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The last episode I suggested season 18 would be all about repurposing but I’ve changed my mind. That last episode is now listed as a bonus for season 17 on Storytelling where it more properly fits. So season 18, starting with this episode will, instead, be about “Getting Started”. Normally, when I’m running classes I look at: The Why? The What?; and The How?
Why are you podcasting? What do you want to say? How does it all work? Then I move onto gear. However I’m asked more about the gear than anything else so we’ll start there today. Just keep in the back of your mind the why, the what and the how as we proceed so you can better design your setup.
I’ll kick this season off with the stuff. What’s the gear you need as a minimum to start your service’s show?
Disruption
We are living in an age where there has been much disruption. To give you some idea, way back in the 1980s, I can’t remember the actual year, Scientific American magazine had a front page with a cathode ray monitor with a drawing on it next to an etched copy plate of the same drawing. The point being, the skills needed to create an illustration for a printed publication included etching of an actual copper plate, the ability to create a negative of that plate and then a way of setting it in the printing machine. Back in the 80s, a mouse, a floppy disc and a modern printer could have the job done with any other human intervention.
By the same process, audio recording has moved from the need for a soundproof studio, an audio engineer, an outrageously expensive mic and years of experience to both pitch the voice to the mic and for someone else to process the voice into a consistent product. The equivalent of the copper plate printing process.
Since the 1980s there have been many changes in tech especially at the individual’s level.
As it pertains to podcasting, mics are much less expensive, post production has been algorithmically improved to the point where a non-audio engineer has trouble spotting the difference, the physical size of tech has shrunk if that’s what you’re looking for and the publishing process has nothing to do with huge antennae pumping waves into the ether.
The Minimal Approach
So, what’s the absolute minimum you need to start a podcast? A phone. An iPhone allows you to download GarageBand onto the phone for editing and exporting as a .mp3 file. Certainly, editing is easier on a laptop or larger but it is possible and I have done it as a last resort.
DAWs
GarageBand and Audacity (free for Apple, PC and Linux users) are Digital Audio Workstations – DAWs. You need a DAW of some sort as well as a mic and finally a host. A host holds your audio files and podcatchers download them from there. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music are just directories, sort of, but let’s go with that for the moment.
Hosting
So hosting, there’s two options, free and paid. Free comes with restrictions, Podbean provides 5 hours of free hosting, Soundcloud has two hours and other hosts have variations on these. Paid hosting ranges from the basic USD5 per month of Libsyn to thousands a month on other providers. Five hours on Podbean equals 15 twenty minute episodes. More than enough space for you to apply yourself to the discipline of podcasting and enough episodes to see if podcasting is for you.
As a bonus you’ll have 15 episodes to refer prospective clients to who want to understand what your service does. Think three five episode seasons on Client success stories, What working for you looks and feels like and a season on navigating the NDIS system. Just a thought but that looks pretty useful to have in your marketing armoury.
All done with a mic you carry with you every day, edited on free software and hosted for nothing. The question is not so much why should I start but why haven’t I already started?
Once you have your show up and running, the “gear upgrade” question raises its head. The following mics can also be used as your first option if you decide not to follow the phone route.
Mic Options
RØDE
RØDE is an Australian company producing a wide range of mics for videographers, musicians and podcasters. They have some they’ve designated as podcast specific but the one’s I’ve used are sold under USB designation. That is, they attach to your laptop’s USB input. I currently use the NT-USB mini and have used the NT-USB a larger model, funnily enough. These come with pop filters to avoid the “P” sound bouncing off the internals and causing distortions, technically known as plosives. They are robust, efficient and work. I use the mini so I can fit it into my backpack if I’m on the go and need a second or third mic.
Zoom
Another option is the field recorder, as designed for and used by audio journalist types. I use recorders from Zoom Corporation, not to be confused with the video conferencing Zoom. I have a Zoom F1, F2-BT and a Zoom H2n. The F1 and F2 require a mic to be added to them and I use a lavalier mic, sometimes called a lapel mic. These have SD cards onboard. The H2n can be used as a USB mic as well. I am enamoured of the H2n for its multiple uses and is now a little less expensive that Zoom has released the H2essential, their first update to the model in over a decade. Second hand models are out there and that’s how I bought mine eleven years ago.
XLR
If you must, there is another level of complexity you can add to your podcasting setup. This involves an XLR connected mic. Instead of the USB on the end of the cable there’s a circular plug. These mics require an extra piece of kit: a mixer or audio interface. To my mind this route recreates the radio studio and leads to too many possible points of failure. Audiophiles will argue the XLR connection is the gold standard and that may be true for the music and broadcast radio worlds but we are not in those worlds. We publish in .mp3 format, a very low level of audio file and the nuance and depth available from an XLR connected mic, supported by a soundproof booth and an audio engineer, these nuances are lost in the file type. If this sort of setup appeals, go for it. To my mind this is overkill.
My motto is: Stay light, stay flexible, just enough gear/tech to get the job done.
Next episode we’ll delve into the “Why?” of podcasting.
Check out how I can help You
RØDE: https://rode.com/en/microphones
Zoom Handy recorders: https://zoomcorp.com/en/jp/handheld-recorders/
Zoom Field recorders: https://zoomcorp.com/en/jp/field-recorders/