Podcastplayer.org news

Some days you just stumble on something you have been looking for for ages, but haven’t known what it is called or how to look for it. Today was one of those days for me.

Although I have some microphone preamps, they are all built in to other equipment, and not really suitable for portable use. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting some sort of small, battery-powered preamp and maybe taping it to a microphone along with a small flash recorder for ad-hoc interviews and such.

But so far I’ve not had much luck finding a small enough and decently-shaped enough pre-amp, and have been mildly worried by the thought of cables flopping about and giving a generally unprofessional look.

And then, following an unrelated link, I found the MayCom “MicTube". A battery-powered mic pre-amp in the form of a (somewhat lengthened) XLR plug. It fits straight into the cable socket in most dynamic or battery-condenser microphones and has a simple 3.5mm line-level plug on the end of a short lead,so it will plug straight in to any line input (such as my MP3 player/recorder).

Now I have just got to save up to buy it. At £125 it costs more than the MP3 player did. Sigh.

Read more at: Solid State Sound - Maycom MicTube

Compression is one of those audio effects that all the pros use but can be baffling if you haven’t spent a lot of time with expensive audio gear. It’s one of the things that seems to really count in getting that “professional” sound in a podcast.

With that in mind, I enjoyed reading an article recently introducing compression from dbx, who make a lot of audio equipment.

Read more at: Compression 101

“MixCast Live” is still one of my favourite podcasting applications, so I was pleased to read that it has finally reached a “1.0″ release.

If you have used on of the “0.*” versions there are a whole bunch of new features including sweet-looking “analog” vu meters and “auto ducking".

Definately worth checking out - I’ve already upgraded my copy!

MixCast Live � Blog Archive � MixCast Live 1.0 Released

I just heard on Paul Figgiani’s excellent The Point Podcast (even though he forgot to put the link in the show notes) about a new bit of podcast creation software. The list of features seems impressive:

# Record segments of your show, whenever you want, in any order you want.
# Import music, sound effects, and spoken-word recordings.
# Rearrange and edit show content for professional results.
# Preview your show on your PC or your portable audio player.
# Publish your show to a website, with full RSS, XML and HTML support.

This seems especially nice, as it matches fairly well with my preferred “non-linear” editing approach, rather than the record-in-real-time route taken by the likes of MixCast Live

My main problem with this is the general lack of information on the web site. I can’t tell if it can do things like ID3 tag manipulation and volume normalization across a whole podcast in one hit, both of which are vital features for a non-linear audio editor such as this. It’s also described as not just Windows-only, but WindowsXP-only, which means that my relatively old Windows 2000 system is no use.

Read more at Propaganda Podcasting Software

Laura Swisher lost her Minidisc recorder, and posted looking for suggestions on a replacement for use in podcasting. There’s already a few comments with various suggestions, but I’m sure she’d appreciate the views of a few podcastplayer.org readers.

Personally, I think she’d be nuts to get anything other than a good medium-cost flash recorder. There are a lot of people doing podcasts on iRiver flash devices, and I love my little 512MB EZAV. I can imagine that old, slow, heavy, power-hungry, short-duration, moving-parts-and-noise from-motors technology like minidisc or tape would be any sort of cometitor to a sleek modern flash recorder, but it will be interesting to see how she gets on.

I hope she posts a followup to let us know.

Read more at: Swisher’s Untitled Blog Project: Where My Geeks At?

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, … released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to

* browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a “sounds-like” type of browsing and more
* up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license
* interact with fellow sound-artists!

We also aim to create an open database of sounds that can also be used for scientific research. Many audio research institutions have trouble finding correctly licensed audio to test their algorithms. Many have voiced this problem, but so far there hasn’t been a solution.

freesound :: what is freesound?

As I browse the net, I’m looking to collect details of the hardware and software that people use to create their ‘casts. Here’s the setup used by “mrbrown":

This is where all it happens. My little “studio” for the mrbrown show.

Read more at: mrbrown: mrbrown’s podcast workstation

The Washinton post has a short aticle about getting into podcasting. Unlike lots of others it’s not just from the listener’s point of view, but actually encourages readers to make their own, complete with hardware and software recommendations:

BUILD YOUR OWN (CYBER) RADIO STATION. What’s a pundit without a mouthpiece? You’ll need one to get heard

The article hits a lot of the right buttons, but skips over the importance of RSS, leaving podcasting as just recording a rant and putting it on the web.

