Podcast guide

1. Getting started - Conceptualising the idea

You can start podcasting in many ways and on almost any topic. However, many of today's successful podcasts have a specific (niche) theme, or concept, that is recognisable and unique. It is good to approach starting your own podcast from the listener's perspective - what information is worth disseminating and what conversations should everyone hear?

So when conceptualising the theme of a podcast, it's a good idea to think about what you already know a lot about and which topics you can maintain conversations around.

So think about what your podcast will be about. The clearer your 'red thread', the easier it will be for your audience to understand the purpose and aim of your content. This will also help your listeners to expect similar content in the future. Sometimes, however, you can only narrow down a topic and theme by doing, so feel free to start with a broad view and let your style and themes evolve over time.

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2. Equipment - What do you need?

The equipment requirements depend very much on the level of production quality you are aiming for. With a desk mic for less than a hundred euros, or a phone-mounted microphone (e.g. ZOOM H1n or Tascam DR-05X) and a free editing tool (e.g. Audacity, Reaper etc.) will get you started. For the longer term, we recommend Adobe Audition as an editing tool, RØDECaster Pro as a sound card and RØDE PodMic as a microphone.

The start-up costs for your own podcast are not high, but as your requirements grow, it's good to start thinking about acoustics and equipment a bit more carefully. Here are two possible shopping carts for when you start thinking about podcasting a bit more seriously!

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Kevyt ja pieni Zoom H6 sekä 2kpl RØDE PodMic -mikrofoneja on hyvä kombo esimerkiksi kentällä haastatteluja tekevälle tai näppärästi pystytettävää kotistudiota varten. Äänität raidan suoraan Zoom tallentimeen, josta siirrät keskustelun helposti editointiohjelmaasi.

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Hieman pysyvämpään studioon suosittelemme RØDECaster Pro -äänikorttia sekä esimerkiksi Podcast-maailman suosituimpia Shure SM7B -mikrofoneja. Äänikortti liitetään koneeseen USB-yhteydellä ja toimii mutkattomasti Adobe Auditionin kanssa!

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‍When thetechnology is in place, think about where you will record. The first thing to do is to minimise reverberation. For this reason, many people end up recording in a wardrobe overflowing with soft fabrics or in a bedroom where a soft bed cancels out the echo in the room. It's a good idea to avoid all potentially distracting sounds, such as traffic noise, general commotion, loud air conditioning, etc.

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3. Planning the first production season

When you're thinking about a new production and the start of a new production season, your best friends are pen and paper. Think about who you'd like to interview or what you'd like to talk about. You can list potential episode topics and guests. You'll quickly notice that the skeleton of the first season is starting to form in front of you.

When planning the structure of the sections, it is good to remember that each question takes on average about 5-15 minutes to answer. For example, in our Catch Up -podcast, we only write 4 questions (or key themes) in the body of the podcast, around which we build a conversation of around 45min. So the number of questions does not guarantee quality and sometimes simpler is better.

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Once you've written down the topics of discussion and the names of any guests, it's time to get in touch. First, contact, for example, 3 guests and arrange recording dates with them. You can either record and publish "demo episodes" that you can send as examples to future guests, or you can just feel free to call and ask new guests to join in directly.

Podcasting is still a youthful form of media and many high-profile people are honoured and excited to be invited to podcasts.

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4. Distribution channels - Which platforms do I upload my podcast to and how?

For publication, you will need a cover image designed for your production, as well as the finished/ready audio files. Multi-channel publishing is most easily done through the Anchor.fm site. The site is owned by Spotify and will distribute the audio track on your behalf to all major listening platforms( excludingSoundcloud ).

Anchor also gives you a convenient way to see the age distribution of your listeners, their locations and the duration of their listens. This information makes it easier for you to develop your production further.

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AND NOW YOU'RE READY!

If you followed these steps, you now have your very own podcast and are ready to continue developing it. However, it's worth remembering that no form of media is ever finished, it's always changing! So listen to a lot of podcasts yourself and learn from the mistakes and successes of others.

Good luck! :)

<3:llä Krash