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The best podcasting gear for beginners
Starting a podcast is easy. Making one that actually sounds good is another story entirely. We can't help much with the bigger problems facing would-be podcasters — finding a good topic and getting people to listen — but we can point you to the best gear to get started. With a few smart purchases, you too can sound like a podcast pro.
Audacity owner will revise its privacy policy following spyware concerns
Muse Group says it won't sell the 'very limited' user data it will collect.
Audacity sparks uproar over new data collection policy
Some users are calling the audio-editing app 'spyware.'
Spotify’s Soundtrap audio editing tool to offer free unlimited storage
Soundtrap, the cloud-based editing tool for music and podcasts, has decided to throw in free unlimited storage for its non-paying members. Previously, Soundtrap's basic plan limited users to only five saved songs or projects. Starting today, those who own the unpaid version of either Soundtrap or Soundtrap for Storytellers (designed especially for podcasts) will have as much storage they need. The basic music recording tool will also grant users access to double the number of music loops (2,210, compared to only 750 before) and more software instruments.
The best audio editing software for beginning podcasters
By Al Griffin This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full audio editing software for beginning podcasters guide here. After 30 hours spent using and comparing audio editing software, we've found Audacity to be the best all-around option for beginners looking to create their own podcasts. The open-source Audacity runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, and it's free, which eliminates one of the biggest stresses of trying out software. Audacity's user interface is bare-bones compared with that of its competition, including other free options like Apple's GarageBand, but it provides all the tools, features, and support you need to quickly and easily create great-sounding audio productions. It offers, by far, the best value of all the audio software we tested. While recording and editing in Audacity during our tests, we quickly realized that a powerful and feature-packed application lay beneath the software's stripped-down interface. Controls for setting up external equipment such as a USB microphone or audio interface are located in the main window for easy access. The main window also contains panels with everything you need to edit, monitor, and mix audio tracks. In addition, Audacity comes with a sophisticated suite of audio-processing effects to remove the noise, coughs, clicks, and other unwanted sounds that microphones can capture during recording. And although learning how to best apply those effects takes time, Audacity's thorough online manual, tutorials, and support forums will speed you through the process. It doesn't support MIDI or musical-instrument plug-ins, so it isn't the best choice for solo musicians looking to make finished musical tracks, but it is a complete package for anyone who just wants to experiment with recording audio. Like Audacity, Reaper packs a wide range of audio editing tools and audio processing effects. Reaper's interface is more sophisticated, though, and its MIDI-editing features make it a better option for anyone who wants to add their own music to their podcasts, or even for solo musicians/producers looking to make finished tracks at home. Reaper's wealth of features and customization options put it on the same level of functionality as industry-standard digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Cubase and Pro Tools, but at just $60 for an individual or nonprofit license at this writing, Reaper costs about a fifth as much—it's a tremendous deal. Compared with those programs, Reaper is highly approachable and easy to learn, with an extensive library of online help and video tutorials to get you up and running. Once you've learned the ropes of basic audio editing and you're ready to step up your game (that is, take your podcast to a larger audience), we recommend Adobe Audition CC, a powerful platform with an exhaustive range of tools to smooth out and sweeten the sound quality of recorded tracks. Its noise-reduction features in particular are top-notch, and its EQ tools go a step beyond those of the other software we evaluated for this guide. Audition is easy to use, with a clean user interface and a wide range of templates and presets, but it also offers a high level of customization. At $20 per month, or $240 per year, it isn't cheap, but it is the best podcast recording and editing software in that price range. If sound quality is your main concern, Audition is well worth the investment.
Friday Favorite: Audacity 2.0 delivers free audio editing for Mac
Audacity, the venerable and much loved open source audio editor, has a 2.0 release out (as of March 13) in versions for OS X, Windows and GNU/Linux. Here's a rundown of what has changed: Many effects are significantly improved, especially Equalization, Noise Removal and Normalize. Vocal Remover is now included, plus GVerb on Windows and Mac. VAMP analysis plug-ins are now supported. Improved label tracks with Sync-Lock Tracks feature in the Tracks Menu. Tracks and selections can be fully manipulated using the keyboard and there can be multiple clips per track. There are many more keyboard shortcuts. A new Device Toolbar to manage inputs and outputs, a Timer Record feature and a new Mixer Board view with per-track VU meters. Automatic Crash Recovery in the event of abnormal program termination. Fast "On-Demand" import of WAV/AIFF files if read directly from source. FLAC now fully supported. Added support for optional FFmpeg library for import/export of AC3/M4A/WMA and import of audio from video files. Audacity is great for recording live audio, converting analog sources into digital recordings or CDs, and changing the speed or pitch of a recording. For many podcasters, Audacity is the go-to tool for recording and editing. You can edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. Audacity runs best with at least 1 GB RAM and a 1 GHz processor (2 GB RAM/2 GHz on OS X 10.7 or later). When Audacity is to be used for lengthy multi-track projects, the hardware requirements are bumped up to a minimum of 2 GB RAM and 2 GHz processor (4 GB RAM on OS X 10.7 or later). You can get all the info you need on Audacity at this link, and a complete feature list is available too.
