Expert Podcasting Practices For Dummies®

Chapter 11. Upgrading Your Software

In This Practice

• Deciding whether to step up from Audacity or GarageBand

• Examining professional applications across both platforms

Making the jump from one software package to another can only be described as nerve‐wracking. An application becomes an old and trusted friend when you're podcasting. You know every nook and cranny of the application, and swear by it even in the face of doubtful comments from other podcasters.

Whether you're using something along the lines of Audacity (where the capabilities stick to the basics) or perhaps something like Pyro 5 (where you have multiple tracks and extra features not found in free, open‐source software), your software is the not‐so‐silent partner in your audio production. You have developed a bond with it and have accomplished great things with it as part of your team. But as with your favorite party shirt or the trusted coffee mug that was always within reach during the long nights of editing, you are ready to move on. Perhaps you feel a sense of betrayal, or guilt? Why discard the ally who has worked so hard to make you sound so good? Doesn't the application that helped you develop your voice in the podosphere have a say in this sudden parting of the ways?

Of course not. It's a piece of software. Get over it.

Time to play with the Big Kids' Toys.

Working Beyond Audacity

For many podcasters, their first audio editor is the open‐source software Audacity (http://sourceforge.audacity.net). Audacity is a good starting ...