Accessible Podcast Production
Presenter: Dave Williams
Inclusive Design Ambassador, RNIB
Host: RNIB Tech Talk
Founder: BrailleCast, Braillists Foundation
Former Director of ACB Radio, American Council of the Blind
The session notes and resources provided by Dave Williams are included below on this webpage.
The recording is available as TAVIP’s first podcast, produced using the guidance shared in the session!
It is also available as a YouTube recording of Accessible Podcast Production.
Objective
In this session you will discover tried and tested processes, accessible tools and techniques we blind people use to plan, prepare, produce and promote our own podcasts.
In This Session
- Plan your Podcast
- Prepare to record
- Choose accessible recording tools
- Post-production and share with your audience
- Your Questions
- Further resources
About Dave
Dave Williams has been producing and publishing audio online for 25 years. For the last 2 years he has Hosted the UK’s leading technology podcast and radio show for blind and partially sighted people, RNIB Tech Talk.
As Chair of the Braillists Foundation, Dave planned, design and launched BrailleCast, the UK’s leading podcast concerned with all things braille.
Dave is a former director of ACB Radio, a service of the American Council of the Blind. As a freelance journalist he has contributed numerous audio reports and packages to BBC Radio 4’s In Touch. Dave has a background in marketing, worked as a voice over artist, and ran his own accessible technology training business before joining RNIB in 2019.
Dave regularly appears as a spokesperson for RNIB in broadcast media and sits on the steering committee for Sound Without Sight, an RNIB backed community hub for blind and partially sighted musicians and audio producers.
In March 2024 Dave recorded an interview with iconic musician Stevie Wonder. You can find that recording and others from the CSUN assistive technology conference on this page:
https://audioboom.com/playlists/4635413-csun-assistive-technology-conference-2024
Content Considerations
- Why do you want to record a podcast?
- Are you a natural presenter, producer, audio engineer and/or publicist?
- Who is your podcast for?
- Assumptions about your podcast audience?
- What are the key points and what may change?
- Preparing a podcast format?
- Separating fact from opinion?
- Recording screen readers?
- How long does your podcast need to be?
- Where will your podcast be heard?
- Do you have a call to action?
- How to reenforce your brand?
Preparing to Record Your Podcast
- Sound proofing
- Minimise interruptions
- Acoustic Treatment
- Recording on location
- Separating music from speech
- Microphone technique, pop shield, proximity.
- Care of your voice.
Accessible Recording Tools
- Recording online: meetings vs audio production platforms
- Smartphone and tablet apps, native vs 3rd-party
- Standalone recorder options
- Laptop and desktop recording with audio interfaces and mixers.
- Microphones Dynamic and Condensers
- Making the recording: holding the mic, reading notes, placing markers
- Testing and Getting 2nd opinions
Post-Production
- Digital Audio Production software
- Destructive vs non-destructive editing, single and multitrack, noise reduction, dynamic compression, encoding, tagging
- Publishing via social media and sharing individual audio files via cloud storage
- Podcasting platforms
Resources
Sound Without Site, RNIB-backed platform to support, promote, and connect blind and partially sighted musicians and audio engineers. www.SoundWithoutSight.org
RNIB Connect Radio, Europe’s first station for blind and partially sighted people:
The Blind PodMaker podcast and email forum:
Creators-subscribe@theblindpodmaker.com
Tutorials:
Unleash your Inner Podcast tutorial ($60USD) www.mosen.org/podcasting/ Reaping the Benefits, Using REAPER with JAWS for Windows, £80 ($111).
Dynamic Microphones featuring XLR and USB connectivity: Samson – Q9U and Audio Technica ATR2100X.
Accessible Audio recorders: Olympus DM-770, Zoom H1essential.
https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/handheld-recorders/handheld-recorders/h1essential-handy-recorder/
Online recording services: CleanFeed, RiverSide.FM.
Mobile apps: Voice Recorder, BackPack Studio, Ferrite, Hokusai.
Desktop production: Amadeus Pro, Audacity, GarageBand, GoldWave, Logic, Pro Tools, Reaper, Sound Forge, Studio Recorder.
Podcast publishing: Pinecast, Audioboom, PodBean.
Sharing audio files via Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive or WeTransfer.