How To Create & Grow A Podcast - Any Recommendation?

[Concept]

Hey guys,

Does anyone have any recommendations for an online podcasting course?

I'm looking to expand my reach for my website by creating a podcast. My audience is into it. I'm interested in getting into it. I have the experience with audio editing and radio production. There is plenty of opportunities there in my niche. And I think think it will be a shit-ton of fun as I start to move into the next phase of building my business. Its a good recipe.

I'm not looking for a course that focusses on audio editing, I've got that covered. I'm looking for a course that explains the nuances of podcasting, promoting and marketing a podcast, interviewing techniques, structuring a podcast etc. That kind of area.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations?

Cheers

 

[Potatoe]

I've tossed around the idea of starting one on the topic of content creation/virality, just a short one that goes over 1-2 points a week, maybe dissects the day's trending stories and why, but probabally evergreen for the most part. I'm interested in following along, hopefully you'll keep us updated on your progress!

I don't podcast, so take this advice from the perspective of a listener, because I listen to a lot of them...

- Consistency is huge, I know when to expect uploads from all of my favorite podcasts or Youtube channels, I know they'll be there waiting when I go to listen.

- Speed and timeliness. If I've heard a topic discussed on one channel already, I'm less likely to listen to the channel that doesn't get it up until a day or two later.

- I think the best interviews are when it flows really well like a conversation rather than feeling too much like a fully structured interview. It's a tough skill, I think listening to people who are good at it could be helpful, seeing how they go about it. One of my favorite hosts right now is Sean Evans (from Hot Ones).

- Having said that, an overall structure is pretty important too. I think the perfect route would be to have your structure planned out, but to the listener it still flows really naturally and doesn't feel like you're going over a bullet list.

- Just like articles, I think titles are very important and not something to overlook when you're uploading episodes.

- Good editing, show notes with links to anything you mention in the episode, and having a good ecosystem for people to find it and listen. Everything surrounding the actual podcast itself. I know some shows like to concentrate their audience all in one place, whereas others like to cast a wide net and get on every platform they can. I like the idea of using the site as a hub for it, and then uploading it different platforms.

- Depending on how long your show is, it might be a good idea to upload highlights to Youtube, too. A few big podcasts have been doing that lately, and it's just another way to further leverage your content and reach more people.

 

[eliquid]

Im still testing the waters on our podcast.

I took a lot of time to really get into the audio editing bc the only area I have gets a lot of noise. Plus I didn't like the sound of my voice and all the lip smacking and clicks I make with my mouth ( and breathing noises ).

I've just about got all that under control now and will be working on the things you mentioned like consistency, speed, format, and bringing more people on to interview.

I just had to get the audio itself right.

If you have any tips/techniques you could share @Concept for audio mix/help, that would be great to know.

.

 

[Concept]

Im still testing the waters on our podcast.

I took a lot of time to really get into the audio editing bc the only area I have gets a lot of noise. Plus I didn't like the sound of my voice and all the lip smacking and clicks I make with my mouth ( and breathing noises ).

I've just about got all that under control now and will be working on the things you mentioned like consistency, speed, format, and bringing more people on to interview.

I just had to get the audio itself right.

If you have any tips/techniques you could share @Concept for audio mix/help, that would be great to know.

.

Here are a couple of tips from the top of my head:

In general, you want to solve as many problems as possible in pre-production.

• To reduce plosives/popping (when the air blows sharply into the microphone when you say "p") you can place the microphone to the side and further away, and get a pop stopper. The placement of your microphone can also help reduce the lip-smacking sounds as well.
• Regards to lip-smacking, I recommend not drinking coffee, milk, or sugar at least an hour before recording – anything that dries your mouth or makes it feel gummy. Always have water nearby to keep yourself hydrated. Lip smacking can also be a post-production problem when you raise the volume levels of your voice. If you talk softly and then raise the volume so you can be heard, you will also increase the volume of the lip-smacking. In this case, try project your voice a bit more so you don't have to increase the volume of your recording (and the lip-smacking that comes with it)
• Always be in a consistent area throughout your podcast. It's obvious sometimes when someone changes the location to record the second half of their podcast. Try an keep it consistent at least for a complete episode.
• During recording remember to pace yourself and all allow yourself to take breaths. If you find yourself speeding up and taking breaths as you go into words, then slow down. By slowing down and taking your time to breath, you can edit the breaths out in post-production. If you are rushing and your breaths are merging into words, it makes this process very hard. By doing this, if it results in your recording sounding slow and long-winded, there are ways you can speed up your speech in post-production without making you sound like a chipmunk. But by slowing down, you can edit out the excess breaths. (you still want to include some breaths to make it sound natural - you can just lower their volume)
• Pause between takes to allow for editing later if need be. Clapping loudly three times can also help you find mistakes or areas to edit in post-production.
• Normalising is something that can make the volume continuous thought in the process. I do this last after I have done all the other editing.
• Always leave about a 10-20 gap at the start that I can use as a sample in noise reduction. If you are doing a really long podcast it might be a good idea to do another 10-20 second of white noise recording in the middle and at the end. Just to make sure you capture any changes in background noise.
• When cuting two pieces of audio, I like to do a transition between the two (simple fade in/fade out transition). It makes it smoother and more natural. So many times I can hear where people have made a hard cut in their podcast. A transition will make it less ‘jolty” and you won’t get those ‘clicks’ that can sometimes occur.

Anyways, that all I could spurt out for now. Hope that helps.

Regarding an online course, Udemy was my best bet. I ended up finding a good one that went into detail on many things that I was looking for. This is the one I ended up going with: https://www.udemy.com/the-podcast-blueprint/

I'll let you know how it goes.