Recording your podcast is of critical importance to your podcast’s success. After all, if you publish crummy video and/or audio, will anybody watch or listen?
No, they won’t. So do the best you can afford when it comes to equipment, content, and post-production!
We will cover those three super-important topics in this page. Assume that we are talking about a podcast that is both video and audio in nature. That’s the way we do it here at Podcast 101 — we record video with audio and publish on YouTube and our blogs.
Podcasting Equipment
We will cover the basic equipment you need in order to record a high-resolution podcast that places equal importance on both the video and audio portions of the rendered file.
You need to start with a high-res webcam, smart phone, or digital camera. We still predominantly use a webcam (Logitech’s Brio 4k) because it produces great quality and is super affordable.
Second on your buy list is a quality microphone. You can spend hundreds of dollars on a great microphone. For example, this Shure podcast microphone is outstanding.
But you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a great mic. You can get the Blue Yeti. It’s nearly perfect for podcasting.
To make great video, you need great lighting. We use a variety of lighting solutions here.
- Logitech Litra Glow Light
- Linco lighting kit
- Various ring lights and LEDs
For a complete list of recording software options, read our article, “Podcast Recording Software Options.”
Your Podcast Is All About Your Content
Obviously.
Only you can know what your audience likes and wants to listen to. We won’t go much deeper than that.
Give them what they want.
How do you know? Well, if you’re just starting off, you may not know. Ask everybody you know (and don’t, on social media) what they want to hear and see in a podcast.
Obviously, it should be centered around content that interests you…for example, at Two Guys Talkin’, podcast host Bill Davis interviews “VIPs” (Very Interesting People). He likes interesting people. He wants to hear their stories.
But you may be all about the Ford 427 “side oiler” internal combustion engine that was the heart and pinnacle of Ford’s “big block” engines of the ’60s and ’70s. Talk about that!
Podcast Post Production
We talk a lot more about podcast post production here, but suffice it to say that getting your video and audio into a marketable product (i.e., it looks and sounds good) is of paramount importance.
Many people spend dozens of hours (not exaggerating) editing out all the “oohs,” “ums,” and “ahs.”
We personally do not do this. We’re about the content quality over the production value quality. We think that the produced files need to be “good enough.”
We are not competing with Mr. Beast 🙂
Recording Your Podcast Episode
The number one best thing we’ve done is moving from Zoom to Riverside.fm for our recording “software.” Software is in quotes because Riverside is an online platform that has a studio where you record your podcast.
You tell it your equipment and it optimizes everything for you. You hit the “record” button and it just simply works.
It’s audio and video quality is second to none. And it has some nifty features that make it a post-production machine.
It’s literally the best tool we use.
So, open Riverside up, tell it your equipment, get your guest online in Riverside as well, and simply hit that record button.
When you’re done, the videos from your PC and your guest’s PC get uploaded into Riverside’s studio and you work with them from there.
You can do the whole post-production routine in there or download the files and use them in your favorite editing tools (we still use Camtasia for post production).
Publish and share. Done and done!