I began my writing career armed with an English BA and a minor in creative writing. My first ever paid writing gig was as a film critic. While I continue to cover cinema, tech media pays the bills. But I took a bit of a roundabout method of segueing into technology journalism. As a lifelong tinkerer, I was constantly making (or breaking) things, from restoring old desktop PCs with Linux distributions to re-installing mobile phone operating systems (OSes). And that theme of fulfilling everyday needs, as well as combining my tech and non-tech interests, persists to this day. I host a film podcast and was researching mobile recording studios. While plenty of cool options exist, I had a revelation: why not just build one myself? That’s when my Raspberry Pi podcasting station came alive. Learn how to build your own Raspberry Pi-based podcast recording studio!

Why Use a Raspberry Pi for Podcast Recording?

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer (SBC). Featuring RAM, a CPU, GPU, and all major components baked onto the board itself, you just need to mount an operating system (OS) to a microSD card to get up and running. Because there are tons of Linux distributions (distros) for the Raspberry Pi, it works well for audio recording with programs such as Audacity. And with the debut of the Raspberry Pi 4, available in models with 4GB and 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM mated to a decent CPU, the Raspberry Pi works great for basic desktop use. I even used a Raspberry Pi 4 as my main work rig for a week to test its mettle and the tiny yet mighty Pi proved shockingly competent. Since audio recording and editing even don’t take much computing power, you can accomplish both on the Raspberry Pi.

Additionally, I wanted something portable. Sure, I could tote around my Razer Blade 15 laptop, but instead, I wanted something super small and low-powered. Because of its tiny power draw, the Pi 4 can run off of a power bank.

• Energy-efficient: can run off of a power bank
• Powerful enough for audio recording and editing
• Small footprint and easy to travel with
• Affordable

#linux #internet of things #raspberry pi #open-source #podcasts