Showing posts with label internet radio software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet radio software. Show all posts

Friday

Use What Works: Why a Podcaster Uses Switch Audio Converter Every Day

Guest post by podcaster Kole Ross www.koleross.com

We take it for granted that our tools do what we ask them to. If they didn't, we probably wouldn't use them anymore. What makes a piece of software great, however, is how easy it is to tell it what to do. For me, Switch Audio Converter is one of those great programs, and I rely on it daily.

I'm an underemployed podcaster, a part the digital serf caste. You see us around, the overweight or underweight bearded dudes with laptops, blogs, and opinions about why Facebook sucks.

I graduated from an Electronic Media program where I was surrounded by these digital serfs, and learned how to use lots of different pieces of media software. Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, Pro Tools, the list goes on. If you have more than a passing acquaintance with these software suites, you probably have an opinion about which one works best.

I get them, I understand how to use them, and I know how powerful they can be. When I was starting out, though, I could never shake the feeling that they were "too much." If you're cutting a steak, you don't whip out a Swiss army knife. You use a steak knife, like a normal person.

I started podcasting in 2007, wanting to turn my internet radio show into a packaged, persistent product. This first podcast eventually turned into Stand Under the Don't Tree and Riddle Me This, a video game talk show with a bewildering name. Three years later, I started a second podcast, Those Damn Ross Kids, a NSFW comedy podcast that I do with my brother, Kris.

When you're a poor student (or even a poor graduate—feed me please) it's difficult to afford fancy software to fuel your hobbies. So, you use what works. To this day, I edit my shows in Garageband because it's free and simple. A friend of mine once criticized me for using "kiddie gloves," but my response remains: "It doesn't get in the way when I sit down to make things." I like a program that does one thing well. Every button and lever I don't use is just wasting my time.

The same goes for Switch, which simply does what I ask it to without putting up a fuss.

The end product of a podcast is always an MP3 file, but it goes through lots of different phases in its life cycle. The shows are recorded over Skype as high-sample rate stereo AIFF files. My voice is always on the right channel, while the incoming audio from Skype is on the left channel. I drop this file into Garageband to separate the tracks, and re-export them so that I'm able to do multitrack editing, making editing out overtalk a breeze.

The separated files are still in stereo, though, so I pop those back into Switch to squash them into mono AIFF files. These are easier to edit, and take up half as much space. I then put these files onto separate tracks in Garageband and go to town, making what we say clever and insightful.

When I'm done with that, I apply the Levelator to the AIFF. The Levelator's motto should be "Crummy thing go in, pretty thing come out." It doesn't work all the time, but it's better than spending an hour trying to configure a compressor.

The final step comes when I drop the finished file into Switch again, compressing it to a 96kbps mono MP3 file for distribution. This is the best compromise between sound quality and size. It's a quick download, and it doesn't waste all of that time I spent equalizing it to sound good. Switch made this easy to figure out. All I had to do was mess with the encoder options and re-convert until I got something good.

Voila, that's a podcast. Spank it on the bottom, FTP it, and let the world know that it's ready.

There have been other times in my professional and academic career where Switch has bailed me out... For example with how finicky Final Cut Pro is vis-รก-vis what kind of audio files it will play nice with.

The moral of the story is this: Even though the aforementioned $1000+ media suites can probably spit out the kinds of files you want, I don't need all of the excess functionality that comes with it. Switch just exists. It's a box on my desktop that takes one thing and makes it into another thing, without complaint.

I don't need a Jaws of Life to open my beer, thanks. Just let me make something and get on with my day. My job is to be funny in front of a microphone, not fiddle with software.
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Monday

Streaming Audio Recorder Saves Time for Radio Producers

Izi Mann has been a radio personality and producer for decades, including work on the NPR show Voice of Israel, he now also produces Internet radio shows.

SoundTap Streaming Audio Recording SoftwareUsing a variety of audio files from different websites is key for an Internet radio show to offer a digest of varied, newsworthy content. When Mann found SoundTap streaming audio recorder, it saved him so much time he was able to do more shows than before while offering much better content.

Mann estimates that he spends at least 30% less time recording audio files with SoundTap than with other comparable programs he has tried. "I use SoundTap to 'catch' audio files from different websites. The software does this so cleanly and smoothly, and without the numerous time consuming requirements that appear in some other programs I have tried. Just one click!"

The challenge Izi Mann faced before finding NCH Software's SoundTap was that many software applications were time consuming and demanding. He was searching for an efficient audio recorder but many of the other programs he tried did not actually work, or asked so many questions before recording the audio he found them impractical for what he wanted to do. "When you have a show to produce, it is important that it’s done perfectly, but also immediately,” Mann said. “Actually, who does have time to waste?"

When his search was coming up dry, he suddenly remembered a colleague from the BBC had introduced him to NCH Software’s Switch Audio Converter software, and how smoothly it converted CD music files to wav files. So he went to NCH looking for an equally capable solution for his audio recording problems. He found that solution in SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder.

SoundTap saves Internet radio producers like Izi Mann time, creating high quality audio files at the click of a button, and this is just one example of the many uses for this versatile streaming audio recorder. Download SoundTap to capture any audio playing through your computer and convert that audio to mp3 or wav files. You may well find that like Izi Mann, after you have used SoundTap, you'll be willing to recommend it to anyone.
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Wednesday

Boost Audio Quality for Radio and Podcast Production

From radio to podcasting, having high quality audio matters. So if you are recording and producing audio content, NCH Software's top audio software duo Wavepad audio editor and Mixpad multitrack recorder and mixer will provide you with the audio tools you need to produce high quality audio to your listeners. Just ask the people behind The Yes Hour Radio Show, a growing radio program that will be increasing their broadcasts in January. As they grow they have been committed to providing the highest quality audio to their listeners, so one of the recent changes they've made was changing their audio editing software and coming to NCH:

"The first thing we've done, which you might have noticed, is to change our editing software. We initially started by using magic studio, which served its purpose for a small production, but as things grew, that is, as we began to develop our content for The Yes Hour and invited guests on the show we decided to try another program called Mixpad and it's editing component Wavepad... These two NCH Software applications have enabled us to do so much, including recording on a multi-track bed, editing telephone interviews, importing new music from local and existing artists."

Serious Voice of New York, The Yes Hour Radio Show

If you are producing your own radio show, or any other audio project, we hope you too will check out the full range of audio software and software for radio stations we provide to help make you sound your best.
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Thursday

Radio World User Report on BroadWave Audio Streaming Software

BroadWave Makes Streaming So Easy,
It Helped Keep Radio Show Alive After Station Was Sold


broadwave internet radio streaming audio server softwareRadio World just published a User Review of BroadWave Streaming Audio Server in their buyers guide for Internet and Streaming Services for Radio. The Review, written by NCH Software customer Gene Mitchell, highlights how BroadWave was able to help keep the "Computer Corner" radio show alive after the station it was originally aired on was sold.

"I have to say that the BroadWave Streaming Server was the simplest software to install, the easiest to use, the easiest to modify and provided the best experience."

-Gene Mitchell, Host "Computer Corner"

Read the whole story BroadWave Makes Streaming Easy: Pennsylvania Engineer/Host Gets Creative When Station Is Sold in the October 21, 2009 issue of RadioWorld Magazine. You can also Check out Gene's Computer Corner on Fifth Dimension Radio Network.

Learn more about BroadWave Streaming Audio Software and how you can use this audio streaming software to broadcast your own internet radio station or podcasts.
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