Podcasting for E-Learning: Introduction to Audio Production
Having outlined the conceptual terrain of podcasting, it’s time to look at the nuts and bolts of podcast production. In this part of the series, I won’t delve too deeply into script-writing: I’ll return to that subject in a later series of blog posts, but if you have a look at my series of articles on instructional design to understand my orientation on theoretical and pedagogical approaches to this activity.
Today, I’m going to talk about digital audio, and the basic hardware and software you’ll need to begin creating your own podcasts. As I indicated yesterday, the principles of multimedia have been understood for over 80 years, but wide usage of digitally factored technology did not begin in earnest until the 1970’s, because theory had to wait for hardware and software to catch up.
Until recently, recording audio cost many thousands of dollars, used specialized and sophisticated equipment, took up lots of space (in the form of a dedicated recording studio), and required years of specialized training, followed by years acquiring hard-earned OTJ experience to make even the most basic recordings.
In the last five years however, the price of recording audio has gone down, while the quality of consumer recording devices has increased exponentially. Now, it’s even possible to create and deliver reasonable quality audio via your cell phone with a Edge connection to the internet. But we’re not going to do that today. Today, I will describe the essential hardware and software you’ll need to begin recording and producing good quality audio for integration for podcasting and e-learning.
You will need…
| Activity | Requirement |
| Audio source | A Narrator |
| Capture | A Microphone |
| Encoding | Audio editing software |
| Recording Medium | Audio Tape (i.e. DAT)
or PC Hard Drive |
| Playback | Playback Device
Speakers Headphones |
And this is the audio production process (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. The Audio Production Process
[Click to Enlarge, 145k]
| Production Step | Component | Process Description |
| Audio Source | Voice–over narrator | Reads script based on objectives of learning initiative |
| Recording Device | Microphone | Captures analog sound waves and coverts to electronic signal |
| Conversion | PC soundcard | Turns electronic signal into a series of digital bits |
| Encoding | Audio Editing Software | Software saves the audio as a sound file (i.e. WAV) |
| Editing | Audio Editing Software | The audio file is edited, & enhanced. It is rendered in a playback-friendly format like MP3 |
| Distribution | LAN, internet, CD, DVD, memory card | Content is published for distribution via the Web as an audio only file (i.e. podcast), in a format like Flash, or for delivery via CD/DVD, memory stick |
| Playback | Soundcard, Speakers, Headphones | Media is reproduced via software or hardware player |
More…
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August 11 2009 04:41 pm | e-learning
One Response to “Podcasting for E-Learning: Introduction to Audio Production”
derric on 28 Jun 2010 at 2:53 pm #
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