Podcasting with Aaron

Hello friends! I need to republish an episode for work stuff, so I thought I'd share this one from 2021 again and say hello! Also I'd love to hear any questions you have about podcasts or podcasting, please visit this Google Form I set up and fill it out if you'd like to share your question(s)! Hope you've been well! Aaron Dowd, Fort Worth Texas November 16, 2023 --- My goal for this episode is to give you a big picture roadmap for how to start a podcast. You give me 30 minutes of your time, I'll tell you everything I know about starting a podcast. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive guide that covers everything you’ll need to know (that would take awhile longer and I'd like to keep this pretty short), but my hope is that it gives you enough information to help you start making progress on starting your own podcast. If you’re listening to this in a podcast app, I’d recommend pausing it and switching over to my YouTube video. I’ll be showing some screenshots and other visual aids that I think you’ll find helpful. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/4zfglqqHHtA Connect: Website: https://www.aarondowd.com/ Threads: https://threads.com/aarondowdtx Send me your podcasting questions: https://forms.gle/mGtoq9dQZjBrJNKt9 Aaron Dowd Granbury, Texas December 20, 2020 (Last updated November 16, 2023)

94: How to Get Good Sound for Your Podcast, Part 6: Talk Through Audio Gear with Your Guests and Co-Hosts Before You Start Recording Good sound quality isn't the only thing you need to be successful in podcasting, but bad audio quality will cost you listeners. It only takes a few minutes to talk to your guest or co-hosts about their recording setup, but it can help you identify and prevent potential audio issues. The good news is that you don't have to spend a lot of money or have an expensive studio to record quality audio. You just need to know a few things about recording audio, and follow the tips and the recording checklist I'm sharing in this episode. This is part 6 of a 7 part series about how to make sure your podcast sounds good. You can listen to the other episodes at podcastingwithaaron.com, or watch the video on Youtube here. Today's podcasting tips: 1. Talk to your guests and/or co-hosts about their audio recording setup before you start recording It only takes a few minutes to talk to your guest or co-hosts about their recording setup, but it can help you identify potential audio issues and prevent them. I'd recommend doing this a week or at least a couple days before the recording. For example, maybe your guest didn't know that they need to wear headphones or use some kind of microphone. 2. Be prepared to provide gear recommendations Not everyone knows what kind of gear they need to sound good on a podcast, so keep a list of affordable recommendations handy! I have my podcast gear recommendations listed on the kit.co website, so I can share it with anyone who asks. (Pretty much anything is better than a built-in computer microphone.) 3. Podcasting with a co-host? Make sure you're on the same page about gear and audio quality If you're starting a podcast with a co-host, talk to them about investing in a good recording setup. If you're recording from different locations, you'll both need a microphone and headphones. If you're recording in the same room, buy an audio interface and a couple of microphones as well as headphones. It's always a good idea to record a couple practice episodes to make sure you can dial in your settings and record audio that sounds good. You want your first episode to sound good! 4. Podcast Recording Checklist for Guests or Co-Hosts Wear headphones or earbuds while recording. Double check that the correct audio input device is selected in your recording software. If possible, find a quiet room to record in. Turn off fans, AC units, heaters,or anything else that creates noise in your room. Disable system notifications and/or set your phone to silent (Airplane Mode works best). Put any pets in a place where they won't make noise or disturb you while you're recording. Quit or pause Dropbox, Google Drive, Backblaze, or any other file syncing or bandwidth-heavy tasks before the call. Recap: Talk to your guest or co-host about their recording setup in advance. Give them recommendations: Record in a quiet room, use a microphone, wear headphones, set cell phone to airplane mode. If you're starting a podcast with a co-host, ask them to invest in a microphone and record a couple practice episodes to make sure you can record audio that sounds good. Follow the podcast recording checklist and sharing it with your guests and co-hosts. Talk to your guests and co-hosts about audio quality! You don't have to make a huge deal about it, but it does make a difference in the success of your show. That's all for this week's episode. Next week will be the final topic in this series, I'll be talking about learning the basics of audio editing, mixing and mastering. Thanks for listening If you have any feedback or questions, visit my website at podcastingwithaaron.com. I've got links to the social media accounts and my email address there. I'm back on Twitter and Instagram as aarondowdtx, so you can follow me there and ask questions if you'd like. Connect with me here: website: podcastingwithaaron.com twitter...

