Podcasting For Dummies

[giantsfan7791]

i have another thread on starting a podcast but the person that's in charge of this is gone for a week. without him we can't record one. While he is gone i've decided to try to get a little more technologically-saavy. Can someone give me a crash course (or a couple links) on eveything i should know before making one? simple things like formats, bandwiths, feeds, etc.

thanks

[giantsfan7791]

sorry for the double post but i could really use some help. i've been looking at basic audio things but i really don't know what info is usefull for podcasting what is a waste of time.

[giantsfan7791]

sorry for the triple post but i'm not feeling the love here. can't anyone help me?

[Rasheed]

I'm guessing your question is just too broad. In essence, you're asking someone to guide you through the world of podcasting (in a teacher-student relationship). Some people have spent months of studying to learn what you want to know in a few sentences or weblinks.

It's like asking: "I'm a total newbie in web 2.0. Please tell me in a few words how to create a website like digg.com or flickr.com." I guess most web 2.0 programmer would shrug their shoulders and think nothing of it.

[giantsfan7791]

sorry. i'm not trying to learn everything right away. i would just like to know which subjects to delve more heavily into and which to just get a general understanding of when it comes to podcasting. i can take a stab at some but i really don't know what's useful and what's not. i'm pretty sure i should really try to learn about bandwidth and the mp3 format but should i take more time learning about avi or wma? for example, since it says that podcasts should be in mp3 form, is it really worth going into detail on wma or should i just get a broad understanding on it. it might have come off this way but i'm not asking for lessons, i'm more asking which subjects to take if you get what i mean.

i'm just trying to make an example so i may be incorrect but for podcasts:

Heavy Understanding:
- bandwidth
- mp3
- skype
- feeds

General Understanding:
- mics
- wma

Don't bother reading:
- idk, apple computers (since i use windows)
- camcorder specs (since i'm not doing the video portion)

if somebody could just give me a template like this with the correct info and i'll read up on them. i just don't want to waste my time learning something unimportant when i really need to focus on learning something else. sorry if i didn't make myself very clear before, thanks.
-

[Yotto]

Here's two links I give to everybody who asks me how the heck I do what I do:

http://podcast411.com
http://schoolofpodcasting.com

Both have great podcasts, but both also have resources you could find very helpful that are in non-podcast (ie, text) form.

[WyethDigital]

if somebody could just give me a template like this with the correct info and i'll read up on them...

Even with Yotto's links, which are pretty much the same ones I would recommend, it's hard for us to know what is going to be a "waste of time" for you and what is not, because, quite frankly, you haven't done a spectacular job of describing your project. I know you'd like to get educated on just the stuff relevant to you before your associate gets back, but I have to be honest with you, I'm not a mind reader and I don't know what is relevant to you because you haven't spelled it out. There is no one Holy Grail or "template" of podcasting knowledge.

It sounds like a Catch 22, but it's not. The fact is, there's a lot more to this podcast stuff than meets the eye, and to understand what you need to know you may end up having to learn some stuff that you don't need to know, if only to gain a baseline understanding of the process as a whole (which is important and not a waste of time).

That said, check the links that Yotto supplied. You'll learn a lot of what you need, some of what you don't, and along the way you'll hopefully gain the knowledge you need to help you filter out what it is you need to learn from what you don't.

Eric

[giantsfan7791]

yeah, i'm checking them right now. there are a few articles that caught my eye. they're nice and lengthy too. i did put a rough draft of what we were hoping to accomplish with our first podcast in the other thread. i'm not going to be here all that much once i get some more knowledge but i'm posting this much to get some help getting started. i just need some things to focus on now. as i learn more i should be able to find out what things i'm going to have to learn if we are going to put a new feature into the podcast. i'm sure a general understanding of pretty much everything can only help but right now i just need things to stay away from. how can i say this, i don't know what is advanced things for even experienced podcasters nor what is very basic. if there is a topic that even you barely understand now, just say so and i won't read about it yet. i just need info for now and as i'm making the podcast later i can see what it is that i should learn as well.

its kind of hard to explain. i can't tell the difference between basic and advanced topics so just tell me what advanced things to put off for later. if i need those things a month from now i can just go back to them. i hope you get where i'm coming from. basically, i need a kind of order to take the steps, work my way up. i just don't want to skip steps accidentally.

[WyethDigital]

You know, this quote of yours makes me somewhat hesitant to help you out:
i'm not going to be here all that much once i get some more knowledge but i'm posting this much to get some help getting started. i just need some things to focus on now.
For someone commenting about not "feeling the love," this isn't the kind of thing that's going to endear you to a bunch of people. We all had to start somewhere, and we were all beginners once! And we all had to have some help, but I don't remember too many times when someone begged the community to lead him/her by the nose through the process of research and then announced they were going to bail once they got what they needed. From a community perspective, that's not very polite, and not a very "pay it forward" attitude.

