In this episode, we’re getting started with podcast technology and building our first podcast ‘stack’. Why is podcast technology so daunting in the first place?! People get overwhelmed with options, there’s the doubt that comes with spending money, everyone has opinions on what the best kit is.

The takeaway is: you don’t have to spend tons of money getting the highest quality equipment available. In the beginning, you should focus on creating quality content, growing your listenership and making it sound as good as you can.

For more guidance and video demos of all the equipment we talk about here, head to page 13 of your Podcast Accelerator crib sheet for all the info and links you need!

What can you expect from this podcast?

I’m your host, Rachel, Content Executive at Captivate. It’s my job to help podcasters like you start, launch and grow your podcasts using free education and resources.

Over the course of this series, I’ll be joined from time to time by special guest Mark Asquith, CEO and co-creator of Captivate, who'll lend his expertise and advice. Over the next 8 episodes, we’ll be sharing the strategies, mindsets and steps to help you design, build, produce and run a successful, sustainable podcast with zero jargon or guesswork.

Find out just how easy it is to start your own podcast and follow along with us to set up a growth-ready show using the steps we’ll take together. Every episode will feature a podcast launch milestone to work towards so you can build your podcast with us at a pace that suits you.

Listen in and let’s launch a podcast!

How can you get the most out of this podcast? There’s a few ways.

1. Make sure you’ve downloaded your free podcast launch crib sheet. All of the episodes in this podcast mirror the checklist so you can follow along and apply your own ideas as we go. By the end, you’ll have a full, detailed podcast planned out, recorded and ready for launch.
2. Get involved in the Facebook community for live office hours every week. Remember, you're never alone in this process! Join the Podcast Launch Accelerator course to unlock access to our international community of beginner and pro podcasters, as well as live weekly office hours with the Captivate team. Get answers to your questions instantly, as well as vital peer support, feedback and advice from real podcasters like you.

Hello again and welcome to how to Start a Podcast, A practical crash course to designing, building and launching your very first podcast.

From the Captivate team, I'm Rachel.

I'm content executive at Captivate, and today I'll be joined by my special guest once again, Mark Ascliff, CEO and co founder of Rebel Bass Media, as well as owner of podcast hosting platform Captivate fm.

In this episode, Mark is going to be lending his expertise on podcast technology, specifically podcast equipment.

And in the next episode, we're going to be talking about podcasting software.

So why is podcast technology so daunting in the first place?

And why do so many podcasters get overwhelmed with options?

And there's the doubt that comes with spending money.

And everyone has opinions on what the best kit is.

And like we said back in the introduction, tech turmoil is a real thing and it puts a lot of podcasters off, rightly.

But the takeaway is that you don't have to spend tons of money getting the highest quality equipment that's available to you.

You don't have to sink hundreds of dollars or hundreds of pounds into investing into something right at the beginning.

In the beginning, your focus should be just on creating quality content and touching as many listeners as you possibly can.

Before we get started, remember that you can get so much more out of this podcast, including video demos and recommendations of all the equipment we're going to discuss in this episode by joining the Podcast Launch Accelerator course, which is available now for free@podcastsuccessacademy.com and in that course, there's over five hours of video tutorials hosted by Mark that follow the exact same steps as this podcast.

So if you ever need any detail or information or are you worried about a certain topic, you're guaranteed to find the answers there.

And we've built this podcast and the crib sheet around this course, which gives you free checklists, prompts, exercises, outlines to help you design a growth ready podcast from the get go, confidently, quickly and at your own pace.

It's free and it always will be.

So check it out now@podcastsuccessacademy.com Mark, why is podcast technology so daunting in the first place?

And why do people get so overwhelmed with the options?

Because no one really signs on to podcasting to become a geek.

No one signs on to understand how hosting works and how RSS feeds work and what an RSS feed is or what podcast microphone is the best.

No one wants to do that.

They're just a means to an end.

So the problem is that they're the means to the end, but they're the bit that you've kind of got to do early on, because without them, you simply can't podcast.

It's not as if you can begin podcasting and then get your microphone and then get your host, and you have to have these things in place, but they aren't really too complex.

You don't really need too much, you know, in fact, there is a technology stack that you need that we'll go into in just a second.

But the thing that you really need to understand first and foremost as a new podcaster, is number one.

As Rachel mentioned earlier, in the tech turmoil, everyone has their own recipe for this and there is no right or wrong.

And very often when you've been told to buy something, it's because that person that is recommending it uses that thing, not because it's the best or the easiest.

So in this session, we're going to give you the easiest and the best options.

We're not going to give you a range, we're going to tell you use this thing because it will be the easiest way to get started.

So that's the key thing to remember with this, that we don't have to overcomplicate it.

And what does every podcaster need in their technology stack?

Sounds geeky, that tech stack.

You need a way to record your voice, so a microphone and something to receive that, which may be a computer or it may be a recording device.

You then need potentially a way to edit your podcast.

And I say potentially because not everyone edits and that's quite alright.

And then you need a way of getting that podcast that you've just created and recorded into Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google and more, and that's called a podcast host.

