I thought I’d write a blog post on starting a podcast! A few people have been asking me about this topic over the past few weeks so I thought I’d share what I know so far on how to start one, why I started one myself and the tech/equipment I’m currently using. Now I’m by no means an expert, having only started this by I guess... fluke? So I’m still navigating my way around the podcast world but if you’re a total novice like me, maybe my tips will be helpful to help you start out too!
So you may be wondering how the podcast came about? Well for me this was never intended to happen but I’m so glad it did! I wanted to start a Youtube series involving chatting to people I love within the bloggersphere and my personal life discussing a variety of topics whilst being a bit sloshed... yup! I don’t know about you but I feel more at ease having a chat about important topics when having a glass or two of fizz and the conversation just flows- as does the bubbles! So that’s where Pippa and Laura come into it. I had them over one evening to start my Youtube series and after it went out we all admitted we’d sat and listened to rather than watched it whilst working, driving etc and then it dawned on us- why not make it into a podcast!? The three of us are all massive podcast lovers, listening to ones such as The Guilty Feminist, Estee Lalonde’s The Heart of it and many more so the idea of starting our own really excited us! Before long I’d converted what was video into audio and The Prosecco Sessions podcast was born with episode 1 being all about internet dating.
Since then we have been working hard to try and figure out the best ways to record the episodes and admittedly had a few hiccoughs along the way! So as the first episode was filmed/recorded all in the same room, the audio levels were great and we were all the same volume. The difficulty came when we wanted to record online. With Pippa being a London lass and us all having busy schedules, meeting in person isn’t always going to be ideal. Skype was the first thing that sprung to mind- having heard a lot of other podcasts use this but in the end we have gone with using a program called Discord. It’s fundamentally used by gamers to chat and video stream whilst playing their games but is fantastic for us too. We then use an external programme which then records us through Discord and so far it is working rather well!
When it comes to equipment, we have been using a mix of things- Pippa on her iphone headphones and mic, Laura using a Blue Ice Snowball mic which is super fancy, looks cool and makes her sound quality ace! I thought I’d try out a little cheapy mic from eBay but it’s not quite up to scratch. Whether I need to tinker with the sound levels or I got what I paid for- I don’t know but it’s a work in progress and I always have my iphone headphones to fall back on. As I say, Pippa’s audio is through her iphone headphones and it sounds great!
We all have our roles within the podcast production which I think is a fab way to work. Laura is the show notes queen- yes we have show notes people! It helps keep us on track with the subject we’re discussing and a rough guide on what we want to cover. She is also the one behind the Discord discovery and has been teaching us the ropes with that. I’m the show’s editor I guess! I love editing youtube videos so was happy to take on the role of editing the audio as its very similar and I really enjoy it. I love adding the sound effects, the jingle and everything else that goes with the editing side of things. Pippa is the brains behind the uploading to soundcloud and iTunes and did her research on getting an RSS feed-something I know zilch about so I’ll leave that topic parked here! And then between us we all come up with topics, statistics and promoting the podcast via our social medias. The collaborative process works so well and takes out the stress that could be associated with doing it all yourself!
So what tips would I have on starting a podcast? Well firstly I think anything goes. You can create a podcast on anything these days. From food to fashion, films and more! The thing I struggle with the most is learning when to speak and when to just STFU. Not having one another in the room can sometimes prove tricky when knowing when to speak but thanks to Discord our profiles turn green when one of us starts to talk so it helps me personally to know when is a good time to talk but worst case and we do accidentally butt in, we start our sentence again so it’s a better listen for people. We also are trying to get into the habit of calling each other by name in our sentences. It feels a bit odd but it will help listeners identify who is who throughout an episode. Other than that I would just say enjoy it! I am so passionate about what the three of us are creating and it genuinely excites me which to me is a clear indicator that I am enjoying what we do. We are still learning a lot ourselves so I’m sure in months and weeks to come we will have more tips to share with you.
So that is how I started a podcast! I hope its been interesting and hopefully helpful to anyone that is starting out too and if you have any questions or tips of your own I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
And finally, thank you so much to everyone who has listened so far. We are so so chuffed that people are enjoying it and hope that you continue to do so!
Big love!
So what tips would I have on starting a podcast? Well firstly I think anything goes. You can create a podcast on anything these days. From food to fashion, films and more! The thing I struggle with the most is learning when to speak and when to just STFU. Not having one another in the room can sometimes prove tricky when knowing when to speak but thanks to Discord our profiles turn green when one of us starts to talk so it helps me personally to know when is a good time to talk but worst case and we do accidentally butt in, we start our sentence again so it’s a better listen for people. We also are trying to get into the habit of calling each other by name in our sentences. It feels a bit odd but it will help listeners identify who is who throughout an episode. Other than that I would just say enjoy it! I am so passionate about what the three of us are creating and it genuinely excites me which to me is a clear indicator that I am enjoying what we do. We are still learning a lot ourselves so I’m sure in months and weeks to come we will have more tips to share with you.
So that is how I started a podcast! I hope its been interesting and hopefully helpful to anyone that is starting out too and if you have any questions or tips of your own I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
And finally, thank you so much to everyone who has listened so far. We are so so chuffed that people are enjoying it and hope that you continue to do so!
Big love!
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