PCC News

Recording audio: We use the free Voice Memos app on an iPhone. Similar apps are available on other devices.

• Download at: DofN.org/voice.
• How to use at DofN.org/vmi
• When recording, using the standard headphones which include a microphone can be fine. Having the microphone close to you (as headphones offer) increases the quality of the recording. Investing £20 or more in a lapel/ clip-on mic or desktop mic is worthwhile to improve sound quality further.
• Remove any ticking clocks from your room and close any windows so the tweeting birds don’t become more interesting for the listener than what you have to say!
• Choose a room which has an abundance of material. Keep curtains drawn; cushions or a duvet are good; open the wardrobe door! Email the recording to yourself or the person who will be editing the podcast together.

Editing audio:

• We use Audacity which is free audio editing software (www. audacityteam.org).
• Import the audio (File > Import > Audio…). You might need to amplify the audio (Effect > Amplify…), then do noise reduction (Effect > Noise Reduction…) to remove any background humming.
• You can simply select and delete any audio you don’t need, e.g. the very start or end of the recording.
• If a few people have recorded audio, you can import multiple files and copy and paste the sections into the order you want.
• Once finished, you can save the new file as an mp3 (File > Export Audio…)

Including music: 

• You can import music files into Audacity in just the same way as voice recordings, but make sure you have permission to use the hymns or music in your podcast.
• Through the A Church Near You Resource Hub (DofN.org/hymns) every Thursday the Church of England offer a number of hymns and choral music for use online.
• Your benefice will need the CCLI Streaming License as well uk.ccli.com/streaming.

Making it available:

• We use Buzzsprout (www. buzzsprout.com) which is free for up-to 2 hours of audio per month. Up-to 3 hours is $12pm and 6 hours $18pm. There are many other providers, but Buzzsprout is very easy to use and crucially let’s you submit your podcast to all the major podcast apps at just a click, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Alexa enabled devices, Overcast and many more.
• Click ‘Upload a New Episode’ and ‘Choose a file to upload’. Then give the podcast a name and description then click ‘Publish’.
• To include the podcast on your website, click on the ‘Players’ tab and ‘Copy embed code’. If you paste this code into your church’s website, it automatically shows the latest episode and past editions, and gives a nice visible play button so it’s one-click to hear it.
• Statistics are included, so you can see how many people have listened and if they listened on your website or via a podcast app.