If you only need to record your own voice, or maybe a couple people in the same room, you won't have a hard time ending up with a podcast that sounds good. However, if you want to record interviews or episodes with guests or co-hosts that are in different locations, getting good sound becomes harder. You won't have any control over which microphones the other people are using, if they use good mic technique, if they know how to set input gain levels correctly, what kind of room or location they're recording in, and so on. It's always a good idea to have a conversation about someone's recording setup before you sit down for an interview or start a new podcast with a friend who lives in a different place, and that's something I'll be talking more about in the next episode. But the the software you use to record the interview or conversation is going to play a big role in whether or not you end up with audio that sounds good. You have three options for recording audio for a podcast: 1. Talk with your guests or co-hosts using a chat app like Zoom or Skype, and have everyone record audio locally on their computer or phone, then put the audio files together afterwards for editing. This is easy enough for shows with the same co-hosts every time, but not always an option if you're doing interviews with new people every week. Your guests might not be willing or able to record an audio file to a computer or phone. 2. Use the recording functionality from a chat app like Zoom or Anchor, where you end up with a single audio file that has everyone's voice in it. This is easy, but often causes issues with sound quality (more on that in a moment). This was very common in years past because there weren't any good apps that made it easy to talk to and record multiple people at the same time and get an individual audio track for each person. 3. Use an app specifically made for podcast recording, like Squadcast or Zencastr. This is the best option for most people in my opinion, as these apps allow you to talk to multiple people and will also record an audio file for each person on the call that you can put together and work on in your audio editing software later. The pros and cons of recording everyone to a single track Pros: It can be simpler, easier Less friction or work for your guest(s) Editing is less complicated (this isn't always a good thing, though) Cons: Less control over editing and mixing You can't adjust the volume levels for each speaker without doing lots of editing to move them to their own tracks The pros and cons of recording a track for every person Pros: Far more control and flexability You can edit out more You can adjust any person's gain level (how loud they are) You can do unique audio processing on each track if you need to Cons: It's a little more time consuming and complicated to edit three audio tracks at the same time instead of one If you do want to do processing for each voice, you'll need to know about EQ, compression, noise removal, and limiting (although I'd recommend learning about those things anyways if you're going to be editing your podcast) Good software costs money ($20/month for Squadcast, plus whatever software you use for multi-track audio editing, Logic Pro or Audition) So which should you choose? I believe Squadcast is currently the best and easiest way to record conversations remotely. It's not free, but it's worth the cost. If you disagree or if you have a different solution you like (there are many remote chat and recording options, like Zencastr, Cleanfeed, Zoom Pro, and so on), leave a comment on the YouTube video and let the other listeners know, or send me an email, aaron@thepodcastdude.com. Thanks for watching or listening, be sure to subscribe if you'd like to get future episodes as I publish them. If you're finding this show useful, please tell a friend about it or leave me a rating and review in Apple Podcasts. You can find more at podcastingwithaaron.com. Next time I'll be talking about...

Last episode I talked about mic technique and how to set gain levels. This week I'm going to talk about how the room you're recording in might affect the quality of your sound. The most important thing is to pay attention to how you sound in your room. The room you're recording in is probably only going to cause problems if there are a lot of hard surfaces that reflect your voice back enough to make it hard to understand what you're saying. If you hear an echo in your recording that bothers you, figure out how to address it. Example: When I started recording podcasts back in 2013, I was recording in my “office”, which was just a small dining room with a standing desk in it. It was a small room with almost no furniture in it, so there was a fair amount of echo in my recordings. I tried to compensate for this by bringing in some big couch cushions. That helped a little, but I ended up moving my desk and recording set up to my bedroom and building some sound absorbing panels to help reduce the echo more. The ideal room for recording will be a room with quite a bit of soft stuff in it. Furniture like chairs, couches and bookshelves can all help absorb and break apart sound waves so you don't hear as much echo. This is why bedrooms can actually be ideal rooms for recordings. You've got a bed and a closet, and probably a carpet; all things that can help absorb sound. Important Things to Remember: The room you're recording in is only a problem if there are a lot of hard surfaces that reflect your voice back enough to make it hard to understand what you're saying. The most important thing is to pay attention to how you sound. If you hear an echo that bothers you, figure out how to address it. The solution to this is to add more soft surfaces or things to absorb some of that sound: Blankets, pillows, couch cushions, clothes from your closet, foam sound absorbing panels, carpets, etc. Just a reminder: Eliminate potential distracting background noises before you hit record. Turn off fans, AC, or heaters, and set your phone to airplane mode, put your pets in a different room, etc. It’s possible to improve sound quality a little bit with post production, but it's pretty hard to remove echo from a recording in a way that sounds natural. It’s better to fix the problems before you start recording. Finally, don't stress too much about your room. If you follow the tips I shared last week about mic technique and setting gain levels correctly for your recording, you probably sound good. Recommend Reading: How podcasts powered through the pandemic—and what comes next - Chartable Room Echo and Background Noise: Sound Proofing and Absorption for Podcasters Thanks for watching or listening to this week's episode. If you have questions, please leave a comment on my YouTube channel or send me an email, aaron@thepodcastdude.com If you like this episode, please give it a thumbs-up on YouTube or leave me a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe to get future episodes for free and as soon as they come out. You can find more episodes and other cool stuff at podcastingwithaaron.com. Next week I'll be talking about why you should record an audio track for each person that's going to be on your podcast, and some easy ways to do that. Till then, have a great week, and happy podcasting. Aaron

