The making of a podcast (part 2): Hardware

Having chosen (or, more accurately, settled for) Apple’s as the software in which to edit our podcasts, I next needed to pick up some hardware: a microphone or two, mike stands, windscreens (or “pop filters”—the black foam covering the ends of microphones that screens out wind and filters letters that “pop,” such as Ps and Bs), headphones and various audio cables.

I also needed a recording interface to input my microphone into my computer and to record from the telephone. A Griffin iMic together with a RadioShack recording control/telephone pick-up device did the trick (at first).

With “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast” already in mind, I wanted the capability to record telephone conversations—and I deemed the lower audio quality from the phone desirable. That’s right, I actually prefer telephone audio quality for the newsmaker segments—for creative reasons, as well as one practical one:

• To differentiate voices
• To create a sense of urgency
• To emulate radio actualities and newscasts
• To eliminate the need for me to physically chase professors for 15-second sound bites

However, although telephone audio quality was preferred, I wanted good telephone audio quality. As I soon learned, that was the challenging part. In addition, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ‘studio’ audio quality resulting from plugging my microphone into my iMic into my Power Mac G4.

Next time, I’ll share my solutions. For now, beginning with this blog post, I’ll regularly present brief highlights of “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast” whenever a new episode becomes available.

The Nov. 9 podcast features remarks from RIT psychology professor —recently quoted in a McClatchy Newspapers wire-service story about trick-or-treating; and public policy professor — recently quoted by UPI about wind power. The podcast also features University News beat writer Kelly Downs discussing RIT connections to the High Falls Film Festival, along with Chief Communications Officer Bob Finnerty and Managing Editor Vienna Carvalho in the regular “On the campus” segment. Bob introduces new members of the RIT Board of Trustees and Sports Hall of Fame, while Vienna highlights top stories in the .

“Dateline: RIT – The Podcast” and other University News-produced podcasts are always available on the , via RSS feed and through Apple . See you on the pod!