Read more at Create Your Own Podcasts (washingtonpost.com)

There are more and more people trying to work out how to make money out of podcasting. A new entrant is Click Caster:

ClickCaster takes the complexity out of creating a podcast. It turns your computer into a small yet powerful recording studio, radio station and publishing company all in one simple and easy to use package.

It does with with a program and a service that allows you to very simply and easily create a recording/podcast on your computer, license it with a copyright, publish it on the internet so people can easily find it and subscribe to and promote it by listing it in the CastLister public podcasting directory.

They (plan to) offer a scaled service starting at $34.95/year for hosting and basic web software. The bit that makes ClickCaster interesting is the way that they offer higher priced options that include multitrack recording software, sound library, and even a mixer and microphones. This could make them a “one-stop-shop” for a new podcaster.

Apparently a free “beta” of this service starts some time this month (April 2005).

Rich at geekfishing.net is pondering microphones for podcasting, and has gathered together some useful advice.

We’ve done some basic podcasting, but it is pretty clear that a great set of microphones is pretty important. The first recofing we did with an elcheapo headset, so now its time for a little more investment.

Read more at Geekfishing Blog: Lapel Microphones and a followup post a few days later with specific model choices.

California startup LA Pro Foil claim they have developed an effective, low-cost way of getting a lifelike"surround” effect from any recorded sound source (such as an iPod or generic MP3 player).

While investigating the properties of our patented low-profile Pro Foil ™ capacitive transmission surface, it became apparent that the non-linear phase distribution characteristics that were limiting its effect as a network platform had a very interesting effect. Audio-frequency signals decompose and distribute across the surface according to the phase characteristics with which they reached the recording microphone, and disperse their energy at an equivalent distance from the sound input to the material.

Recording an audio signal using even a low-cost microphone preserves these important phase characteristics. A simple amplification process is all that is needed to drive a sheet of Pro Foil ™. Current prototypes have relatively low power characteristics, and need to be placed close to the listener’s head for best effect.

Sounds an excellent way to get the most from podcast “soundseeing” recordings.

Read more at : News Shark: LA Pro Foil breaks surround sound barrier

Via johndan at datacloud, a neat collection of audio articles and links: Pro DAW - Audio Related Articles & Resources Directory

A fairly comprehensive article with several really good tips for recording what you have got to say.

If sound quality is your primary concern, it’s best to use a professional sound studio. But if time and budget concerns are also part of the equation, it’s possible to create high-quality narration yourself by adding some inexpensive recording equipment and software to your computer and following some basic recording guidelines.

Read more at: Record better narration

While I’m on the subject of low-budget studio kit for improving recordings, take a look at this neat technique for building a small “desktop sound booth".

One of the real challenges of recording sound is making sure the only noise that reaches the mic is your voice. Ambient noise from office fans and chatter must be eliminated for the recording to sound professional. However, not every company can afford the luxury of a professional sound booth with acoustic panels. Depending on how ambitious you are there are some tricks of the trade you can employ:

Read more at: Cut down on the noise.

Want some wierd and quirky media to mix in with your podcast or audio art? UBUWEB have certainly gathered an interesting collection which may prove worth exploring.

All materials on UbuWeb are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights belong to the author(s). UbuWeb is completely free

As mentioned by Andy at Slashdot Review, jake Luddington has written a detailled set of instructions on how to build a “pop screen” to clean up your podcast recordings.

Read more at: Build Your Own Microphone Pop Screen

Joseph Palmer has put together a podcast, and jotted down some notes on his blog about what he learned while doing it. Short, but interesting.

Read more at Joseph Palmer’s Weblin Edit System

Brandon Watts at Lockergnome writes about microphones for podcasting:

Many of the elite podcasters may try to convince you that you need to setup a home studio to really make podcasting work for you. They’ll suggest condenser mic’s, mixers, and other tools that will cost more than you bargained for. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need a supreme studio to take part in the podcasting festivities.