So we'll break down each of those components, but actually that really is all you need.

So in this episode specifically, we're going to talk about microphones and podcasting equipment and headphones and things like that.

So mark your microphone recommendations.

What are they?

There are so many microphones on the market right now, and what I'm going to do is tell you the two microphones that I recommend that will get you started, but that will also scale with you.

We use Hilpr 40s Shure, SM7BS road microphones.

Number one, they have everything you need to scale your podcast.

They will plug into a computer using a USB or a USB C cable, but they will also plug into a device, a mixer, a Rodecaster Pro, or a Zoom P4, whatever it is that you end up scaling up to, they will plug into that as well with an XLR cable.

So they're very, very versatile.

And the second reason is these microphones sound absolutely fantastic and they cost just about a hundred bucks.

The Heil, the Rhodes, the shoes, they all cost a little bit more, anything up to 3, 4, 500 bucks.

And for you as a podcaster, it's really about investing wisely.

So get started with those microphones.

They will scale with you.

You can buy other microphones if you want.

In the future, just like any hobby or profession, you will change what you get.

But those two microphones are the way to get started.

Without a shadow of a doubt, they are the best options.

I think that's a really important takeaway, is that you don't have to spend tons of money straight away to get, to get high quality equipment or the flashiest stack.

I know that's a geeky term, but you don't have to spend tons of money.

And in the beginning you should just focus creating quality content and then you can, you can grow your equipment as, as you progress.

You know, it's, it's like any hobby, like you say.

So, yeah, that's, that's the most important takeaway for me.

And what about headphones and boom arms and pop shields?

Do you need those?

It's always good to have some sort of.

Do not drop this from your hand protection because you can carry the microphones around.

You don't need any of these things, all these fancy things that people tell you to get, but they are handy to have.

So the peripheral accessories that I would recommend for your microphone are as follows.

Get yourself a decent boom arm.

Now, a boom arm is just an arm that you screw to your desk and that you can move around, that you can position in front of your face.

You can position it wherever you want when you don't need it.

They cost anywhere between 10 and 100 bucks.

I would suggest that spending 20 bucks on one will get you an exceptionally solid option.

So I always recommend a decent boom arm.

The other things that you need, a pop Filter.

So I'm using a pop filter right now.

Rachel's using a pop filter right now.

What that does is it stops this happening.

Please pass me the salt.

It stops that.

The plosives, the.

And I'm really overstating that.

It will stop that happening in your natural speech.

And even though you might think that's not an important thing to do, there is nothing worse than listening to someone that just talks and you can hear every plosive coming through their microphone.

It's very difficult to sort of engage with the content when that's happening.

And pop filters, what they do, they pop on in front of your microphone.

They cost about 10 bucks and everyone should pick one of those up.

The last thing that I would recommend, just really connections, you need leads, you need cables.

So you need weather.

You choose a USB connection or an XLR connection, which we'll get to later.

You need a cable.

So use the cables that are there and you won't go wrong.

And then the optional extra is something called a shock mount which sits between your microphone and the boom arm.

Means that you can kind of just nudge the table a little bit and you can sort of, you know, you can maybe nudge the microphone just a touch and things wouldn't get picked up on the sound.

It's not urgent that you get one of these, but again, for five, six bucks, it's worth getting.

That's a shock mount.

And remember, this is all in the crib sheet as well, so don't worry about remembering all that.

But they're the peripheral pieces of the podcast tech stack.

And an extra bonus for the geeks amongst us is the headphone option.

Now I'm using to record this.

Right now I'm using my normal AirPods and I know you're using your normal Bluetooth headphones.

There's nothing wrong with that.

To listen, remember, headphones in podcasting are all about listening to audio.

They're not about recording in through the microphone.

So the AirPods or any plug in headset that you've got around will be completely fine because all you do is you plug that into the jack port of your computer or into the device that you're recording into just to monitor your sound.

They cost around 100 bucks.

They are quite expensive but they will last.

They are indestructible and will survive nuclear holocaust.

They are absolutely bulletproof.

But they aren't essential.

Just use what you have to hand.

And remember, headphones are only there to monitor your sound, not to speak into sound.

Advice there, Mark.

Pun not intended.

So the milestone for this episode then is to head to page 14 of your crib sheet where you're going to see an entire page that's listed and dedicated to podcast technology.

You've got some tick boxes there so you can tick off what microphone choice you're going to use, what headphones you're going to need.

And in the next episode we're going to be talking recording choices, editing choices if you like, and podcast hosting.

So it's there in the crib sheet.

You can take it off, write it down and it's there ready for you.

And you know exactly what you need to do and exactly what you need to use.

Now you've chosen your recording equipment.

And in the next episode we're going to talk about the best software, free and paid for, for recording, editing and hosting your podcast.

And remember, we run through every single step of the podcast launch process, from creating an idea to podcast launch strategies, plus so much more in our free course over@the podcastsuccessacademy.com so head over there now and get step by step checklists and more recommendations plus video demos to help you make the best decision for your podcast tech, and I will see you in the next episode.