Music has become a big part of the rohn report. And it has made it so enjoyable to work on. Finding the music, among the bajillions of songs on Youtube, identifying the tracks that will work with the words of the essay and editing them together. Spoken word and music. Like it ever was.
Most of you may not realize it, or even care (haha), but the podcast is edited on Final Cut Pro - a video and audio editing software from Apple. I use it because I’m familiar with it from my days of doing documentaries. It does a good job.
The spoken word part is recorded on my laptop using a Snowball external mic (looks like a snowball), with a percussive filter on it (so the p’s don’t pop) and Quick Time Player 7 which was just laying around my computer. Not doing anything. It works great too.
I steal the music from Youtube with a program called Camtasia, a really cool software that will copy whatever is on your screen, video and audio. I only use the audio of course.
Then I take the two files, the music is an mp3 file and the voice audio is mp4, import them into Final Cut Pro, open up a new project and start laying the tracks down. This is what it looks like.
I can change volume, put gaps in the spoken word track (or the music track), fade in and out, filter, equalize and lots of other cool stuff. By the time it’s all finished you should have a sweet sounding podcast. Something that flows, something that has healing properties, and is meaningful.
The music is what gives it a deeper resonance, emotional depth, an element that wasn’t there before, another layer. This is why storytellers of old were accompanied by lyre, drum and flute, or some combination thereof. Whatever it took to get the message across. To bridge the gap between performer and audience. Talker and listener. One heart to one heart.
This is what my dad used to do with his Sunday morning sermons. This is what we all wish to do with our ‘Good Morning’ greeting. This is what the sun is saying as it rises on a new day. And when it sets when day is done.
This is our life. Looking for elation.
music ::
how i do it