Digital Literacy Projects: Creating a Podcast

Things you will learn:

• Operate digital audio recorders to conduct interviews and gather sounds for use in a podcast publication.
• Use Adobe Audition to record narration and voiceover tracks.
• Mix audio recordings, fade and crossfade, adjust volume and panning across tracks.
• Use key frames to adjust volume and panning with precision in audio tracks.
• Edit audio recordings to cut unwanted sound.
• Export an Adobe project file into a finished audio podcast ready for publication.

Free Music and Copyright Info:

Links to music and other resources

The Creative Commons Podcast Legal Guide

Materials and Software Needed:

An external microphone is recommended, even something as simple as earbuds with a built-in mike that often comes with phones. USB microphones are also great, and when the MDC can circulate equipment again we have a variety of items to offer. Feel free to send equipment questions to mediadc@unc.edu 

Adobe Audition. Available in the MDC Media Lab. Free download available for UNC students:

• UNC Adobe Creative Cloud

Step-by-step guide to planning a podcast:

• Podcast Planning Worksheet

These LinkedIn Learning (login here) tutorials cover various functions in Adobe Audition that will help you create your audio podcast.

• Importing audio files
• Creating a multitrack session
• Recording into the multitrack editor
• Trimming and moving clips
• Fading clips
• Adjusting clip levels (volume)
• Essential Sound adjustments for dialogue (e.g. noise reduction)
• Exporting your project

An RSS feed (Rich Site Summary) is a great way to share your podcast with the world.

One easy way to get started with a podcast RSS feed is with SoundCloud. Once you have an account and have uploaded your first episode, the account's RSS feed URL is accessible through the Settings page on the Content tab.

Learn more about:

• Adjusting your RSS feed's content settings
• Adding tracks to your RSS feed
• Submitting your RSS feed to iTunes

Another service you can use to host your podcast is PodBean. Similar to SoundCloud, once you have an account and have uploaded an episode, you can access your RSS feed URL in the Settings page under the Feed/iTunes option.

Learn more about:

• Publishing and Editing an Episode
• Submitting your RSS feed to iTunes
• Submitting your RSS feed to Google Play

Getting Started in the Media Lab

Digital Literacy Concepts

Digital Literacy Projects

Audio and Video Editing Help

Publishing or Converting Media

Audio and Video Samples

LinkedIn Learning

Types of Podcasts:

• One-on-one interviews (Examples: The Ezra Klein Show, Fresh Air)
• Solo Commentary (Examples: The Gist, Lore)
• Panel, or Multi-Guest Interviews (Examples: 2 Dope Queens, Do the Right Thing)
• Nonfiction Storytelling (Examples: This American Life, Serial)
• Fictional Storytelling (Examples: The Walk, Welcome to Night Vale)      
• Mixed and Repurposed Content (Examples: The Moth Radio Hour, Live from Here)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.