If you were going to create your own podcast, but didn't know where to start, this text is for you. We tell you how to make cool releases, together with the author and presenter of "Gossip", "Who Would Speak" and "Design Bureau" podcasts and audio equipment manufacturer HARMAN.
1. Choose a niche
Podcasts are very popular now, but they are still not very numerous. Find a niche where podcasts are smaller: it is easier to compete there.
Usually podcasts are interviews with invited guests, question and answer sessions, news or recommendations. You can find podcasts in the "Fact of the day" or "History of the day" format, film or album reviews, and tips for travelers or animal owners.
All this is quite a wide range of topics in which it will be difficult to circumvent competitors. You can go to a popular podcast service like PodHunt or Stitcher and see what ideas and trends are now at the top. And when inspired, go look for your narrowest niche.
You can move in different directions. For example, to create a podcast for people who will listen to it only in the chair at the hairdresser or in the gym. Or you can offer a topic in which you know very well. Here are some ideas for inspiration.
- Vintage gadgets: how they are arranged.
- What to talk about with cats when they look at you.
- Guess what the book is about, knowing only its title.
- A podcast that motivates you to get out of bed.
- Night Tales for those over 30.
- Strange holidays from around the world.
- Women inventors and their creations.
2. Provide quality sound
The podcast should not only be interesting, but also comfortable to listen to. Try to squeeze the maximum quality out of your equipment.
A standard microphone in a smartphone or laptop has medium capabilities. It distorts speech, does not convey the nuances of the sound of voice, and the recording is quiet, "flat", it is difficult to remove noise. Making something comfortable to listen to is very time consuming, and still it is unlikely that the final result will really suit you and your listeners like royalty free hip hop instrumental music for background.
The AKG Lyra condenser microphone will help you record speech cleanly and without any extraneous noise. Professional sound quality is ensured by an array of four capsules directed in different directions. Built-in amplifiers will allow you to record even whispering from a distance of several meters or ASMR-track, which will cause unusual but very pleasant sensations.
AKG Lyra supports various recording modes, which can be switched with the button on the body:
- front only - for podcasts, blogs, let's plays, playing musical instruments next to the microphone;
- Front & Back (front and back) - for interviews or musical duets;
- classical stereo - for parallel interviews and group discussions when the left and right channels should be recorded separately;
- Wide Stereo - for recording multiple audio sources, transmitting the width and volume of the sound stage, reports and events.
3. Make releases on a regular basis
Think of the rules according to which your podcast comes out, tell your subscribers about them and always stick to them. There is nothing worse than disappointed listeners.
It is better to go out strictly once a week on Fridays than to do 3-4 editions in a couple of days and then disappear for a month. Regularity is very important. After all, subscribers are waiting for new releases, and if they do not receive their "reward", they feel cheated and no longer come to listen to you.
For you to have enough time to record, process, and place the podcast, you will finally have to clean up your schedule. One of the easiest ways is the Eisenhower Matrix (the same Dwight Eisenhower, 34th US President).
4. Listen to yourself.
Always record the podcast in headphones to understand how you sound. After all, you hear yourself in a different way than the listeners - it's physiology.
Millions of people do not yet record podcasts because they do not like the sound of their own voice from outside. This phenomenon even has a name - voice confrontation.
We are afraid of the sound of our own voice, because it does not meet our expectations. You're used to hearing yourself differently: part of the sound is airborne into your ears, and the other part is airborne through the skull through bone conduction. It makes the bass richer, and your own voice seems more pleasant to you. When you listen to yourself in a recording, it seems to you that this voice belongs to someone else. This is normal: few people like their own sound. And it's useful to analyze your audio files. In this way you can soberly estimate the tempo of speech, tone, emotionality and other important characteristics.
But you can't just write down the podcast, put it on the Net and forget about it. To create a really high quality product, you have to work.
The AKG 361WT is a professional monitor headphone that allows you to effectively work with sound and enjoy music on the go. You can connect them by cable to the audio interface and hear yourself while recording a podcast or flight display. Or you can pair the AKG 361W with your smartphone via Bluetooth without any wires. This allows you to enjoy studio-quality sound wherever you are.
The AKG 361WT headphones have advanced speakers with oxygen-free copper coils. Sound is balanced, all frequencies are transmitted smoothly, without distortion. Soft ear cushions are made of quality leatherette, headband is adjustable, so the AKG 361WT is comfortable to stay all day. It is a worthy choice both for productive work and bright rest.
5. Do not overestimate the power of improvisation
Do not sit down to record the podcast until you have at least sketched a rough plan.
How long will your podcast be? How long will you be able to talk continuously without long pauses in search of the next phrase? Will you be able to not deviate from the subject and not jump from one idea to another? Will you be able to stay interesting for your listeners throughout the podcast?
Improvisation is always great, especially if you are not leading the podcast alone. But the actors know how hard it is to improvise to be believed by the audience. Or, in your case, the audience.
Therefore, at the beginning it is necessary to make a detailed plan and count on the minutes you will talk about. This will help you stay in tune throughout the podcast, not to miss anything important and not to get into lengthy reflections.
When you sit down to write a plan, at the very beginning or after a dozen items are ready, you may get all thoughts and ideas out of your mind. There may be a fear of a clean slate, and notions that you were inspired to think about just 5 minutes ago, will no longer seem interesting and exciting.
Written practices will be useful in such situations. They develop the ability to plan, form thoughts into words on paper, create interesting texts and podcasts and help to believe in yourself. For example:
- Morning pages. Every morning write a couple of pages about what you are worried about. There are exactly two rules: sit for this lesson as early as possible and do not stop, even if nothing comes to mind. Write about what surrounds you, what you think about - and you'll be surprised how much you want to say.
- List of 100. Write about 100 things that you dream about. Or 100 situations that you would like to be in. Or about 100 people that would be great to meet in a bar. At some point it will be difficult, but in the end you will probably want to include much more than 100 items in the list.
6. Don't hope to start making money on it.
Do not turn your podcast into a business project. Do it because you are interested and because you have fun. Let the money (if it does come one day) be a pleasant surprise.
The most expensive and popular podcast to date is The Joe Rogan Experience by American comedian Joe Rogan. In May, the Spotify streaming service bought the rights to it for $100 million - this is a tenth of the market.
There are several ways to monetize podcasts. For example, you can place releases on Patreon and make them available only to your "cartridges". Access levels can be adjusted. For example, you can open all podcasts for one amount per month, double the number of chat rooms for communication, and five times the number of podcasts at the end of the issue.
Reliable, feature-rich technology is easy to set up and affordable. With it, you can create podcasts that listeners will love.