Welcome — start here
🗺️How the week works
Each day runs roughly 9:00am to 3:00pm with a lunch break and two short breaks. Every day follows the same rhythm:
- Before questions (5–10 min, ~9:00) — think before you dive in.
- Learn — short videos and reading, explained in plain English.
- Do — the real hands-on work, with a tick-box checklist.
- After questions (~2:45) — reflect on what you learned.
Everything you type and tick is saved automatically in this browser. You can close the page and come back — your work will still be here. (It saves only on this computer, so use the same one each day.)
Your work saves on the device you're using. If you swap between a phone and the Mac, use Export my answers to download a copy you can keep or email to yourself.
🎚️Your toolkit — the gear & software
The recording chain (how sound gets recorded)
Your voice travels through a chain of equipment. Each link has a job:
- ATR2100x microphone — turns your voice into an electrical signal. It's a dynamic mic, so it ignores most room noise. Speak close, about a fist's width away.
- Zoom H5 recorder — a portable recorder that captures the interview straight to an SD card. Perfect for sitting down with family. The mics plug into its two XLR inputs (XLR is the standard balanced microphone connector) and each person gets their own track.
- Cloudlifter — the ATR2100x has a quiet output, so the Cloudlifter gives it a clean +25 dB (decibel) boost. Less hiss, more signal. It runs on 48V phantom power (a 48-volt feed sent up the cable to power gear that needs it).
- Focusrite Scarlett — your audio interface at the Mac. It does double duty: it's how you record any voiceover (your intro, outro and any narration), and it's how you listen while editing and mixing — your headphones plug into it for clean, accurate sound. It bridges the analogue mic world and the digital computer, and supplies 48V phantom power.
- Mac Mini (M4 Pro) — where the editing, mixing and publishing happen.
- ATR-M70x headphones — closed-back headphones so the sound doesn't leak back into the mic. Wear these whenever you record or edit.
- TC Electronic loudness meter — a dedicated hardware meter at the desk that reads the true loudness (in LUFS — Loudness Units, the standard measure of how loud audio actually sounds) of your mix. You'll use it on Day 4 to master the episode to the right level; it isn't used while recording.
You'll use two recording setups this week:
🎤 Field (the interview): Mic → H5 → SD card
🖥️ Desk (voiceover + editing): Mic → Cloudlifter → Scarlett → Mac
From Day 3 onwards you're at the desk, with the Scarlett as your audio interface — headphones plugged into it for editing and mixing, and the mic on it whenever you record voiceover.
The software (what each program is for)
- Zoom / Descript Rooms — for recording a remote guest down the line.
- Descript — edits audio by editing text. You'll cut out mistakes and waffle here first, in the rough stage. Easiest place to start.
- Adobe Audition — the professional audio workstation. This is where you repair, EQ (equalise, i.e. adjust the tone), compress, mix and master the episode to a polished finish.
- iZotope RX — specialist repair tools (noise removal, de-clicking, de-essing) that run inside Adobe Audition.
- iZotope 12 — iZotope's mastering software, used right at the end to set the episode's final loudness with its built-in limiter.
🐞Tattle — your production HQ
Tattle is the web app Dad built for making podcasts (it's what the real Devpolicy Talks production runs on). It's the home base that ties your whole week together — you'll plan the episode, get it transcribed, write the script, generate the shownotes, and publish, all from one place. Sign in at tattle.idrys.org — ask Dad for your login (it uses a 6-digit code from an authenticator app).
Tattle runs your episode through these stages — you'll move it along one step at a time:
planning → scheduled → recorded → transcribed → scripting → review → finalised → published
What Tattle does at each stage (and which day you'll use it)
- Day 1 — Planning: create the episode in Interview Mode, fill in the Planning page, and set up reusable Document Elements (intro, outro, Acknowledgement of Country).
- Day 2 — Recorded: upload your interview audio and move the episode to recorded.
- Day 3 — Transcribed: Tattle auto-transcribes with speaker diarisation (it labels who's talking), then AI (artificial intelligence) suggests corrections you accept or reject. This clean transcript becomes your editing map.
- Day 4–5 — Scripting: drag-and-drop your episode script from template sections, and generate the intro script you'll voice.
- Day 5 — Collateral & publishing: AI-generate shownotes, a summary, grab quotes, social posts and metadata, then sync the finished episode to Simplecast.
Tattle handles the words and admin (transcript, script, shownotes, publishing). Descript and Audition handle the sound (cutting and polishing the audio). Together they cover the whole job.
📁Stay organised — one project folder
Before Day 2, make one folder for the whole episode on the Mac. Keep everything inside it with these sub-folders:
- raw — untouched recordings straight off the mic/Zoom
- descript — the rough-cut export
- audition_session — the Audition project + working files
- exports — the final MP3 (the compressed audio file you publish) and any clips
Name files so you'll understand them in a month, e.g. 20260615_grandma_raw_host.wav. Date first (YYYYMMDD) keeps them sorting in order.