Last week I talked about how to connect your microphone and headphones and make sure you're ready to start recording. This week I'm going to walk you through the basics of microphone technique and how to set the input gain levels (or recording levels) so you can sound good anytime you want to record some audio. Just a heads up: If you're listening to this episode in a podcast app, I'd recommend switching over to the YouTube video, as I believe it's easier to understand mic technique and input gain levels if you can see what I'm doing and talking about. Watch the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/hn09tFzJ0PQ 1. Mic Technique Gotta be close to the mic (but not too close). Make sure the right side of the mic is pointed at you. You don't have to speak directly at or into the mic. Try putting off to the side a bit (still keep it pointed at your mouth). For most mics, the closer you are, the more bass the mic will record. (This is called the proximity effect, if you want to do some research on it.) So if you have a naturally loud, low, bassy voice, you might want to keep the mic a little further away. In most cases, keeping your mouth 3-6 inches away from the mic should probably work great for you. This is also something you'll want to play around with. Make some practice recordings to hear how you sound at different distances from the mic. 2. Setting Input Gain Levels Most USB microphones and audio interfaces have input gain knobs or sliders that allow you to control the strength of the signal your microphone is picking up. The goal is to get a recording that is loud enough but not too loud. The best way to do this is to position the mic close to you and start talking like you'll be talking on your podcast. Then watch the input gain meters in your recording software and adjust the gain knob or slider on your mic or interface until the peaks of the signal are getting up to about 75% of the way to the top of your meter (or the red zone in most software gain meters). (If the gain meter in your software is vertical, that's the top, if it's horizontal, like in GarageBand, that's the right side.) Here's another way to think about it: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being way too quiet, and 10 being too loud, you want your signal to average around 6 or 8. So not always hitting that top limit of 10, but probably somewhere about 5. If you find your recording is a little too quiet after you're done recording, you do have the option to add more gain to increase the level of your audio track later. Important Things to Remember You don't have to speak directly into the mic. You can talk past it. As long as it's close enough to your mouth, you'll still sound good. Make test recordings to see how you sound! Try recording just to play around with mic technique and input gain levels. This will help you get comfortable with how your gear works, and how your voice sounds at different distances from the mic and at different gain levels. Recommend Reading: Gain Staging Like a Pro from Sweetwater Podcasts and Capital from Justin Jackson Thanks for watching or listening to this weeks episode. If you have questions, please leave a comment on my YouTube channel or send me an email, aaron@thepodcastdude.com If you like this episode, please give it a thumbs-up on YouTube or leave me a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe to get future episodes for free and as soon as they come out. You can find more episodes and other cool stuff at podcastingwithaaron.com or aarondowd.com. Next week I'll be talking about how the room you're recording in can affect how you sound, and I'll share a few tips about how to fix a few common issues related to that. Till then, have a great week, and happy podcasting. Aaron