But what the hell. I can't give you a road map, because as I said, there really isn't one. I can tell you that as a beginner, instead of concentrating on all the nuts and bolts, you need to figure out the machine. What I mean is: To understand the importance of something like an RSS Feed, you don't need to know how to code it, but you do need to know what it does, and why it does it. Let me say that again: Not how it does it; why it does it.

The same thing can be said about podcast formats. You mentioned mp3 vs wma file formats. You need to understand why mp3 is the #1 choice for audio podcasts, and what the advantages of other formats offer you. In fact, looking at some of your other posts, I think you need to be clear in your mind about the difference between audio and video formats. Are you doing an audio podcast? Then forget about the video for now and concentrate on mp3 files (most of your research on mp3s will probably need to be geared towards which is the best encoder for the price).

So there you go. If that doesn't get you started, then I don't know what will. You'll just have to take the time to do some of the legwork on your own.

Best of luck,

Eric

[Rasheed]

I agree. You should revisit this forum (and other podcasting forums) to ask about things you don't understand after you've done some research of your own (Google will be your biggest friend in this). And, please, do participate in the discussions, so you give something back to the community. Not all discussions are technical, many are about exchanging thoughts and opinions.

Look what I have done, without being a podcaster (yet). I have given you experienced podcasters to answer your questions. Not much technical background needed from my part; the only thing I did was to give you my opinion.

[giantsfan7791]

i'm sorry guys, i've developed a habit of not explaining myself well enough. by "here" i meant in this specific section, the how to make podcast section. by that time i'll hopefully know how to make them and spend more time in another section. you forget that i'm not going to be making just one podcast, we're going to keep making them until skateboarding becomes universally illegal. i'm not going to bail since i know i'll still have a hard time with podcasting months from now. i'm going to be serious about these podcasts and i will try to help others since i now know their situation all too well.

as i've stated before, i'm sure a general understanding of everything will only help. unfortunally, i don't know which things to read first and which to read second. i don't want to skip steps by mistake. if i can compare this to football, i'm not going to try to learn all the formations and schemes if i still can't tell the difference between the offense and the defense. i know there is no road map but somethings would generally be at the end of most roads and some tend to be closer towards the beginning. i don't need a specific order but more just general catagories. examples of catagories: things to read now, things to learn when purchasing equipment, things to lear while making one, things to learn after the first podcast (when they get more advanced). i know there is no universal order to learn things in but anything would only help. what steps did you guys go through when you were starting out? thanks for the words guys.

[WyethDigital]

And like you Rasheed, I also joined and posted well before I became a podcaster. It can be very satisfying. :)

Eric

[Rasheed]

You know, I'm not really sure if I ever will be a podcaster. I believe in my country podcasting is still in its infancy, compared to the US and UK. There doesn't seem to be a real community to help people who want to start a podcast. The little knowledge I have stem from US podcasters and none from Dutch podcasters. Either Dutch podcasters are not very knowledgeable, or they don't care to give back to the podcasting community and potential podcasters, or I just haven't met the right people.

Until then I have to teach all I need to know to myself, buy some (English language) books, and ask the few questions that remain in this forum and that other popular podcasting forum by Gary.

So I can relate to the situation giantsfan7791 is in. There is so much to explore in this medium (both technically and creatively) that a newbie doesn't know where to start.

I just started by reading forum threads, listening to podcasts by independent podcasters (and some by professional broadcasters), getting every grain of knowledge from podcast411's website, reading books for beginning podcasters (Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting (http://www.amazon.com/Absolute-Beginners-Guide-Podcasting/dp/0789734559) is a good first book) and recording your own voice to see what could be improved compared to professional speakers. I'm now experimenting by trying to imitate how professional Dutch speakers speak to have more control over my voice. I also want to do interviews, so I try to study professional interviewers as well.

You can do so much with voice inflection and speak so much clearer. I think that is important, because people tend to listen to podcasts in noisy environments and you want them to understand what you're saying. I tend to trip over my words and speak in a monotonous voice. Furthermore, Dutch professional speakers have another speaking style than professional UK and US speakers. I somethings hear Dutch correspondents speaking in the US speaking style, and that sounds just funny. The voice inflections are just wrong.

[WyethDigital]

Well, Giantsfan, I think I see what you're saying a little more clearly now, and thanks for clarifying it a bit.

