I’ve been watching an online audio mastering course (called DIY Mastering) from Jesse Cannon (a great audio engineer). In it, he was talking about how he always checks his work on cheap speakers and Apple earbuds, since that’s what most people use to listen to music. 

It got me thinking: are expensive headphones really necessary for mixing podcasts? Do you really need the best gear to make great work, or are you just procrastinating?

My goal for this episode is to encourage you to do more with what you have and not fall into the trap of believing that better gear is the secret to success.

069: Do You Need Expensive Headphones to Mix a Podcast?

If you're interested in learning about podcasting, this show is for you. My goal for this show is to share what I've learned about podcasting since 2008 and introduce you to other podcast producers, software and hardware tools, and various rad people working in the podcasting industry. Visit podcastingwithaaron.com or aarondowd.com to connect or learn more. Check out chartable.com to see what I've been working on recently.
Thanks for listening. - Aaron

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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)

A 30 Minute Guide to Starting a Podcast

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

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music: kolton moore & the clever few

music: the band laredo

Ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts and Spotify are always appreciated as well.
Till next time, happy podcasting.
Aaron Dowd
September 28, 2022

94: How to Get Good Sound for Your Podcast Part 6: Talk To Your Guests and Co-Hosts

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 what you should discuss with your guests and co-hosts before you start recording.
Till then, be well and happy podcasting.
Aaron

93: Good Sound Part 5: On Recording Remotely

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

92: Good Sound Part 4: Your Room

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

069: Do You Need Expensive Headphones to Mix a Podcast?

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