How to create a live online radio show (podcast) using your computer and Skype (skypecasting) that can take live callers from a telephone.

There’s many ways to do this, I’ll explain the way I do it and why. I’ll explain advantages and disadvantages to different setups and equipment. There’s much easier ways to create podcasts if you don’t wish to make it live, or take live callers from telephones – however this document will focus on creating a live podcast with live telephone callers.

Please note: This is a living document, so hopefully I’ll be making changes/additions constantly. Like I said, there are many ways to do this, and I may not be doing it the best way. So your feedback is very much appreciated!!

What you’ll need…
- A computer (I use a PC), it doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest model at all. I’m sure a 800 MHz, 256MB RAM would be okay.
- A fast internet connection such as ADSL. (something with at least a 256kbps upload)
- Skype (www.skype.com)
- Headphones (any cheap headphones will do fine)
- A microphone (any cheap microphone will do, but a more expensive one will give a better sound)
- A server that can stream the sound (this is for the live broadcast, I’ll explain more below)
- Software to mix the sound and upload the stream (I use SAM Audio Broadcaster v3, but there are cheaper alternatives)
- SkypeIn (a service on Skype that allows people to call your computer with their normal telephones.)

What is recommended but optional… (I’ll explain in detail when and where you’ll need this stuff)
- A second sound card
- A second PC
- A mixing board (especially if you’ll have your interviewees come to your studio rather than do the interview over the computer)
- Some stereo cables and other cables if you’re using a mixing board
- MP3 editing software (I use Sony SoundForge 7.0, but there are free alternatives like Audacity)
- Software to create an RSS feed (you can use the TextPad that comes with Windows)
- SkypeOut (a service that allows you to call normal telephones using Skype)

Using Skype

I’m going to already assume you know how to use Skype. You use Skype to make and receive telephone calls from your PC. You can also use Skype to talk with other users who have Skype on their computers. Most of the time I do my interviews with people over the computer, sometimes I’ll have them come to my house and do the interview physically next to me. If you do the interview over the computer, hopefully the other person has Skype and a microphone (and a headset!!) – This way, you can connect to one another for free, and the sound is (usually) so good that it sounds like you’re right next to each other. If the interviewee doesn’t have Skype/computer/fast internet/microphone/headset you can use SkypeOut to call their normal telephone. I’ll explain more about this below

What your interviewee needs

Hopefully your interviewee will have a good computer with Skype, fast internet connection, microphone, and headset. The headset is very important because if they only have a microphone and speakers, the speaker sound will travel back through their microphone and create a nasty echo effect. Be careful with people using laptops, they’ll have built-in microphones often but if the user doesn’t have a headset, they’ll create this nasty echo effect that will ruin your interview.

If your interviewee doesn’t have the things listed above, you can use SkypeOut to call them on their normal phone. This costs money though, you order credit through Skype’s website. The prices can go from 3 cents per minute if you’re calling a land line to 20 cents per minute and higher if you’re calling a mobile phone (in Finland for instance). If you’ve ever listened to telephone callers on a normal radio show, you’ll know the sound quality of their voice isn’t as good as the guests/host in the studio. The same is true with SkypeOut. The sound quality is okay, but having one hour long interview over the phone will be annoying for your listeners. If you do have to call their phone, see if they have a land line. They often sound better than calling someone’s mobile.

Either way you do it, you’ll still be able to take live calls from your listeners. And whatever you do, make sure you call the interviewee before the interview and record their voice and test the levels, it’ll be different for each person. If you or your interviewee experiences some sort of echo, lag, or distortion – I have some tips below to fix that.

Using SkypeIn to receive calls from telephone callers

For just $30/year, you can purchase your own SkypeIn number. It’s a local telephone number, just like any land line in your area. Anyone with a mobile phone can dial that number and if you’re using Skype, you can talk to them. They’ll be charged a normal land line fee for that number. For instance, I have an +358 (0) 9 number, which is what everyone with a landline has in parts of Southern Finland. So if someone from Finland calls that number, it costs the same as any normal land line. If someone calls from abroad, they’re charged the normal price for dialing a land line in Finland.

Using Skype to create a conference call

Skype can create conference calls with up to five connections. So, you could be live in the studio with three other people (one connection), have a connection opened with another guest who’s on their computer using Skype (second connection), and take a call from someone dialing in on their mobile phone (third connection) etc… Skype handles all of these connections surprisingly well. If two people are dialing you on their mobile phones, they might have a bit of trouble hearing each other, but it’s not bad.

