This site may earn chapter commissions from the links on this page. Terms of apply.

Of grade, we have our own weekly podcast here at ExtremeTech, but I'm not really going to talk about that much today. I listen to (and watch) a number of podcasts and video podcasts throughout the calendar week and most of them have small things that annoy me. Things that are easy to fix. I thought I'd collect my thoughts into five easy tips to producing a better podcast. Naturally, our own podcast is equally guilty of some of these as any others—don't take this equally any sort of "practice it like us!" message of superiority.

1. Go along It Short: Some podcasts drone on for well over an hour, even bordering on 2. That's just a lot of listening time. It'due south hard to keep your mind from wandering for that long, and unless you want your audience to ignore what yous say, that should exist a main goal. Don't design your podcast after talk radio, which can go on for hours—those shows are explicitly designed for commuters and the like to come in at the middle when they plough on their radio in the morning and plow of the show before information technology's over when they get to work.

1 hour seems to be a nice circular, tangible goal that virtually podcasts can attach to. I personally notice half an hour to be fifty-fifty better. In all honesty, you probably don't take more than an hour work of interesting stuff to say each week. If you're going over, you're probably guilty of the side by side problem…

ii. Don't Beat a Dead Horse: Podcasts, especially those with three or four people talking, tin devolve into a casual chat virtually a detail bit of minutiae that goes on and on and on. Before you know it, the hosts and/or guests are repeating themselves a lot and driving the point dwelling house well past the point of annoyance. As much as I honey GFW Radio, which is probably my favorite gaming podcast, I oftentimes find myself mentally yelling at Jeff Light-green and the crew to "get on with it" and start talking most the next topic.

It's good to love your topic of chat, only don't assume your audience wants to hear your extended manifesto as much as you beloved to spout information technology. If your audience wants to hear more than on a subject, they'll let y'all know and you lot tin can bring it up once more on the next podcast. After five or ten minutes, motility on to the side by side thing on your topic list. Did I say topic list?

three. Make a Topic Listing: Before y'all record your podcast, make a quick outline—"evidence notes" if you volition—of the topics you want to discuss. If you take several people on your podcast, give the list to them ahead of fourth dimension. Print information technology out and bring it to your recording session. This will help the host and guests figure out what they want to say before information technology comes upwards. It will too help yous group related items and so that ane part of the conversation flows into the adjacent, creating a more than natural experience. Almost importantly, it will give you a reminder that at that place are "other things to become to" when y'all showtime to ramble on. It's an ever-present prod to continue the podcast moving, which is the key to making it engaging.

4. Regular Features: Keeping a regular schedule is important to developing an audience. It doesn't take to be at the exact same time or fifty-fifty the exact same day of the week. But whether your podcast is daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, you want to brand sure y'all hit those goals with a fresh podcast. And the key to doing that is to brand certain y'all schedule time for information technology and get a practiced list of topics made. Over time it can exist hard to come up with new things to talk about, and regular features are a big help there. Perchance at the end of your podcast you have a quote of the week. Maybe you have a trivia question, or play a curt mock quiz show.

I of my favorite podcasts, The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, goes over news events in the starting time, plays "scientific discipline or fiction" at the end, and closes with a famous quote. On ET'south podcast, we end with an HDTV update from Robert of what'south going on in the Hard disk world. Don't simply introduce yourself and start BSing for an hour: have some structure. As a bonus, it actually makes your podcast easier to plan.

Pointer Graphic for FingerlinksDon't forget to grab our weekly podcast.

5. Pay Attention to the Audio: This can exist difficult and time-consuming at commencement, and can get expensive fast if you're non conscientious. Whatever audio software you're using, you may want to augment with some plug-ins or other applications to reduce racket, make smoothen intros and outros (check out podsafeaudio.com for lots of Creative Commons music you can use), eliminate excessive pops, extended "uhhh" moments, heavy breathing into the microphone, and groundwork noise. Even just a simple automated racket filter tin make a big difference.

Y'all tin can go too far, though. An over-produced, heavily-edited podcast breaks the catamenia and sounds unnatural. There's definitely a residuum to achieve. Too many podcasts do trivial more than than tape, slap on some intro music, and throw information technology on the web. A little cleanup is a good thing.

Related articles: