Reverse side of on-line podcast
Hello!
My name is Renat, and I am one of the leading "Weekly podcast Appleinsider.ru". Recently, I was increasingly asked about how the podcast was broadcast and recorded. I try to answer everyone and in as much detail as I can. I believe that everyone who is interested in this should at least try, and for this it is necessary to overcome a certain threshold of entry. In this article I will talk about how this happens in our case, and I very much hope that it will be useful to someone. If this material turns out to be in demand, then I will definitely dwell on some details in more detail, as well as talk about other options, which I also tried at one time, but refused for several reasons.
')
So, to begin with, a few words about the technical side of our podcast. We are broadcasting live, during which it is recorded. All guests and presenters, with rare exceptions, participate in a podcast via Skype. Perhaps this is the main technical problem, which, as it turned out, is not difficult to solve.
The scheme proposed below virtually eliminates the “iron” component, which will make it possible not to spend money on expensive equipment until you decide that there is a need for it. The only thing you need besides the computer is a microphone. And preferably a good microphone. However, for experiments quite fit and built into the Mac. Many of our guests communicated with us through him. And although the sound quality is deteriorating, this wave is enough to understand whether it is worth spending the money earned on a new piece of hardware.
Perhaps you should immediately make a reservation that in my case MacBook Pro is used with Mac OS X 10.6.7 on board. A quick search on the network indicates that there are analogues of the programs described below for other operating systems.
So, what we have:
- Microphone Zoom H4n (usb)
- MacBook Pro
What we want to get:
- Record Skype conference with the participation of 3 or more people
- On-line conversation broadcast
- Ability to enclose background music during broadcasting
- Ready mp3 podcast file for subsequent publication in iTunes or other sources
The minimum set of necessary software: Nicecast , Skype. I use Soundstudio to process the already recorded podcast, however at first Garage Band or any other program for working with sound will fit perfectly.
Skype setup
Everything is very simple here. Go to the settings, and select the microphone connected via USB as the sound source. In my case it is H4, in yours it can be any, right up to the built-in one (then this step can be safely skipped). Do not touch anything else.
Nicecast setup
Nicecast is a little more complicated. First, in a nutshell, what is it for? If you do not get into the deep jungle, then this program allows you to create your own Internet radio on your computer, to which other users can connect. True, for this you will need an external static IP address. If you don’t have one, your current IP will be used and you can only connect to the stream within the home network. But even if you have a static IP looking out - it should be remembered that each device connected to your broadcast will be given a stream in a given quality, and depending on the width of your channel, the number of such connections will be limited.
In our case, we have a partner through which the broadcast takes place. I give the stream to the partner's server, and he, in turn, distributes it to anyone who wants to hear the podcast on-line. At the moment, servers can guarantee up to 1000 connections with the quality of 96Kbps mono broadcasts, which is more than enough for our current tasks. Thus, the stream is formed on my computer and transmitted to the server, which spreads it to the others.
I am well aware that not everyone has such a partner, and that the use of such servers can cost a lot of money. Frankly speaking - it is for this reason that this article did not appear here earlier, but then I realized that you can use this scheme to record a podcast and mix all audio streams (microphone, skype, background music from iTunes, etc.) into one place through which the recording takes place. Those. even if you broadcast only within your network and no one will be able to hear your live broadcast outside your router, you will still receive a ready-made mp3 file which, after minimal processing, will not be embarrassing to show people.
So, let's begin. First you need to decide on the quality of the broadcast. If you listened to our podcast, then it is recorded and transmitted as 96Kbps mono. For conversations, this is quite enough, and this quality is an excellent compromise between file size and the desire to turn it off immediately. If you focus on music, it makes sense to raise the quality to 128Kbps stereo, but the size of the final file will be larger.
As a source for the program Nicecast I exhibit Line-In. In our case, this should be a source with silence, because All sound streams we will start with the help of plug-ins. You can set the System Audio as a source, in this case all system sounds (mail arrival, instant messengers alerts, etc.) will also be recorded. Because for our project, this is not required and nothing is included in the computer's line input - I choose Line-In. It would be possible to start the microphone at once, but it is more convenient for me to control everything from one place, from plug-ins.
Now the most important thing. The program Nicecast would not be so useful if it did not know how to work with plug-ins (Effects). It is through them that we will redirect all our audio streams to one place. I will not describe here everything that can be done with the help of them - you can see it when you put it. For the tasks described above, you need to connect the following plugins: Application Mixer and VoiceOver. The first robs the sound from the applications, the second - from the microphone. In my case, I capture audio from iTunes (for background music) and Skype. With VoiceOver, I take the sound from the microphone. To start the process of capturing the sound, you need to go to the plugin's settings and click Hijack or Start, respectively.
