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New Tricks for the Zoom H2

Zoom packs a staggering number of features into its audio gear. Here are a few that were surprisingly useful when I had to record some magazine and radio demos.

Pump Up Your Podcasting Voice

One of the most popular segments at my recent self-publishing workshop was about podcasting. Here are some of the production tips I shared, plus ones I didn't have time to mention.

An Interview with The Sound of Young America's Jesse Thorn

27-year-old Jesse Thorn is a radio show host, a podcast producer, and one of the leading proponents of The New Sincerity. Next summer, he'll be leaping into all-new-terrain by launching MaximumFunCon, a unique weekend event that's sort of a vacation, entertainment, education smoothie. Attendees of MaxFunCon ("a gathering of creative people who wish to be more awesome") will descend on a lovely looking resort in Lake Arrowhead, CA (SoCal) next June. Scheduled entertainment includes a live performance by Jonathan Coulton, the comedy stylings of Maria Bamford, and a keynote from author and "Daily Show" resident expert John Hodgman. Courses range from "Doing Creative Work with Merlin Mann" to classes cooking, cocktails, and improv comedy. Reading about the event this last week left me, yeah, a little suspicious. So I got on the horn to find out what gives.

A Newbie Looks at Podcasting Tools: Garageband, Audacity, and Levelator

I'm a wannabe podcaster that finally got around to to try to figure out how to create podcasts quickly and simply so it doesn't seem like work to me. I used a couple of freely available tools to create my first formal podcast. Read to on to see what worked for me...

Portable Audio Recorder Comparison Chart

Wondering which handheld digital audio recorder to buy? Guitarist and recording engineer Mark Nelson just compiled this helpful comparison chart based on his detailed reviews. Mark is one of the few people on the planet to have used each of the top recorders extensively, recording everything from Hawaiian surf to wild coyotes, so he has an especially deep perspective. As...

Quiz: Good or Bad Background Music?

As part of today's feature article on making movies out of still photos, Michael W. and Debra Jean Dean whipped up this funny demonstration of good and bad background music. It contains five brief examples. See if you can figure out why each helps or hurts the presentation. Debra Jean reveals the answer after each segment. I burst out laughing...

Breaking the Flow

Normally, flow is a good thing. A lot of my time as an editor is spent trying to make ideas and words connect smoothly to tell a story. But while editing a recent podcast, I had an important realization: Sometimes breaking the flow of one element increases the flow of the whole. To hear a good example of this, listen...

Build a $21 Portable Vocal Booth

One of the hallmarks of amateur podcasts and screencasts is extraneous sound in the voiceover. Here are two DIY solutions for making quality recordings on the go and on the cheap.