Where’s Everyone Gone?
In the past ten years, I have started and produced no less than four podcasts. Make no mistake, I am, by no means, an expert. However, I have learned a few things that I figure might be informative to those that could be looking into doing this themselves.
When I first had the idea of putting together a podcast, it was an ill-informed, rash, and emotional(?) decision. I had been listening to two jack asses, Ryan Davis and Jeff Gerstmann do a podcast about “video games”. Mostly the show was them talking about energy drinks, shitty music, and occasionally referring to games. It was two guys, who were obviously best friends, talking about stuff that they loved. In my head, I thought, I can get a couple friends together and do this. So, I set my mind to do just that.
I asked a couple of my best friends if they were into the idea of sounding like a bunch of idiots in front of a (potentially) huge audience. Much to my surprise, they said yes. From the idea to the actual first recording of that first show, was a span of time that was about two weeks… This is not the best course of action to take.
Step 1. – Planning
What I did not do was think about really anything further than I wanted to put our voices on the internet. The three of us have been friends since middle school, we’d done “student movies” and had a lot of funny ideas in the past. How much different could this be than that, right? Well as it turns out, it’s pretty different.
What we should have done was, as much as possible, plan things out.
First thing that anyone should really do before starting a podcast is; Have an idea of what your show is, and what it’s going to cover. Our first show was literally us talking about what ever the hell we wanted to. Sure some of it was funny, but we tended to ramble on and on about things that probably NO ONE would find funny or interesting other than us.
Focus on structure. The show we currently are involved in has (mostly) a structure that’s set, and we don’t mess with it. We cover top news stuff, have a musical interlude, read random strange stories, then close with a game. It’s the same every show, and it keeps the show, for the most part, from sounding like an auditory train wreck every week.
Closely following making up a structure, think up a name. When my first show started, it was just a podcast. No name, no identity, and worst of all, nothing to make it stand out to anyone. We had personality on the show, but no one cared to listen to a show that literally had no name. We were four episodes in before we settled on “3Smov Radio”. A name that had meaning to us, and something we could build as a “brand”.
Set It And Forget It
Spend some money, buy some decent equipment. A couple XLR mics, a decent sound board and probably some sort of digital recorder. By the time my third show was coming together, I knew that what we had been recording on/with prior was not going to cut it. These are the exact items i purchased.
Finally, figure out where you want to have your podcast hosted, and if you need a website to back it up. For me personally, I like to (when I had the time) write reviews of movies, games, and sometimes editorials along with the podcast. For me, it made sense to purchase a domain and host my own podcast there. If you are strictly thinking of only doing a podcast, you can go a slightly different route. There are several sites that will host your podcast for free, or for a slight cost. All with certain restrictions. Most hosting sites will even allow for a blog post to accompany your podcast as well.
コメント