The "Podcasting For ..." Project

This edition of the Podcasting for is all about recording audio. I’m talking to an old friend Willis McBrier – we talk a lot.  The conversation is in two parts.  

First it’s about sound itself, ambience, record levels, psychoacoustics.

In the second, we talk microphones and there are some examples of what a podcaster might use.

Willis McBrier lectures  in Creative Media at Belfast Metropolitan College. His career began over 30 years ago at the BBC as a broadcast and communications engineer and more recently, a trainer.

Sound … the recording of sound … the creation of sound … the celebration of sound and music runs in Willis’s family.  Both his daughter and son have their own music projects: Sarah runs an Audio Visual Arts festival of electronic music   Audio Visual Arts and Matt is a music entrepreneur – his project is called Feel My Bicep.

Willis and I met in Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre.  A place that also celebrates sound in particular the history of music in Northern Ireland.  And it nurtures new music in Belfast and beyond.

The music is Cloudline from the Blue Dot Sessions’ Album K4 – you can find it on the Free Music Archive: that’s freemusicarchive.org

I’m using it under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Licence.

The main interview in this episode of Podcasting For ... is radio consultant and podcaster, Larry Gifford. Larry produces “The Radio Stuff”. In the book Podcasting for Communities, I outline five essential skills a podcaster or a radio production team need to perfect: writing … reading … interviewing … recording … and editing. In this edition, Larry talks about how he taught himself to write a script, what he has learned about interviewing , and working in a team.   “Role definition is vital whether you are doing a radio show or a podcast.” Says Larry. “You need everyone to know what everyone else is doing. If my job is to meet the guest and have the intro and outro music ready to go, then that's something the other people don't need to worry about but they need to know what they are expected to do.”   Larry has an impressive CV. He has just moved to Canada but began working in radio in 1990. His career has taken him from the east of the country to the west coast, but it all began in the mid-west, in Columbus Ohio as what he calls a “catch-all employee” doing whatever needed to be done, including some on air work. Before too long he became a full time anchor and reporter. His first move was only about 70 miles when he began working on a news and talk morning show in Dayton Ohio. Then he headed east to become sports director of an FM station in Philadelphia.   Larry went on to the west coast where the idea of The Radio Stuff podcast was born.   “It takes a lot of steps to put together a podcast well. You can put together a podcast, but it doesn't mean it's going to be a good podcast. So you need to sort out all the roles so the quality of the podcast is to your expectations and to the listeners' expectations.   “I think sometimes we forget the listener has expectations of us as well. They are giving quality time out of their life to you. So it's our responsibility as content creators, to make sure what we are providing them is worth the time they are giving.”   These podcasts are for people who are beginning to produce their own audio and want to get some ideas, and learn how to do it better. Everyone is welcome to listen, because there is always something new to learn.   The music is Cloudline from the Blue Dot Sessions’ Album K4 – you can find it on the Free Music Archive: that’s freemusicarchive.org. http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/K4/Cloud_Line   I’m using it under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Licence.