How to Use Audacity to Create a Podcast

Audacity is a great tool to use for creating a podcast. It's not only simple to use but comes with very easy-to-follow instructions. Best of all, it's free and available for Windows, Linux and Mac. Using Audacity to edit audio for your podcast can add to the value and popularity of your podcast to others. These simple steps will get you started using Audacity to create a podcast.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Download and install the Audacity program. If you have problems with this, the Audacity Web site offers support forums for help.

2. Make sure you have a microphone and it is connected to your computer.

3. Open the Audacity program. The Audacity control panel is very self-explanatory.

4. Click on the "Record" button and Audacity will record anything you say into the microphone.

5. Click the "Stop" button when you've said all you have to say.

6. Rewind and play to hear what you have recorded.

7. Save it as a MP3 and add to your podcast files, once you have your recording the way you want.

Tips & Warnings

• While creating your podcast, save your work often but use the save feature on Audacity. Don't export as MP3 until you are finished. Each time you export, you lose some quality so you don't want to do this until you're finished.

• If you want to add a sound clip you already have to your podcast, you can import it from other files. Try to use uncompressed audios, such as WAV files. You want to avoid using compressed files because when you export to MP3 it will be compressed again.

• While Audacity is a wonderful program, you will also need to download the libmp3lame library to export audio files as MP3s. It's an extra step, but doesn't take long and you can find the library free by doing a search on almost any search engine. Just make sure when you download the libmp3lame library, you save it where it can be found, such as your Audacity folder.