Podcasting 4 Dummies

I'm one of those people who got told a fair bit as a kid that I was "funny", which was clearly very damaging, because here I am still thinking I'm hilarious enough to write these articles and get paid for it, or do my ridiculous rants on my instagram story that will somehow lead to a book deal. Yeah, the laughter and encouragement of my off-colour jokes and sarcasm has surely lead to a life of quiet, modest hobbies. Like a podcast where I read internet banter for a half hour and howl with laughter into the microphone as if I'm NOT sitting on my closet floor by myself.

I started getting into podcasts around four years ago when I was doing a lot of long drives between University and visiting my family in my home town. I was never one for true crime podcasts, which at the time was all anyone who was into podcasts seemed to be listening to, but loved listening to interviews, sketches, and comedy shows. I always thought about all the fun things I would talk about on my podcast, all of the traditions and routines for when I had guests on and would ask them funny questions and make them a nice beverage and sit with them at a nice table with headphones and big fancy microphones.

Flash forward to about six months ago when I'm listening to one of my favourite podcasts and their sponsor for the week is Anchor.

*I should mention now that Anchor is not paying me to write this article-- I just genuinely want to tell you about it.*

I perk right up when my lovely podcast hosts tell me I can finally have my very own podcast with a free app-- all I have to do is download Anchor, record, use their tools to edit, and post to any place podcasts are heard! So, being the very modest and shy gal I am, I hopped on right away to start making a podcast!

Sound like something you would be into, too? Well let me tell you what you need. It's pretty simple. Like, you really only need three things simple.

1. A decent microphone (or two)

I'm certainly no audio wizard-- and you don't need to be either-- but I immediately noticed a difference and improvement in sounds quality when I started using a proper microphone with a condenser and I would say this is equipment you shouldn't go without. You don't need to go for a high end one to notice a difference; mine was only $50 from amazon (see above picture) and works great-- I actually bought two for recording with guests. With an app like Anchor (and really any recording app) you definitely can use your phone or headphone mic and have it come out sounding okay, but it's pretty hard to keep out some of the feedback and background fuzz. I definitely recommend going for a step up in microphone if you want to have that clear, crisp sound you hear on other podcasts, though.

2. A good spot to record in OR some soundproofing

Again, we are not audio quality snobs, but you just don't want to be recording in an area thats too echo-y. Even with sound editing, too much echo will make it harder for your listeners to hear you, and if you're like me, you can't give them a single reason to those listeners to want to turn it off! That is, not before they listen for a few minutes and decide my stupid jokes are why they want to turn it off. We can't lose them on a technicality! Honestly, I record in my walk-in closet because a) all of the hanging clothes around me absorb the sound and make for a fairly decent sound-proofing mechanism and b) I can't set up a podcast room after I've told my husband he can't have his gaming room. If you need soundproofing panels for an echo-y room I'm told you actually don't need many, just need to know the good spots to stick them, and you'll have a spot just as good as my amazing closet floor.

3. A general format/talking points

Once you've got the basic equipment that's pretty much it! Record, edit, and post! But what will you record? I'm so glad you asked. Well, sort of. It's not really me you should be asking, that's a bit weird. I'm not judging, just wondering why you've started a podcast with nothing to talk about. I can't tell you what to talk about, but let me give you a little push into how to talk about it.

I've recorded a whole season of a podcast, and I've tried out a few different methods.

Freestyle: This can end up producing some pretty funny moments, but it also results in a need for a lot of editing for the dead air and moments you don't really want to include. Especially for myself, doing a comedy podcast, I find that this method only really works with guests. I enjoy some of the content I get when I'm riffing, and some portion of my show (live reacting to content) is always freestyle, but if I don't have at least some talking points to go off of I find myself shutting off the mic and re-setting a lot: there's at least five moments per freestyle session where I literally say out loud, "yikes that wasn't even a little bit funny" and mark it as a section to be edited.

Scripted: I have also tried literally writing out an entire opening monologue before I move on to the live reaction segment. I think this method is not one that should be overlooked-- for MANY types and genres of podcasts I think scripting is very useful and beneficial... if you know how to read a script. Obviously the con here would be your content sounding too scripted, especially if you're going for a more "off-the-cuff" or comedy feel. Make sure you know how to read and speak candidly at the same time, riffing a little on what you have written down, or it's going to be pretty obvious you're just reading into a mic. That makes it a little less fun for the listener.

*Talking Points*: If you haven't figured out this is the optimal method I've been building toward, then your third grade English teacher really failed you and I suggest sending her a strongly worded email. Thanks a lot, Mrs. McNalley. What I like to do for each episode is create a short bullet point list of my talking points; a nice mix of freestyle and scripted. They prompt me to remember what I wanted to say about what subject, but leave me room to do my thing and still speak candidly so my listeners almost feel as if we are having a really one-sided annoying conversation.

When I invite guests on the show, we do a little bit of introductions and conversation, then I have a list of the same questions I ask each person that we go through, but the real content obviously comes from their answers and how I respond, which is all just candid conversation.

For my solo episodes, I always start with a few bullet points about current events and my views on them, followed by a set up to the formatted internet content of the day, and I write down any asides or stories I'd like to tell in relation to the internet content in extremely shortened point form, again, so the telling of the story is as natural as possible, but I still have an outline for what I'll be covering.

Even if you just use this format while your podcast is brand new, I can almost guarantee you this will help aid the flow of your content. Wow, am I a media influencer now?

So, that's it! Podcasting For Dummies. I wish I had a fourth tip on how to make your podcast blow up with popularity and launch you into the world of creating for a living, but I'm still working on that one. I'll let you know as soon as I've got it figured. In the meantime, you can check out my podcast to see how I've thrown all of my "knowledge" together: Keyboard Warrior. It can be found on Anchor, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts! Shameless plug. You knew it was coming. Deal with it.