Tag Archives: podcasting

Check Out Our Podcasting Room

This post is by Melanie Hubbard, Digital Scholarship Librarian for Instruction.

Podcasting Room
A student recording with Audacity in the Podcasting Room.

The Podcasting Room in The Digital Studio, found on the 2nd floor of the O’Neill Library, provides an opportunity to create your own podcast (and other kinds of audio projects). What makes it a “podcasting room”? It’s the equipment–the mics and the software. There is also the acoustic paneling that reduces sound reflection (reverb). The room’s furniture and size are part of it since it allows people to record podcasts in small groups. (Except for during COVID. Sorry! Only one person can be in the room at a time.)

I love podcasts, and I know I am not alone. (To say they are popular would be a massive understatement.) If you’re similar to me, you like them because you love stories, learning new things, and listening to people having interesting conversations. I’m also drawn to podcasts because I am interested in sound as a creative medium. My background includes a certain amount of professional audio experience, so I have a special appreciation for this kind of work, and I am excited to see (and hear) the projects our students create and the sort of audio-based assignments our faculty design. 

Audacity is an open source sound recording and editing platform.

Working with sound can be a little intimidating since it’s easier for us to identify “bad sound” than to figure out how to create “good sound.” The Podcasting Room is here to set you up for greater success as am I, who can consult on your projects. This fall, the O’Neill Library will also be offering an asynchronous workshop, Working with Sound: Introduction to Audio Recording and Editing, which will be available on October 1. You are welcome to join the group or conduct the workshop later on your own, as it will remain online indefinitely.

What’s in the Podcasting Room? There is a Mac with the audio applications GarageBand and Audacity, a well-known and widely-used open-source recording software, two Audio Technica AT2005USB microphones, and two pairs of Audio Technica ATH-M20x headphones. (Read more)

Want to use the Podcasting Room? Visit the Podcasting Room page to make a reservation.

Need Help? Email digitalstudio@bc.edu for questions regarding the Podcasting Room or consultations on audio projects.

Podcasting Room

The Digital Studio, located on the 2nd floor of O’Neill Library, boasts a sound recording room, Macs fitted with media editing applications to serve a variety of video and audio production needs, and now, the new podcasting room.

New recording station in the faculty preview room. The recording software used in this example is Audacity.

The new space includes two Audio Technica AT2005USB microphones as well as two pairs of Audio Technica ATH-M20x headphones, which can be used in conjunction with GarageBand, available on Macs, and Audacity, a well-known and widely-used open-source recording software.

Audio Technica USB Microphone connecting directly to the headset for easy and clear playback.

In addition to the recording equipment, the room has been outfitted with six acoustic panels to prevent echoes and unwanted sounds.

A total of 6 acoustic panels make for a more crisp recording experience, while also allowing for a more private setting for meetings.

Read more for additional equipment information or to book time in the space.

Joseph Becker, Railroad Pass with Chinese Workers, 1869-1870. Becker Archive, Boston College Fine Arts Dept.

Highlights from the 2019 Digital Scholarship Open House

On May 1, 2019 the Digital Scholarship Group hosted an Open House that featured the work of several faculty, graduate students, and librarians. Here is a brief overview of the presentations with links to slides and other materials shared kindly by the presenters.

Richard L. Sweeney (Assistant Professor, Economics Department) who participated in this past year’s GIS Faculty Cohort presented on his applications of spatial visualization and GIS for investigating the fracking boom.

Title page from The court & kitchin of Elizabeth, commonly called Joan Cromwel (1664)

Title page from The court & kitchin of Elizabeth, commonly called Joan Cromwel (1664)

Sharon Lacey (independent scholar) and Margaret Summerfield (PhD student, English Department) who participated in this past year’s Digital Scholarship Incubator each presented on their research projects. Lacey created a video discussing her research into how painting techniques in Europe developed across time in relation to other sociocultural factors. Summerfield presented on a collaborative transcription and annotation project (under development) with several faculty, students, and librarians, A Digital Scholarly Edition of The Court and Kitchin of Elizabeth, Commonly called Joan Cromwel (1664).

There were several presentations focused on collaborative projects or pedagogical support with librarians and faculty. Seth Meehan (Associate Director, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies), Anna Kijas (Senior Digital Scholarship Librarian) & Sarah DeLorme (Associate Digital Scholarship Librarian) presented on one of these projects, the Jesuit Online Bibliography, a recently launched bibliography database of scholarship in Jesuit Studies.

Stephen Sturgeon (Senior Digital Scholarship Librarian & Bibliographer for English) discussed the collaborative efforts that went into migrating and re-imagining metadata and records for the Becker Collection: Drawings of the American Civil War Era. Carling Hay (Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences) shared pedagogical approaches and tips for incorporating podcasting into her weather and climate class (EESC1172).