Watch the video version of this episode here. Welcome back to another episode of Podcasting with Aaron. I hope you're having a good week so far. I know I certainly have. This past week has been one of the better weeks in recent memory. Possibly the best week since 2016, actually. Last week I talked about the importance of getting good sound for your podcast. I talked about why good sound matters, what it means when something sounds good, and why you should get yourself that nice podcast microphone you've been looking at. This week I want to talk about something that might seem basic to you if you've been podcasting for a while. I want to talk about connecting your microphone and headphones, and making sure you have your microphone (or audio interface if you're using one) set as the input source for whatever recording software you're using. I remember the first time I bought a microphone and a little audio interface. I probably spent close to an hour trying to figure out how to record an audio file because I didn't know that I was supposed to set the audio interface as the input source for the recording software I was using, and then also that I needed to select the channel my mic was plugged into (channel 1) as the audio source for the audio track in the program. You'd be surprised at how many podcasts are recorded where someone forgets to set their good microphone as the input source, and ends up with a recording that was made with the built-in microphone on their desktop computer. Which makes them sound far away and thin and not good. And the goal here is to sound good. The Essentials: Connecting Your Microphone and Headphones Step 1: Is everything plugged in and turned on? USB Microphones If you're using a USB microphone: Is it plugged into your computer? Yes? Good. Now, which program are you going to use for recording? You need to make sure your microphone is set as the audio input source for that program. Usually you select your audio input source in the settings, or the preferences area of the software. If you're having a hard time finding how to set your mic as the input source for your recording software, do a quick search on Google or YouTube. Next: Does your USB microphone have a headphone port on it? (A place to plug in your headphones.) If so, plug your headphones into that. This is a good idea because it will allow you to hear what you sound like in real time. You'll hear people refer to this as "monitoring yourself". You'll also need to choose the audio output source for whatever recording software you're using. Essentially, where should the audio from your computer go? If you're interviewing someone, and your headphones are plugged into your USB mic, you don't want the audio from your computer going to your computer speakers. You want it to go to your USB microphone. Quick recap: Make sure your recording software is using the right mic before you start recording, and also that your software or computer is sending audio to the right place. It's pretty easy once you've gone through this a couple times, but I've seen many podcasters struggle with this set up when they're first getting starting, and also it's important to get in the habit of double-checking your input and output settings before you start interviewing someone or recording an episode. XLR Microphones + Audio Interface If you bought an XLR microphone and an audio interface (like I'm using here), the set up process is going to be similar, but there's a few additional things to keep in mind. Step 1: Plug your microphone or microphones into your audio interface using an XLR microphone cable. Next, plug the audio interface into your computer. Your interface should have come with a right cable for your computer, but it's possible you might need an adapter. Like if the cable for your audio interface is a USB-C cable, and your computer only has USB-A ports and no USB-C ports, then you'll need to buy a USB-C to USB-A adapter. Make sense? Google has answers...

I've been obsessed with things that sound good for as long as I could remember. I've always loved music and the effect it has on my body and brain, so I got interested in the process of creating and capturing sound when I was young. The first podcasts I started listening to back in 2008/2009 were professionally produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by folks who had been working in radio for a long time. So they sounded really good. Then I started listening to some shows produced by normal folks, what you'd call independent podcasters. I liked the content just as much, but I noticed that the sound quality was usually a lot lower, and sometimes so bad it made me stop listening to the show. So I started wondering, can you make a podcast that sounds good even if you don't have a lot of money to spend? Is it possible? I figured out that there were a few key things that made a big difference. So I'm going to make a series of episodes where I share what I've learned about audio recording and sound quality, and how to make a podcast that sounds good. Q: Does it really matter how good you sound? Yes! The quality of an audio recording affects how trustworthy and credible listeners think you are. As a podcast host, you want people to be able to hear you clearly and understand you. If they have a hard time hearing and understanding you, they're not going to stick around for very long. The same goes for any co-hosts or guests you have on your show as well. There's a research article by Eryn Newman and Norbert Shwartz from the University of Southern California published in 2018 that demonstrates the importance of good sound quality. The articles references a study in which two groups of people were shown a video of a scientific talk and asked to rate the credibility and trustworthiness of the presenters. The first group got a version of the video with high quality audio. The second group got a version of the video with low quality audio. When the video was difficult to hear, viewers thought the talk was worse, the speaker less intelligent and less likeable and the research less important. “As soon as we reduced the audio quality, all of a sudden, the scientists and their research lost credibility.” - Eryn Newman The quality of audio influences whether you believe what you hear - news.usc.edu It's important to learn how to record and publish audio that sounds good. Q: When you say something sounds good, what does that mean? I use to talk a lot about sounding good, but I never really broke it down in a way that was easy to understand. I know because I got a 2 star review in Apple Podcasts last year from Red84604. Red wrote: I can appreciate that the podcast dude is a musician. So am I. But his obsession with audio quality made me look for another podcast to reach me how to podcast. Even if I came to this podcast exclusively for advice about audio, it wouldn’t be useful for that because, from the very beginning, his advice assumes that the listener already knows a whole lot about the subject (more than I know and I actually was a professional musician for a while). I couldn’t follow it. And he went on for episode after episode. I want to produce a podcast with great audio. But even after listening to several episodes I am still not sure how to do that because his advice was so technical. And his snobbery on the topic was off-putting. Sorry. That's fair criticism. So really, you can thank Red for this whole 7 part series I'm about to make and share with you. When I say a podcast sounds good, it means each voice that you hear in the episode is clear and easy to understand, and not difficult to listen to because of distracting background noise or other factors that make it hard to hear and understand someone who is speaking. Let's break that down even further. Clear and easy to understand means: * You've got a microphone that works well for recording a human voice, and you're relatively close to that microphone when you're speaking. * Your...

