Hi everyone,

 

I've been busy today working on the beginning of my first screencast on my blog. I've finished recording the audio for the introduction and first section, and would love to hear how people feel about my style. Your comments will hopefully help shape the rest of the screencast.

 

Bear in mind that there will be a video of my desktop to go along with this. Oh, and the "crazy rock music" (as Rachael calls it ) is where title screen will be on the video, with the name of the next section – basically to break up the screencast.

 

Listen to my screencast testing

 

Rob

A little more upbeat than mine. What topics are you planning to cover? I had thought about doing a similar thing but havn't got round to it. Won't having a screencast hammer your bandwidth or are you planning on sticking it on Vimeo? Keep up the good work.

A little too much slobber (i'm not sure on its technical name!)

 

This can be solved by moving a bit further away, and amplifying volume.

 

Maybe also some small backing.

 

It gets better the further on you go.

 

But very good, well done!

thought it sounded great

 

nice work !

the "hey" at the start reminded me of a character in family guy.. this one:

 

You have a nice voice for this sort of thing. Just be careful of your overuse of the sound 'erm' though

ha ha...

 

you saying he sounds like the boring man from family guy eh

Hi Rob

Sounding good - you have a nice broadcasting voice, and good inflection. What kind of mic are you using? The sound 1christopher I think is referring to is the 'plosives' - when you say anything with a p in it for example, you end up hearing a boomy, bassy sound. This can to some extent be solved using EQ, but you can also use a pop screen.

If you need any help or advice on editing your audio files, I'd be glad to help.

 

Looking forward to hearing the finished broadcast

You have a nice voice for this sort of thing. Just be careful of your overuse of the sound 'erm' though

 

Thanks Dizi. It's a hard one because I don't want to stay too scripted and wooden so I've made sure I deviate a bit and hence the "erms". Hopefully I'll be able to curb them a bit better as time goes on and I get more practised at this. I'm glad you think I have a good voice for this thing – it's certainly weird hearing myself like that!

 

 

A little more upbeat than mine. What topics are you planning to cover? I had thought about doing a similar thing but havn't got round to it. Won't having a screencast hammer your bandwidth or are you planning on sticking it on Vimeo? Keep up the good work.

My first plan of attack is a series on setting up OS X for web development, but I'll probably end up doing all sorts of screencasts/audio recording about web design and develpment in general and other related topics. I'm really enjoying recording this first one, but I'll see how it goes down after it's released before I decide on my future plans

 

As for hosting, I was planning to use Vimeo – it's great! They are also going to be offering embeddable HD videos soon.

 

 

A little too much slobber (i'm not sure on its technical name!)

 

This can be solved by moving a bit further away, and amplifying volume.

 

Maybe also some small backing.

 

It gets better the further on you go.

 

But very good, well done!

Not sure what you mean by the slobber? I can't get the mic any further away as it's a (fairly decent) headset mic and it doesn't pick up anything further than a few cm away.

 

Glad you thought it got better as it went on, though. I certainly felt more confident the longer I recorded.

 

 

thought it sounded great

 

nice work !

Thanks!

Hi Rob

Sounding good - you have a nice broadcasting voice, and good inflection. What kind of mic are you using? The sound 1christopher I think is referring to is the 'plosives' - when you say anything with a p in it for example, you end up hearing a boomy, bassy sound. This can to some extent be solved using EQ, but you can also use a pop screen.

If you need any help or advice on editing your audio files, I'd be glad to help.

 

Looking forward to hearing the finished broadcast

Ah thanks dude! It's nice to hear that I'm doing something right then. I always hated my voice (doesn't everyone?) but this is something I've always wanted to do and I'm enjoying it!

 

I'm using a Plantronics 550 DSP headset which is really very good for the price (£30).

 

I have no idea what sort of EQs I could put on to soften those plosives, but I like the ideas of a pop screen. I'm thinking of buying a Blue Snowball mic (or whatever it's called) if I start doing this regularly. I think it has the option for one of those.

Ah thanks dude! It's nice to hear that I'm doing something right then. I always hated my voice (doesn't everyone?) but this is something I've always wanted to do and I'm enjoying it!

 

I'm using a Plantronics 550 DSP headset which is really very good for the price (£30).

 

I have no idea what sort of EQs I could put on to soften those plosives, but I like the ideas of a pop screen. I'm thinking of buying a Blue Snowball mic (or whatever it's called) if I start doing this regularly. I think it has the often for one of those.

You can make a pop screen yourself using an old wire coat hanger bent into a lollypop shape, and an old pair (or new pair!) of tights stretched over the loop. If you want to invest in a good mic for recording your podcasts, I recommend a condenser voice mic such as this one. It would noticeably improve the quality of the sound and require less editing of the raw file.

 

To soften the boom using EQ, just try taking some of the low end off. Unfortunately, the sound is part of the recording and will never completely disappear, but you may be able to get away with it. It will make your voice sound thinner, though...

Or you might also want to look at the Behringer podcast kit from Firebox.

Just had another listen… boy do I like my "erms"!! Anyone got any advice to curb this habit?