 

Header image: Joseph Becker, Railroad Pass with Chinese Workers, 1869-1870. Becker Archive, Boston College Fine Arts Dept.

Making a Podcast with Audacity

This tutorial was written by Sarah DeLorme, Associate Digital Scholarship Librarian.

The Digital Studio gets a lot of queries from our patrons regarding audio editing. There are so many great programs to choose from, it can be sometimes be overwhelming to know where to start. Audacity is a professional quality open source audio editor. It is intuitive to use and can easily be used to put together a great podcast.

Setting up

Before you even open the Audacity software, it is important to set yourself up for success in your recording. Audacity will let you connect to an external microphone, or the built in microphone at your workstation. Whichever recording device you choose, be sure to record in a quiet indoor space where you will not be interrupted. (A great place to record is the Sound Room in the Digital Studio. You can even reserve it online!) It also helps to work from a script, so that you can practice and pace yourself as you go along.

Recording

When you open Audacity, you will see this blank workspace.

Use the dropdown menus to select your recording device and your recording mode (you can choose either mono or stereo- mono is recommended for podcasts).

Click on the top numbered bar to check the input levels of your microphone. Try to keep at least a foot of space between yourself and the microphone, and speak clearly and at a moderate volume. The ideal range is a fully green bar. Avoid orange and red levels- that means you are too close or too loud!

Press the red circle button to begin your recording. (Helpful hint: leave a few seconds of empty noise at the start of the recording to sample during the noise reduction process later.) As you record, a waveform will appear on the track. Try to keep your waveform at a relatively similar level throughout, so that the volume is not fluctuating. Avoid very small waveforms which might be too soft to hear, as well as very large waveforms which might be so loud you get feedback.

Noise Reduction

Using the select tool (⌶) click and drag to highlight an empty noise portion of your recording. If you left a few seconds of silence before you started recording, use that! Otherwise, try to find a pause in the recording.

On the top menu, select effect> Noise Reduction> Get noise profile.

Next, use Command + A (CTRL+A on Windows) to select the entire track. It will look like this:

Navigate back to the noise reduction panel (Effect>Noise Reduction) and select “OK”. You will notice that your waveform will smooth out as the effect erases some of the background noise.

Creating a Second Track

Go to Tracks>Add new> Mono track. Remember, the new track will begin recording wherever the playhead is. Drag the playhead to the end of the first recording to make a seamless transition, like this:

You can move the clip around the track by selecting the “timeshift” tool (which looks like a double-headed arrow), clicking the clip, and dragging it to the desired position. You can also reorder the tracks by clicking and holding in the blank space of the left hand track menu and dragging up or down.

Deleting portions of your recording

Use the select tool to highlight the part of the recording you want to delete. (Helpful hint: use the zoom tool (🔍) to magnify the waveform and zero in on the word or phrase you wish to remove) Press the “Delete” button to remove the selected recording.

Importing and Exporting

Most podcasts have some catchy into music, and Audacity makes it easy to import a music file.  Go to File>import>audio and select the desired track. This will import the entire song. Trim the track to desired length by highlighting the extra music and pressing the delete button. To fade out, highlight the clip and go to Effects>Fade out. You will see the waveform change into a cone shape as the music tapers off.

NOTE: If you are using music in your podcast, it is very important to make sure you are not infringing on the artist’s copyright. If you are unsure about whether or not you can use a clip, ask a librarian- they can help!

To export your project as a final sound file, navigate to File>export> and select your preferred file type.

NOTE: To export an .mp3, Audacity will require you to download an additional file from their website. This is an mp3 encoding library. The prompt will provide you with a link to the download, as well as instructions. (This site is also full of tips and tutorials if you need further assistance with Audacity.)

Once your project is exported, you can open it in any program that plays audio files. However, it will be compressed, so you cannot go back and edit it. To preserve the tracks so that you can go back and edit them, you will need to save your project.

Saving your Project

Select File> Save  Project. This will save your project as an .aup file, preserving your track information so that you can open it up again later to edit it. You will only be able to open an .aup file in Audacity. This can be edited from any computer, as long as Audacity is installed.

NOTE:When you save your project, it will generate a project file (yourtitle.AUP) and a project folder (yourtitle_data).

Be sure to save both of these to your Google Drive, flash drive, or wherever you are saving your project. The folder contains your assets, and the .aup file contains the blueprint for your project. You will need both to reopen your project successfully!

If you need further assistance with your podcast, you can always contact the Digital Studio staff at digitalstudio@bc.edu