There's things I thought I should do when I started podcasting, and there's things I wish I had done, now that I look back 14 months and 60+ shows later. There are some things you should do first that will make things easier for you, like securing a home for your podcast, which I'll talk about in a minute, and then there's some things that you should research that will be dictated by the type of podcast you intend to do, which I'll talk about last. Just bear in mind that the reason there isn't one roadmap is because each show is different... and that your show is your roadmap!

First thing you have to do is research and find a low cost, podcast specific host for your site. There are numerous threads about hosting, so I suggest looking for those. Podcast hosting sites (paid or free) often supply tools to help you build or generate your feed. They also supply podcast-specific stats.

Some people will tell you to use free sites, and that may be fine for you, but make sure you know what you're giving up for that free hosting. For instance, you'll likely lose control of your feed. All the editing and generation will be done on the host's end, and when there finally comes a time to switch to a paid host you may not have enough access to the code to make the changes that will allow you to easily migrate to a new host. That's not a problem if you own your own domain, but you may not have the access to the DNS numbers on your free hosting site that will let you assign the domain completely to the host.

Once you've found a host that will let you assign a domain to DNS numbers, buy a domain relevant to your podcast's title or content. They're cheap. Just remember that registrar sites like GoDaddy and Registrar.com will also try to sell you hosting packages with the domain, but those usually suck and you don't need them, so don't get them. Just assign the domain to your new hosting company.

Finally, the type of equipment you buy depends on the show you plan and what you want to do with it. Going out and doing a lot of interviews in the field? Get a portable mp3 recorder. Some devices have the ability built in, while others have add-ons. Doing an in-studio show? You need to figure out how many people are going to be in the studio and if you're going to talk to people remotely. Your show is your roadmap and will dictate the types of equipment you need to look up and eventually buy. It will also determine how deep into the nuts and bolts of your equipment you need to dig.

So here's a brief list:
* Research a hosting company: Libsyn, Switchpod and some others offer paid hosting based on storage and don't charge you for bandwidth. Research those versus free providers if you don't want to pay.

* Find a place to register your domain.

* Figure out what your podcast will be and do, and let that guide you to more specific questions to ask us. Sit down with your show and break it down to specific segments and things you would like to do on a regular basis. An example of a helpful question: "We're doing a podcast about skatingboarding, and we want to interview people at the skateboard park, what should I use?"

Eric

[giantsfan7791]

1. well, i was looking at lisbyn for a bit. i searched around these forums a bit and found podbean. it stood out to me since it gives a free plan while i try it out and i can upgrade it later. as i stated, we will make the occasional videocast and it was said that podbean did this well with the upgrade, however, this won't be for a while. i don't mind paying but the first podcasts will just be testers.

2. GoDaddy works for me since i listen to a harry potter podcast, mugglecast, and they give out codewords for discounts at godaddy. if you have a better suggestion I'm all ears.

3. as you said, we will use a "crowd-mic". just going to a park or something and asking some people questions so we do need something for that. this can wait till later but it would be great to incorporate this into the first show as we have a topic that is very controversial. we will also be doing phone interviews with very specific people. pro skaters, skate video-game makers, event organizers, etc. so i need to do this without a quality loss. however, the more important issue is this. whoever is going to be co-hosting will need equipment, this is fine because i will just be able to tell them what to get. the problem is that we are pretty far spread. i live in Jersey, the person that i'm waiting on who is on vacation lives in Germany. everyone else will be pretty far away as well, most likely in the California, the UK, or Australia. we need to be able to sit at our computers and talk to each other without a quality loss. i'm sure this will be easy to explain as many podcasts co-host remotely.

i hope this helps your suggestions for equipment. we do want quality products but they should be easy to get. i would prefer something that you can pick up at walmart or something (i know they won't have quality but i'm just explaining that there should be many stores where they are available. we are widespread so i need someplace that everyone has access to). i'd like a store instead of online so i can go and look at them myself instead of looking at some pictures.

in the other thread i posted i put a rough draft of the script that we'll follow (not so much a script as a template since we want a very improve-style show). i'll be posting there later but seeing as i still have time before we start making it i made this one. look at that and hopefully you can make more suggestions and such. also, could you give me your opinion on podbean and godaddy? i didn't register since i'm still open for options.

[WyethDigital]

Can you paste in a link to your other thread?

Eric

[giantsfan7791]

Can you paste in a link to your other thread?

Eric
clickety-click (http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138236)

the script is the third post down. it's a general idea but it will change when we sit down to make the podcast since the news will be updated.

[WyethDigital]

Well, it's a full featured show, to be sure. Do you already have an active forum? Those take a lot of work to build, so unless you've already got one, then I might suggest not relying on it so heavily in the beginning. Same with voice mails. You may get lucky and have a flood of them ready to go, especially if you already have an active site. The trend is, though, that most podcasters don't get their first pieces of quality audio feedback right away. It might take a few days or a few weeks. Don't let it discourage you if it takes awhile.

