1. Record Skype calls and sounds from my computer that both I can hear and the person on the other end can hear.
2. Record the Podcast in a live, unedited way that enables me to drop in sound effects and clips, fade them in and out, like a live broadcast with minimal post production editing.
The last podcast I basically did a workaround and put the mic next to my speakers for Bill to hear the audio. The result recording was crappy so I had to do a lot of editing replacing the mic'ed audio with the real audio. This is not a good long term solution.
I downloaded a slick program called Ubercaster that could help me with my goals. You can lay out all the audio you will use. It has a timer. It can basically record any application on your system and it lines all of the different audio streams up so you can actually edit in the same program. You can also publish your audio with the built in ftp uploader. This program would serve all my podcasting needs. Only one problem. After I downloaded the free version I discovered that it wouldn't record my audio. It recognized my mic but wouldn't record. This seemed to be one of the few negative comments I have about this program. It just so happens to be the most crucial one. If I can't record I cant do jack.
So then I turned to a very popular program that has been around for a while called Audio Hijack Pro by a company called Rogue Amoeba. By this point I had seen the capabilities of AHP and I was impressed. I hadn't quite figured everything out but I could see that this software could do a lot. It could record skype, itunes, internet, or even the system audio. It also allowed you to direct audio streams from your mic and mix it live with other audio from your system. It uses an device called Soundflower which is basically the middle man that channels audio from app to app. This is what I needed for skype because skype has only a single input so I needed my mic to mix with the audio before it went into skype. The program is excellent and only $30 so I went for it.
After days of messing with AHP trying to find a simple recording solution I realized that some of the features were not quite reliable. Sometimes I would hijack the mic and the system audio and feed it to skype only to discover that only the system audio would come through. Sometimes I couldn't hear the audio but it would play through on Skype. There are many different ways to do things in AHP so it took me a while to work through the configurations.
Finally I got this other free program called LineIn which is a simple app that lets you direct sound between devises like between your mic and soundflower. It also allows you to eavesdrop on the audio that your computer plays even if it is outputting to soundflower. If you want to make LineIn do two things at once you have to copy the app and open both the app and the copy. So here is the finally simple setup for all you confused podcasters out there:
SF stands for soundflower. Don't forget to click "pass through" in LineIn.
1. LineIn - Input From: mic
Output To: SF16
LineIn copy - Input From: SF16
Output To: Headphones
2. Skype - Input: SF16
Output: SF16
3. System Settings - Input: mic
Output: SF16
4. Recording Software - Input: SF16
The bottom line is I actually didn't need to buy Audio Hijack Pro. I hate when I waste my money. Hopefully I will find some use for it but in my opinion it only seems to complicate things. I have not found a setup this simple on the internet. Everyone wants to use the soundflower 2 channel but I think that just complicates things. In this setup you can play anything on your computer and you will hear it, the caller will hear it (a worse quality of sound) and it (the good quality clip) will mix into your final recording. Anything you say goes into SF16 which you hear, the caller hears, and the recorder hears. Anything the caller says gets output to SF16 which you hear and the recorder hears. The only drawback to this setup is the latency echo of your own voice but you can fix this by decreasing the buffer in the "LineIn copy" advanced settings. Usually the minimum buffer doesn't work but one or two settings above that fixes it. You don't have to change any of the settings if you don't have a skype call but still want to podcast "live". Since all audio played through your computer is in the final recording you can click on any file and preview it to play it. Alternatively you can open quicktime windows for each clip you want to play. Or you could make a playlist in Itunes. If you want to fade audio in or out just use the volume slider. Have Fun
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