Church Production Magazine Article

Current Issue

May 2012

The Power of Podcasting
What you need to know to podcast like a pro

By John F. McJunkin

What Is Podcasting?
Audio on the Internet is nothing new. We've had sound online for essentially the past decade. So, what makes podcasting different? Its name is a quasi-concatenation of "iPod," Apple's ubiquitous media player, and "broadcasting" .... together, the mass distribution of messages over the Internet via portable listening devices. Some podcast professionals define "podcast" narrowly, with extremely strict parameters, but I'm a bit more relaxed. I define a podcast as a sequence of audio files made available serially on a periodic basis via RSS subscription. Think of the word "podcast" like the phrase "TV show," referring to both the entire series of episodes and also each individual episode. RSS, or "Really Simple Syndication," is an Internet-oriented mechanism for publishing podcasts and weblogs (better known as "blogs"). Bottom line-unless audio files on the Internet are set up as a series of periodically published "episodes" available by RSS subscription, they are not a podcast, strictly speaking. Oh, and the difference between a podcast and a webcast is that a webcast is live, where a podcast is pre-recorded.

Podcasting is an excellent way for churches to provide sermons and other information to their congregation, enabling their members to listen through convenient, portable audio devices such as iPods and MP3 players.

Podcasts are downloaded from the Internet with a "podcatcher" and then heard directly from the computer or transferred to a portable media player (PMP) or CD. A podcatcher is a program for podcast download and management (see www.podcatchermatrix.org). The MP3 format has become virtually universal, so most PMPs are called "MP3 players." A very notable exception is the popular iPod, which utilizes a proprietary file type. The MP3 format facilitates substantial data compression while preserving reasonable fidelity. Most podcasts, like most downloaded music files, are encoded at 128 kilobits per second (kbs) yielding a compression ratio of roughly 9:1. Most consumers are perfectly happy with the sound quality. Data compression is important because it helps to overcome the bandwidth limitations of the Internet, enabling much faster download rates, and allows you to store a lot more sound. One other note-Apple's iTunes, used in conjunction with the iPod, yields a very smooth, straightforward experience with both music and podcasts. There's a reason why iTunes is the most popular podcatcher and the iPod is the most popular PMP.

What Can We Do With Podcasting?
So what good is podcasting ... what can we do with it? We have always jumped through hoops to make sermons and other audio available to shut-ins or others who can't come in for services. Cassettes and CDs were the traditional mechanisms, but CDs succeeded cassettes, and podcasting is very rapidly succeeding CDs, largely because it eliminates the need to actually deliver a physical product. Nearly universal Internet access enables virtually every parishioner to download and hear podcasts, and an entire archive of podcasts can be stored at the church's website for access-any time, day or night. And it gets even better than that.

RSS syndication facilitates subscription to a podcast. You simply click on your podcatcher's "subscribe" button, and receive each new episode of the podcast automatically as they become available. The podcatcher manages the storage of podcasts, and automatically checks for new episodes of all the podcasts to which you have subscribed. Some podcatchers will even "synchronize" with a PMP, automatically loading new podcasts on the player upon acquisition. The next time you turn the player on, your new podcasts are ready for you to listen. This works perfectly for weekly sermons, and an industrious church can have Sunday morning's sermon on the Internet, ready for download that same evening.

Most church podcasts are indeed sermons or complete services. In its most basic form, you simply capture the output of the pulpit microphone and turn it into a podcast. More sophisticated audio systems yield more sophisticated podcasts. Professionally voiced introductions and/or pre-recorded music can be edited in after the fact as well, regardless of the level of audio sophistication in your congregation hall. Podcasting can also present other content, such as meetings, whether they are oriented around church business, or Bible study, or prayer meetings, among other possibilities. Podcasting is great for music too, but it is very important that permission be granted formally and legally by the copyright holder, if indeed the music is copyrighted. A church's cherished historical material can be converted from its original format and made available via podcast as well. Bottom line here-there are no rules-your podcast can contain anything and everything you want.

How To Get Started-The Recording Process
Excellent podcasting tutorials (such as www.iherr.com) are available on the Internet, and I very strongly recommend using them, but let me get you started with some basics right here. Start with a weekly sermon podcast and gain a solid grasp of the principles before proceeding on to bigger undertakings. The first issue is the microphone. Most churches already have one in the pulpit (and if not, they're easily acquired). I strongly recommend a condenser mic for the most natural voice reproduction. Use a cardioid pattern if the mic is mounted at the pulpit, unless the pastor moves around a lot. If so, use a lavalier or head-worn mic or hand-held cardioid (wireless is a fine option with all three). An omnidirectional mic at the pulpit is not an optimal choice, because its pattern picks up everything in a 360-degree sphere, including room noise, coughing, a baby's cry, or other things that can mask the pastor's words. A cardioid pattern captures the pastor's voice in a more isolated fashion. Room ambience can be captured with other mics and blended with the mixer, but use it sparingly. MP3 encoding algorithms can create unpleasant artifacts trying to interpret ambience. Bottom line-capture the best possible voice recording you can, and if you have professional audio staff, use broadcast-style dynamics processing and EQ to capture solid levels with maximum clarity. I recommend an application called Levelator (www.gigavox.com/levelatorDownload/) which, used after recording and editing, facilitates excellent automated broadcast-style leveling.