This may well be the case, but unfortunately the reviews of equipment that I’ve seen are extremely subjective, if not completely wishy-washy. And that includes this article.

For example, almost all (at least 90%) of the microphone “reviews” that I have read go something like I had an old (usually built-in or webcam) mic and it was crap. I just bought this one and it’s great! But without knowing a little more about things like the amount and type of ambient noise in the user’s environment and the way the mic is used (into a desktop PC?, a laptop?, an MP3 recorder?, a minidisc? a tapedeck? a camcorder?) whether it needs “phantom power", whether it needs a pre-amp, whether it has any form of “noise cancelling", whether it needs soundcard “mic power", whether it has a pop filter or wind shield, whether it is omnidirectional or has some directionality, what sort of connection or cable it uses, etc. etc. it’s really hard to tell if the mic under consideration would be any use to me, or to anyone else.

Lets consider two genuine requirements:

• My generic Windows 2000 PC and my server/firewall have fairly noisy case fans, and my room overlooks an occasionally busy road. Can anyone recommend a cheap and effective mic that will cut out this background noise.
• My portable MP3 recorder has a “line in” mini-jack , but no “mic in". Currently I use a small-but-irritating mixer as a preamp. Can anyone recommend a cheap and effective mic that will produce a “line level” signal I can use directly into my MP3 recorder for interviews and “sound seeing"?

One of the main reasons audio pros recommend some of the expensive microphones is that the manufacturers provide lots of detailled technical information. Most people recommending low-budget alternatives don’t even provide any recorded samples, let alone frequency response plots and impedance tables.

I certainly don’t wish to “dis” Brandon’s recommendations. I’d dearly love to cut through the “mine’s more expensive than yours” one-upmanship, and go for the cheap-and-cheerful alternative. It’s just that (particularly when buying on-line) details make the difference.

Read more at Podcast Microphone Suggestion (Gnewbie Gnook)

I didn’t know such services existed, but apparently you can go to someone like Conference Calls Unlimited and they’ll arrange a conference call, record it, and send you the MP3. Instant podcast!

Read more at The Invent Blog | Nipper’s Patent Blog: Podcasting lesson #1 – don’t do work someone else has already done for you

Wikimedia Commons looks like another free-media resource I didn’t know about.

The Wikimedia Commons is a project that provides a central repository for free images, music, sound, video clips and, possibly, texts and spoken texts, used in pages of any Wikimedia project. Unlike images uploaded on other projects, images on Commons can be embedded on pages of all Wikimedia projects.
The Commons was launched on September 7,2004.Currentlyitcontains 8108 collections.

Read more at Wikimedia Commons

copy-art.net is a repository of “free for non-commercial use” media. There may be something in there of interest to podcasters.

On copy-art.net you are free to download, copy, use, change, display and distribute all works.

You can also upload the works that you modify or post comments and feedback.

For photos and movies use the gallery uploads (supported file types: jpg, gif, png, avi, mpg, mpeg, wmv, mov, swf)

For music files, mp3s, waf, pdf, aiff, docs… use the uploader.

You don’t have to login or register to use the website to upload your work and post your news.

Please remember to credit the original author and note that commercial use of the works is not allowed.

Read more at copy-art.net===copyright free -

There’s not a lot about it on the web site, just a few notes about the release and a download, but “Sparks!” from Blogmatrix claims to be an integrated download/listen/create/upload tool for podcasters. I’ll download it, have a go, and report back in a few days.

In the meanwhile, read more at BlogMatrix.com Sparks!

Someone calling himself “superpixel” describes the touble he had putting together a first podcast.

But here’s what I did to get the podcast “in the can"…

Worth reading, especially for the good suggestion about recording in a car as a “sound booth". Do it with the engine, off, though :)

Read more at How I did it… the hard way | Podcast CON Uk 2005

Addressing some of the same issues as PodcastRigs, you can now read about a reccomended podcasting setup from “PWOP":

We’ve spent a lot of time looking for high-quality gear that is also compact and affordable. This is our currently suggested podcasting kit

It’s a bit more prescriptive than PodcastRigs, only opting for a single setup. I find their choice of a potentially fragile and power-hungry “tube” mic preamp a little strange when coupled with a light-weight portable MP3 recorder, especially given that (as I found out a few days ago) the iRiver 700 series can already record mic level, so the only apparent benefit of the Behringer MIC200 is to provide “phantom power” for the mic.

On the other hand, it could be that this sort of unusual combination is just what podcasting needs.

Read more, and make up your own mind at PWOP Productions - Podcasting Kit. If you can put up with the large and annoying animated graphic at the top of the page, that is :)

At last, a detailled and informative guide to recording podcasts on an iRiver MP3 player/recorder. I’ve been puzzling recently over how some people seem to be able to just connect a microphone to their MP3 player and record stuff, where I can’t seem to get things working without a separate (and relatively bulky) pre-amp or mixer.

Looks like the iRiver 700 series contains a tiny pre-amp, and deep in the configurations, you can manually set the input jack to act as “line in” or “mic in". I haven’t found such a config in my EZAV player yet, so I assume mine always acts as “line in".

Just a shame that the config and recording process on the iRiver is so fiddly. On mine its as simple as press the dedicated record button to start, press it again to stop. It autodetects line-in or the built-in mic, records high-bit-rate stereo from line-in, and lower-rate mono from the built-in mic, and records without complaint until the drive is full.

Read more at: Geekfishing Blog: iRiver iFP-799 Recording

I just read a small blog article Vacuum - Edward Vielmetti in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104: Vacuum News podcast for 3/15/2005, and it prompted me to write about something that has been puzzling me for a while now.

Edward writes:

It took me a lot longer to do this production tonight than I expected, since I did it in multiple takes instead of all straight through. I’m better off writing the whole thing all at once.

The bit that puzzles me is wondering how anyone else makes their podcasts. I’m not (this time) concerned with the hardware (microphones, voice processors, recorders, etc.), or content and licencing. In this case it’s all about whether you:

1. just switch on the mike and ramble, then switch it off and upload when you run out of things to say
2. plan, make notes, etc., switch on the mike, perform from the notes, then switch it off and upload when you have covered all your notes
3. switch on the mike and ramble when you feel like it, switch off and on as the mood takes you, and upload when you think the ‘cast is big/long enough.
4. prepare a bunch of muisc, recorded interviews, sound effects and stuff in something like MixCast Live, WinPodcast, or iPodcast Producer, switch on and ramble, pressing a button to add pre-prepared content in “real time” when you feel like it
5. record your podcast in separate chunks, and edit them together with prerecorded material using a sequencer or other “non-linear” editing software
6. some other approach that I can’t think of right now
7. some combination of the above

My natural inclination is to use the “non-linear” approach (number 5). I guess this is because of my background in video. The few times I’ve tried to do live video editing I’ve found it so stressful that I much prefer to do multiple “takes” of each bit, and assemble the final production from the best take of each section.

I’m guessing, though that this is not a particularly common way to make podcasts. It’s a relatively time-consuming, perfectionist, way to approach the problem, and can lack the raw energy and edginess that works so well in some podcasts.

I’d love to hear how people do this stuff.

I’m always on the lookout for MP3 player reviews, and I found a short one at Steve Holden’s Weblog: Audio Sample From iRiver MP3 Player & Sony Microphone.

Steve has an iRiver iFP-795 and a Sony ECM-MS907, and used them to record a short sample which he posts on his blog for comparison.

I’m interested in this recording setup. I don’t have an iRiver, but another (apparently equivalent) one which also has a line-in socket. Mine records great when I feed it from a little mixer with a mic preamp, but I can’t seem to get anything sensible if I just plug one of my various mics direct to the line-in.

So, can anyone clear up whether the ECM-MS907 mic produces a line-level signal, or the iFP-795 contains a preamp to record mic level? The descriptions at Amazon don’t seem to indicate either of these cases, so I’m somewhat puzzled.

My MP3 recorder does have abuilt-in mic, but its very small, and very omnidirectional, so it picks up a lot of room noise. I’d love to be able to just plug in a reasonable handheld cardioid or lavalier mic for interviews and stuff.