Latest Lord of the Rings Online dev diary is rather audacious
Lord of the Rings Online's PvMP changes just keep rolling in, it seems. Last week, the Turbine team announced that a new currency known as commendations will be replacing the role of destiny in matters of PvMP transactions. Today, we've got a new dev diary that announces the upcoming addition of a new PvMP-only stat called Audacity. What is Audacity, exactly? Well, put simply, it's a PvMP stat that will provide players with benefits such as reducing incoming damage and lowering the duration of crowd control abilities. Higher audacity, obviously, equates to lower incoming damage and shorter crowd control effects. But why introduce this feature in the first place? According to the post, the team believes that having PvMP and PvE gear on the same progression path resulted in underwhelming or overly difficult-to-obtain PvMP gear since the team had to ensure that "the PvMP items did not devalue the PvE offerings." In addition, Turbine feels that, thanks to the damage changes made in Rise of Isengard, PvMP combat was too fast-paced. The addition of audacity is intended to nix both of these problems. Freeps will acquire their first rank of Audacity automatically at level 40, and further ranks will be boosted by PvMP gear that can only be purchased with commendations. Creeps, meanwhile, will gain their first rank of Audacity upon creation, and they'll gain further ranks by purchasing them directly from class trainers (seeing as how Creeps don't wear equipment). For the full details on this new system, just click on through the link below to the official dev diary.
TapeDeck discounted for National Day of Listening
I don't know that I've heard of the National Day of Listening before, but I like the idea a lot -- right around the holidays, StoryCorps and NPR sponsor a day when you're meant to sit down with loved ones and pick up some of that oral history that has served the human race so well so far. And the folks at Toasty Code are doing their part to get these recordings done by offering their TapeDeck audio recording software for 20% off all this week -- just follow the instructions on their website, and you too can pick up any oral history your folks can dish out along with the turkey and cranberries.Of course you can do that with any software, from GarageBand (came free with your Mac) to Audacity (free to anyone). And it doesn't need to be only audio -- I'm taking a new Flip MinoHD home for the holidays with me to get some shots of my folks in my childhood home (they're currently trying to sell it off). But the Day of Listening is a great idea no matter what you use -- in these days of high definition, 1080p television, multichannel speaker setups, ubiquitous computing, and the 24/7 flow of text across blogs, Tumblrs and Twitter, it's easy to forget the value of actually sitting down and talking to someone. This week, as you're home with family, try it out.
Audacity 1.3.6 Beta for Mac released
Our buddies over at sister blog Download Squad gave us a heads-up this morning about a new release of Audacity, the open source, cross-platform audio recording / editing application.Audacity 1.3.6 (Beta) for Mac has new features added by students during the Google Summer of Code 2008: Support of WMA, M4A, and AC3 file formats Import of audio from video files On-demand loading of uncompressed files, eliminating the wait before files can be edited Linked audio and label tracks, so labels move with their corresponding audio when cutting, pasting, or changing speed or tempo A hierarchical plug-in grouping for built-in plugins Experimental features include: Sound activated recording MIDI file import, edit, and export As always, Audacity is free. Click here to head over to the download page, and remember that this is betaware.
WoW Machinima: The basics
(Dell is holding a machinima contest, which we'll discuss shortly. They asked me to write a tutorial to help new machinimators get their start.)Every day, I feature a video by some brave soul that dived in head first into the world of machinima. For those that aren't familiar with the term, it stands for machine and cinema. The literal definition is movies made in a 3D gaming platform. Using this basic guide, as well as the other tutorials and resources available to you, you'll be creating your first project in no time!Here is what you'll need if you want to make a machinima for free: WeGame camera - A free capturing program GIMP - A free image editing program Audacity - A free audio editing program Windows Movie Maker/iMovie - Free video editing programs that should have come with your appropriate system [Thanks for originally suggesting this, Bryan!] Read on for optional and advanced tools, plus additional resources ...
Calling Mac Devs: Audacity needs your help!
Audacity, the free and open-source audio editor (also available for Windows and Linux) is in need of some Mac-love. Whilst Mac OS X users can get themselves either the stable v1.2.6 release or a 1.3.3 beta version, development going forward is a little uncertain at the moment. According to the Audacity forum, there are no active developers on the project with Macs, and the latest beta (v1.3.4) is not going to appear on the Mac platform until "someone [with a Mac] volunteers to compile it, and sort the remaining bugs out." Yikes! If you're interested in working on the project, then you'll want to head over to the Audacity 'Get Involved' pages for more information on how to get your hands on the code. Even if you're not a developer, if you're able to contribute via another means (such as with documentation, testing or donations), I'm sure the Audacity team would welcome you with open arms.
