Never mind the quality, feel the bandwidth

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Showing the ‘conversational’ nature of this new ’social’ web, Bryan Person comments about a recent post of mine that commented on his suggestion of having a ‘judging panel’ to ensure podcasting quality.

Bryan continued the conversation by leaving an audio comment for download on his blog, showing that even a ‘one-person’ medium such as an audio recording can indeed still contribute to a conversation.

Bryan suggests that podcasters occasionally check their quality levels by asking their peers to give feedback by answering such questions as:

• how is the production quality?
• is there too much waffle at the start?
• do I/we sound natural & unscripted?
• is the music suitable for the programme?
• do I sound like a credible authority?

Of course, folks like Donna P don’t need any advice — Donna is so professional that we should all be copying her style, her voice, her modulation, her enunciation, her presence. Listen to her podcast episode about her own studio, then go get a handful of voice coaching lessons.

Of course, Donna hits the nail on the head by advising “Keep It Simple” — you don’t need to purchase mixers, condenser mics, compressors, and so on. I use a simple headset mic, Audacity, SoundForge MX, Skylook and Skype to create Allan & my cafe chats, but I only use SoundForge because I am so used to it — I could just as easily only use Audacity.

I’ve recently picked up a Sony MD Walkman and a good quality stereo mic from minidisc.com.au to record interviews, presentations and so on. I tested it out at a recent seminar run by Bower Place, and found that the quality was excellent, but the mic picked up the very noisy fan of a projector, so I am going to try out a lapel mic as a way of getting around that.

Of course, the challenge comes from having two presenters, but having picked up two of the minidisc units gets past that — the mixing becomes a simple ‘double-ender’ (no, not a complex position as mastered by Baal temple priestesses; Donna explains what it is very succinctly in her podcast).

My point to all this? Two lessons:

1. Don’t let the technology ’spook’ you — it is very simple to master, honestly.
2. Don’t believe that this new audio technology is a one-way medium — it’s more a two-way medium than traditional websites.

Any questions? Just ask me — post a comment on my blog or just drop me an .

Technorati : Bryan Person, Donna Papacosta

Tagged as: podcasting, tools