Concept, format & interview planning
🕘Today's plan
- 9:00–9:30Intro chat & goals for the week
- 9:30–10:30Learn podcast basics (listening + short videos)
- 10:30–10:45☕ Morning break
- 10:45–12:00Choose topic, audience & guest; outline the episode
- 12:00–13:00🥪 Lunch
- 13:00–14:15Write the interview guide & episode structure
- 14:15–14:30☕ Afternoon break
- 14:30–15:00Mock questions / test run & reflections
✏️Before you start — answer these
▶️Learn — watch & read
Listen to the Devpolicy Talks episode above (or a life-story podcast you like). Pause a few times and notice: How do they open? How do they introduce the guest? How do they sign off?
✅Do — design your episode
A great closing question for a life-story interview: "What's one thing you wish younger people understood about your life?"
🪞After — reflect
Recording — tech, mic technique & the interview
🕘Today's plan
- 9:00–9:20Recap & quick run-through of the interview guide
- 9:20–10:15Learn the recording chain + test recordings
- 10:15–10:30☕ Morning break
- 10:30–12:00Record the main interview
- 12:00–13:00🥪 Lunch
- 13:00–14:00Pick-ups / a short second interview
- 14:00–14:15☕ Afternoon break
- 14:15–15:00Transfer, label & organise files; debrief
✏️Before you record
Once you're rolling, before the real questions, ask your guest out loud whether they're happy to be recorded and for the episode to be shared publicly, and capture that "yes" at the very start of the recording.
🎙️Setting up the Zoom H5
Step 1 — get the recorder ready (do this before your guest arrives)
- Power: the H5 has no internal battery — put in 2× AA batteries (or run it from USB). Fresh batteries last about 15 hours.
- SD card: with the recorder off, slide the SD card in (face up) on the right-hand side. Turn on, then format the card in the menu so it's clean and compatible.
- Recording mode: choose Multi File and set the format to WAV, 48 kHz / 24-bit (WAV is an uncompressed, top-quality audio file; 48 kHz / 24-bit is its quality setting, and it matches what you'll use in Audition).
- Plug in the mics: connect each ATR2100x with an XLR cable (the standard 3-pin microphone cable) into Input 1 and Input 2 at the bottom, one mic per person, each on its own track. (Ignore the X/Y mic on top, the recorder's built-in stereo mic, for interviews.)
Step 2 — no phantom needed, then arm the tracks
- The ATR2100x is a dynamic mic, so it does not need phantom power. Leave 48V off for both mics: the H5's preamps have plenty of gain for these mics on their own, so you do not need the Cloudlifter here. (The Cloudlifter and 48V phantom come in later, only on the desk setup with the Scarlett on Day 4.)
- Arm the tracks: press the Track buttons (1 and 2) so they glow red. Only armed tracks record.
Step 3 — set your levels (the golden rule)
- Each input has its own gain dial (under the little protective bar). No buttons needed — just turn the dial for that channel.
- Have each person talk at normal volume. Turn their dial up until the loudest bits peak around −12 dB (decibels, the unit on the level meter) — strong and clear, never slamming into the top (0 dB is distortion you can't fix).
- Build in a real safety net. The H5's Backup Record only copies the top X/Y mic (the L/R track), not Inputs 1 & 2, so it will not protect your interview mics. Instead, run a phone voice memo alongside as a genuine second recording (and, if you want a hardware backup, arm the X/Y capsule as a room-safety track too). Never trust a single recording of an interview you can't redo.
- Plug the ATR-M70x headphones into the H5's headphone socket and actually listen while you set levels. Your ears are the best meter.
Mic technique: speak across the mic, not straight into it, about a fist's width away. That tames "popping" Ps and breath noise.
✅Do — capture the interview
🪞After — reflect
Rough edit in Descript — shape the story
🕘Today's plan
- 9:00–9:20Listen to the raw interview start to finish
- 9:20–10:30Import into Descript, auto-transcribe, get oriented
- 10:30–10:45☕ Morning break
- 10:45–12:00Content edit (cut by editing the text)
- 12:00–13:00🥪 Lunch
- 13:00–14:00Fine-tune, remove filler, draft intro/outro script
- 14:00–14:15☕ Afternoon break
- 14:15–15:00Export the edited audio for Audition
✏️Before you edit
▶️Learn — watch
The trick with Descript: delete a word in the transcript and the audio disappears too. Editing audio becomes as easy as editing a document.
🐞First, in Tattle — get your transcript
Before touching the audio, let Tattle do the listening for you. Its transcript becomes the map you'll edit from.
Why transcribe in Tattle first?
- Speaker diarisation labels who said what, so you can see the conversation as a script.
- AI Correction suggests fixes for misheard words — you accept or reject each one, so you stay in control and learn to spot errors.
- Version history means you can always compare changes and undo. Nothing is ever lost.
