QuickCast Edition

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QCE 14 - Equipment and software for podcasting

I receive many questions on what type of equipment we use and the flow process involved in creating our Podcasts.  We certainly this could take hours but in the time I have I’ll give you a quick overview.

Show Notes

Equipment

• I5 iMac – Streaming, Video switching and video recording
• Mac Book Pro – Sound bites
• Mac mini – Skype co-hosting
• iPad – Controls the sounds bites on the Mac Book Pro
• HP PC – Monitoring of chat room and vital signs
• Edirol R-09HR digital audio recorder
• Mackie 1202-VLZ3 audio mixer
• Behringer Pro-XL distribution amplifier
• DBX 266XL Expander/Gate/Compressor
• Heil PR-40 Microphone
• Canon HV40 HD camera
• Sennheiser Pro headphones

Software

• Wirecast 4 for video switching and streaming
• Adobe audition – Audio editing, Compression and MP3 conversion
• Sound byte for playing audio clips which is controlled from the iPad
• ID3 Tag editor from pa-software
• Feeder from reinvented software for rss creation
• Adobe Premiere Elements for Video editing
• Skype for co-hosting
• WordPress website platform

Hosting

• Hostgator virtual dedicated server
• Libsyn for mp3 hosting
• blip.tv for video hosting

Work Flow

• Co-hosts log into the mac mini running skype.  Destop Presenter is running to feed the video signal to the iMac running Wirecast.  The outbound audio is feed to the Mackie mixer and through an aux send and the audio is feed back to the co-hosts.  All of the audio is pre-processed by a dbx gate to sift out unwanted background noises and add a touch of compression also.
• The host in the studio talking on the heil pr-40 is directly plugged into the Mackie mixer
• We do not record directly to a computer but instead to a digital audio recorder the Edirol R-09.  This eliminates having computer noise in the audio.  The digital audio recorder is plugged into the tape outputs of the mixer, thus all incoming audio is feed to the audio recorder.
• Now the distribution amplifier distributes clean audio to:  The headphones for monitoring, the iMac for streaming content and also to a set of external speakers.

Post production

• The finished episodes are copied off the digital recorder and edited, multi-band compressed and exported to mp3’s.
• ID3 editing is next which adds the necessary tags to the mp3 such as title, artist, comments and cover art.
• The finished mp3 is uploaded to Libsyn for hosting.  Once complete the mp3 is delivered to our iphone and android apps and the enclosure is then used in Feeder.
• So what does Feeder do? We use this tool to create the necessary xml for RSS.  This is the file itunes and other distributing platforms reed to deliver content.
• Final steps:  A blog post is written with the show’s title, show notes and the embed code to listen to the episode off the web site.

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QCE13-Difference in Music

It’s all about music in QuickCast 13! Dave and Firefly start with their differences in music. One is more apt to tune into the lyrics of the song while the other can’t keep their ears from the musical side. Dave and Firefly talk about the quality of today’s music versus the relevance of the classics. Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, and Van Morrison are all hinted at in this episode. Each of us have a reason for loving music. What is yours? Tune in to hear Dave and Firefly’s takes on music.

Show Notes

Music
Lyrics vs. Music
Quality of Today’s Music (Pop Culture, Club Scene, AutoTune)
Relating to music of the past (Pink Floyd, Van Morrison)

Dave’s Obscure Question of the Week: What’s your favorite texture?
Lindsey’s Obscure Question of the Week: What’s your favorite smell?

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QCE12-Alcohol most harmful drug

iPhone Gives Europe an Extra Hour of Sleep, Alcohol most harmful drug and 105.3 SPY FM

Show Notes

Quick Tech
iPhone Gives Europe an Extra Hour of Sleep – The iPhone has a minor glitch in the built-in alarm application. When set to repeat, the alarm will not recognize the upcoming time change. Do your homework and make a fix on your end…or set a real alarm clock!

Quick Health
Alcohol ‘most harmful drug’ & Methodology – A recent London study by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs found that alcohol is the most harmful drug when considering harm to users and others. Drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methadone were all studied. Alcohol clearly demonstrated more overall harm.

Quick Music
105.3 SPY FM @ http://www.thespyfmokc.com/ – Please check out this radio station out of Oklahoma City. A huge blend of rock, punk, rockabilly, indie, and much more. They are a local, independent radio station from the midwest. Follow ‘em on Twitter and Facebook. A brilliant station with amazing content.