Scott and Kevin embark on an enlightening journey into the world of podcasting in their inaugural episode of 'The Idiot's Guide to Podcasting.' As experienced podcaster Scott, who has been running his show 'Talk with History' for a few years, shares insights with his brother Kevin, a novice in the podcasting realm, listeners are treated to a unique blend of expertise and fresh curiosity. The conversation begins with the essentials of podcast recording, highlighting the duo's use of free tools like Riverside FM, showcasing that starting a podcast doesn’t require a hefty budget. They emphasize the importance of accessibility, noting how they are recording with basic equipment, making it clear that anyone can dive into podcasting without needing professional gear right away.

Throughout the episode, Scott discusses the significance of choosing a hosting platform, specifically mentioning Spotify for Podcasters, previously known as Anchor, as a user-friendly and cost-effective solution for aspiring podcasters. He addresses the varied features of different hosts and encourages Kevin (and listeners) to explore what suits their needs best. This engaging dialogue not only serves to inform but also inspires potential podcasters to consider their options critically and to learn as they experiment. The episode also touches on the importance of planning and recording multiple episodes before launching, which allows new creators to ease into the process without the pressure of constant production.

Takeaways:

• Starting a podcast can be simple if you use free tools and platforms available online.
• Record multiple episodes before launching to build a buffer and reduce pressure.
• Choosing a hosting platform is crucial; consider Spotify for Podcasters for its free features.
• Editing software should be intuitive and user-friendly, especially for beginners like Kevin.
• Use a good microphone to enhance audio quality; even small investments can make a difference.
• Consider structuring your podcast in seasons to allow breaks and manage content creation effectively.

Links referenced in this episode:

• riverside.fm
• spotify.com

Mics used:

Scott: Laptop built-in speakers

Kevin: Sure MV88

email us

Scott's podcast

Kevin's podcast

Scott: 00:00:01

Alright, so we're recording now, which doesn't mean anything, right?

Scott: 00:00:07

You can edit stuff.

Scott: 00:00:08

I don't know what Spotify's editing software is like, but that's something that you can mess with.

Scott: 00:00:17

Well, here, let's start from the beginning.

Kevin: 00:00:22

Welcome to the idiot's guide to podcasting.

Scott: 00:00:35

So we're starting a podcast.

Speaker C: 00:00:38

We're gonna try.

Scott: 00:00:39

We're gonna try.

Scott: 00:00:40

We're gonna try.

Scott: 00:00:41

And this, we're calling this kind of the idiot's guide to podcasting.

Scott: 00:00:45

And my goal in this podcast is for us to kind of use whatever's free, whatever's super basic.

Scott: 00:00:53

Both of us.

Scott: 00:00:53

You're recording on your phone, I'm recording just with my laptop speakers.

Scott: 00:00:59

And then we can, as we learn, maybe we'll evolve whatever we do, and we'll talk about that evolution.

Scott: 00:01:05

So for anybody listening, ideally you can kind of learn along with us, right?

Scott: 00:01:11

So we're going to start with our completely free options.

Scott: 00:01:14

We're using Riverside FM to record this.

Scott: 00:01:18

And I just signed up for the completely free account.

Scott: 00:01:20

We're not recording video.

Scott: 00:01:24

And what it gives you for completely free that you can use unlimited Riverside is useful if you want to record with another person, or you can just record yourself.

Scott: 00:01:33

But I think in Spotify, you can Spotify for podcasting.

Scott: 00:01:38

You can record yourself as well.

Scott: 00:01:39

So I'm Scott for those listening, I have a podcast.

Scott: 00:01:46

It's called talk with history.

Scott: 00:01:48

I've done it for a couple years, so I've learned some things.

Scott: 00:01:49

But my brother Kevin, why don't you say hello?

Speaker C: 00:01:53

Oh, I'm his brother Kevin.

Speaker C: 00:01:57

I have never done any kind of podcasting, and this is my first exploration.

Speaker C: 00:02:02

My hope is to launch something later this year.

