Do you have many things to say, a lot to share but can’t find that one person who would like to listen to you. Don’t worry, there is nothing wrong with you – you are just not having the right audience around.
Podcasting can offer you that – it can be a fun activity to try out during the quarantine and can also potentially be a great new hobby.
What is Podcast?
An episodic series of audio recorded files distributed over the internet is known as a podcast. Movies, web series, and music are popular means of passing time, but podcasts are also gaining a lot of momentum among audience these days – quiet popular during commute, drive or travel. From philosophy, entrepreneur interviews, true crime, psychology, learning sessions, or just some fun banter, you can podcast about anything; podcasts can be in any category, and can get you high quality audience that’s interested in a particular niche, which engages for much longer duration with your content compared to vlogs, and can become loyal to you if you continue to post content that’s valuable to them.
How to Start a Podcast?
Starting a podcast isn’t a very tough task and requires only a little bit of preparation. Listed below are a few easy steps to start podcasting during the pandemic:
1. Selecting a theme and name for your podcast
Choosing a topic and name is the first step to start a new podcast. Selecting a genre that you have passion for is ideal as it would help you share more insightful /richer content while also helping you articulate better. Creating one to expand your business, to share the ideas exploding within you, or simply to kill time, why not? The sky is the limit to this!
2. Decide on the podcast format
Deciding on the length, style, and presentation type is essential for every podcast. You can decide on a short 5-minute run or 2 hours long, with a solo or interview style. The show has to run on a format that in most cases will consist of an introduction, content, and the ending.
3. Choosing the best microphone for podcasting
It can be quite a daunting task to select the right kind of equipment given that a whole range of audio recording devices are available in the market. While elaborate equipment like a condenser mic (Buy here) may be an ideal choice, even the humble voice recording app on your phone could help you test you liking to podcasting.
On the other hand if you are looking for a multipurpose microphone, you can opt for a compact, lightweight, and easy to use microphone that can be used for a wide range of needs – whether you want to record an podcast or audio for a vlog – this wireless lavalier microphone could be a good starting point for you. With a cardioid pickup pattern and a 400 mAh rechargeable battery, this lavalier lapel microphone is the best device to begin with.
This device offers wide compatibility, and it can be used with both iPhones and Android phones as well as PCs, while its plug and play feature lets you record fairly good sound!
4. Software for recording and editing your podcast
A good software will help you effortlessly record and edit at the same time. To ensure a smooth recording, a podcast software is essential. Some well-known software are:
GarageBand: Touted as a fully equipped music creation studio, GarageBand has a complete sound library with a modern user interface.
Logic Pro: Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation designed especially for macOS. This software has a very easy to use interface and is fairly simple to use.
Adobe Audition: A comprehensive digital audio workstation, Adobe Audition can be used on all operating systems.
Audacity: A cross platform audio editing software, Audacity is a popular podcast editing software.
After recording, all that you just have to do is edit a bit and you’re good to go!
5. Hosting and Distributing your Podcast
Uploading the podcast requires a podcasting hosting account and with so many of them around it is fairly easy to do so. A media hosting website does all the easy work instead of you having to do complicated sounding tasks like hosting, distributing, or embedding ID3 tags into your MP3 file. With a hosting account like Buzzsprout, or one with Anchor, all that it takes is a click of a button, and it’s done!
Podcasting is a fun hobby and we hope that this simple guide will help you foray into it.