So, almost everything is ready to start broadcasting and recording. And here the most important thing is not to forget to include this very record. I remember when Eldar Murtazin came to visit the podcast - after 5 minutes of air, I suddenly realized that the broadcast was on, but the air was not recorded. I had to interrupt the guest's opening speech and start everything from the beginning, without having forgotten to turn on the recording. To its credit, it is worth noting that he managed to repeat it almost word-for-word.
In order to start recording, select Window-> Show Archiving in the top menu or press cmnd-4. Here you specify the quality of the mp3 file recording and click Archive.
Finally, the last step is the beginning of the broadcast. Click the Start Broadcast button in the main application window. You will see the red inscription On Air, which means that the broadcast of the air is going well. The address where other devices can connect to the air will be displayed in the Share tab. It is worth noting that if you plug the headphones into the computer, then you will hear what is being broadcast. This is very useful because allows you to rebuild the volume levels and understand what others will hear. Until you start broadcasting - Archiving is not being recorded, and there will be complete silence in the headphones. Do not worry, this is normal.
The program has the necessary settings, and everyone can deal with them on their own, because everything is done very elegantly and simply.
Sound processing
After the broadcast is over, you can click on Stop Broadcasting. The file with the record can be found in the default folder, or specify the path to it in the settings. In our case, it is practically not processed for a number of reasons, and the main one is the lack of time. Even in its raw form, the sound quality remains at an acceptable level. The beginning, the end is clipped. The effect of a smooth start of recording and fading is added, after which it is published in iTunes and on the site.
This is the first part of a series of articles on the technical side of recording and on-line broadcasting of the podcast. In the future I plan to touch on such topics as: sound processing, recording by participants of their tracks and the subsequent mixing, high-quality publication of podcasts in iTunes. For those half a year that I actively do podcasting - I had to go through a lot and step on a huge amount of rakes. I hope my articles will help novice podcasters avoid at least some of them.
I express my deep gratitude to Umputun , who repeatedly helped out with advice and put me on the right track when it seemed to me that I was stumped.
My name is Renat, and I am one of the leading "Weekly podcast Appleinsider.ru". Recently, I was increasingly asked about how the podcast was broadcast and recorded. I try to answer everyone and in as much detail as I can. I believe that everyone who is interested in this should at least try, and for this it is necessary to overcome a certain threshold of entry. In this article I will talk about how this happens in our case, and I very much hope that it will be useful to someone. If this material turns out to be in demand, then I will definitely dwell on some details in more detail, as well as talk about other options, which I also tried at one time, but refused for several reasons.
')
So, to begin with, a few words about the technical side of our podcast. We are broadcasting live, during which it is recorded. All guests and presenters, with rare exceptions, participate in a podcast via Skype. Perhaps this is the main technical problem, which, as it turned out, is not difficult to solve.
The scheme proposed below virtually eliminates the “iron” component, which will make it possible not to spend money on expensive equipment until you decide that there is a need for it. The only thing you need besides the computer is a microphone. And preferably a good microphone. However, for experiments quite fit and built into the Mac. Many of our guests communicated with us through him. And although the sound quality is deteriorating, this wave is enough to understand whether it is worth spending the money earned on a new piece of hardware.
Perhaps you should immediately make a reservation that in my case MacBook Pro is used with Mac OS X 10.6.7 on board. A quick search on the network indicates that there are analogues of the programs described below for other operating systems.
So, what we have:
- Microphone Zoom H4n (usb)
- MacBook Pro
What we want to get:
- Record Skype conference with the participation of 3 or more people
- On-line conversation broadcast
- Ability to enclose background music during broadcasting
- Ready mp3 podcast file for subsequent publication in iTunes or other sources
The minimum set of necessary software: Nicecast , Skype. I use Soundstudio to process the already recorded podcast, however at first Garage Band or any other program for working with sound will fit perfectly.
Skype setup
Everything is very simple here. Go to the settings, and select the microphone connected via USB as the sound source. In my case it is H4, in yours it can be any, right up to the built-in one (then this step can be safely skipped). Do not touch anything else.
