Helpful Hints

[Dad2TheBoneProductions]

I would like to post a few helpful hints, if I may, for podcast hosts, or any of you who primarily use Adobe Audition for that type of Studio content.

My name is Jonathan Weiss, and I am a paralyzed United States Marine Corps veteran, who loves podcasting and music.

Adobe Audition is incredible, and I am constantly learning new things, and discovering more potential within this specific DAW.

The first hint is, and this is a no-brainer in my book, make sure to watch, and take notes on, the following topics, which are covered freely, by Mike from Music Radio Creative, on YouTube, or so many other extraordinarily helpful individuals, who have taken time to put these helpful shows together, for people just like you!

*Just a note here, I am not tied into MRC in any way. I just find their free videos, to be some of the most helpful, and instructive, of any which I have watched (and I have spent so many hours studying these videos). 

Topics:

• What each button, menu item, and mouse gesture does within the DAW
• Research industry specific terminology like "DAW", when you come across it
• How to use BOTH the Waveform editor, as well as a Podcast Multi-track session
• How to properly save your progress AS you are recording
• Which microphone to purchase (*I use AKG's Lyra, and love it, because of all the polar patterns it offers, as well as it's ease of use, superb audio quality, and just it's overall versatility when it comes to hosting multiple podcast series)
• How to PROPERLY configure your specific microphone
• Understand and learn about microphone placement (I recommend having the microphone offset at a 45° angle from your direction of speech, so that it is not picking up as much of your breath and pop/ click noises)
• Use a Pop Filter (they're not very expensive, you can find them from so many vendors, and they are incredibly important for audio quality)
• Which add-ons are available free from Adobe, that you can use in your recordings (such as their special effects pack)
• How to properly store audio files, your special effects, and your music clips (I recommend using Googles cloud storage drive. You easily access your files on Googles Drive from within the effects rack in Adobe Audition, and storing your files in the cloud, means that they do not take up valuable space on your computers hard drive)
• Learn and understand that there are MANY more features within Adobe Audition, which will help you through your process of recording, and producing a show then are covered by the majority of the instructional videos out there. (I would recommend really becoming familiar with Adobe Auditions DAW, and if you do not know what a button or menu option does, Google it and find out)!
• Learn and understand that there are programs available, from companies other than Adobe, which can be added to Adobe Audition, in order to clean up your audio recordings, and assist you with the process (both pre and post production). Programs such as Waves plug-ins, which are just downright incredible. I don't think that there is a recording professional out there who does not use at least one, if not more of Waves valuable tools
• Learn how to properly install, and use these plugins before actually recording with them (Mike from MRC, on YouTube, also has instructional videos for this as well)
• The room or area in which you are recording, needs to be treated for sound (you don't have to spend a ton of money to buy and put up acoustic foam panels, which will make a huge difference in the quality of your recordings)
• Learn how to enunciate clearly when you are recording, because that makes a huge difference when it comes to your audience. (In my experience, when a show's host does not speak clearly, and concisely, people pay more attention to that, then they do to the content of the show)
• If you are going to do content production seriously, you will probably want to look into forming a LLC (it is important to legally protect yourself and your content)
• The last two suggestions here are... be patient with yourself. Learning how to record, produce, and edit audio is a learning process, and it takes time
• Ask, ask, and ask! If you have questions, most content creators have email addresses on their content, or on their websites. Reach out to them and ask!

FYI... I am still learning as well, even after having spent at least 80 hours, and at least 3 months, immersed in videos, tutorials, articles, and just plain trial and error.

Three months is nothing compared to the experience that so many people have out there, but if you are persistent, dedicated, and speak up and ask questions, you will finally get the hang of this, I promise you!

I hope this helped some of you, and if you would like to ask me a question, you are more than welcome to send me an email.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Weiss

Dad To The Bone Productions

[Personal information redacted - Adobe policy - Mod]

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

I should point out that storing files remotely to use in productions is generally a no-no - simply because you simply cannot guarantee the state of the internet when you want to use them. And Audition will frequently throw a hissy fit if you don't download files and use a local copy, as they can't be guaranteed to stream at the rate Audition needs them. Saving to a remote location is also fraught with problems - the only sensible way to do this is to save locally first, and then upload the file - that's what the handshaking is designed to cope with.

The internet in general isn't a safe place to store originals of anything - as people have discovered; you are a hostage to fortune. We've had all sorts of issues with this in the past, and really, it's only a distribution mechanism - and that's all. Our recommendation is to use external local storage for things like production assets - it's pretty cheap now and does not have any of the issues that other users have run into with remote storage.