Jeff's Random Thoughts
Podcasting Tips
After listening to a few podcasts over the last few weeks I have a few tips that I thought I would share with 
current and future podcasters. For these tips, I am going to assume that I am a 'joe average' podcast listener which I suspect is probably true. I listen to podcasts using my iPod primarily in my car (using a cassette adapter for now) during my 30 minute commute each way. I offer these tips because I'm finding that even the 'seasoned' podcasters (and I say seasoned somewhat loosely as this is a pretty new medium!) can make a couple of tweaks to really improve things. I put these in rough order of 'bang for the buck'.
Number 1 - Date Me
Name your podcast with the complete date within 21 characters (that's roughly the viewable length on the iPod). If we are fumbling around in the car and want to find a particular date (hmmm. haven't listened to this one for two days - where is 2/12?) it's annoying to have some long name taking up those characters when what we want is simply the date. This forces us to make extra clicks and go back, etc. iTunes already names the playlist after your podcast name (in the title field of your XML) so we navigated to your podcast by selecting it from the playlist - we already know it's yours! Put the date first and anything else you want after that.
Number 2 - Best Content First
Recognize that we will often get to our destination (or done with our workout if we're exercising) before we are done with your podcast. We may get back to it but more often than not we won't. If you think you have something you want to highlight because it's your best stuff, delivering it early will increase the probability that it will be heard.
Number 3 - Short Intro
We all like the introduction music. It's sort of a branding logo for your podcast. It's important and welcome. Just keep it short. Because it's always the same for your shows, we really don't need to hear it for all that long. Announce the date and your podcast name quickly very first thing and then launch into your intro music - but keep it moving and get to that content! Yea, we can fast forward, but it's a hassle because of the extra step. Remember, we're most likely in a car or doing other things with our hands.
Number 4 - 20 Minute Rule
The median commute time for an average city in the US is about 20 minutes, for a large city it is about 30 minutes. Also, the average workout time is about 30 minutes. Keep this in mind. If your podcast is longer than 20-30 minutes you do risk people dropping off as they get to their destinations. I realize that because of your content, this may be unavoidable. For that reason, if you must go longer than 20-30 minutes, refer to rule 2.
Number 5 - Cut The Fuzz
Reverb can be fun when used as an effect but can lead to hard-to-understand podcasts when overused. That said, properly engineered reverb and/or delay can make your vocals stand out. Here's a couple of tricks. Use a short room reverb. Turn it up until you can JUST hear it in the headphones and then turn it back a bit. Reverb should be felt not heard - it shouldn't hit you over the head yet subtle reverb will make your voice sound better in most cases. If your style just MUST have that echo chamber feel, fine - add some pre-delay (50-100ms) to distinguish your voice against the reverb. This will make it easier for us to understand you.
Number 6 - Squeeze It
Take some time and learn just a bit about compression and limiting. These techniques help reduce the vocal dynamics and increase the headroom on your recording which will make your podcast stand out against the rumble of the car better. Google things like 'compresssion faq' or 'understanding compression limiting' - there is a wealth of good info out there and it's not super complicated.
current and future podcasters. For these tips, I am going to assume that I am a 'joe average' podcast listener which I suspect is probably true. I listen to podcasts using my iPod primarily in my car (using a cassette adapter for now) during my 30 minute commute each way. I offer these tips because I'm finding that even the 'seasoned' podcasters (and I say seasoned somewhat loosely as this is a pretty new medium!) can make a couple of tweaks to really improve things. I put these in rough order of 'bang for the buck'.Number 1 - Date Me
Name your podcast with the complete date within 21 characters (that's roughly the viewable length on the iPod). If we are fumbling around in the car and want to find a particular date (hmmm. haven't listened to this one for two days - where is 2/12?) it's annoying to have some long name taking up those characters when what we want is simply the date. This forces us to make extra clicks and go back, etc. iTunes already names the playlist after your podcast name (in the title field of your XML) so we navigated to your podcast by selecting it from the playlist - we already know it's yours! Put the date first and anything else you want after that.
Number 2 - Best Content First
Recognize that we will often get to our destination (or done with our workout if we're exercising) before we are done with your podcast. We may get back to it but more often than not we won't. If you think you have something you want to highlight because it's your best stuff, delivering it early will increase the probability that it will be heard.
Number 3 - Short Intro
We all like the introduction music. It's sort of a branding logo for your podcast. It's important and welcome. Just keep it short. Because it's always the same for your shows, we really don't need to hear it for all that long. Announce the date and your podcast name quickly very first thing and then launch into your intro music - but keep it moving and get to that content! Yea, we can fast forward, but it's a hassle because of the extra step. Remember, we're most likely in a car or doing other things with our hands.
Number 4 - 20 Minute Rule
The median commute time for an average city in the US is about 20 minutes, for a large city it is about 30 minutes. Also, the average workout time is about 30 minutes. Keep this in mind. If your podcast is longer than 20-30 minutes you do risk people dropping off as they get to their destinations. I realize that because of your content, this may be unavoidable. For that reason, if you must go longer than 20-30 minutes, refer to rule 2.
Number 5 - Cut The Fuzz
Reverb can be fun when used as an effect but can lead to hard-to-understand podcasts when overused. That said, properly engineered reverb and/or delay can make your vocals stand out. Here's a couple of tricks. Use a short room reverb. Turn it up until you can JUST hear it in the headphones and then turn it back a bit. Reverb should be felt not heard - it shouldn't hit you over the head yet subtle reverb will make your voice sound better in most cases. If your style just MUST have that echo chamber feel, fine - add some pre-delay (50-100ms) to distinguish your voice against the reverb. This will make it easier for us to understand you.
Number 6 - Squeeze It
Take some time and learn just a bit about compression and limiting. These techniques help reduce the vocal dynamics and increase the headroom on your recording which will make your podcast stand out against the rumble of the car better. Google things like 'compresssion faq' or 'understanding compression limiting' - there is a wealth of good info out there and it's not super complicated.
1 Comments:
All good tips in general. Thanks to digital recording we can have pristine, better-than-CD quality sound, but FM and AM radio get away with much less bandwidth. For example, FM radio actually tops out at 11KHz; they use brick-wall limiting, filtering and compression to get a relatively high peak average program level. Without compression, quiet signals would be inaudible. To some extent that's also the characteristic "sound" of FM radio.
AM radio is about half of FM, so it's really only good for speech; it also explains why Motown records made in the days of AM pop stations have that characteristic, punchy mid sound.
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