Speaker C: 00:02:07

So this is kind of ground zero for me and Scott.

Speaker C: 00:02:14

Scott, you've been working on a podcast.

Scott: 00:02:16

For a couple years, so yeah, so, and that's kind of for anybody listening.

Scott: 00:02:21

Ideally, you're listening this because you want to learn about podcasting.

Scott: 00:02:24

So I know a little bit.

Scott: 00:02:25

I wouldn't say a lot, but I've been doing it for a couple years and I've learned some things and Kevin doesn't know anything.

Scott: 00:02:30

And so we're kind of doing this together.

Scott: 00:02:32

And that way I can kind of help guide maybe where we should go, but we won't be afraid to kind of explore any avenue that right.

Scott: 00:02:41

I think we discussed trying to host this on Spotify for podcasters because that's currently a platform.

Scott: 00:02:48

If you don't know anything about podcasting, you have to create your recording using something.

Scott: 00:02:56

Then you have to put that recording on a hosting platform.

Scott: 00:03:00

And what a hosting platform is, is exactly what it sounds like.

Scott: 00:03:03

Just like YouTube holds the video files for all the videos out there.

Scott: 00:03:07

Well, your host holds the mp3, the file that someone will download through their podcast player.

Scott: 00:03:16

And different hosts have different features and different hosts have different prices.

Scott: 00:03:22

Spotify for podcasters, previously called Anchor, is one of the completely free platforms out there.

Scott: 00:03:31

Now you have a little bit less whiz Bang features and a little bit less control on a couple things, but a lot of people use it.

Scott: 00:03:40

A lot of, you know, I know of a couple big podcasts off the top of my head that I think that host on Spotify for podcasters, there's some upsides and downsides, and we'll talk a little bit about that.

Scott: 00:03:52

Kevin, what are some of the other things that you want to learn early on before we get into advanced stuff in future episodes?

Speaker C: 00:04:00

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: 00:04:00

One of the big things for me.

Kevin: 00:04:02

Right off the bat is editing.

Speaker C: 00:04:03

You know, how do I cut and splice and put in some music and put in some, you know, this, that, and the other, what do I need to do?

Speaker C: 00:04:15

And my hope is, right, that it's gonna be somewhat intuitive.

Speaker C: 00:04:20

My hope is that it's gonna be pretty user friendly.

Speaker C: 00:04:26

But I also want it to be free because I'm not making any money off of this, and it's kind of all in my free time.

Speaker C: 00:04:32

But I also don't want to spend my life trying to figure out how to edit something.

Speaker C: 00:04:37

So I'm going to be kind of digging into a lot of the different options here that are actually free.

Speaker C: 00:04:45

And maybe we'll talk more about that later because some say, oh, we're free, but they're not really free.

Scott: 00:04:54

Or they're, it's a free trial.

Speaker C: 00:04:57

Exactly.

Scott: 00:04:58

Or something like that.

Speaker C: 00:04:59

Exactly.

Speaker C: 00:05:00

So, so that's one thing, then the biggest thing, I think, will really just be kind of going through the steps to get it published.

Speaker C: 00:05:13

That's not the right word, though.

Speaker C: 00:05:15

There's a, there's, there's a better word.

Speaker C: 00:05:17

There's a podcaster word for that.

Scott: 00:05:19

Yes.

Scott: 00:05:19

No, no.

Scott: 00:05:20

Actually, publishing is, is, is the right, you know, is the right term.

Scott: 00:05:24

So, so really, if you're thinking about a podcast, and for anybody listening to this, for the audience, this will probably be a limited series.

Scott: 00:05:33

We don't know how long it's going to be.

Scott: 00:05:35

We don't even have podcast art yet.

Scott: 00:05:38

So we'll talk about podcast art, and we'll talk about the hosting platforms, and we'll talk about kind of do you need a microphone?

Scott: 00:05:46

I mean, it's up to the listeners right now to decide.

Scott: 00:05:49

Like, I'm literally using my laptop speakers and you're using your phone.