Record directly to the computer, eliminating the transfer (and noise) from another medium-you're going to wind up there eventually. If you like a particular recording application, stick with it-no point in re-inventing the wheel. If you don't already have a favorite, I have two recommendations. If you want sophistication, go with something like Digidesign's Pro Tools, Apple's Logic, or MOTU's Digital Performer, whichever you prefer. If you want to keep it simple, go with Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). It has become a standard in podcasting, because it's free, powerful, and available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. If you're using a Macintosh, Apple's GarageBand is excellent, with some very powerful podcast-specific production tools. If you have no professional audio staff or experience, you'll have a bit of learning to do with the computer, but Audacity and GarageBand are both intended for simple operation, and won't take long to learn.

Editing And Encoding
Editing is part of that learning process, and I could write a book about it, but here I'll focus on fundamentals. You won't likely need to get down to a surgical level of detail in editing (removing breaths and mouth noises, for instance) unless you recorded the podcast in an acoustically dry and very quiet environment. Far more likely, you'll simply want to edit congregation noise before the start of the service, and put a nice clean fade on the end. All the software I've recommended will facilitate highly sophisticated editing if necessary, but also the simple edits I note here. These programs will also allow you to equalize, and boosting the "intelligibility" frequencies centered around 2 kHz a bit will enhance the presence and clarity of the recording. Use compression and even broadcast-style limiting to add punch and "loudness," but be careful, because both processes will augment the noise floor in addition to the voice, and again, noise is the bane of MP3 encoding.

And that brings us indeed to the process of MP3 encoding. Don't pay for encoding software. Apple's iTunes, which uses the Fraunhofer algorithm, is free, as is Audacity, which enables encoding with the LAME algorithm (http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php - visit their website for the full story behind LAME's odd name). The Fraunhofer algorithm typically sounds better than the others at lower bit rates, including the podcasting standard of 128 kbs, so use iTunes for most of your encoding. For higher bit rates, hence higher fidelity, the LAME algorithm sounds as good or better than the Fraunhofer from 192 kbs on up. Normally, only specialty high-fidelity podcasts are encoded at the higher rates due to bandwidth implications-specifically longer download times. In the future, as bandwidth improves, it's safe to assume that encoding rates will increase as well.

ID3 Tags and RSS Feeds
ID3 tags contain addition textual information, and are part of the podcast file. This text includes, among other things, the podcast's title, name of its creator, length, episode information, and technical information such as encoding rate and so forth. Unfortunately, few people capitalize on the power of the ID3 tag. A podcast with a robust and detailed ID3 tag is far more likely to be "found" by a search engine, hence downloaded and heard. Don't just type in the minimum information necessary (or leave fields blank). iTunes enables ID3 tag editing, as does Audacity, and there are even dedicated applications for ID3 tag editing. Either way, make sure you maximize what ID3 tags can do for you.

Once your podcast is recorded, edited, encoded, and tagged, it's time to turn it into an RSS feed and get it on the Internet. There are many ways to go about this, ranging from writing your own XML code to simply turning the podcast over to a professional to handle this final step. I have two recommendations in this regard. First, another freeware application known as Podifier (www.podifier.com/), available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, which asks a series of questions about your podcast file and its eventual destination on the web, and then it automatically creates the feed. My other recommendation is a website called FeedBurner (www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home). It is particularly nice if you wish to acquire metrics about your podcast. FeedBurner not only gets your podcast on the Internet, but it can also tell you how many people are downloading your podcast, among other things, for a small fee-very worthwhile.

Podcasting is an incredible phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. A substantial percentage of churches are already podcasting, with many more soon to follow suit. And churches that already have podcasts are increasing their levels of sophistication as well. It's a powerful way to get the good news out there for the world to hear. It's not only nice for the members of your church, but can make your message available to thousands of people around the world. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and start podcasting today. You'll be glad you did.

John McJunkin is CEO of Avalon Podcasting in Chandler, Arizona, and offers high-quality podcast production and consultation services to a broad range of clients. He's happy to answer any podcasting questions you may have: john@avalonpodcasting.com.

Quick Links

COMPANY: Apple Computer
PRODUCTS: iTunes, iPod, GarageBand, Logic
QUICK-LINK: (800) 692-7753
URL: www.apple.com

COMPANY: Digidesign
PRODUCT: Pro Tools
QUICK-LINK: (800) 333-2137
URL: www.digidesign.com

COMPANY: FeedBurner
PRODUCT: Podcast feed management
QUICK-LINK: (312) 756-0022
URL: www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

COMPANY: Gigavox
PRODUCT: Levelator
URL: www.gigavox.com/levelatorDownload/

COMPANY: MOTU
PRODUCT: Digital Performer
QUICK-LINK: (617) 576-2760
URL: www.motu.com