Talking A̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ On A Podcast
We all have our favorite podcasts. They challenge the way we think, entertain us, or some combination of the two. My friend Taimur and I have talked about doing a podcast for years. When we lived together people always said we should start one of us talking.
Two weeks ago we made that happen. No more beating around the bush - just do it. We got rid of the idea that we have to make it perfect. Instead, we’d build the plane while flying it.
We’re planning on running the podcast like a Lean Startup. Launch early, get feedback, iterate. People have been so generous to take the time to listen and give us feedback.
So far it’s been awesome and a great excuse to talk even more. Being on the other side of the mic is a lot of fun. Getting started is a lot easier than one would think! If you want to do the same, here's what you'll need.
Hardware
When starting out I’m always a fan of speed > quality. If you don’t have the budget for a mic or a nice camera, don’t worry. Your headphones and laptop camera are more than good enough. I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow my sister’s mic which is a Snowball. If she didn’t have one, I still would have gotten some kind of mic online for $50-100. I plan to upgrade to a nicer mic in the future.
With video, investing in a high-quality camera is definitely worth it. But to begin with, my Mac’s camera is good enough. Keep it simple. Content is the king. Everything else is secondary.
Recording
Your mic is plugged in, the camera is rolling, it’s time to talk! For us, we’re not in the same city so we talk over Google Meet. We’re planning on upgrading so we can use Google’s recording feature. For now, we use Vimeo Record which is great and records internal audio.
There are a lot of decisions around what you talk about, how long each episode is, and the format. I’ll leave that to you but keep it interesting and know your audience. We’re still figuring this out.
Editing
Depending on your podcast style you’ll need to edit a lot or a little. Regardless you’ll need some good editing software. You can use Garageband, Adobe Audition, Descript, or plenty of other tools. We use Anchor.fm. Editing is one of the many functionalities. What else does it do? See below.
Hosting
Your content needs to live somewhere. In comes the need for an RSS feed. It’s a file that keeps track of all episodes and content you publish. Anchor lets you host your show on their site for free. You have ownership of the content but they’re your host.
I also recommend you keep one or more copies of the episode on an external hard drive or in the cloud.
Publishing
You have your episode hosted! The last thing to do is to publish your episodes! With Anchor or another service, you need to tell Spotify/Apple where your episodes are. That's what your RSS feed is for. Spotify owns Anchor, with two clicks your podcast is up and running on their platform!
With Apple, there is a little more work. You need to create a publisher account that's tied to your Apple Id. Once it’s all set up you paste the RSS feed URL in Apple's site. In a few minutes, it’s all set up!
With YouTube, you create an account and upload the video. It can take a while but it’s straightforward and easy to publish.
There are a few other places you can publish but this is what we did for now! Most other platforms consist of creating an account and posting your RSS feed URL.
Extras
You’ll want a home base where people can find you. We use LinkTree. You can use Squarespace or some other tool to build a site. For now, this works great and it’s free!
You’ll need to make graphics or banners for your podcast. Canva is an amazing tool and they have a lot of premade templates. You’ll look pro with little to no effort!
If you want a professional setup and don’t want to shell out too much upfront you can rent studio space. It ranges from $25-100 an hour.
We also grabbed a domain name through Google Domains. It's best to be safe and get domains upfront while they're cheap.
Conclusion
We have a long way to go but all journies start somewhere. We're having a ton of fun and learning a lot about creating. If you want to check us out, you can find us at blubhaus.com or blub.haus.