Speaker C: 00:05:53

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:05:54

Confession.

Speaker C: 00:05:55

I'm actually using this plug in shure microphone.

Speaker C: 00:06:01

Like, it literally plugs in where my charger plugs into my phone.

Scott: 00:06:05

Oh, wow.

Scott: 00:06:06

What's it, what's the microphone called?

Speaker C: 00:06:08

It's.

Speaker C: 00:06:10

So I actually bought it several years ago, so I couldn't tell you right off the bat.

Speaker C: 00:06:16

I will put it in the notes.

Speaker C: 00:06:18

I'm going to figure out a way to put it in the notes.

Speaker C: 00:06:20

It's a sure Mike, S h u r e, which is a common brand for a lot of audio equipment, but this one in particular is just plugged right into my iPhone jack.

Speaker C: 00:06:31

So we'll see how this sounds.

Speaker C: 00:06:33

And I'll you again, whoever's listening, you can kind of determine what the quality is on this and we'll see what you think.

Scott: 00:06:42

Yeah.

Scott: 00:06:42

And what I'll do throughout the course of the next couple episodes is I'll try out a some of the different microphones that I've had because I've tried a few and I have the ones that we use on talk with history.

Scott: 00:06:54

And I actually just got an email today from some podcasting company, microphone making company, that says, hey, do you want to try our podcast, Mike?

Scott: 00:07:05

And so what I'm going to do.

Speaker C: 00:07:07

For you guys listening, they were listening and they heard your quality and they.

Scott: 00:07:10

Were like, maybe that's.

Scott: 00:07:11

Yeah, maybe they did.

Scott: 00:07:13

I have no idea.

Scott: 00:07:14

They actually reached out through my YouTube channel because we do some video podcasts on there, even though we're kind of pulling back on the video aspect of it.

Scott: 00:07:22

So I'm going to shoot him an email and say, hey, I'm creating this other podcast.

Scott: 00:07:27

If you want to send it out to me for free, I'll talk about it, I'll link to it and this, that and the other.

Scott: 00:07:35

So there are opportunities once you start doing stuff long enough.

Scott: 00:07:40

Again, that was more through my YouTube channel because we have a lot more of an audience over there.

Scott: 00:07:44

Podcast growth.

Scott: 00:07:45

We'll talk about podcast growth.

Scott: 00:07:47

So some of the topics that we have, and Kevin and I, we're literally using all free stuff.

Scott: 00:07:53

So we just created a shared list in Apple reminders app, which comes standard on your phone, and we shared it between each other and we can just add topics on there.

Scott: 00:08:03

So we added topics like editing software, recording voice audio using music.

Scott: 00:08:07

Do you need to create your own intro or do you have a cold open where it's like what we did for this, where we just kind of started talking different equipment, hosting platforms and things that we learn along the way.

Scott: 00:08:21

So we don't need to keep this too long because this is kind of just our introduction.

Scott: 00:08:28

So again, this is the idiot's guide to podcasting.

Scott: 00:08:32

So if you hear any music or any sort of fades or anything like that between breaks about what we talk about, that's going to be Kevin doing that.

Scott: 00:08:41

Even intro or outro music, that's up to us to decide.

Scott: 00:08:44

You don't have to do that, but Kevin's going to do that through Spotify for podcasting.

Scott: 00:08:49

Kevin, have you checked that out at all yet?

Scott: 00:08:51

Have you poked around there?

Speaker C: 00:08:52

I have poked around not enough to really feel like I know what I'm doing.

Speaker C: 00:08:57

So I think really, if this is our introduction, our first episode is going to be like, hey, this is what it was like to post the introduction.

Scott: 00:09:06

Yeah, exactly.

Scott: 00:09:07

And one thing I will say, and I'll give one piece of advice right here to anybody listening, because I don't want them to think that you should record your first episode and then post it right away.

Scott: 00:09:20

The thing that I've learned that I wish I would have known earlier, is if you can go seasonally, do a seasonal show, it doesn't have to be broken up into seasons, but just call it by seasons.

