I usually don’t like meta-posts (like anyone cares how I blog), but since the podcasting thing is new to me, and I’ve heard from other people that are interested, I thought I’d throw together a quick “here’s how it works” thing, in case any of you wanted to start your own podcast. It’s really not hard, it just takes a little time.

In the end, it takes around 3–5 hours a week or so to make the podcast. A little bit of time here and there to collect links, around an hour a week to record, and believe it or not, 2–3 hours to edit the podcast together.

The recording process we use is the source of the quality sound and the time-sink. On my side, I have two computers. One computer is doing skype with Brandon, and my headphones are plugged into that. He hears me through the mic on that machine, and we see each other.

The other machine is doing nothing except recording my USB mic (something very much like this with a pop shield) into Audacity.

The first thing I do with the audio files is use Audacity’s noise removal tool to get rid of the background hiss from the room I’m in, then I cut the beginning and end of the recordings off, so only the show is still in the audio file, then I import it into Garage Band (incidentally, if anyone knows another audio-editing tool with the ability to slide segments like Garage Band does, I’d be very interested, especially if it’s cross-platform), where I chop each of our audio into just the parts where each of us are talking.

After things are arranged in Garage Band, I give a listen through and edit for content, time, and replay value (you don’t want to listen to me stammer, I promise), and add the musical intro and exit, then I export it into MP3 and AAC for the eventual iTunes release.

As you can see, there’s nothing technically difficult about it, but I’ve found that arranging things and editing does take a little bit of artistry. I’ve done the first couple (plus the beta that I passed around to a couple of friends), and it’s actually kind of fun, provided I have the time to do it.

So there you go, a quick look at what goes into making SysAdministrivia!