How to make your podcast in 6 steps

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How to make a podcast: the basic steps
Find a topic that you have knowledge about.
In principle, a USB microphone and headphones will suffice as equipment.
Record in furnished rooms (don't forget to check your microphone!)
Post-production: less is more! The main thing is that it is not too quiet and that it is in WAV format.
Where is your audience? Improve this with podcast web hosting.
What about marketing? Focus on one or two social networks and word of mouth.
Perhaps the most important rule when creating podcasts is… Just do it!

How to create a podcast: step-by-step guide
Step 1. Find a topic you have knowledge of
Next to point 7, the topic is the most important element when creating a podcast. Especially as a beginner, it is easy to underestimate the effort involved in creating a podcast. There are many tasks that need to be carried out: researching the topic and target group, deciding on the format, branding and marketing, SEO for the podcast, purchasing and testing equipment and software, perhaps arranging appointments with interviewees, writing scripts for the episodes, recording and uploading them to the host, promoting them on social media, etc. A podcast takes a lot of work . But if you have a topic and work in a structured way , you will achieve your goal and have fun doing it.

Advice
For optimal time management, it is best to set goals that work according to the SMART method.

Creating a podcast also includes the following aspects:

Choose the format that suits you best (solo recordings and/or interviews, episode length, posting frequency, etc.)
Choose a general topic: comedy, culture, news, fitness and crime are very popular.
The best thing is to occupy a niche, being an expert in it.
If you are not an expert, you can be just as convincing with your personality professors edu email database and a fresh perspective on the topic or problem.
Valuable content: Your content should inform, explain, entertain, and be exclusive and relevant (never boring).
Create an editorial plan.
Podcast Branding : Think about the name, logo, and sound design.
Advice
With the IONOS logo generator you can create a logo for your podcast in just a few steps and download it for free.

Trying to keep all of this in mind can be overwhelming. It’s important to set yourself a realistic timeline , follow through on the basic steps, and not get bogged down in the details. A great podcast to put all of this into practice is Objetivo Podcast , whose creator has published a number of episodes explaining the ins and outs of postcasting.

Step 2. Buy the right equipment (and try it out!)
Once you’ve decided on the topic, you can start looking for the right equipment. The crucial question is: does the equipment serve your purpose? There’s little point in dealing with technical details at the beginning of creating your podcast. When it comes to audio technology, there are too many aspects that can (in theory) be relevant to setting up a professional podcast. But whether a podcast is or sounds “professional” doesn’t necessarily depend on the price of the microphone. It’s more about knowing how to use the technology properly. This is what will make your podcast professional and ensure good sound quality.

The good news is that you don’t need expensive, high-end equipment to create a podcast. There are countless reviews on the web about “the best equipment for creating podcasts.” The recommended gold standard is usually an XLR microphone with an audio interface. But as a basic equipment for podcast beginners , this setup is only suitable in certain circumstances. Don’t overcomplicate things at the beginning. Get a good pair of headphones and a USB microphone from a good manufacturer, such as Shure or Rode. Connect both to your favorite device to record and edit your podcast episodes. A laptop is best suited for this, but there are also podcast apps that are compatible with tablets and smartphones. If you decide to use your smartphone for recording, you should get an external clip-on microphone. In principle, that’s all you need to create a podcast. If you want to create a webinar , a good pair of headphones is enough.

Made
Is an XLR or USB microphone better ? It depends. The difference lies in the cable connection. An XLR microphone first runs via an XLR cable to a so-called audio interface, which acts as a converter or “interpreter”. The interface converts the analog audio signal into a digital one and amplifies it. Only then is the audio signal transmitted to the end device, for example a laptop, via a USB connection. USB microphones are connected directly to the end device for recording or post-production. For beginners, this is much less complicated , although it gives you less leeway in the audio quality during recording.

Once the basics of audio technology have been established and the first podcast episodes have been published, you can gradually move on to more advanced topics . The following questions might be interesting:

What are dynamic and condenser microphones?
What type of microphone is suitable for each environment? Depending on the sound in the room, acoustics, directional characteristics, background noise, etc.
Which microphones need preamplification (FetHead)?
What is important about audio interfaces? (Will I be recording alone or with guests? Type and number of inputs, are features like direct monitoring or a level meter included?
What mobile audio interfaces are available for creating podcasts on the go? (Zoom Recorder, podcast apps like Anchor or Podbean).
Once you've got your gear, it's time to try it out! The importance of testing is often underestimated , especially by beginners. If you think that watching one or two unboxing or how-to videos on YouTube is enough, the technology can give you problems. If you're just planning on shooting solo, it may not make much of a difference. But when you start interviewing other people, you should know how the gear works.

Step 3. Learn what matters in recording
This is getting serious. Setup is complete, you know all the features and have tested them, it's time to record. To make your first recording session a success, you should keep the following aspects in mind:

Record in places that are as small and soundproof as possible.
Don't forget to charge your batteries or have laptop chargers on hand.
Put your phone in airplane mode or silence it.
For remote recordings, you will need a stable internet connection.
Before recording, adjust the volume (ideally to -6 decibels or “dB”).
Instruct guests (distance between mouth and microphone, posture, procedure, etc.).
Always test the recording (check for background noise).
If the audio track contains too much noise or the voice sounds too low, perhaps even distorted, it is not necessarily due to the podcast settings, but to the wrong distance to the microphone . If the microphone is too far away, the audio signal (especially with USB microphones) is too low; if, on the other hand, you get too close to the microphone capsule, the danger of “clipping” increases: the audio signal is distorted because the audio level is too high. As a rule, this problem can be avoided by leaving a space of a hand’s width between your mouth and the microphone . Since USB microphones are somewhat more susceptible to clipping, you can also position the microphone slightly below the direction of the voice. This way, annoying breath and popping noises are minimized at the same time.