How to include a Skype call into your podcast in Garageband

This guide will walk you through the set-up required to include a Skype call into your podcast using Garageband and a couple of free apps.

What you need (all free):
1. Soundflower (http://code.google.com/p/soundflower/)
2. LineIn (http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/)

The basic idea is to route your microphone and the Skype call into Soundflower which will act as our audio switchboard. Then we simply send our tracks from Soundflower to Garageband.

1. Install Soundflower, start it up. Click the small flower icon in the top bar and make sure both options are set to None (OFF).

2. Open up LineIn.App and make sure to select your choice of microphone as your input, and Soundflower (64ch) as your output.

3. Click on the drop down menu that says Select in LineIn, and pick Advanced.

4. Set the output Left and Right channels to 3 and 4 respectively. (We’re saving 1 & 2 for our Skype call)

5. After clicking OK, go ahead and click Pass Thru. This will pass our microphone into Soundflower.

6. Open up Skype, and make sure its Input is your microphone, and its Output is Soundflower (64ch)

7. Open up Garageband’s preferences, go to the Audio/MIDI tab. Make sure Soundflower(64ch) is the Input. Have the Output set to your headphones.

8. In Garageband create 2 tracks (I chose 2 tracks with preset Male Narrator), then Enable Multitrack Recording

9. Now we need to set one track to record Skype, and the other to record from our microphone. Pick a track to be your Skype call, and in the input source, select Stereo 1/2 (Soundflower (64ch)). It’s important to turn the Monitor On so you can hear the Skype caller.

10. Pick your track that will record your microphone, and set its input source to Stereo 3/4 ((Soundflower (64ch)). [This is where LineIn routed our microphone] It’s important to keep the Monitor Off so that you don’t hear yourself in your headphones.