Skype settings

When you get Skype installed, there’s a couple things you’ll want to do immediately. First you’ll want to mute all the Skype sounds, your listeners won’t want to hear all the bells and whistles coming from Skype. So goto TOOLS -> OPTIONS -> SOUNDS -> “Mute All Sounds”. I’m using Skype 2.x now, so it might be in a different place with other versions.

The other thing you’ll need to do, and this is essential, is tell Skype not to adjust your sound settings for you. Cause after you tweak your volume controls for 10 minutes, Skype will quickly screw everything up if this is enabled. So goto TOOLS -> OPTIONS -> SOUND DEVICES -> “Let Skype Adjust my Sound Device Settings” ..make sure this is turned OFF (unchecked).

Software to record your conversation

You’ll need a piece of software to record your Skype conversation. There’s a lot of programs that will do this, even your “sound recorder” application that comes with Windows. I use a very professional application (but costly, about $200) SAM Broadcaster v3. It’s great because it mixes the sounds together, records them in a variety of formats, allows you to add other sounds like sound FX and music, and also streams the music to a server for live broadcasts. Unfortunately I don’t have experience with other software programs that do this, so you’ll have to search around and experiment.

Setting up your sound card

This explains how to setup your sound card on a PC. The tricky thing about sound cards is that they normally want to record audio from only one source. So if you have record set to “microphone”, it will only record sounds generated from your microphone and won’t record anyone you’re chatting with on Skype. So what you’ll need to do is load up your “volume control” in Windows. In Windows XP, goto START -> Accessories -> Entertainment -> Volume Control. Once Volume Control is started, goto OPTIONS -> Properties and select “Recording” from “Adjust Volume For”. This will allow you to select where you want to record from. Change it to “Stereo Mix” (on some configurations it will say something else, but usually it’s this). When “Stereo Mix” is selected, your sound card will record everything that comes in and out of your sound card.

Problems with Stereo Mix

The big problem with stereo mix is that your Skype callers will often hear their echo during, or right after they’re speaking. This is annoying as hell and this is why you’ll probably need a mixer or second PC, and I’ll explain more in detail below…

Toying with Volume Control

A good portion of your setup time will be adjusting the Playback and Recording settings in Volume Control. If there’s too much background noise, you may need to lower the “Wave”, “Microphone”, “Line In”, or “Volume Control” sliders. If the interviewee has trouble hearing you, or you have trouble hearing them, you’ll need to turn these up. If you’re not hearing them at all, or they don’t hear you at all, something may be on “Mute” in the Playback section. If there’s ever a hissing sound coming from your headset and you’re not sure why, try muting things you don’t need (this happens often).

SAM Broadcaster v3 stuff

If you’re using SAM Broadcaster, here’s a few things to keep in mind…

Goto CONFIG -> AUDIO MIXER PIPELINE -> “Voice FX Destination” and change it to “Encoders”. If you don’t do this, when you speak into the microphone, you’ll hear your own voice a half second later (very annoying). Depending on your setup, you may need to fool around with these settings, try different ones if you’re having problems.

In the “Encoders” section, make sure the blue button is selected, not the red. I’m not exactly sure what they do, but sometimes things don’t work with the red button selected.

One thing though – With this configuration, you won’t hear your own voice coming through the headphones. I don’t really like hearing my own voice coming through the headphones, even if it is instantaneously (no lag). But if you don’t mind, I haven’t figured out the way to do this (although I know there is a way).

Audio Formats, Bit Rates, Sound Quality…

There’s many options as to which format you should record your podcast. Ogg Media is probably the best sound format out there for recording the human voice. Unfortunately, not everyone can play .ogg files, so I don’t recommend it. I recommend MP3, everyone is familiar with it and everyone can play it. The quality is great, even if the file sizes might be a tad bigger than .ogg or .aac files.

Next you’ll choose a bit rate (the sound quality). I offer two levels of quality on my podcast, “Normal Quality” (32kbps 22Hz, Mono) and “High Quality” (64kbps 44Hz, Mono).The “high quality” only sounds marginally better, and is twice the file size. Even recording it at 24kbps is sufficient. Try different formats for yourself. There’s no need to go over 64kbps unless you plan on having lots of music. And there’s no need to record it in stereo if it’s pure audio, use mono and have a smaller file.

If you’re using SAM Broadcaster v3, you can record your audio to different files at different sound qualities. I recommend just to record the stream at high quality, then use a free application like Audacity (or the expensive application, Sony SoundForge) to edit the file then save the audio in other formats.

