Ask HN: Have you ever tried to start a podcast? What did you learn? - aakriti1215
======
tedsanders
For over two years I helped co-host a science/comedy podcast at Stanford
called Goggles Optional
([http://gogglesoptional.com/](http://gogglesoptional.com/)). We never hit
hockey stick growth, but kept plugging away week after week. When I left, I
think we had somewhere between 50,000-100,000 cumulative downloads from around
~90 countries. It's still going today.

I learned a lot from doing the podcast. Consistent, deliberate practice where
you get feedback from others and from your own listening is a terrific way to
improve over the years. As a result of the podcast, I became a more engaging
speaker, a punchier writer, and even a better scientist. Spending hours
thinking about how to best tell a story around a scientific concept really
builds fluency, even if you think you already know the concept well.

If anyone is thinking about doing a podcast, feel free to email me. We found
that having a big team with specialized roles and work rotation helped make
the work sustainable and enjoyable. And as others highlight, content matters
far more than tools or editing.

------
atmosx
Yes, it was pretty good too. I got +150 downloads (or subscribers, I can't
remember) the after 2 or 3 weeks AFAIK. This number is huge if you consider
that it was in Greek.

The problem that I needed ~ 6-10 hours per week in order to create a 45min
content that didn't suck using GarageBand and another podcast tool (can't
recall names now). The best had 3 sections: Weekly news (just referencing
quick), Commentary on some of these news, Interviews.

What I found interesting is how easy is to get someone to talk about something
he is working on. I recall finding Greek guys working in major corps (Nokia,
Google, etc.) and get them to talk and I had many great ideas on how to
improve it, create a community around it, etc.

So although, the idea was _good_ I wanted to spend 2-3 hours per week, but
that's not possible if you want to create quality content. At least wasn't for
me.

ps. It is something that I'd like to re-do at some point, but still I don't
want to spend so many hours on this. Probably if I could find someone to help
with editing / publishing and split the tasks would be a lot easier. Ideally,
should be a team of 3.

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gmemstr
First, it's going to be slow to start unless you're either really good at
advertising, already have a following etc. Getting a podcast going, like and
project, is hard.

Second, it's going to be weird listening to your own voice recorded. Again and
again as you edit. You'll probably think you sound stupid and pick out all
your flubs, but you'll have to get used to it.

Lastly, it is extremely difficult to do a one-man podcast. Two people is the
bare minimum to keep the conversation going, three is (in my personal
experience listening and creating podcasts) the perfect number. Four is great
if you can find a good diverse cast (e.g the Rooster Teeth podcast). So get a
couple of your friends and make sure to make talking points, either written
down or in your head, so that there's little dead air.

~~~
braveo
why do you consider 3 to be the perfect number?

------
tedyoung
I've learned that (like many projects) it's easy to get sidetracked on:

* What's the best microphone to use? (There goes at least 20 hours of research and reading and listening to comparisons, etc.)

* What should I use to record the podcast? Audacity? Logic Pro X? Reaper (which I haven't upgraded to 5.43 yet)?

* What about intro music? (More weeks pass as I reinstall and upgrade my digital audio workstation, the synth and drum plugins, my guitar interface, which oh, needs a driver upgrade...)

* How should I clean up the noise? (More time passes installing and upgrading my compression plugins. Do I need to buy the latest Waves plugins? Didn't I buy that set years ago, maybe I can upgrade? Check out KVR Audio for freeware plugins...)

* Where should I store the podcast? Which service? Is libsyn still good? What about podbean?

* Oh, now I need a website. Spend time resurrecting an old blog. Think: maybe I should convert over to one of those newer static sites (Hugo, et al)? Hey, maybe I'll write something in Go, which I've been trying to learn! (Weeks later...)

So, it's months later and I've clearly shaved far too many yaks. I don't have
a podcast, but I've learned that I should just record one with whatever mic
I've got, using Audacity, or whatever, and just publish the darned thing.

~~~
Philomath
Couldn't agree more with the: just publish the darned thing.

