Podcasting Tips!, Add your own but please keep on track! Options

[Smart Bomb Radio]

I figured we'd start a podcasting tips thread, and everyone can add a tip from something they've learned to it. That way it could end up being quite a little encyclopedia.

Tip #1

Clean up your interview audio!


That person gave you their time presumably for free, so unless your antagonistic to interviewees as your program format do them a favor back and make them sound good!

Go through the audio and cut out extra ummms and and so's and so forth to give them the cleanest dialogue as possible. If they flub something and correct it, try to delete the flub (if possible) so they just say the correct thing (sometimes this won't work, you will have to judge what sounds right.)

Seperate pregnant pauses from dramatic pauses, and cut pauses down to manageable length. I cut a 26 minute interview down to 23 minutes so far, and I'm only about halfway done. It will make the people you interview happy and it will make a more listenable program for your listeners!


So who's next!

[Random]

I'm going to steal #2 from P W Fenton, Rob Walsh, and others.

Tip #2

Listen to your own show.

I'm serious about this. Don't say "I heard it when I recorded it." You didn't. You heard something, but it wasn't the resulting show. You may also say "I heard it when I edited it." No. Again, you didn't. Obviously these are both vital processes and it's good that you listened while you did them. But it's not enough.

Listen to your show as a listener. I download both my shows with the same podcatcher as every other podcast I listen to, and I listen to them amongst the other shows I download. And I don't use the fast forward button. I listen like I want other people to listen, and if I'm not enjoying the experience, hey, that shows me that I've got something to fix, because I want people to enjoy listening.

I cannot stress this enough. It has done wonders for me. And the feeling when you are in that "listener mode" and your own show comes on and you're jazzed by it -- that's the payoff, man. When I hear "90% of everything" and the guitar sting hits? I'm pumped. And that makes it a lot easier to record the next show, I'll tell you that.

Next.

[darylNcognito]

Tip 3

Know what you are going to say, before you start.

Exception:

Couple, Duo casts or people who have a free form show.

If you are trying to present ideas, or information write it out first. Nothing worse than listening to a show with great content, but they never finish a thought or a sentence.

A show I subscribe to recently has one more episode to finish a sentence or I unsubscribe.

daryl

[Breakaway Conten...]

Tip 4

If your show is aimed at listeners (not other podcasters), don't talk about the "how" of making your show. I've never heard a radio presenter talk about bumping his pop filter or over-driving his mic. If he does either of those things, he fixes them without telling the listener about it.

These things are cool toys to you (and me ) but a civilian listener doesn't care about your mixer etc.

[TheBigShow]

Tip #5

Respect your audience and embrace them

Be thankful to have people listening to your show because often a few clicks and you're gone. Remember your audience has a life too so give them an experience that's worth sticking around for. But above all else, give your audience something to participate in. Offer voicemail, games, whatever....just make them feel like the show is for them above all else.

[Erika]

Tip 6

I just figured this one out - at least in iTunes you can also "podcast" PDF files. They make great supplements for shows. If you do a language course, there's your vocabulary list. If you are referencing any form of reading material, send it with your feed. If you are a nonprofit, send a PDF of your pledge card.

Okay, not truly a podcasting tip, more of an RSS tip.

BTW - There's some really great advice in this thread. Thanks for starting this!

[Planet Retcon]

Tip #7

Record yourself saying the word 'Puff' 10 times, in 10 different ways (mad, excited, yelling, whispering, etc) into your mic, and then listen to the recording.. If the 'puh' or the 'ffff' sounds like wind is blowing across your mic, move your mic or your head and try again. Repeat until you can't get that wind sound no matter how you bluster. Then, never change that mic location and angle ever again.

[eban]

Tip #8

Do the show that you would want to listen to, and have fun.

There are many questions and threads started over what is the perfect length, or perfect this or that for a podcast. Don't fret these things, just do the show that you would want to hear. That way it remains fun and you will find the audience that likes your style.

Also, be yourself. If you are quiet and reserved, don't try to be loud and boisterous. If you are loud and boisterous, don't try to be quiet and reserved. People can tell.

If you do your show the way you would want to hear it, you will have a blast and stick with this longer. I have listened to more than a few casts that started strong and fun, then changed for whatever reason, then disappeared, or stuck around and were no longer fun.

[Smart Bomb Radio]

Thanks for keeping this going guys! I was looking for something like this when I started out but couldn't find anything.

Tip #9

Even if you don't have a soundproof studio you can still do a few things to eliminate background noise, or at least minimize it. Turn off machines like air conditioners (I cool my house about 5 degrees colder than normal before hand ) fans, computers you arn't using, etc. This will eliminate some of the background noise and allow you to raise the volume if you need to without creating a lot of static.

You can even unplug a refrigerator safely for an hour or so as long as you don't open it. Once you open it you gotta plug it back in. Please don't try this with an insulin fridge or anything I'm just sayin your food won't spoil.

Also, don't touch the mic, the mic stand, anything attached to the mic stand, or set things like glasses down on any table with a mic on it while recording. As a basic scientific principal sound travels best through solid objects, and you'll hear that glass of Shiraz hit the table no matter how quietly you set it down.

[Stuart J]

Tip #10

When putting together bits recorded at different times/locations/etc, take the time to adjust the levels so that they are as close to the same volume as can be done. One of the worst things you can do is have a real quietly recorded bit in which the listener has to put the volume up high in order to hear, and then come in with something recorded loud in which you blast out the listener's eardrums. Bye-bye listener.