Hey friends! I told you in a previous episode that I was going to release new episodes on Saturdays, but it's a Monday. So I'm sorry about that. I know inconsistency is lame. I'm going through a weird time right now when it comes to my show. The events of last week got me thinking about the pros and cons of social media, which got me to start thinking about all the time I was giving away for free, doing things that make money for other people. I spent most of Saturday writing and recording...

My goal for this episode is to give you a big picture roadmap for how to start a podcast. You give me 30 minutes of your time, I'll tell you everything I know about starting a podcast. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive guide that covers everything you’ll need to know (that would take awhile longer and I'd like to keep this pretty short), but my hope is that it gives you enough information to help you start making progress on starting your own podcast. If you’re listening to this in a podcast app, I’d recommend pausing it and switching over to my YouTube video. I’ll be showing some screenshots and other visual aids that I think you’ll find helpful. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/4zfglqqHHtA I also plan to publish a more detailed version of this episode as an affordable downloadable PDF and video and checklist, so I’ll include a link to that in the episode notes as well whenever it’s ready. A Few Pieces of Advice Before We Get Started: Anyone Can Start a Podcast Anyone can start a podcast! Yes, even you! To do it well does cost some money and a fair amount of time and effort, but it’s not extremely expensive, and you don't need anyone's permission to do it. The hardest part (from what I've seen) is growing an audience and getting people to listen to your podcast and share it with other people. Try to make a show that other people will find valuable and interesting A common mistake I see a lot of people make is starting a show where they just talk about whatever random subject they feel like talking about. It can be fun to do that for awhile, but it’ll be hard to convince strangers to listen to you unless you're already known for something. Everyone has an opinion, and most strangers probably aren't going to be interested in hearing yours. To stand out, you’ll need to figure out how to provide something valuable, useful, or interesting to them. Aim to make your show entertaining, educational, or inspirational. If you can make it be all three, even better. If you don’t feel like you have anything important or interesting to say, it’s ok to put off podcasting for awhile. Focus instead of becoming an interesting, experienced person who can talk about a topic or tell stories in a way that makes people notice and pay attention. Don't give up when the going gets tough. You’re going to encounter road blocks and get stuck sometimes. There are answers to every question out there on the internet in blog posts, YouTube videos, books, podcasts, etc. Be patient and learn to enjoy the process of learning. Don’t get frustrated if you can’t accomplish a task right away. Podcasting is a marathon, not a sprint. Success comes to those who stick with it for a long time, so don’t give up if you don’t achieve all your goals right away. Stay focused, keep working, keep iterating and getting better. If you have questions, please feel free to send them to me, or you can find more information out there on the internet if you search. The Ultimate Goal: End up with an awesome podcast you love My goal with this episode and show is to help you end up with a podcast you’re proud of and that other people love, listen to, and share with their friends. One of the best ways to do this is to learn from other people who have already created podcasts that people love. This is why I recommend checking out the top shows in Apple Podcasts and Spotify for inspiration. Pay close attention to their podcast cover artwork and their show descriptions. Look for shows that are similar to the show you want to make. Learn from them, get inspired by them. 4 Key Parts to Podcasting There are four main parts of making a great podcast. They are: 1. Planning & Pre-Production 2. Recording & Production 3. Editing & Post-Production 4. Launching & Promoting Let's go through each of these steps in more detail. 1: Pre-Production / Planning the Show The Goal: Come up a title, theme, short description, branding/visual style, and format for your show, and choose a time in your schedule...

