Working Tools 17. - Podcast Setup

Every Monday evening, I come down to the the office to record an episode of 1857. “Make the past, the present in the future.” If you haven’t already, have a listen. TJ Cosgrove and I chat through our week and talk around a subject that has captured the attention of one of us. As I write, we have just recorded episode 64.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that two years ago, I had only the faintest concept of what a podcast was. I’d certainly never listened to one. I am sure that you, dear reader, are completely au fait with the concept, but lest someone like me has stumbled upon this post, permit me to supply a definition:

“A podcast or generically netcast, is an episodic series of digital audio or video files which a user can download in order to listen to. It is often available for subscription, so that new episodes are automatically downloaded via web syndication to the user’s own local computer, mobile application, or portable media player.“(From Wikipedia)

There is a huge choice of podcasts out there – and I have become a voracious consumer of them. From time to time, I publish lists my current favourites. Here and here for example.

How to listen.

Listening is easy.

Personally, I live in a Mac world, and in my opinion Overcast leads the market. So easy, even I can use it.

Sometimes overlooked – the good old BBC produces some superb podcasts

How to record.

It never occurred to me that I could record a podcast. Then along came Anchor FM, where I was able to mumble into my phone on the way to work and call it a podcast. Anchor is a fantastic way to get started, and is adding functionality all the time. Anyone can become a podcaster in moments.

TJ has been knocking around the analogue world for a while, producing logos, and particularly, great video content. He had shot some video for me at Nero’s Notes. TJ and I got talking. We had never met, but what the hell? We decided to record. I looked around at outsourcing editing services, until we settled on TJ. We looked around at sponsors, until we settled on Nero’s Notes.

It’s that simple.

Podcast Setup

Not as complex as you might think. In a nutshell, we talk on the phone and each of us records our own voice. We usually talk through What’s App, but Skype works too. You could even just talk on the phone – subject to your call plan! We’re talking though our headphones. I use these. In order to record my end of the conversation, I use this, the Blue Yeti. (As does TJ.) It plugs into a USB in the back of my monitor. It has a little furry hat on (or a pop filter, as techie folk call it) to stop my plosives popping on the audio. Recently, I bought a boom arm, to reduce the clutter on my desk.

The recording is done though a piece of software called Audacity, where I press a button to start recording (the red one), and another to stop it (the yellow one). Then I export the audio to my dropbox and send TJ a link to the file. He then imports my file into his Audacity, and mixes and edits the two tracks together. There is undoubtedly some work in that editing phase, and I have no doubt that TJ’s experience in editing video has helped him master it quickly, but I am told that it is learnable, with great instruction available online.

Our recordings are hosted at SimpleCast, for a low monthly fee, and people subscribe to us through a wide variety of channels.

Why do we do it?

That’s really simple. We enjoy it. We take pleasure in our conversations, and our listeners do too. The podcast has spawned a Slack channel, 1857ers chew the fat, and that’s great fun too. If you would like to join – get in touch and I’ll send you an invite.