I’m not an audio engineer, and yet thanks to software on my Mac I’m able to record and publish my podcast PhotoActive. In my latest Practical Mac column for The Seattle Times, I write about Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack application, which literally makes me sound good: Podcasting technology lets non-engineers host, record a radio show.
Its modular interface makes it easy to record complicated setups like the following, from the article:
That modularity is where Audio Hijack can really shine, as I learned when I had a guest on the podcast. Normally, my co-host Kirk McElhearn and I each record our own audio, and then an editor cuts the episode together; that ensures that our audio doesn’t sound like one of us is calling in over a phone line or often-spotty Skype connection. When we do a guest interview, we ask the guest to record their audio separately, too, when possible.
In this case, however, the guest was in my home office, which required setting up two microphones. Again, I’m not an audio engineer, nor do I have any equipment other than my mic and my MacBook Pro. I do have a headset with a microphone, though, which is what the guest used.
In Audio Hijack, I was able to still record our audio separately by specifying two inputs in the same session. The result was three audio files: my audio, the guest’s audio and one file that contained both of ours together as a backup. It gave us exactly the source material we needed, without a lot of fuss.
Audio Hijack is really that good. My podcast co-host Kirk McElhearn also wrote a book about it: Take Control of Audio Hijack.
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Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 