Why are you procrastinating? This is an important question, and is worth considering, reflecting on, and writing about. It could be a few different things. You've decided that something else is more important. What are you doing (or what should you be doing) that's more important than your podcast? Maybe a podcast isn't what you're supposed to be focusing on right now. That's ok! You can come back to podcasting later. I'd suggest prioritizing sleep and rest, exercise, time with family and friends, and time addressing any major issues or distractions in your life before you invest time in podcasting. Basically, get your shit together first before spending time and energy on a podcast. Make sure you are in a good place mentally and physically. It's very hard to create and share something with the world if you're overwhelmed, stressed out, exhausted, or distracted. Not impossible, but difficult. The main reasons I procrastinated on podcasting: 1. I prioritized the wrong things 2. I was burned out 3. I was scared that what I was making wasn't good enough Maybe you don't know what you need to do next. Write a to-do list with action steps. Make it as detailed as possible, but give yourself a 20 minute time limit. Maybe you do know what you need to do next, but you haven't decided when you're going to do it. Once you know what the next steps are, you need to decide when you're going to work on them. I found it helpful to pair actions together until they become a habit. This is commonly called Habit Stacking. For example, everyday after I wake up, I do yoga for at least 20 minutes. After yoga, I make coffee. As soon as coffee is done, I walk the dogs. Having those three actions linked together like that has made it extremely easy to do them every day. I've only skipped this morning routine one or two days in the past 4 months (Thanksgiving and the day after) thanks to habit stacking. Do something like this with your podcast production and make it easier on yourself to make podcasting a habit. For another example, after I've done recording and publishing this episode, I'll be going on a long bike ride. After the bike ride, I'll watch the latest episode of the Mandalorian with a friend. Habit Stacking. It works. You decided when you're going to do it, but then did something else that felt more important. There's two questions I think are the most important questions to consider when it comes to making a podcast. What do you hope to get out of the podcast? What do you hope the listeners will get out of it? If you don't have a clear and concise and compelling answer to both of these questions, it's going to be very easy for you to make something else a priority. Remember, your brain doesn't want you to do work. You're only going to invest the energy if you know the work is important and that it will result in some kind of reward. Get clear on why you're making a podcast instead of doing something else. Maybe you tried, didn't like the results, then gave up. It's easy to talk about or think about having a podcast. It's safer than actually making one and putting it out into the world. Making a podcast will cost you time and money and effort. Our brains try to do as little work as possible, and podcasting is work, so your brain will try to keep you from expending the energy. You also might struggle with the voice in your head that's doubting your ability to succeed. ”What if no one likes it?” the voice asks. ”What if no one listens? What if you're no good? What if you waste your time? What if people make fun of you? What if you make a mistake or say something that's incorrect?” It's easy to let these fears keep you from making a podcast. Forget about making it perfect. Focus on making it, doing the best you can now, and improving as you go. I promise you that you probably have much higher expectations for your work than anyone else does. Set realistic expectations. What can you actually accomplish today, or this week? How much time can you...

Hey friend! Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you're having a good day wherever you are. If this is your first time hearing or seeing me, welcome! I'm glad you're here! My name is Aaron Dowd and I'm here to help you learn about podcasting and connect you with other great podcasters in the podcasting community. If it's been awhile since you heard from me, I'm sorry I've been absent for so long, but thanks for giving me another chance! If you've been following for more than a couple years, you know I used to host a podcast and YouTube channel called The Podcast Dude. I'm renaming and relaunching that show and calling it Podcasting With Aaron. My Two Goals for This Show First, to share everything I've learned about podcasting so far. I've been making podcasts and helping people make podcasts for about 8 years now. I don't know everything, but I'd like to share what I have learned, and hopefully it will be helpful to you. Let's learn together! Second, I want to introduce you to other podcast producers and people working in the podcasting. I know that it's hard to do things alone, and finding other people who share your enthusiasm for podcasting can be challenging. Fortunately there's an amazing community of people who are passionate about podcasting, and I think we should all be friends. I want to help facilitate those friendships and make introductions through this show. New Episodes Every Saturday That's right: New episodes every Saturday! I know how important it is to have something to look forward to, and a weekly cadence is what I'm committing to. The format for the show will be simple, to prevent me from overthinking it and procrastinating. I'm going to record a video for YouTube first, and export the audio from the video to publish in my podcast RSS feed. I think you'll enjoy the video version the most, but I understand if you like listening in your podcast app better. I'll try to make sure the audio-only version is just as good as the video version, and include links to anything I show in the video in the podcast show notes. I'll have a few different segments that I'll be doing regularly: Q&A, where I answer your questions Tips & tricks, where I talk about a specific topic related to podcasting Interviews, where I talk to podcasters and people making useful things for podcasters Recommendations, where I talk about things I think you should know about or check out (news, videos, blog posts, gear, etc) Personal updates, just to give you a peek into my life and what I've been up to I'll aim for 15 minute episodes, and try to keep them under 30 minutes unless I'm doing an interview (sometimes it's nice to let those go a little longer). I'll bring an outline and notes, but I'll try not to script it too much. I'll make sure to have the next week's topic ready and share it at the end of every episode. What I Need From You: I do have a favor to ask: Please leave a comment in YouTube or a review in Apple Podcasts and tell me about yourself and your show. I'd like to know how you found me, how long you've been listening or watching, and what your podcast is about, and if you have any questions or things you're currently struggling with related to podcasting. This helps me get to know you a little better which will help me make this show better, but it will also help other people connect with you as well. And if you have any feedback, suggestions, or encouragement you'd like to share, I'd love to hear those too. The website for this show is podcastingwithaaron.com, that's where you can find links to my social media accounts and other resources and stuff related to me and this show. If you have a question you'd like me to answer on the show, record a voice memo and email it to aaron@thepodcastdude.com. Dedications I'd like to dedicate this show to a few people. To Sofia, for always inspiring me to get better, and to my nephew Silas: I hope this show inspires you to start your own helpful YouTube channel or podcast...