Streaming the file to a streaming server

If you want to create a live show, you’ll need to find a way to stream the sound to people all around the internet. You have a few options for this…

1. Run a streaming server from your own PC – This would be nice if you could do this, but I doubt you can. Your ADSL internet connection may not be fast enough to support too many connections. Plus, many ISPs don’t allow outside users to connect to your PC like this. And another thing, if you’re already running other applications on your PC, running a streaming server might make it very sluggish. I’d only try out this method if you’re ISP allows this, you’re on a T1/T3 line, have a powerful PC (or two PCs), and won’t have too many live listeners (maybe 50-100 max depending on many things).
2. Purchase a service from an audio streaming server – There are companies out there for all you podcasters and those who want to have your own live radio station. They’re expensive though and aren’t ideal for those who’ll only have a podcast occasionally, they assuming you’re running a radio station 24/7. The price can go anywhere from $30/month to $200/month and upwards depending on the quality of your stream and how many listeners you’ll want to connect.
3. Get your own dedicated server – For $49/month (and upwards) you can get your own dedicated server, there’s a million companies out there who offer this. Once you get one you can setup your own audio streaming application like ShoutCast. But you’ll need to setup all of this by yourself, so you’ll need to be a bit of an IT expert. What’s nice about option #2 above, you’ll get support from their company. But with this method, you’re on your own.
4. Rent space from an online radio station – This is the method I use. I pay a guy $20/month for one hour a week, he runs his own online radio station. Contact people and try to work out a deal. Talk to Paul Merrell, he’s the guy I use and his service is top notch and he’s extremely helpful (http://paulmerrell.net/).

You’ll need a software program to upload your live sound to a streaming server. I use SAM Broadcaster v3 for this. There’s other free options out there, but I know little about them so I can’t give much advice unfortunately.

Below is a diagram of my current setup…

What’s some problems with this setup?

With this setup, you won’t be unable to have guests live with you in the studio. You’ll need to get a mixer for this and I’ll explain that setup below. Also, you need two computers with this setup, I’ll explain how to do it with just one computer below.

Why use this setup?

With two PCs, you can spread out the CPU load onto two different machines, but I suspect all these apps could run fine on a fairly new computer. The biggest reason I use two PCs is to remove the echo that Skype guests/callers would experience.

How to configure Volume Control with this setup

On the laptop, I have “Recording” set to “microphone”. On “Playback” I have “Volume Control” set to about 50%, “Wave Out” set to about 10% and “Microphone” set to about 10% as well.

“Wave Out” controls the sound coming from your Skype callers. “Microphone” controls the sound coming from your microphone. “Volume Control” adjusts the overall sound leaving the laptop and going to the PC.

On the PC, set “Recording” to “Line In”. On “Playback” set “Volume Control”, “Wave Out”, “Line In” to 100%. Mute all others (especially “Microphone”). If you need to adjust the sound, adjust it on the laptop or on SAM Broadcaster.

Doing all of this on just one PC

For a while, I did this entire process on one PC using a mixer and two sound cards. This didn’t work well because I had to turn “Stereo Mix” on and all my Skype callers/guests would hear their own echo for a split second as soon as they stopped talking. Without a second sound card and mixer, the Skype callers/guests would hear their entire echo. Using a second card and mixer, they only hear some echo/distortion after they’re done talking, but it’s still quite annoying for them. So I don’t recommend using just one setup. Hopefully SAM Broadcaster will come out with new software that will broadcast all sounds on your computer even when “Stereo Mix” is not selected (or Skype will prevent the nasty echo). If any knows a way around this, please let me know!

Dealing with Skype echo

If you want to use one PC, there’s a few things you can do with Skype to decrease the echo (I got this from Skype’s forums)…

Locate the config.xml file (it’s a hidden file so make sure showing hidden files and folders is activated) found in
C:\Documents and settings\WindowsUsername\Application data\Skype\SkypeUsername\config.xml
Use any editor like Word Pad or Word, as config.xml is a real text file. For Windows XP, you can go to edit, amend and save. But you MUST EXIT SKYPE FIRST>
Find the following entries:
*Under the section:

0 (Automatic Echo Control)
* Toggle its value between 1 and 0 (if there is 0 change it to 1 or vice versa)
*In the same config.xml file insert (and/or try toggling)
0 (Echo Control)
under:

There are three variables in the config.xml you’ll want to toy around with. Each variable can be a 1 or 0. Try all eight combinations for the least amount of echo/distortion. If you have SkypeIn, use your mobile phone to call your SkypeIn number and test it. Also, calling the “Skype Test Call” service is a great way to test your connection.

