do it at home with a basic Mac or PC and an inexpensive microphone (which may come with the computer). High-end equipment is  nice, to be sure, but many of the best podcasts out there are recorded and edited with basic equipment and widely available software.

Still, there are several ways to set up a podcast recording “studio,” from using nothing more than a computer with a microphone to having high-end microphones, preamps, digital recorders, and the like in a sound-dampened room.

For serious podcasters, the list of necessary equipment is as follows:

• Microphone
• Preamp
• Digital recorder (or computer)
• Headphones
• Sound-editing software

This section examines the equipment you need to get up and running (software is covered a little later on). I need to point out that many devices that can make podcasting easier or higher quality, but I cannot cover every one of them in this book. Instead, I examine several key pieces of equipment in each category.

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