Juleyka Lantigua-Williams shares her strategy for audience growth and how it's put her shows on the path to reach 1 million downloads by the end of the year. Here's what I learned in this episode: Audience growth isn't something that magically happens once you start publishing episodes. If you want to grow your audience and get more listeners and fans, there's three important questions to ask yourself. These questions are important regardless of how long you've been podcasting. The three questions are: 1. Who is the ideal listener for my show? 2. What needs do they have that I'm trying to address and fulfill with my show? 3. Where is my ideal listener spending their time and attention, and what's my plan for getting their attention? ••• Juleyka Lantigua-Williams is the founder of Lantigua Williams & Co, an audio production company. She describes her role as building teams that make podcasts and films. So a little more about Juleyka: Juleyka is the Founder/CEO of Lantigua Williams & Co., an award-winning and Peabody-nominated digital media studio that builds teams that create beautiful experiences in digital audio and film. She is a journalism veteran with 20 years of experience as a writer, reporter, editor, syndicated columnist, book editor/scout, lecturer, and audio producer. Lantigua Williams & Co. produces original shows like Latina to Latina, 70 Million, and Feeling My Flo, and provides tailored consulting and white-label production services for clients that include Macmillan Podcasts, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, WHYY, KQED, and Civil Beat. Juleyka says she first fell in love with podcasts after hearing Serial. After devouring that show, she became fascinated with the way story-telling techniques were being used in audio. She got the chance to work on Code Switch at NPR, and fell in love with the process of making podcasts. I met Juleyka last year when Lantigua Williams & Co started using Simplecast for hosting. After several interesting and insightful conversations about podcasting, I asked her if she would be willing to be a guest on my show to talk more about her approach to audience acquisition. Couple quick things to mention before we get into the interview: First, Juleyka is hosting a series of webinars about working in podcasting she's calling Podcasting Seriously. If you're interested in getting into working in the podcast industry, or if you'd like to take your podcasting skills to the next level, I'd encourage you to check it out and sign up. Visit https://www.podcastingseriously.com/ to learn more. Second, we recorded this interview using Squadcast, which dropped the call multiple times. Kind of a bummer, but that's how it goes sometimes. Next time I'll be sure to record locally as well. Luckily I was able to edit the show in a way that the drops aren't noticeable. Alright, let's get into my conversation about audience acquisition (and more) with Juleyka Lantigua-Williams. Tip #1 for Audience Growth: Know as much about your ideal listener as possible without violating their privacy. Q: Who is the ideal listener for your show? If you're like me, you might answer that question with something slightly vague, like, ”My ideal listener is someone who is interested in making a great podcast.” That's a decent start, but let's dig deeper. Let's get specific. So where do you start? What are the fundamentals? So many people start podcasting before they've identified their show's number one biggest fan. You've probably heard about creating for an ideal listener before, but Juleyka takes the idea to the next level. Juleyka looks for factual evidence for what she believes is true about her ideal listener, who even has a name and a face (check out the website). Things you should know about your ideal listener: Age Education level Career level Relationship status Family info Where she lives Digital experience habits Hobbies Purchasing habits How many other people like her are there? Juleyka's ideal listener even has a name:...

