A podcast is just a sound file in which you can express and share anything you want. You can put your voice, sound effects and other elements to help you share your ideas.

To make a recording you need at least:
A computer(to save, record and share your podcasts)
A microphone
Headphones or speakers

Is important to know that to make a high quality recording and have the opportunity to modify your podcast, you’ll need a sound editor: Audacity is free and you can download it from the web, although you may create your podcast with any sound editor you like. You can download Audacity aquí.

Step 1: Configure preferences to create the first recording
Once the software is installed, open Audacity and go to Edit->Preferences
In the Preferences menu your sound card will be check to make sure it is correctly configured. You must check that in the field “Channels” is selected:mono and check the box “Play other tracks while recording new one ”. (See image)

Step 2: Check your microphone
Before recording, is important to check that the microphone is well connected to the computer. This can be done in many ways:

• Go to Start menu Accesories->Enterteinment->Sound recorder. Once you are in the Sound Recorder, record a little voice sample and play it to make sure that the microphone is well conected.

• Go to Start menu Accesories->Enterteinment->Sound recorder. In the sound recorder go to Edit->Audio Propertiesand click the volume icon inside sound recording section.
Verify that the microphone box is selected with a correct volume level.

Paso 3: Start recording with audacity!
You’ll find the buttons that will help you in the main window.

	Record:Start recording
	Pause: To stop recording for a while, press it again to continue.
	Stop: To end recording. This will return the cursor to it’s original position .

When you click the record button, your first recording will look like the one shown in the image

To know how long your track is, press ctrl+a (to select the track) and check in the time line which was the last minute/second of it.Another way to know the length of the track is to look in the bottom bar of the window.

A very important aspect that you should have in mind is the in volume of your recording. To get a hi quality recording you must watch that the volume is ok (not too loud, not too low). To set the in volume, you must use the highlighted section in this picture:

As you can see making a voice recording is as easy as interacting with the buttons to record it, pause it, stop it, play it, etc. However you can add more features to your podcast with the tools offered Audacity (ver siguiente paso).

Step 4:

• Import an audio file

>When you are creating a pocast probably you will want to add some background music, sound effects, etc.
Audacity allows you to insert audio files to your track. To import an audio file:In the main window go to Project->Import audioor press Ctrl+I). Then browse to the directory where your file is select it and click Open. Finally you will see the attached track in the main window, see the image below

In the example shown we have a voice recording made with the microphone and an audio file that was imported (for example a song). Playing it we can hear clicking on the two tracks at the same time, therefore, the imported audio file can serve as a background music.
*NOTE:Audacity can add audio files of types: WAV, AIFF, AU, IRCAM, MP3 and OGG.

• Edition of the audio file

Here are some of the tools that Audacity can be useful for editing a podcast.

- Cut and paste:
To perform the function you need to have open or tracks from which you want to copy and / or paste a fragment. You can perform the following procedure to copy and paste an audio file:

Perform a selection: Choose the piece of the audio track you want to copy. To Select you must verify that the selection tool is actived. The selection tool is activated with this button (located in the upper left corner). Once activated only need to click on the audio track and drag your mouse across the section you want to copy, so that the selection is shaded (as shown in Figure).

*NOTE:To extendor your selection, you have two options:
(i) hold down the Shift key and drag the mouse until the area where you want to extend or to contract the selection. Or
(ii) positions the cursor in right or left limit of your selection. An icon will appear: let the mouse button down and revise your selection.

- Cortar y/o pegar:
To cut the selection, press echoCTRL+Xo selecciona el icono del menú
When cutting the selection can be seen a change, as in the following example:

*TIP : If you want to remove a piece of the track, you can select and cut it to disappear. To copy the selection, press CTRL+Cor select the icon from the menu When copying a fragment, this does not go away (as opposed to when you cut it)

To paste the fragment previously cut or paste, you position the cursor at the point of the track where you want to paste and press CTRL+Vor clicking on the button

Generate silences:
This tool is useful for leave without volumeun trozo seleccionado de la pista. Esto es similar a cuando cortamosa piece of the track, but the difference is that silence does not shorten the time of the clip: only leaves her with zero volume. Cut, in turn, moves the sample over time.

To generate a silence, you must locate the course where you want to start the silence. Then, on the menuGenerate -> Silence. A dialog box will ask you for the duration (in seconds) you want to insert. See figure

A second option is to select a piece of audio size you want silence. In this mode, the window for generating silence will open with the length that beam selected. The silence will be generated to the right of the cursor in the first case, and the right of the selection in the second.

Moving audio segments on a track:

This tool is useful if we move a piece of our recording to another section of the same recording: Select the piece you want to move. Once selected the piece, go to the menu Edit-> Split. This separates the fragment as shown in Figure:

Once removed the fragment you can move freely with the tool move in time que es el botón which is in the main window. Once the tool is activated, you can move it wherever you want.

Sound diminishing (how to create surround sound)

Audacity offers a surround toolthat changes the sound volume through time. This is very useful for creating a podcast. For example, if you are making a recording to which you added background music, you'll be presented with:

However, it's possible that you wish that the background music is not as high as the volume of your voice, or perhaps you'd wish that the intensity varies through time. The surround tool lets you adjust the sound tracks, as it best suits you.

To utilize the sound tool, click the button that is located in the upper left part of the main window.

After you click the tool button, two blue bars will appear in both sides (horizontal) of the tracks. These bars indicate the surround amplitude. To modifiy it, place the mouse pointer over the part of the track that you wish to pump up or diminish its sound level and drag the cursor up or down accordingly. See figure
Tip:Recuerda que con ctrl+z puedes deshacer los cambios

Edit toolbar

Finally, we present the icons for the main edit tools (several of them were explained earlier in this manual).

Step 5: Save the podcast and export it to MP3 format

The last step is to save your podcast and convert it to MP3 format, this way everything will be ready so you can start sharing it wherever you like

How to save your recording:

• File->Save project.Write down a name for your recording, choose a location and click save.

IMPORTANTE:
As a project is saved, a file with.auextension is generated and it contains all the tracks and tools you used to create your recording (podcast). This .aufile can be opened with Audacity so it can be edited time after time. However, it .au won'twork in music players and you can't share it across the Web. In order for this to be possible, it is necessary to convert it to MP3 format. Follow the next steps to accomplish this.

How to save the recording in MP3 format:

First of all, it's necessary to download the(lame_enc.dll)library that allows us to export the file to MP3 format. You can download it from:

Once you've finished downloading the file, you need to lame-3.96.1 debes uncompress Next, find the filelame_enc.dll inside the uncompressed folder and copy and past it in a location that you can remember (we will use it later).

• Go to he program will ask for the location of the file lame_enc.dll. Select the location where you previously saved it and click on accept.
This process is only necessary the first time you export a file as MP3.

• Finally, you will be asked to write down the name of the file to be saved as MP3.
Click on accept andall set!
You've just created a podcast in MP3 format that you can share and listen wherever you like.