As well as a podcast fan, I’m also a software developer, with a particular interest in the Java programming language and platform. So I was delighted to find that there is active development of podcast software in my favourite language.

jPodder is an ambitious project which hopes to be not just a podcatcher in the vein of iPodder and Doppler, but also a player and media manager, and even a podcast creation tool with MP3 and ID3 editing, RSS creation and upload facilities.

It’s not quite reached a “1.0″ release, but it’s well worth a look. Checkout jPodder Podcasting.

They have a development blog, although they seem to have recently reorganized things, so the links in the RSS (at bloglines, at least) are shot.

If you want your podcasts to sound great, but you are baffled by all the terminology and jargon, and are finding it hard to understand what all the equipment specs and knobs mean, take a look at the SAE reference material center. It has clear, detailled information about all aspects of audio. Everything from how microphones work to compression and other effects, using a mixing desk, and even building a studio.

A neat little site. It’s simple, but just what’s needed to cut through the fog trying to decide what equipment might be needed to start (or improve) podcasting. It’s from Paul at The.Point. Essentially it just offers a small selection of recommended podcast “rigs” and a simple blog of notes and site changes.

Check out the site at PodcastRigs, and make sure you let Paul know if you like it, or if you have any alternative suggestions.

Here’s a strange on-line thing. A web interface to a reverb chamber. Simply record and upload an MP3, OGG or FLAC (anything up to 60 seconds), and it will process it to add reverb and offer you a download. Cool, if you like that sort of thing …

Tank-FX - a natural reverb effect

Industrial Audio Software have announced a new podcast production program. There doesn’t seem to be much detail about it on their website, but what there is doesn’t look a lot different from the spec for MixCast Live. In particular, neither application seems to have sensible support for composing a podcast from a series of audio “chunks” - both assume the podcasting process is mainly just to talk over a background track and insert a few audio effects every now and then.

Oh, and iPodcast has a RRP of around $250 (or $150) vs MixCast’s $60 (or $40). MixCast Live was cheap enough that I bought one to try out. iPodcast is in the “big league” so I probably won’t bother unless they can convince me of some “killer feature".

Read more at: iPodcast Producer - Industrial Audio Software

I’m sure there are more, but here are a few I have gathered for my own reference.

How to bake a podcast from Bicyclemark’s Communique

Podcasting Get Up from the Trend Junkie

How to Podcast from Pete Ashton

I’ve been looking at some of the software being produced to assist podcasting. One thing that seems relatively simple to implement, but I haven’t found in a podcasting tool yet, is any form of teleprompter. While I’m sure that some podcasters just ramble, others like to plan and pace their speech. Reading from a bit of paper or an on-screen document begins to get pretty clumsy.

Which is why I was impressed to read of the impending release of Vlog It! from Serious Magic . It’s a (slightly) cut-down version of their highly-regarded Visual Communicator 2 product, and they aim to sell it at just $99.

If/when this arrives, it’ll sure shake up the nascent podcast software market. Even if you discard the video side of it, it still looks like a cool podcast tool.

Planning on recording/editing sound or video on your PC? It’s probably a good idea to spend a little time getting the machine tuned up first. There’s a bunch of useful tips at Optimize Your PC for Audio and Video

Remember, though. Backing up your system before doing anything like this is always a good idea.

Sascha Siekmann is working on a simpler way to make your own complete podcasts. It’s a standalone Windows application designed to allow easy recording (and re-recording, when you screw up!) of “segments", with or without background “beds". These segments can be live faded and mixed with prerecorded music while recording, and then automatically assembled into a final MP3. The application even includes FTP transfer and editing of accompanying text notes.

Read more (and listen to the introductory tutorial podcast) at Podcasting with Winpodcast

I have tried this software out, and it still has quite a few warts. I like to store my media content on a separate hard drive from my operating system files, but WinPodCast only understands drive C. I also found some strange behavior and error messages. When it worked, it was great, though. The live fading and mixing is much easier than the applications I have used for audio post-production in the past.

This is definately an application to watch - when Sascha gets the wrinkles out it could become the podcasting must-have. Sehr gut.

Giant Squid is a bit of a strange name for a company that makes tiny microphones, but they come recommended by Audio Activism, so they are definately worth a look.