Nicecast setup
Nicecast is a little more complicated. First, in a nutshell, what is it for? If you do not get into the deep jungle, then this program allows you to create your own Internet radio on your computer, to which other users can connect. True, for this you will need an external static IP address. If you don’t have one, your current IP will be used and you can only connect to the stream within the home network. But even if you have a static IP looking out - it should be remembered that each device connected to your broadcast will be given a stream in a given quality, and depending on the width of your channel, the number of such connections will be limited.
In our case, we have a partner through which the broadcast takes place. I give the stream to the partner's server, and he, in turn, distributes it to anyone who wants to hear the podcast on-line. At the moment, servers can guarantee up to 1000 connections with the quality of 96Kbps mono broadcasts, which is more than enough for our current tasks. Thus, the stream is formed on my computer and transmitted to the server, which spreads it to the others.
I am well aware that not everyone has such a partner, and that the use of such servers can cost a lot of money. Frankly speaking - it is for this reason that this article did not appear here earlier, but then I realized that you can use this scheme to record a podcast and mix all audio streams (microphone, skype, background music from iTunes, etc.) into one place through which the recording takes place. Those. even if you broadcast only within your network and no one will be able to hear your live broadcast outside your router, you will still receive a ready-made mp3 file which, after minimal processing, will not be embarrassing to show people.
So, let's begin. First you need to decide on the quality of the broadcast. If you listened to our podcast, then it is recorded and transmitted as 96Kbps mono. For conversations, this is quite enough, and this quality is an excellent compromise between file size and the desire to turn it off immediately. If you focus on music, it makes sense to raise the quality to 128Kbps stereo, but the size of the final file will be larger.
As a source for the program Nicecast I exhibit Line-In. In our case, this should be a source with silence, because All sound streams we will start with the help of plug-ins. You can set the System Audio as a source, in this case all system sounds (mail arrival, instant messengers alerts, etc.) will also be recorded. Because for our project, this is not required and nothing is included in the computer's line input - I choose Line-In. It would be possible to start the microphone at once, but it is more convenient for me to control everything from one place, from plug-ins.
Now the most important thing. The program Nicecast would not be so useful if it did not know how to work with plug-ins (Effects). It is through them that we will redirect all our audio streams to one place. I will not describe here everything that can be done with the help of them - you can see it when you put it. For the tasks described above, you need to connect the following plugins: Application Mixer and VoiceOver. The first robs the sound from the applications, the second - from the microphone. In my case, I capture audio from iTunes (for background music) and Skype. With VoiceOver, I take the sound from the microphone. To start the process of capturing the sound, you need to go to the plugin's settings and click Hijack or Start, respectively.
So, almost everything is ready to start broadcasting and recording. And here the most important thing is not to forget to include this very record. I remember when Eldar Murtazin came to visit the podcast - after 5 minutes of air, I suddenly realized that the broadcast was on, but the air was not recorded. I had to interrupt the guest's opening speech and start everything from the beginning, without having forgotten to turn on the recording. To its credit, it is worth noting that he managed to repeat it almost word-for-word.
In order to start recording, select Window-> Show Archiving in the top menu or press cmnd-4. Here you specify the quality of the mp3 file recording and click Archive.
Finally, the last step is the beginning of the broadcast. Click the Start Broadcast button in the main application window. You will see the red inscription On Air, which means that the broadcast of the air is going well. The address where other devices can connect to the air will be displayed in the Share tab. It is worth noting that if you plug the headphones into the computer, then you will hear what is being broadcast. This is very useful because allows you to rebuild the volume levels and understand what others will hear. Until you start broadcasting - Archiving is not being recorded, and there will be complete silence in the headphones. Do not worry, this is normal.
The program has the necessary settings, and everyone can deal with them on their own, because everything is done very elegantly and simply.
Sound processing
After the broadcast is over, you can click on Stop Broadcasting. The file with the record can be found in the default folder, or specify the path to it in the settings. In our case, it is practically not processed for a number of reasons, and the main one is the lack of time. Even in its raw form, the sound quality remains at an acceptable level. The beginning, the end is clipped. The effect of a smooth start of recording and fading is added, after which it is published in iTunes and on the site.
This is the first part of a series of articles on the technical side of recording and on-line broadcasting of the podcast. In the future I plan to touch on such topics as: sound processing, recording by participants of their tracks and the subsequent mixing, high-quality publication of podcasts in iTunes. For those half a year that I actively do podcasting - I had to go through a lot and step on a huge amount of rakes. I hope my articles will help novice podcasters avoid at least some of them.
I express my deep gratitude to Umputun , who repeatedly helped out with advice and put me on the right track when it seemed to me that I was stumped.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/128638/
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