That's it.

~~~
viraptor
There's a balance really. Don't overthink it, but don't just ignore the main
issues. For example I unsubscribed from a few podcasts just because they had a
lot of static, or completely unbalanced speakers' volumes. You don't need the
latest and greatest software/hardware to deal with that, but do go with
Audacity at least.

There's a very low threshold where whatever the content is, you can't
concentrate on it. Do the minimum to not sound terrible at the beginning.

------
Philomath
I got to the point where I had a microphone (got it from amazon after a couple
days of research), I had my software (I didn't think much about it, I had
Garage Band preinstalled) and I recorded one audio.

After hearing it, I found it so bad I never did more.

I used the microphone for recording other stuff though.

What I learned is that you should first record yourself somewhere and listen
to yourself before committing.

------
SyneRyder
Like others have mentioned, I found the time required quickly had me burning
out & questioning the time investment. 5 - 10x the final length of the podcast
seemed a good rule of thumb, even when you've managed to automate some of your
process. For that reason, you might want to consider hiring someone to do your
editing & uploading - the fresh pair of ears will probably help too.

Some of my time was spent being fussy about audio quality, but I still think
it's important - I've unsubscribed from a lot of podcasts because the audio
was unbearable. At the very least, learn a little about dynamics/compression,
so that your podcast is a steady volume and not too loud or soft compared to
others. Look at something like The Levelator [1] as a bare minimum.

Personally, I used iZotope RX [2] for noise reduction when necessary, and
iZotope Ozone [3] for controlling dynamics and applying EQ. Ozone has a
feature where you can analyze the EQ of a recording - say, Leo Laporte's TWIT
podcasts - and apply that EQ curve to your own recording. That together with
Ozone's dynamics compression helped get a much more professional sound.

Lastly: you might want to look at Christopher Hawkins book Record & Release
[4] about every step of the podcasting process.

[1]
[http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator](http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator)

[2] [https://www.izotope.com/en/products/repair-and-
edit/rx.html](https://www.izotope.com/en/products/repair-and-edit/rx.html)

[3] [https://www.izotope.com/en/products/master-and-
deliver/ozone...](https://www.izotope.com/en/products/master-and-
deliver/ozone.html)

[4] [http://www.record-and-release.com/](http://www.record-and-release.com/)

~~~
chris_hawk
Thanks for mentioning my book! I'm glad you found it useful.

To answer the OP, I learned tons doing my first podcast: \- It was the first
time I'd used WordPress to build a site \- It was the first time I'd edited
audio with Audacity \- It was the first time I'd used any kind of opt-in form
to build a mailing list \- It was the first time I did any kind of automated
social media marketing \- It was the first time I'd done long-form interviews
with people \- Etc

GREAT experience. The best thing was making friends with all my guests. I was
bummed when the podcast ended, but it was time.

I'm gearing up to start a new podcast right now, for freelancers and
consultants. It should be launching next month & I'm pretty excited about it.

~~~
aakriti1215
Thanks Chris for writing such wonderful content! Me and my friend are super
excited to get started, and we're glad we have so many great resources, both
from you and from everyone else on HN!

Good luck for the next one, I can't wait to check it out!

------
coreymaass
I've done three. All were wrapped up or abandoned within a dozen episodes. I
learned that the prospect of an on-going podcast is daunting. It seems many
others have learned the same thing, as "seasons" and story arcs seem to be
gaining in popularity. I'm starting another podcast soon, but with a distinct
curriculum in mind, so I can stop after 6 episodes and still have a complete
topic arc that I can release. I'm hoping that will make the difference.

------
crystalPalace
I've started/participated in two podcast projects. One was recordings of a
series of RPG sessions that was never published. And the other was an
informational, science-type podcast. I learned it's very difficult to be
spontaneous and keep up a conversation especially with more than 3 people.
Also if someone says they'll do all the sound mixing be skeptical.

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anotheryou
As a listener I want ok audio, this means:

\- low noise enviroment

\- mic placed as close as you can without pops or much change in the distance.
(just try it a bit to find what soudns best). For multiple people: make sure
they are all the same distance and angle to the mic.

\- run it through a modest compressor once

I guess the kind of mic etc is not even that important.

------
mathgeek
I tried this years ago, when podcasting was maybe two years into being a
thing. The one lesson I learned is that it's a huge time investment. All of
the other costs pale in comparison, so you should be ready to make that
commitment.