Miniature Microphones and Accessories : Stereo Mono Omnidirectional and Cardioid

Still looking around at good devices for listening to, and recording my own, podcasts. I found a mini-review of one at Webfeed Central - My New Toy

I bought an iRiver, yesterday. Not the really good, expensive one, but the iFP-190TC. Ever since I got it, i’ve been putting it through the normal tests of recording everything, all the time. I found a few places where I can’t use it, due to the ambient noise, but I learned a lot
. . .
I really like this thing. I can record up to about 18 hours on the lowest setting, and a hefty 4.5 hours at the highest setting. The internal mic is really sensitive and sounds good. That’s pretty important, because there is no input jacks on it. There is one rattling moving part that will get the super glue (or something) real soon. The eye that the lanyard connects to swivels. NOT a good idea for something that only has an internal mic.

I’ve been wondering recently how other people record their podcasts. Idly browsing found me this, where “Mr Blake” points out that an iPod can be used for recording as well as playing, using a gadget called “iTalk". I don’t own an iPod, and this possibility is something that simply hadn’t occurred to me. Cool.

See Mr. Blake’s ClassBlog :: Cool Classroom Tech Tool and Griffin Tehnology iTalk

More people getting into the podcast production services market. They seem to have a comprehensive portfolio of products and services. I’d love to hear from anyone who has used them.

We are a one-stop shop for custom podcasting production: phone conferencing and recording, editing, production, royalty-free music, flash, graphics, web design, hosting, RSS feeds, BitTorrent support, and transcriptions!

Read more at PWOP Productions - www.pwop.com

These look fairly neat - apparently painless shareware tools for splitting and joining MP3 files. They are not very expensive and seem straightforward enough. Has anyone used either of them for podcasting?

Direct MP3 Joiner is easy and fast tool for merge MP3 files. With Direct MP3 Joiner you can join multiple MP3 files to one larger MP3 file. You can merge your MP3 files without recompressing and without reducing quality. Direct MP3 Joiner has incredible feature that allows you to insert pauses between songs. We have tried to make Direct MP3 Joiner as easy as possible.

Direct MP3 Splitter is an easy to use tool to split MP3 files. Direct MP3 Splitter allows you to split, cut or trim a MP3 files and save results into new MP3 files. A build-in MP3 player let you listen, playback and then split. Also you can automatically split a MP3 file into equal-sized parts. The program can quickly split larger MP3 files without reducing quality.

Read more at: PistonSoft

I don’t use Blogger myself, but for those who do this looks like a neat tutorial on how to set up a podcast feed by combining options in Blogger and FeedBurner.

[blog.forret.com]: How to Podcast with Blogger and SmartCast

Following my post yesterday about problems with licencing commercial music for podcasts, I thought I’d trawl around and find some of the alternatives that are available. This time, I’m concentrating on full tracks or albums sold as “royalty free” (also known as “copyright free” or “buyout“) - maybe another time I’ll look at Creative-Commons-style options, or loop-n-sample collections for making your own music. So, in no particular order, here are some places to look for music (and sometimes also sound effects) that you can buy for use in your productions (podcasts, natch, but also videos, powerpoints, training sessions, commercials, and so on) with no extra fees (*):

