Starting Your Podcast

Your microphone is your most important tool in recording.

• Get a good USB mic.
• Be thorough in your soundchecks; record, listen back, and take notes.
• Know how your mic responds to your voice and others’.

Here are some reminders for when recording in an improvised studio: 

• Small, irregular, and soft is the perfect recording space.
• Use a walk-in closet, a blanket fort, a tent, or whatever works for you.

Here are some reminders for when recording where you don’t have full control:

• Get room tone (ie record a minute of ambient sound) to help cover edits later
• Acknowledge the space so the audience feels like they know where they are, too.

For a full rundown of home recording studios, including advice on mics and other equipment, we recommend this Transom.org article:

Setting Up a Small Recording Studio

This is the easiest part of podcasting, so don’t fret. There are multiple free and for-pay services to maintain your RSS feed and store your audio files.

You need two things to start distributing your podcast:

1. a maintained and updated RSS feed.
2. web space.

You might use a podcasting service like Libsyn or Podbean, a blogging service like Wordpress, or an audio distributor like Soundcloud. Whatever you use, they will have step-by-step guides for you. NB: the free versions of services like Wordpress and Soundcloud require you to provide the web space to store your audio files.