Podcasting Tips

30 eps of Very Expensive Maps later, I’ve learned:

1. It’s almost free. Your phone has a great mic, and if you have an Apple laptop, your computer has a great mic. You can record with free teleconf services like Jitsi/Google Meet/Zoom. The only real cost is time spent editing waveforms in (free) Audacity, though services like reduct.video, Descript, and Audiate let you edit-by-transcript. You don’t even need to buy distribution, Spotify for Podcasters offers free hosting and an RSS feed so you can add your show to other services.
2. I record with Cleanfeed because it’s dead-simple, spits out WAVs without hassle and requires nothing from guests except click link > allow mic access. Worth the $34/month. I’ve also used Ennuicastr, which is cheaper but has a hideous UI. If I need to call someone on their actual phone number I use Google Voice/WhatsApp and record with Audio Hijack (there’s free ways to pipe audio around but AH is real easy to use).
3. Podcasting is the only creative medium where the viewer’s attention is capped at 30%. It’s talk radio: a diversion from commutes, chores, early childcare and other "I need to get something done but I’m kinda bored while doing it" activities. Some even use podcasts as a soporific. Nobody listens closely. This is freeing because you don’t need to edit closely either; I cut false starts, excessive umms and pre-roll chatter but I always welcome a long, digressive ramble. When a guest says something interesting it’s up to the user to rewind.
4. Take notes during the convo. I don’t have a producer so I can lose a guest’s thread while muting/unmuting myself, digging around in my email for something, futzing with levels etc. Afterwards I immediately type up the notes, preserving what I found immediately interesting so I don’t have to hunt for interesting chunks while listening to the raw audio.
5. Record a short intro: pleasant beeps and boops, your name, podcast name, guest name, why you’re talking to them. I skipped this for too long.
6. Pile on the links in your show notes, even if nobody uses them it’s a great way to keep track of what you thought was cool months back.