Podcasting in our Digital Media Room

Podcasting in the Digital Media Room is made very easy. Here is our guide to using our setup for two people.

The secret to a great podcast experience is being prepared and having a comfortable recording experience.

First, book a training session with us:

Here’s a quick rundown on the equipment you’ll be using:

This is the audio interface you’ll be using.

Green into Yellow Gain structure is a very important part of making your podcast sound great and it starts with you, the mic and the gain levels going into Garageband. Proper levels will make the process very easy. As a general rule of thumb: Green into Yellow, never into Red. This is applicable with the meters that you’ll see in Garageband.

Gain Channel 1 is for the boom mic. It will come up as 1 (USB Audio CODEC) in Garageband. Channel 2 is for the table stand mic. It will appear as 2 (USB Audio CODEC) in Garageband.

Phones Sadly we only have one pair of headphones, so use the headphones and Phones level to check levels before you begin. If your podcast is with one or more people, you should remove the headphones after the levels are set and record without them.

Mic 1 & Mic 2 should be ON (Green light indicates it is on) when you are ready to talk and the fader should be turned all the way up.

Disclaimer There are many people who use the Digital Media room, use the image above as a reference point if something is not working properly.

FAQ If the sound is not working properly and you have check the soundboard, click on Garageband settings, go to Audio/MIDI and be sure that Output and Input Devices are both set to USB Audio CODEC.

Stay on the Mic
The mics and stands are purposely made to be able to move to where you need them. Make yourself comfortable and then adjust the mic to your position. Stay directly on the mic, about half an inch away. Position yourself so that your back is straight, you can see your partner and can access any material needed, and then bring the mic directly to you.

Garageband
We use Garageband. 

4. Add 2 new audio channels.

There’s a few steps to making Garageband best for podcasting. Though it’s initially set up for making beats, we’re going to set up a template to podcast for you:

1. Turn off the Count-in and Metronome

2. Change Beats to Time in the counter

3. Add 2 new audio channels.

4. Enable the recording on the tracks for multitracking: 

Control-Click in Track area, “Configure Track Head”, “Record Enable”.


If you’ve set the levels on the Soundboard correctly, then you should also notice that the Track and Master Output levels on Garageband are also moving from green to yellow.

If you’re using two mics, be sure that each Garageband track is set to the correct mic: 1 (USB Audio CODEC) to Track 1, and 2 (USB Audio CODEC) to Track 2.

Press the big red circle in Garageband to start recording.

Here’s a helpful guide to further help with podcasting in Garageband: https://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/garageband-podcast-tutorial

Using your own laptop
We strongly advise you to use your own laptop if you have one. Feel free to disconnect the USB-C cable from our computer and use it with your machine. Remember to set your audio to USB Audio CODEC in your system audio and within Garageband. It will probably do so automatically, but double-check, just in case.

Booking
The room you’ll want to book is the Digital Media Room. Reach out to station@chmafm.com for the most recent password to the booking calendar.
Here’s the booking calendar:
https://www.chmafm.com/welcome/studios/File Transfers
We suggest using Wetransfer for passing the files around and submitting to us.

Podcast Hosting
If you’d like us to host your podcast on our website and/or distribute to Spotify, then we just need a 1080 1080 image (Canva is great!) and a 120 word description of your podcast. We can set you up with our platform to upload subsequent episodes and manage your project as needed.

Visiting our Podcast page to see examples of projects we’ve helped with in the past.



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