Attack of the Pod Penguins: Putting it All Together

Now that you have the podcasting tools down, put them together in a workflow that keeps you working smoothly, podcast after podcast.

By Tony Steidler-Dennison, LinuxWorld.com, 05/31/07

 Start a discussion    Print article

 Comments (1)    Print article

This month, we're closing out the "Attack of the Pod Penguins" series. In the past 11 months, I've tried to pass along everything I can about using open source tools to create your podcast. At the beginning of the series, I made the case that tools such as Audacity, normalize, lame and others are not so different from the tools in the carpenter's belt. I hope it's become clearer to you how to use the hammer to drive a nail, the screwdriver to set a screw, and the speed square to assure a 90-degree corner.

But for all the science we've covered in the series, creating a compelling podcast is really more art. Once you're comfortable with the software and hardware tools, pulling it all together with your podcast is really more about the vision and learned ear you carry into the task than the manipulation of the tools. You know what sounds good to you. You have an idea of what will interest your listeners and compel them to spread the word to their friends about your podcast. The tools are really just the means to the end — an interesting, engaging and entertaining few minutes shared with listeners of similar tastes. If the art of creating your podcast isn't developed and applied liberally, you're likely to find the experience tedious and frustrating. There's a reason the phrase "podfade" became popular just a few short months after the genesis of podcasting; if there's no art in the creation of a podcast, it's just work, and the podcast fades away. Podcast producers who focus only on the tools and assembly of a podcast quickly lose any joy in the task. And work is really time most budding podcast producers can better spend doing other things. In short, the joy of a podcast is really in the exercise of the art.

In this installment, we'll work the fuzzy edge between the art and science of podcast production. For me, that edge is the process that allows me to simultaneously implement the tools and exercise the art. Over two and a half years of podcast production, my real liberation has been in the creation of a process that's as seamless and efficient as possible. The process itself blends the science into the art. It allows me to use the tools without thinking too much about using the tools. Process is the science framework upon which the artistic result is built. When the framework is familiar and efficient, my focus can be on the artistic result.

Featured Whitepapers

Enterprise Linux: How Oracle Support Differentiates Itself in a Commodity Market

What's new in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

An Analysis of the Key Market Segments of Application Security for Open Source Software

Undocumented Open Source Leaves a Gap in Your Application Security Strategy

The Next Generation of Configuration Management

LinuxCast Listen to the latest Linux news.

About Us | Contact Us | Advertising Info | Terms of Service/Privacy

Copyright, 2006-2007 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.