• AKM Music - wide range of CDs an CD-ROMs of music and sound effects, from GBP 29.00 per CD. Also do individual commisions.
• Royalty Free Music - wide range of CDs (or optional WAV or MP3 downloads) from USD 99.95 per CD or USD 49.95 per track
• Trackline -small range of “budget” CDs from GBP 19.95, wide range of CDs or CD-ROMs from GBP 28.20. listen to excerpts online
• NVM Digital - 20 albums of CDs and CD-ROMS from GBP 14.95. Claim “Video Camera Best Buy for three years in a row”
• Total Image and Sound - range of albums at AUD 82.50 and AUD 104.50
• Chris Worth Productions - range of CDs from USD49.99 to USD169.97, or tracks from USD 14.99 to USD 29.99. Horrible flash site that feels like staring through a letterbox.
• royalty-free.tv - range of individual tracks in various lengths and formats from USD 17.50 to 29.50
• Mad Hat Music - six one-hour CDs for GBP 27.00 each. some small samples to listen to before buying
• Flying Hands - range of CDs from USD 75.00
• 2B Royalty-Free - seem to have two CDs at USD65 each
• YoPo Music - various CDs at GBP39.99
• KJA - one “special offer” CD of ’70s guitar music at USD 25
• Shockwave Sound - this one’s a bit different, they offer only MIDI tracks rather than the more usual WAV, MP3 or CDA. Tracks priced at USD 29.95 each. On-line previews available
• Partners in Rhyme - wide range of short cuts and longer pieces. CDs seem to be USD 59.95
• The Music Bakery - wide range of variety CDs at USD 69.95 and specific topics at USD 149.95. Claim they were voted number one by “Video Systems Magazine". Long commercial/sampler plays every time you go to their home page.
• Opuzz - large range of short/medium tracks and cuts priced individually from about USD 3 to USD 15. Also available by the DVD-full for USD 599!
• IA Music - wide variety of categorized tracks at USD 55 each
• MagnaTune - variety of tracks with a complicated interactive licencing system, prices vary depending on what you wnat to do with the music.
• CSS Music - wide range, CDs from USD 59.99, discounts for buying bundles of CDs, or the whole library of 10,000 music and effects tracks on a firewire disc drive for USD 1995
• Unique Tracks - variety of CDs and small sets from USD 99, and bundles from USD 340
• RoyaltyFree.com - selection of 12 CDs of instrumental music from USD 39.95 per CD, discounts for bundles
• Stock Music - varietry of CDs from USD 99.95, tracks from USD 29.95, or the whole kaboodle on DVD for USD 599.95
• Crank City - Cds and sets from USD 99 or 25 CD bundle for 549.45
• Music 2 Hues - wide selection of production music in short cuts and longer track lengths, CDs from USD 48, sound effects CDs from USD 19.95, bundles up to USD 795
• Royalty Free Downloads - wide variety, even some with singing. Backgrounds from USD 5.99, Song tracks from USD 39.95
• Sound Ideas - large range of music and effects sold mostly in bundles ranging from USD 125 to USD 5995
• Fresh Music - wide range of whole-track CDs. Single CDs USD 59.99, or five for USD 99
• Radio Mall - sixteen CDs, som mostly full tracks, some shorter cuts. Single CDs USD 39.95, any four for USD 99, or all 16 for USD 299
• Primary Elements - selection of themed CDs from USD 39 to USD 69
• Media Tracks - selection of single tracks for USD 12.99, discounts for bulk. Some sound effects to download for free, too.
• Accent Music - MP3 single tracks from USD 4.95, CD collections from USD 54.95
• SoundFX.com - Primarily s source of sound effects (duh), but also have a selection of royalty-free music in a range of styles and prices. You’ll need to poke around their web site yourself to find out much more.
• Webtones Music - innovative self-publishing marketplace where composers/performers put up their own music and (it seems) set their own prices. Prices by track (with good preview facilities) but seem to be typically around USD 20.
• Pro Background Theme Music - 25 CDs in a varieties of styles from USD 79.95
• Liquid Cabaret - 20 various CDs at USD 59 each or USD 495 for the lot

I’m sure there are others, but this lot should get you started!

(*) Of course I can’t say this with any authority. Please double-check their “small print” against what you plan to do with the music.

Podcasting is still just a baby, and already people are put off from having a go by the quality of some of the stuff out there. Steven Phenix writes:

But I don’t want to podcast and that’s due to Shel Holz and Neville Hobson. For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report–the dynamic duos’ now bi-weekly podcasts, are so well produced that the barrier to entry is insurmountable.

I could never match the quality, so I won’t even try. 8-)

I predict we’ll see this more and more. With Blogging there are a lot of tools that let you just rattle your thoughts into a text box without worrying about the quality or complexity of the web site that results (hell, I’m using one to type this). But podcasting is still very “manual". As I’m sure I’ve said before, current podcasting is a lot like making a web site by typing all the HTML into notepad. People are working on the equivalent of FrontPage (or at least HotMetal), but until we get the likes of Blogger or WordPress, people will still be put off by the scale of the problem.