One PC with two sound cards and a mixer to cut down on Skype echo/distortion

If you have one PC with two sound cards, be sure to go into Skype’s settings TOOLS -> OPTIONS -> SOUND DEVICES and change “audio in” to one of your sound cards (we’ll call it SC1) and “audio out” to the other (let’s call that one SC2). So you’ll use a cable from SC2’s Line Out (headphone) jack to the Audio In of the mixer. Then you’ll connect a cable from the Audio Out of the mixer to SC1’s Line In. Your microphone is plugged into the mixer.

So when a person from Skype says something, the sound travels from SC2, to the mixer where it combines with your microphone, then it’s sent to SC1 where it’s sent back to the Skype caller. This both cuts down on the echo/distortion and allows you to have multiple microphones.

Mixers require special audio cables, not the thin stereo cables use for PCs. So you’ll need to get two of these cables, plus the adapters that make them compatible with PC sound cards.

Using two PCs and a mixer

I’ve been experimenting with this method, I’ll write more details once I’ve got it totally figured out.

When you receive an incoming call on Skype

Throughout your show you may receive calls via Skype from your listeners. The thing they may not understand is that there’s a 10-20 second lag between the actually live show and when they hear it. The sound travels from your PC to the streaming server and onto your listener’s PCs…that all takes time. So when you join them into your conference call, they need to be listening to the Skype call and not the live show. So be prepared for some confused callers.

Firewalls

If you’re running a firewall in the background, it may mess up your Skype calls or uploads, it’s best to disable this software during your show.

Close all other applications

Don’t have anything else running in the background except for what you need for the show. Especially close down any p2p applications that might suck up bandwidth.

Dealing with background noise

Background noise (the sound the microphone picks up when you are silent) is a difficult thing to deal with. Having two PCs running near-by will always make for some background noise. Getting a good microphone will prevent this, using cheap little $10 PC mics will make for added background noise. Using one of those headset-microphone combos is not recommended either. If you think you’re getting too much background noise, adjust the microphone levels in “Volume Control”. Also, the background noise may be coming from your guest/caller, make sure they don’t have their microphone volume too high.

Remember, professional radio studios have thousands of euros worth of equipment, you’ll never get the sound THAT good. Listen to the podcast on an mp3 player afterwards, the background noise may not be as bad as you first think.

Choosing a mixer

You’ll need a mixer if you want to have live guests in your studio. Hooking up two or more PC microphones to one microphone jack will lower the sound quality and volume of both mics, it’s not recommended. When you’re purchasing a mixer, you don’t need an expensive one. I have a Behringer, they’re cheap and it works fine. The one thing you’ll need to decide is how many guests you’ll have in your studio at one time. So if you think you might one day have 4 guests, make sure the mixer has 4 jacks for microphones. And PC microphones will probably not work in mixers, you’ll need to get normal non-PC mics. Fortunately, these are quite inexpensive (although they can be expensive) and even the cheapest models will create a nicer, fuller sound than PC microphones.

Creating an RSS feed

I’m not going to go into details about this, there’s plenty of info online about this. But you’ll definitely want to create an RSS feed for your podcast. There’s some free apps that’ll do this for you but the best way to do this is to goto any podcast show’s website and look at their RSS feeds and just copy the same data, but fill in the blanks with your own show’s details (like title, date, description, etc..).

Submitting your podcast to search engines

There’s a million podcast search engines out there, the two biggest ones are probably PodcastAlley (www.podcastalley.com) and iTunes (www.itunes.com). Be sure to submit your podcast and RSS feed to those two places. It’s also a good idea to have your own website with all the details about your podcast. I recommend using a blog to announce all your podcast-related happenings. WordPress (www.wordpress.org) is hands down the best blog software out there.

Virtual Audio Cables

There’s this application out there called “Virtual Audio Cables”, supposedly many Skypecasters are using this to help remove echo from their recordings. I’ve toyed with the demo of this application and it seems complicated, sorry that I don’t have any more info on this software.

Questions? Comments? Feedback?

Like I said at the beginning, this is a living document and I’ll be making changes to it regularly. If you have any questions or comments about my setup, please feel free to ask them in the comment field below (rather than e-mail). If you have any tips or tricks with Skypecasting, please let me know!