Make a podcast It is the simplest thing in the world. she already said it Danny Saadiafounder of the production house He said, neither the production nor the distribution of a podcast require large budgets or large maneuvers. Just have one at hand computer or a telephone and a good conversation with your friends. No?
The problem comes when you want to make a podcast that is listened to not only by you and your friends, but also by hundreds or thousands of people. The quality and robustness of the audio, the format of the content and every detail of the distribution become a real task for those who want to call themselves a podcaster. Not to mention the competition you will face when you publish your podcast on any or all of the streaming platforms.
The best thing is, then, to turn to those who already know, those who have already done a podcast or, better yet: those who make a living from doing podcasts.
The fastest and most effective is to go to Youtube. Hundreds of thousands of videos on how to prepare the space where you will record your podcast, many others that explain how to edit it and a few more that will guide you, step by step, in the distribution process.
But sometimes video tutorials are not enough. Either because they do not carefully cover each of the problems that someone who intends to make a moderately well-produced podcast will surely run into, or because they do not delve into details that can be decisive when having a microphone in front of them, such as the performance of your own voice.
NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide, by Glen Weldon.
In those cases, the old manual in book format it is a good alternative. Written by Glen Weldon and published by Have Speed Press, NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide is the definitive guide to bringing a podcast to fruition. The book keeps the secrets that the United States Public Radio Service o NPR uses to produce some of the best podcasts not only in English, but also in Spanish.
In addition to authoring this manual, Weldon is the host of one of NPR’s most popular podcasts, Pop Culture Happy Houra “happy hour” of reviews and commentary on the latest pop culture news.
It should be said that the United States Public Radio Service, which is largely nourished by hundreds of radio stations nationwide, has become one of the largest podcast production houses globally, along with Gimlet, Vox and Podium, in the case of the Hispanic language.
The book is divided into four parts: imagine, plan, create, and share, the four basic stages of podcast production. From the conceptualization of your podcast: what will it be about? What format will it have? Its programming: how often will it have? How long does it take me to do it? Recording and editing: what is the best volume to record a podcast? Can I remove that sound? And finally, the distribution: what is the best platform? Is it legal to upload a snippet of a song?
All these questions find an answer in Walden’s book, where particular experiences of presenters, editors, producers of different NPR podcasts are also shared. All through a pleasant language that does not forget to establish certain methodologies so as not to succumb halfway. Hopefully soon it will be translated into Spanish.
Bibliographic file: Weldon, Glen (2021). NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide. Edition: Have Speed Press304 pages.