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The production process for audio podcasts
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By Jonathan Halls Producing a podcast is relatively simple. In this very brief overview we will only look at the production process itself. There are many different production techniques you can use as you follow this process and they are treated separately on this website. We've divided the production process into five steps.
1. Planning your podcast The first stage in the podcast production process is planning. There are three levels of planning. First, determining your editorial strategy. Second, deciding content. Third, planning the production. Macro & structural planning Planning your podcast starts at the macro level. If you plan to podcast a series of episodes, this stage of planning will ensure each episode is consistent and ties into your overall theme. To ensure consistency, you first need an editorial strategy. This is a mantra that you can refer to when making editorial decisions. For example, when you are thinking about what topics to podcast on, interview people for, what language to use and length of your podcast or an element of it. Having this will focus your energy as you produce your podcast. It will also speed up production because you won't need to stop constantly to think through issues. We go into this more in our article, Planning your podcast. Content planning The second element of planning is your content. You've got a format and know that you want your series of pods to be 8 minutes long, with one interview and a 30 second comedy drama. But who do you interview and about what do you interview them? I had the privilege of working with some of the world's best television trainers when I ran the BBC's production training department. A lot of delegates would fly into London from around the world to do our renowned multi-camera television (studio) directing course. They were often perplexed and anxious that so much time at the beginning was spent outside the studio and in rooms planning their exercises. You see, success comes from planning properly. "Winging it" with content ultimately will let you down. Content planning also involves researching information for your commentary and finding interesting guests. Before you pick up your microphone, interview recorder, download sound effects, or record creative jingles, make sure you have planned your podcast. Production planning The third element of planning your podcast is planning your production. This is the sort of thing experienced professionals often do on the back of a cigarette pack. It's not rocket science, but you do need to do it. I always suggest you plan a production timetable that includes when you'll be interviewing someone, when you will write your script, when you will record it and when you'll package it. In many ways, it's basic project management skills. If you plan to be big with your podcasts, you should plan your production carefully. 2. Scripting your podcast Before you write a script, research your material and make sure you get all your facts right. Be very clear about what you want to say. Once you have your material, you need to write the script. A saying often taught to radio broadcasters is, “the best ad-libs are scripted.” This applies to podcasts. Have you ever found yourself re-recording a telephone voicemail message because you forget something or end up adding a silly phrase you later regret? This can happen when you open the microphone and start presenting the podcast. Avoid this by being prepared with the script. Your script should be easy to read with plenty of white space so you can underline words you may want to emphasize. It will also include your sound effects and any music you choose to use. We talk more about this in our article, Scripting your podcast. 3. Gathering your content Really interesting audio podcasts feature more than just one person, pontificating about life. They're about the content, not the person on the microphone. Sure, the person who presents the podcast may be a major attraction. But unless you're a real celebrity, it's your content that will draw listeners. The sorts of content that will give your podcast more life includes:
Would you like to learn more about conducting interviews and vox pops that sound professional and add value to your podcast? CLICK HERE to check out our new section on Podcaster's Portal that focuses exclusively on audio interviews and offers loads of free tips. Vox pop comes from the Latin "Voice of the People". This term is used by broadcasters to describe short sharp comments people make about an important subject. Usually you will have four or five such short comments and they are edited together so that the listener hears them all in a row. For example, if you are doing a learning podcast on customer service, you may have a series of four people expressing what they expect good customer service to look like. Actuality refers to special sounds you need to convey a message - perhaps it is a crowd roaring, or even the relevant part of a speech. Actuality could refer to a 10 second soundbight of Barack Obama talking about taxation or the actual sound effect of an airplane landing. Generally these are recorded on location. CLICK HERE for tips on how to make good audio recordings when on location. Interactive phone messages are simply edited excerpts of messages left on your answer phone. These are great for podcasts because you can include them and create the feeling that your regular podcast is really interactive. For example, say you do a podcast about your favorite baseball team and you make some controversial comments about your team's coach. You could encourage your listeners to phone your answering service and leave their comments. Then you choose four or five that represent the general feeling of listeners and then edit them down to feature in your podcast. OK - so we've quickly looked at the kind of content you may gather to make your podcast sound more interesting and engage your listener. Now the most important point. You need gather this material first. This is why planning is so important. At the outset you need to know what your podcast is saying editorially and will achieve for your listener. You then need to consider what content you need to achieve this. Then you need to plan to gather it. When you first start out, draw up a production plan. Once you're used to making podcasts you'll be able to do a lot of this in your head. But when you start, teach yourself to do this in a disciplined way. If you find yourself having to create loads of podcasts to strict deadlines, you'll find this discipline is invaluable. 4. Presenting your podcast The next stage is to actually deliver it onto disc or tape. When you do this, take a break and speak slowly and clearly. If you have difficult words, practice them very slowly, syllable by syllable, before speaking them at regular pace. Complex words do take practice. For example, meteorology. The three areas we suggest you concentrate on to improve your vocal presence is your breathing, diction and expression. Breathing and projecting from your diaphragm gives your voice more authority. Clear diction will improve your credibility. And improving your expression will make you more dynamic to listen to. Of course, no matter how good you are, you can't do much with a lousy script so make sure you write good scripts. We cover this in more detail in our article, Presenting your script. 5. Editing your presentation You will probably record your piece onto a PC and edit it. Perhaps you are using Adobe Audition or Pro Tools. We recommend you use freeware software such as Audacity which has everything you need for podcasting. It only costs you your time and bandwidth to download off the Internet. When you have recorded your piece, you will edit in any sound effects and music. Be careful to monitor the levels so your voice is not clipped. And look out for the balance between music and voice. Music that drowns out your speech takes away from your story. The same applies for sound effects. Summary You may notice that the area of production we talked about most is planning. One of the regular experiences I used to have teaching broadcasting was having a new student say to me, "just teach me how to use the studio because I already know how to talk." It was usually these people who who thought broadcasting was simply about talking, who made awful cringe-worthy programs. Anyone who thinks they are a good talker and can make an easy transition to podcasting is deluding themselves. Podcasting is a brand new method of audio communication on a brand new medium, the Web. Creating a conversational and engaging podcast is not the same as having a conversation in Starbucks. Creating an interesting podcast takes careful planning. The technical side of production is important and will take a while to learn. But once you've mastered the techie side you'll discover the really difficult part of production always takes place inside your head as you plan your content. The better you train your mind to think through your editorial content so that it truly is about podcasting and not just a flippant "open the microphone and talk experience", the better it will work for your audience. Make sure you invest the time to plan, plan and plan. People often ask me how much time they should spend planning. It's not right to suggest one size fits all because sometimes you simply need to dedicate a lot of time to gathering audio content. But for the average podcast, I would seriously question the value of spending anything less than 25% of overall production time on planning. I personally spend about one third of my production time on planning. (Unless it is a very big production with loads of interviews and inserted content.) And that planning saves me a lot of time in gathering, presenting and editing.
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Text copyright © 2006,2007,2008 Jonathan Halls. All rights reserved. Website copyright © 2008 Talkshow Communication Ltd and Licensors. All rights reserved.
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