I was asked this morning for some information that I get asked for a lot, so it seemed reasonable to write it down once so that I can refer to it later.

I don’t claim to be an expert on this. If anything, this is intended to be resources for folks who aren’t experts, and don’t really aspire to being experts in audio production, but just want to know how to do a podcast, or other simple recording, with whatever tools they might already have, or can get free or cheap.

So, here’s the response I sent. No doubt I’ll update this from time to time.

The cool thing about podcasting is that you don’t have to be a recording expert any more. Just have to have some patience and a decent microphone.

I’m a big fan of the Blue microphone line. Their USB microphones are supported by whatever OS you’re running, and are so simple to use. It’s a little bit of an investment, but the results are worth it.

There’s also a number of portable devices now – if you’re planning on doing roving interviews, rather than recording at your desk, those are worth looking at. This is what I would get if I could afford it.

But there are cheaper devices that are pretty good. This is what the ASF bought for use at our events and I’ve been pretty pleased with them.

Just don’t try to use one of those headphone/microphone combo things. They are universally awful.

I often do an interview on Skype and use a skype recorder to capture it. Unfortunately, the recorder I was using is Mac only, and I’ve recently switched to Linux and am having no luck, so far, getting anything working to record skype calls.

For editing, I have tried a number of things, and keep coming back to Audacity. It is simple to use, and has all of the tools that the more expensive options. It’s available for whatever OS you’re running.