Scott: 00:09:34

And that way you give yourself time to have a break because it can become a bit of a grind if you have to do one week after week and, and you get behind, or you're only like, you record and then you publish, you know, a couple days later.

Scott: 00:09:47

So record a bunch in before you even ever go live, record ten, and then when you publish your first one, publish, actually publish three, and then start publishing them weekly or bi weekly or whatever it is after that, and then say, hey, this is season one.

Scott: 00:10:03

That way you give yourself permission to take a break.

Scott: 00:10:07

So that's the one piece of kind of like a little bit of advanced advice to take the pressure off of any new podcasters feeling like, oh, I'm gonna have to do this for a long time, or I don't know if I can do this weekly.

Scott: 00:10:20

Don't think about that.

Scott: 00:10:21

If you're gonna do a season of ten episodes, record all ten of them and then release three, and then work on promoting your podcast week to week as you release those episodes, because you'd be surprised you won't get feedback from your audience right away because it's really difficult to grow podcast audience.

Scott: 00:10:38

And we'll talk a little bit more about that.

Scott: 00:10:39

So just a reminder, the one kind of tip that I'll give to anybody new, give yourself permission to go with seasons.

Scott: 00:10:47

That gives you permission to take a break and record a bunch of episodes.

Scott: 00:10:51

I'd say at least five to ten before you ever publish that first, that first introductory episode.

Scott: 00:10:58

And ideally, when you post the first one, you're actually going to post maybe like three in a row.

Scott: 00:11:03

So if people like the first one, they can go ahead and listen to the second and the third and get excited about your show.

Speaker C: 00:11:09

Yeah, and I'm doing that right now.

Speaker C: 00:11:12

I've got two written.

Speaker C: 00:11:13

I'm going to start recording here this month and hopefully get five or so at least under my belt before I actually launch and start posting.

Speaker C: 00:11:27

So that's the dream.

Scott: 00:11:30

Cool.

Scott: 00:11:30

Yeah, no, that's good.

Scott: 00:11:31

And it's good.

Scott: 00:11:32

We'll talk about if you should go scripted or unscripted.

Scott: 00:11:34

If it's interview, I've tried a little bit of everything.

Scott: 00:11:38

I've had multiple podcasts and I combined them down into one and all that stuff.

Scott: 00:11:41

So we've got a lot of.

Scott: 00:11:42

I've got a lot of stuff to share.

Scott: 00:11:43

I think Kev's got a lot of stuff to learn, which means he'll share what he learned along the way.

Scott: 00:11:49

And that's it.

Scott: 00:11:49

That's the first episode to the idiot's guide to podcasting.

Speaker C: 00:11:53

Yeah, thanks for joining us, guys.

Speaker C: 00:11:54

Looking forward to it.

Scott: 00:11:56

All right, keep podcasting.

Kevin: 00:12:19

Hey, everybody, this is Kevin.

Kevin: 00:12:22

I want to give you a quick update, a little bonus to this first episode.

Kevin: 00:12:27

The microphone that I mentioned that I use actually in episodes one through eight of this season of our podcast is the assure microphone mv 88.

Kevin: 00:12:39

Mv 88 is a good little microphone.

Kevin: 00:12:43

As we were recording, eventually it crapped out on me and it started to give me this kind of clicking feedback as I was speaking, so I had to abandon it.

Kevin: 00:12:55

The one that I am using now is a Samsung Q two U microphone.

Kevin: 00:13:02

But I won't be using this up until episode nine.

Kevin: 00:13:05

So just so you know, as you continue to listen and continue to evaluate, looking for some good hardware, that's what I'm using as I'm speaking right this moment.

Kevin: 00:13:15

But the rest of these next episodes, I'll be using that shure microphone.

Kevin: 00:13:19

So any questions?

Kevin: 00:13:20

Again, just hit us up and we'll love to just include anything that we can to help you out.

Scott: 00:13:26

Peace.