Read Steven’s article at Phenix Rising: Steven Phenix’s Blog: Hurray for Hobson and Holtz

There sure is a lot of fuss going on at the moment about licencing music for use in podcasts. Joe Gratz has a has a fairly rational take on one aspect (ASCAP licences), in contrast to a lot of the froth-mouthed ranting that goes on on some other blogs. You can read Joe’s article at joegratz.net � ASCAP Licenses Podcasting; Doesn%u2019t Get Podcasting.

I have been involved with amateur video production for a long time before I got attracted to podcasting. In the amateur video world the problems of using copyright music as a soundtrack are very well known. It’s one of those truisms that every video maker has at least one really neat short movie that they are unable to show because they naively used copyright music, and can’t afford (or even get at all, in some cases) clearance.

The way the video community typically approaches this problem is twofold:

1. Don’t use published music. Get a friend to compose and/or play something specially for the movie. That way you have all the bases covered.
2. Use music specially licenced for inclusion in your own works. This might be sound tracks included with a video editing tool, or special “copyright-free” music made and sold with no per-use payment required.

Of course, there’s also the option of simply not using music at all, although that is really only suitable for a small range of production styles.

Podcasters have all these options, as well as a growing body of music licenced for “derivative works” using something like a Creative Commons licence. And the option of not using music is much more acceptable to podcasters producing speech-based podcasts than it is to most video makers.

For me, the bottom line is that podcasters can still be creative without needing to mess with copyright-restricted music. And there’s a real chance that the longer it takes for the music business to get a grip on how to licence it’s collections, the stronger and more convincing the arguments and evidence in favour of “commons"-style licencing will become.

Someone else thinks they may be able to make a buck from the surge in interest in Podcasting - PaleGroove Studios have set up a dedicated podcasting studio where you can buy time using their equipment and experience.

As several people point out, this might be a risky proposition. The current crop of podcasters are used to very low technical barriers to entry. A cheap mic, a basic audio-editing app, and a web site. Production values are accepted as often being cheap-and-cheerful, so there seems little point in paying.

If the accelerating growth in podcasters continues, though, there will be a lot of new podcasters who may be more amenable to “using the experts", and paying for it. If past trends are anything to go by, there will be a continued increase in expected quality and production values in podcasts. If you start podcasting now, you can learn through practice without feeling embarrased. In a year’s time, that may no longer be the case - you might need a professional “leg up” to get started.

See also: SocialTwister.com: Podcasting Studio Opens Podcasting News The Fire Ant Gazette The Blog Herald: more blog news more often

I guess plenty of other people have already covered this one, but here it is for reference in case I ever find myself needing to record a phonecall on a Mac.

MacDevCenter.com: How to Record a Podcast

Also for interest, Andy at Podcrumbs took a look at the above article, and added some extra notes which may also help.

All in all it seems quite a complicated business. With any luck this sort of thing should get easier as more people have a need to record more stuff. Now I’ve just got to look for an equivalent tutorial for the Mac-less.

I love the way that podcasting allows experimenting with ideas that would never make sense as an ordinary radio program. In this case the wacky idea is to podcast time-crunched recordings from aviation radio traffic.

This is cool not just because it is such unlikely radio programming, but also because it pushes the limits of current podcast creation technology. Most podcasts I’ve encountered are “real time” - interviews, weblog rambling, music compilations, etc. You can imagine a live MC or DJ producing the same content. Syndicating a sparse audio source with all the boring pauses removed, though, really shows the benefits of podcasting over trad radio or streaming.

Time-lapse audio, just like all those old films of sunsets and flowers opening, or the more tedious sequences in modern makeover shows.

I’m not sure I’d personally have much interest in listening to recorded air radio traffic, but top marks for pushing the envelope. And let’s get tools for pause-removal (a.k.a VOX recording) added to the standard podcast toolbox.

Read the article at Eblo: Scanners, Recording, and Podcasting, Oh My!

Andy Carvin’s Waste of Bandwidth: Tutorial: How to Create Podcasts with a Smartphone

I’m always interested in ways to lower the “barrier to entry” of podcasting. For anyone who is never without their phone, this could be a good way to podcast those thoughts and sounds as they happen. The technique described is still a little bit more clumsy than a perfect solution, but it’s one step closer to an audio version of all those camera-phone tools.