- This corrected transcript powers everything later — the script, shownotes, grab quotes and metadata all build on it.
✅Then, in Descript — make the rough cut
You'll transcribe again here, but for a different job: Descript transcribes so you can edit the audio by editing its text. Tattle's transcript is your reading map and the source for the script and shownotes; Descript's is the handle you grab to cut the sound. Same words, two purposes.
🪞After — reflect
Editing, repair, mixing & mastering in Audition
🕘Today's plan
- 9:00–9:20Listen to the rough cut critically, as a listener
- 9:20–10:30Set up the Audition multitrack session, bring in audio
- 10:30–10:45☕ Morning break
- 10:45–12:00Noise reduction, repair & basic editing
- 12:00–13:00🥪 Lunch
- 13:00–14:00EQ, compression, levels & basic mastering
- 14:00–14:15☕ Afternoon break
- 14:15–15:00Final bounce & loudness check
✏️Before you mix
🛠️The clean-up & polish steps
What each tool actually does
- Noise Reduction — capture a "noise print" from a second of silence (room tone), then tell Audition to subtract that hum/hiss everywhere. Go gently to avoid a "underwater" sound. iZotope RX is the specialist version of this.
- Healing / spectral repair — paint out one-off clicks, mouth noises or a stray bump.
- Parametric EQ (equalisation, precise control of the tone) — roll off low rumble, add a little "presence" so speech is clear, tame any harshness.
- Compression — gently evens out the loud and quiet bits so the voice stays steady.
- Mastering & loudness — the final step. Podcasts are delivered to a target loudness, not just a peak level, so the whole episode sits at a steady volume. Watch the TC Electronic loudness meter and bring the integrated loudness of the finished episode to −16 LUFS (the house standard for this show), keeping the true peak under about −1 dBTP so nothing distorts. Master in iZotope 12 and use its limiter (which raises the overall level and stops the loudest peaks from clipping) to bring it up to −16; then re-check the integrated reading across the whole episode. −16 LUFS is the standard target for a mono podcast, which is how this show is delivered.
✅Do — mix & master
📏 Reading the loudness meter: play the whole episode through and watch three numbers. Integrated LUFS is the average across the entire programme — that's the one you master to −16. Momentary / short-term jumps around moment to moment, which is normal. True peak is the single loudest instant; keep it under about −1 dBTP. Nudge the master gain or limiter until Integrated settles on −16 LUFS over the full episode.
🎵 Music beds: a short piece of licensed (royalty-free, i.e. cleared to use) music under your intro and outro gives the episode a signature. The standard moves: fade it in and out, duck it (drop its volume) under any voice so the words stay clear, and keep it low and brief. Use the same bed every episode for consistency.
🎙️ Recording voiceover today: for your intro, outro or any narration, record at the desk through Mic → Cloudlifter → Scarlett → Mac straight into Audition — the same interface your headphones are plugged into for monitoring.
🐞 Tattle tie-in: move the episode to the scripting stage. Use Tattle to generate an intro script, tweak the wording, then record and mix that voiced intro/outro into the episode here in Audition. Start drag-and-dropping your episode script from the template sections too — you'll finish it tomorrow.
🪞After — reflect
Final polish, shownotes & distribution
🕘Today's plan
- 9:00–9:45Final uninterrupted listen & minor fixes
- 9:45–10:30Export final audio & check the file
- 10:30–10:45☕ Morning break
- 10:45–12:00Write title, description, shownotes & pull-quotes
- 12:00–13:00🥪 Lunch
- 13:00–14:00Learn publishing: host platform, RSS feed, scheduling
- 14:00–14:15☕ Afternoon break
- 14:15–15:00Project retrospective & "teach back"
✏️Before you publish
▶️Learn — watch & read
How does a podcast actually reach Spotify & Apple Podcasts?
You don't upload directly to Spotify or Apple. Instead:
- The episode goes to a hosting platform — for this show that's Simplecast. Tattle pushes the audio, title, description and shownotes straight there for you.
- Simplecast creates an RSS feed (RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication) — a constantly-updating list of all your episodes.
- Apple, Spotify and other apps subscribe to that feed and automatically pull in each new episode.
- That's why consistent, accurate metadata (title, episode number, description) matters — it's what listeners see everywhere.
🐞In Tattle — generate the collateral & publish
This is where Tattle does the most work. From your corrected transcript it can write all the bits that go around the audio, then send the finished episode to Simplecast.
Always read AI-generated text before you publish it. Tattle gives you a strong first draft — your job is to make it true, clear and in the show's voice.
✅Do — release-ready
🪞After — reflect on the whole week
🏆You did it
Plan in Tattle → record → transcribe & correct in Tattle → rough cut in Descript → mix & master in Audition → script & generate collateral in Tattle → publish to Simplecast. That's the same pipeline a professional producer uses. You took a family story all the way from an idea to a finished, published podcast.