[Shelly]

Tip #11

If your show is longer than, say 15 minutes, begin by giving listeners an idea what they'll hear on this episode. For some highly-structured shows, that means teasing segments you will do. In other cases, you might simply say that today's show is all about rock and roll. Consistent with your format, though, give the listener that heads up that will tell him or her what to expect. A listener might get excited and listen to your show right away. Another equally devoted listener might decide to save the show for later when not on the bus or in the grocery store. Either way, you've done your audience a favor. I've also found that this is a great way for me to warm up before I launch into content. By the time I'm "into it", the listener is, too.

[Random]

Shelly's good tip reminds me of another, so I'll come back for seconds.

Tip #12

Change it up.

If your show is only 4 minutes (or less!) long, you're not going to have to worry much about it being too much of a good thing. For the rest of us, though, consider changing things up during the course of the show. Use promos, bumpers, podsafe music, even ads, or really, anything else to break up big blocks of talky talky. Even if your topic is totally fascinating to the listener, they could use a break now and then to keep from being overwhelmed. In fact, if it's relaly fascinating, they could use a chance to process what you've said. The occasional intermission, even if only 30 seconds, goes far in keeping your listeners from feeling podcast fatigue.

-R

[Barely Podcastin...]

Tip #13

Do the show for yourself. If you are having fun doing it, then the listeners will have fun listening. No matter how many listeners you have, from 10 to 10,000, always do it for yourself first and the listeners next.

[Random]

Tip #13

Do the show for yourself. If you are having fun doing it, then the listeners will have fun listening. No matter how many listeners you have, from 10 to 10,000, always do it for yourself first and the listeners next.

I have to admit I have trouble distinguishing this from #8.

-R

[Josh]

Tip #14

i sent this in to Rob from 411, but he never played it cause he doesn't like me, so here's mine

Always mail out bumpers, promos, etc to others as .WAV

If you do this, the person who you made the bumper for, or the person playing your promo will have an easier time adjusting your bumper or promo to their recording levels and encoding.

Some podcasters have awesome bitrates and ride themselves on uniformity with levels and encoding for each show. Others don't.

Just because you heavily encode your show doesn't mean you have to do so for your promo as well. You never know what settings others use for their post production. Therefore, .WAV offers the most choices for those who will use your audio offeringe in their shows.

[Smart Bomb Radio]

Arrrrggg!! I've been pinned!!!!

Tip #15

Don't get obsessed with stats on your first few shows. I am the worst for this, probably checking my stats 5 times a day but trust me, it's the same as checking your investment prices every day. You'll have some good days, some bad days but it's all about the long run and you don't want to miss the forest for the trees.

If HAVE to look at numbers look at things like people downloading an older show after listening to a new one or use an IP tracker to see where the various IP's are from. I've got a guy in Iran and a guy in Great Britain and that's pretty damn cool. If I was just obsessed with numbers i'd be depressed all the time, but as far as I can tell many of the highest ratest shows have also been around for 40 or 50 or 100 shows. They didn't do it overnight. (except for BBQ Bob aparently.)

[Psycheology]

Tip #16

Listen to LOTS of other podcasts.

Even the ones that you don't think you'll like. Even the ones you know will suck. Even the ones you think will offend you. Even the ones you know won't interest you. Listen to each of them at least once, and maybe twice. You'll learn SO MUCH about what kind of podcast you want, and what kind you don't want. You'll also learn lots of neat production and editing tricks. And if you send feedback to the podcasters, they'll probably A) listen at least once, maybe now or maybe later, to your show; and help you out if you need some feedback or a tip to help solve a problem.

[Love Long and Pr...]

Howard Stern regularly addresses the technical side of the show. He is one of the few broadcasters that brings the audience behind the curtian. I think talking (briefly) about the technical side gives the audience a mental visual of what it's like to *be* a podcaster.

Tip 4

If your show is aimed at listeners (not other podcasters), don't talk about the "how" of making your show. I've never heard a radio presenter talk about bumping his pop filter or over-driving his mic. If he does either of those things, he fixes them without telling the listener about it.

These things are cool toys to you (and me ) but a civilian listener doesn't care about your mixer etc.

[darylNcognito]

Tip 17

Remove these phrases from you show notes;

"I am gonna go ahead and..."

and

"Whatnot"

Daryl

[Hittman]

Listen to your own show.

Let me add to that – listen to your own show in different enverinments.



I did a show where I read through a news article and had a buzzer, the bullshit meter, go off whenver something was bullshit. (Testing the Meter, show # 22) The buzzer was a little annoying, so I was very careful in the mix not to make it overpowering. I checked it and tweaked it and dicked with it until I got it jusssssst right. When I listened to the final show, it was fine.



A week later I listened to it in my car, and the buzzer was way too loud and annoying. Over decent (but not great) computer speakers it was fine, but on a cheap car stereo it was really annoying. It's too late to do anything about that now, but if I do a similar show in the future I'll know to take it out to the car before releasing the show.



It's also good to listen to past shows weeks or months after you released them. You're further away from them, no longer emotionally involved, and can be more critical than you can when the show is fresh.



Tip 18: Have a point of view.



Forget about there being two sides to every story. If someone wants to counter what you have to say, let them do their own podcast. Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken make a very nice living selling their idiotic and unreasonable points of view. Neither of them are anywhere near fair or balanced. (In fact, I think both of them are mentally unbalanced.) Make your case, make it strongly, make it entertainingly, and make it your own.



Tip 19: Make it shorter.



Pascal once wrote "I'm sorry I didn't write you a long letter, I didn't have time to write a short one." Making your show shorter forces you to edit out the not-so-strong parts, to boil it down to the demi glasse of what you're trying to say. If you do an hour long show, try doing a half hour version next time, and see if it's better. (It will be.) If you usually take a half hour to make your point, try doing it in fifteen minutes.