Prerecord A Show
So, you want to create a show to air on WXDR, but don’t want to do it live? No problem!
There are several ways to accomplish this; here are three:
1. This is the easiest:
- Put all the music you want to play on a USB drive. (Make sure it’s clean and has proper metadata).
- Using your own digital recorder, computer, or one of the station’s recorders or the production computer, record your voice tracks.
- Save each voice track to your USB drive as a separate file.
- Label each voice track so it will be obvious to the person who assembles the show which track is which. For example, you could call your voice tracks “Bill_intro,” “Bill_01,” “Bill_02,” etc. or “Metal Show voice 1,” “Metal Show voice 2,” etc.
- Type out a “map” of your show–something that lists the order in which you would like the voice and music tracks to play:
- Save your show “map” as a document onto your USB drive. Include a printed copy with your drive.
- Put your USB drive and your show document in the Podcast basket just inside the front door of the station.
- Please turn in your show materials at least a week before it airs to allow time for assembly
2. This is also pretty easy, but will require more craftsmanship on your part:
Create a podcast!
You will need an audio recording and editing program. If you already have ProTools, Adobe Audition, Garage Band, etc., great! If not, get Audacity–it works great and it’s free! Audacity will allow you to record your voice, import music, and mix everything together.
Now, it’s beyond the scope of this page to teach you how to use Audacity, much less how to use it to create a podcast, but there are lots of tutorials out there to help you along; check out this page:
Once you have all your voice and music tracks where you want them to be and all your levels set properly (be sure to listen to your show!), EXPORT your finished podcast as an MP3 file. When you do so, you will have the opportunity to put in metadata such as the show title, it’s date, your name, etc. Name your show something obvious and include its airdate, e.g., “BillsBlues_091514.mp3” Your podcast ideally should be about 59 minutes long in order to accommodate station IDs, promos, underwriter announcements, etc. NO show should run longer than 59:45!
NOTE: Audacity does not “natively” export MP3 files. This requires and additional feature called “LAME”; information about LAME is available here:
You will need to create a playlist document to go with your podcast. Simply list the songs you play on your show including artist and title. Save this document with your podcast on a USB drive and deposit the drive in the Podcast basket just inside the front door of the station. If you would prefer to FTP your show, please contact the Faculty Adviser.
The advantage of a podcast is, we can put your show up on our website for people to download and listen at their convenience. We can also schedule replays easily.
3. Not hard, just harder (only slightly)
On the Dolphin Radio production studio computer there is a copy of the station automation software, StationPlaylist:
You can actually use StationPlaylist to create your show including Station IDs, promos, PSAs, etc., then save that playlist to a special folder set up for your show. When it comes time for your show to air, the automation will automatically load your playlist and the show will sound like you’re live in the studio!
You will still need to record your voice tracks, but that’s a fairly easy task since the equipment will be right there for you!
Note that this method is very easy on the front end, but requires a little more finesse in how the finished playlist is saved and scheduled. The advantages are you don’t have to create a “map” or playlist document, there’s no need to bring in a USB drive (except to load specialized music into the library), the deadline for program creation is only an hour or two before airtime (instead of a week), and the automation can easily handle replays. Please see the Faculty Adviser, Webmaster, or Music Director before you add anything to station computers! If you choose to learn this method, please make an appointment with the Faculty Adviser for training.
What are you waiting for?
For more information, write advisor(-at-)dolphinradio.org, substituting “@” in place of “(-at-)”. And, yes, “adviser” is spelled with an “o” in the email address!