You mentioned vidcasts and YouTube in your outline. Is this a down-the-road plan, or do you mean to incorporate video and audio immediately? An occasional mix in the same feed can be fine, and most audience will be happy with the surprise, but if you regularly plan both an audio and a video podcast, you may want to consider separate feeds.

You could spend hours reading the tech specs and all that crap about mixers, but unless you're planning on working as an engineer then don't bother reading every on-line manual. You'll be better off reading reviews and soliciting recommendations. Also, figure out how many lines you'll need to record the various input sources you're talking about. That will play a role in your mixer's cost. Buy a mixer with ports equal to the number of hosts you plan to regularly have. If you must, add in voice mails in post, but make a list of the order and the subject of them so that you can talk intelligently about them during the show.

This brings me to an issue you asked about in your other thread. To paraphrase, how much do you have to do as you record, and how much do you have to do in editing? The math is simple: The more you can do in one take (in "real time"), the shorter the time it will take to edit your show. But it's not just about "the math." You have to be savvy and fast on your toes to do a show in one take. It really depends on what you're comfortable with. And your comfort level will change in time! Right now, it may be easier to get a good product by using a lot of heavy post production... but that's really, really time consuming. Especially having everybody record completely separate tracks. Personally, that's too much work on a regular basis. Don't do it! It's an editing nightmare!

Eric

[giantsfan7791]

Well, first off we do a an active forum. it's been out since i believe 1998 and it has well over 10,000 members today. not only do we have a lot of members but most of them spend at least an hour on there everyday. not to show off but with the number of people interested in the idea of this podcast, we may have 2,000 listeners right off the bat. i'm sure it will be at least 500 so the only thing going against this podcast is the general inexperience with making one.

the youtube in the outline is just a link for the co-hosts reading the outline to watch. that specific video will be one of the issues that we will be bringing up but it won't be put into the actual podcast. if anything, we'll just state how to get to the video. the video section will be occasional, probably no more than 8 this year. that won't be done until we have quite a bit more experience with podcasting though so the first one may take a while.

we do want the show to have as much improvisation as possible though. me as well as some of the other people doing the audio are very good speakers so i don't think it will be too much of a problem speaking-wise. as i stated though, while none of us are complete flashing-12s, we are all new to podcasting. most likely, i won't record everyone on seperate tracks at first. we'll just test things first and after 3 or 4 shows i'll try out the seperate tracks. with the number of members the forum has, i'm sure someone is a very good at editing. i don't mind putting in the work now either since my time has just cleared up for the summer. i don't think the podcast will be very regular. it might be two or three a month at first but i seriously doubt it will ever be anything more often than weekly.

this being said, i would still like your opinion on how well podbean and godaddy will work for what we're trying to accomplish. please let me know if there is someplace else that would be a better fit for our goals.

[WyethDigital]

please let me know if there is someplace else that would be a better fit for our goals.
What's that supposed to mean, exactly? All I can give you is info based on personal experience and first hand knowledge. Applying it to your goals is your responsibility, not mine.

Now, I wasn't disparaging your forum or your potential audience. Sounds like you're going into this from a position of strength. Most people don't have the luxury of a built-in audience, so the general advice to give is don't have unrealistic expectations of your audience. Sounds like that's not an issue for you.

Onto your GoDaddy and Podbean question... GoDaddy is fine for domains, and they're pretty low priced to begin with. The only problem is that the control panel for managing your account is a mess, and they try to sell you everything they can in the process of registering your domain. As for podbean, I haven't had any personal experience with them, so I couldn't say if I recommend them or not. Keep in mind that you want unlimited bandwidth, especially if you're targeting such an active community of potential listeners. You should also compare what you get against other services. Libsyn has been doing this a long time, and while they've had their problems, they also know what they're doing. That does count for something.

Eric

[giantsfan7791]

What's that supposed to mean, exactly?
you know what i mean.

well, i was looking mostly at libsyn, switchpod, and podbean. switchpod offers 200mb for free storage while the other two offer 100. you also have to pay for the 100 for libsyn. as i said, the money isn't so much the issue as it is the quality and ease. they all offer ummetered bandwidth too. they all look good but podbean is the only one that actually stated that videocasts work as well. i know you haven't used them all but which do you hear are the easiest to use?

i went to www.hosting-review.com and found that startlogic and hostmonster were the highest rated. godaddy did seem to be rated well too though and i don't mind them trying to sell more products, i just won't buy them. again, which do you think would be easiest to use? i've compared quite a few sites and read review but many are biased and just give specs.
they just state the facts and don't give may opinions.