In this episode, Sean and I discuss his new mobile recording setup, the challenges of the paid membership model for podcasts, Spotify's recent moves in podcasting (Joe Rogan, etc), how to grow an audience for a podcast, the best ways to make money with a podcast, what most podcasters get wrong about podcast promotion on social media and what they should do instead, and so much more. If you'd like to support this show, please share it with a friend, leave a review in Apple Podcasts or your podcast app of choice, or become a paying member of The Podcast News. Show Links: Sean's website: seanwes.com Sean's Mobile Recording setup: Rode SmartLav Mic Rode SC6L Lightning Interface Ferrite (iOS app) Brusfri Noise Reducer More Cool Stuff to Check Out: Recommended Gear: https://kit.co/thepodcastdude More Podcast Episodes and Resources: https://podcastingwithaaron.com Blog: aarondowd.com

Topics: When is the right time to start looking for sponsors for a podcast? How does having a niche audience help you with finding sponsors? 3 things you should include in a proposal to a sponsor Why getting brands excited about sponsoring podcasts needs to be a community effort Questions to ask yourself before you start looking for sponsors What Podcorn is, and how it works And more If you'd like to support this show, please share it with a friend, leave a review in Apple Podcasts or your podcast app of choice, or become a paying member of The Podcast News. Links: Podcast Me Anything - Mathew Passy How Do I Build an Audience for My Podcast? - Dan Misener, Pacific Content Podcorn | A marketplace for podcasters and sponsors Tips on how to get podcast sponsors - Buzzsprout How to make great podcast ads - PodSchool Podcast ••• If this is your first time hearing this show, welcome! You can learn more about the show here: A Podcast About Podcasting, for Podcasters You can find more episodes, links to cool stuff, and everything else at thepodcastdude.com. Thanks for listening, and happy podcasting!

(Repost from The Podcast News) Hey friends! Since there wasn't much in the way or podcast news or tutorials this week, I'm going to do something I don't normally do: I'm going to record an episode without a script, and talk about my experience with podcasting over the past 10 years and why I'm optimistic about the future of podcasting. ••• Thanks for listening to (or reading) this week's episode! Subscribe to the email newsletter to support the show and get full episodes delivered right...

Welcome to The Podcast News, a weekly show for podcast producers and anyone who loves podcasting. My name is Aaron Dowd. Here are the most interesting news articles and tutorials for the fourth week of November, 2019. This week: Quick note before we get started: I've decided to make some big changes and try something new. Beginning in 2020, I will continue to publish a “light” version of the show each week for free via Simplecast, but I’ll be publishing a longer and more detailed “full”...

Welcome to The Podcast News, a weekly show for podcast producers and anyone who loves podcasting. My name is Aaron Dowd. Here are the most interesting news articles and tutorials for the third week of November, 2019. This week: Why articles in audio format increase member loyalty, behind the scenes of podcast advertising, 10 things new podcasters can do to boost downloads, building a podcast studio from scratch, tools to make your podcasts sound good, startup opportunities in podcasting,...

My guest today is Steph Colbourn, founder of Edit Audio, a podcast consultation and production company. In this episode, we discuss how she got into podcast editing and production, how she connects with and on-boards new clients, her process for working with them and helping them be successful, what she's learned about launching and marketing shows, how she manages money and scheduling, why she's optimistic about the future of podcasting, and so much more. About Steph and Edit Audio Steph is passionate about creating high-quality podcasts, driven to get more womxn and LGBTQ+ people behind and in front of the mic, and working to ensure more voices are heard and to create media more representative of the world we live in. Her company, Edit Audio, is a team of womxn working to record, produce, and market high-quality podcasts. She started the company in Toronto in 2012 and quickly expanded into the US and UK markets. Their clients include Harpers Baazar, Stack Overflow, Element AI, Cosmopolitan, If These Ovaries Could Talk, Glossier, Postlight, Tinder, and more. Connect With Steph: Edit Audio website Follow Edit Audio on Twitter Follow Steph on Twitter Follow Steph on Instagram Connect with Steph on LinkedIn More Cool Stuff to Check Out: Please check out my new weekly show, The Podcast News Recommended Podcasting Gear Subscribe on YouTube Simplecast Blog (Helpful Articles About Podcasting) If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review in Apple Podcasts, or share the episode with a friend. Thank you! 💙

Welcome to The Podcast News, a weekly show for podcast producers and anyone who loves podcasting. My name is Aaron Dowd and here are the most interesting news articles and tutorials for the second week of November 2019. This week: Rev.com (popular online transcription service) lowers pay rates for their contract workers, Apple now allows you to hide new shows in Podcasts Connect while you wait for their review and approval, the podcast industry is grappling with the prospect of automated...

This week I'd like to introduce The Podcast News, a new weekly news show for podcast producers and anyone who loves podcasting. If you'd like to stay up to date with the latest important podcasting news and tutorials, you can subscribe for free over at thepodcastnews.simplecast.com. New episodes will be dropping every week! This week: Pacific Content writes about what makes a great podcast host, Google and PRX launch a new Podcasting 101 series, and I'd like to know: Are you listening to...