5 Podcasting Tools I Can’t Live Without
1. Auphonic (Auphonic.com)
This fantastic online service is like having an audio engineer on call. Simply upload your raw audio before you edit, and Auphonic will spit out a vastly superior version. Buzzsprout has a comprehensive guide to using it. The great thing is it’s extremely affordable.
How I use it: I run all my audio through Auphonic. I output as .wav files and tick “mono.” I always enter “+aup” the Filename Suffix box in “Output Files” so I can easily see which files have been processed this way. Down at the bottom under “Audio Algorithms” where the really important options are, I add “Noise and Hum Reduction” and leave everything else on default.
You’ll notice that it defaults to -16 LUFS loudness. You don’t need to know what that means, except that it will make sure your audio is all the same loudness and the right loudness for a podcast.
If you outputted audio still has a lot of background hum, try changing the reduction amount to a higher setting. You can always edit your production without paying extra.
2. Hindenburg Journalist (hindenburg.com)
Hindenburg Journalist is my favorite audio editing platform. It’s designed for building and editing radio and audio stories. That sets it apart from Adobe Audition, Pro Tools, and even Audacity, which all have music makers as the main user. Hindenburg doesn’t have much in the way of sound-engineering or effects, but most podcasters don’t need those. I love the Hindenburg clipboards, which allow you to organized and store labeled clips of audio. Every piece of audio can be labeled so it’s much easier to put together complicated stories with lots of different sections. If you are making narrative radio style podcasts, Hindenburg is really unbeatable for putting your story together.
It’s much cheaper than Audition or ProTools; for less than $100, you can buy Hindenburg Journalist or can rent Journalist Pro for a year for slightly more. The tutorials on their website are really well-done, which makes it very easy to learn.
3. Soundstripe
I get 90% of my music for podcasts from Soundstripe. You pay a monthly subscription (about $15 I think), and you can license unlimited songs for individual projects (basically you can only license for one project at a time). They have the most easily searchable, browsable library, and I love being able to search by mood and feeling in order to get just what I’m looking for. The unlimited licensing is nice because I can grab a song, try it out, and end up not using it without wasting money. I would not recommend their SFX library though. For sound effects, I like FreeSound.com and Soundly. You can get 10% off your Soundstripe subscription if you use the code: BetterLemon
4. Headliner App
Headliner App is a free online tool that lets you turn your audio clips into fun, engaging social media videos. It can take a bit of playing with it to figure out how to most efficiently create them, but it’s so worth the time. I am confident that these videos can really increase engagement with a podcast when made and used right.
Here’s one I made for The Vagina Museum Podcast:
5. Squadcast
Squadcast is a platform I started using during lockdown to record remotely. Now, caveat, I rarely use the audio from Squadcast because I like to have my guests and hosts record themselves on phones or mics on each end (I will write a whole post about how I record remotely soon). However, I used Squadcast as a meeting room and a backup. If the recording from my guest doesn’t sound good or is lost or whatever could happen, Squadcast is the next best thing. It will get you a much better sound quality than Zoom or Skype. They record each party (up to four) separately and you can then download the files separately as .wav or .mp3. Their software does a good job of automatically filtering out background noise and adjusting for echo. And you can check to see what inputs/outputs your guest is using and how strong their internet connection is.
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Better Lemon Creative Audio is the production company of Hannah Hethmon. We specialize in all things podcasting and creative audio for museums, history organizations, and other cultural nonprofits. At Better Lemon, you’ll get personal, tailored services and advice from folks who understand the challenges facing GLAM organizations. Let’s talk?
