Podcast Starter Pack

     Want to start a podcast?  Not sure quite how to get yourself set up?  Here's a quick guide to getting yourself set up with the basic necessities!



1.  Idea

     This is the most important thing, absolutely 100%, and I'll tell you why; without a good idea, the rest of it doesn't matter.  You can have the best recording and editing equipment in the world, but if what you produce isn't fully thought out and you aren't passionate about it, no one's going to want to listen.

     In fact, passion for the idea is more important than it even being well thought-out or logical or easy to follow, etc., etc., because if you're passionate about it, the rest will come--someone will be interested in your work if you're passionate enough, because people are attracted to passion.  Don't half-ass something generically cool, guys, whole-ass something you really really care about.

2.  Audacity

     If you're looking for a cheap high-quality in-compute recording studio, look no further than audacity (downloadable here).  Audacity is free to download and use, it allows you to record, mix, match, sync, add effects, and even synthesize some simple tones.  With an easy-to-find guide or a little experimenting, you can do all kinds of cool stuff with your audio, and it's really easy to add music or sound effects off other aud. tracks or MP3s.  Plus, provided you have the right installments, you can easily export your work as MP3 tracks as well.

      Basically, if recording studios were stores, Audacity would be Walmart.

3.  Recording Device

     Also extremely important; the podcast just doesn't happen if there's no way to get your audio onto the internet.  You can record with a simple mic plug-in, your iPhone, probably (I don't own one, so I've just taken to assuming that smart phones can do everything), a mic headset, etc, but if you're looking to do this right, and for the long-term, I recommend investing in a nice standing mic and a pop filter.

     I use a Snowball myself, and I'm super happy with it; it was much cheaper than most recording devices of like quality, and it fits my needs perfectly, with a range of hearing that allows you to record at a distance, without having to worry about picking up your next-door neighbor shuffling across their floor.

  4.  Soundcloud

     There are other podcasting stations you can use for free, of course, but I think soundcloud is an easy place to start--it's free to sign up, simple to use, simple to stream, simple to download.  Definitely look into other online venues too, but Soundcloud is always a safe place to start.

5.  Logo

     A logo is important--whether it's a photo with writing on it, a drawing you made yourself, something you commissioned from an artist friend, a stock photo or a collection of clipart, your logo is the first way that people will judge your podcast.  Make sure it fits the tone and theme of your work, and has something to do with what your podcast is going to be about.

     Maybe don't use a picture of the sky if it's about dogs, for example.


     Have all that together?  Have a script ready, if it's scripted, or friends together if it's a talk show, etc, etc?  Then you're ready to leap into the wonderful world of podcasting!

     Go, my friends!  Go forth and create.

Things I Learned Making My First Two Podcasts

1.  Websites are dicks

     Before I put up my podcast I tried to make a website, and I bought a one dollar domain from GoDaddy, because I'm a broke idiot with stars in my eyes who didn't realize that you had to pay extra money to attach that domain to a website, and since I have no steady income right now I basically can't use my own domain.  Lesson learned.

2.  No one cares

     As with any project placed into the public realm, it's an uphill battle to get anyone besides yourself to care.  My first podcast sat for an entire month before anyone deigned to listen to it once, and I didn't honestly expect much different--my writing persona is relatively new and no one is going to be as interested in your work as you are, at least not for a long time.  Sometimes you're an overnight hit, but much much more often, it'll take a lot of work to get yourself off the ground.
     (But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.  You just have to push harder.)

3.  You'll put in more hours than you'll get out

     I knew this going into it, of course, but I didn't realize quite how much time would go into it.  I figured I might have to spend two hours on a half hour episode, and I was wrong; between writing and rewriting the script, rehearsing and recording it, and editing it all together, I'm fairly certain I put somewhere between seven and fifteen hours into that first episode.  The second episode took me nearly ten hours, and it was only seven minutes long!
     The time you put into it will increase the quality, of course--if I didn't want to put in the time, I wouldn't have started the podcast in the first place.

4.  There's no need to be afraid to show your kith and kin

     In general, I feel better about sharing things I care about with strangers than with people I know.  Part of this is because, yes, I know, consciously, that we are allowed to ask for attention, but I grew up in a society (and environment) where it was frowned upon, and it's a lesson I've internalized very deeply, so I try not to talk too much about what I'm working on except in passing.
     Another part is that disapproval from people you care about hurts more than it does from strangers.  And, the biggest deterrent for me, I grew up in a small mostly-white farm town in upstate New York, which means I know a lot of conservatives, which, if you've spent a lot of time on my blog (or any time on my twitter), you know I'm not.  By a long shot.  To that end, I write a lot of not-conservative things, with a lot of liberal themes and characters.
     My mother's family is also extremely religious, so they frown on things like cursing, which I do often, both as a matter of neurology and as a conscious mood/character choice.  To that end, I'm often reluctant to share anything I write with them.
     But in order to show the podcast to one of my friends who wanted to listen to it (and who co-starred in the most recent episode), I had to post it on facebook, where all of those fears were just waiting to come screaming up to devour me!  ... and didn't.  Actually, I got a pretty positive response from my friends, both the ones I've made out here and the ones I left back home.  It's really nice to know that my efforts are appreciated, and no one's said anything negative at all.  Just goes to show that sometimes people can surprise you for the better!

5.  My voice is higher than I thought

     This makes sense, since I'm hearing my own voice as it sounds echoing inside my skull, but it's still jarring, and since my MC is supposed to have a deeper, more gruff voice, I have to keep that in mind whenever I record.  It helps to listen to do a test recording or listen to each take once its finished to remind myself that I need to go higher/lower.
     Basically, as a general tip when listening to yourself in recording, be prepared for your voice to sound different from the way it usually is.

6.  Screwing around with Audacity is sometimes the best way to get stuff done

     Honestly, sometimes tutorials won't give you what you need.  I found a number of tutorials for creating a robot voice effect when I went looking for it, and none of it worked--they all sounded like robots, to be sure, but they weren't clear enough, and I wanted the character to be well-understood, and also to retain some of the flavor of her voice--not too robotic, in other words, just robotic enough.  So I had to mess around with things until I did, and it turned out great!
     Never be afraid to mess with your equipment--just make sure you save the pre-editted version, just in case.

And that's some of the stuff I've learned podcasting so far!  It's an adventure.