Yes - write a script, can be as simple as using bullet points but really helps keeping you track and remembering where you are and reducing 'erms'

Woo it sounds great. At first i couldn't understand your accent but now i can

Yes - write a script, can be as simple as using bullet points but really helps keeping you track and remembering where you are and reducing 'erms'

I actually have a script at the moment. Maybe I'll try rehearsing it a little more before I record – at the moment I'm usually taking the 2nd or even 1st recording.

You could use an audio editor to cut out the erms? Audacity is good, so I've heard, and it's free!

I didn't think about cutting them straight out… I'll give it a go and see how it sounds. Thanks.

I didn't think about cutting them straight out… I'll give it a go and see how it sounds. Thanks.

If you want to leave a pause there instead, you could just silence them?

pah audacity, don't you know rob is a mac user? garageband FTW!

I think it sounds pretty interesting. If the video is just as good, I might watch it.

Very impressed with the voice and the delivery, and my only concern is the erms, as others have mentioned. Unfortunately, we ALL do it, so I know how hard it is to keep to a minimum.

 

I also really like Vimeo.

Wooo you sound WAY less posh than I imagined, kinda sexy

 

Be careful how you say "OS X", at one point I zoned out slightly (sorry I'm not a Mac user) and all I heard was "Oh Sex" - got me paying attention again anyway

 

Lol.. there are a few places where the errms get a bit thick, but I think you have to have a few to make it sound natural. I like podcasts that feel like you're talking to me, not reading from a script, so don't worry about them too much... just if there are 2 in a row then perhaps remove one.

 

In all serious you do have a good voice for broadcasting, and a nice style of delivery. I'll be interested to see the finished product

Easiest way to solve the sex thing, is to say "OS Ten"

pah audacity, don't you know rob is a mac user? garageband FTW!

Garageband is for girls

Rob needs to be weaned off apple products IMO

To be fair... Apple make some great products, but I'm not sure I personally would use Garageband for sound editing. Alas, the state and future of Audacity on the Mac is bleak, but something like SoundStudio, Amadeus or Peak would do the job nicely.

i can vouch for SoundStudio.. brilliant program

I think it sounds pretty interesting. If the video is just as good, I might watch it.

Thanks Corey. The video has been well planned and it'll be in Hi-def so I'm hoping it will be good. I'll make sure to update on the forum when it's completed.

 

 

Very impressed with the voice and the delivery, and my only concern is the erms, as others have mentioned. Unfortunately, we ALL do it, so I know how hard it is to keep to a minimum.

 

I also really like Vimeo.

Thanks. It's weird hearing everyone say my voice is good for this type of thing, but I suppose everyone hears themselves differently to others. I was listening to Boagworld earlier and Paul (one of the presenters) "ums" and "ahs" quite a lot – and that podcast is quite popular so hopefully I won't scare too many people off. I've been getting better curbing the filler words, I've been trying just not saying stuff instead for a second, to gather my thoughts.

 

 

Wooo you sound WAY less posh than I imagined, kinda sexy

 

Be careful how you say "OS X", at one point I zoned out slightly (sorry I'm not a Mac user) and all I heard was "Oh Sex" - got me paying attention again anyway

 

Lol.. there are a few places where the errms get a bit thick, but I think you have to have a few to make it sound natural. I like podcasts that feel like you're talking to me, not reading from a script, so don't worry about them too much... just if there are 2 in a row then perhaps remove one.

 

In all serious you do have a good voice for broadcasting, and a nice style of delivery. I'll be interested to see the finished product

Haha, I suppose sounding less posh is good, right? Sexy is definitely a good thing, I'm so obviously the next Barry White, innit!

 

I've heard about that OS X = Sex thing before. I think it's quite funny though, so I'll leave it in. As you said, it caught your attention!

 

You're right about the "ums" and "ahs" making it sound natural. I've been trying to leave silent pauses instead of saying "um" and it just sounds a bit, wooden and planned. Maybe I'll leave them in and stop trying to change the way I speak…

 

Thanks for thinking I have a voice for it, I still don't quite think so yet. Even my mum said it, though, so maybe I'm wrong?

 

I'll make sure to let you know when I have a finished video of my sexy voice screencast.

 

Garageband is for girls

Rob needs to be weaned off apple products IMO

Never!! GarageBand isn't that bad actually – it seems to have everything I need (as a novice to sound editing). I certainly like the whole Apple "making it easy and feel right" approach to it, that and the loops you get in-built. I'm sure there is plenty I could learn about it to make the sound better, but I need to decide how much time I really want to devote to cleaning it all up before it gets a bit ott.

heh

I was just teasing you, Rob. If Garageband does what you want it to, then why learn another program? Looking forward to the full broadcast...

I forgive you notbanksy!

 

I'm hopefully going to record some of the video side of things tomorrow – with the audio recorded directly alongside. I'm using an application called ScreenFlow, which is another reason why I bloody love Macs! *climaxes* Yes, Windows has screen capturing software, but there is no way it looks and works this good Watch the intro video on the previous link and you'll see what I mean.

Another thumbs up for ScreenFlow from me too! Its awesome.

 

Screenflow+Vimeo = the end of my tech support nightmares. As the resident family geek I spend hours trying to show family members how to do things. Now, I just knock out a rough screencast, upload to Vimeo and send them the link!