Podcast Production Tips: 6 Expert Recording Techniques for Polished Episodes
It’s easy to forget that listeners of a podcast ONLY have audio to work with. No matter how amazing your interview may be, with its visual cues, facial expressions, and extensive research, your listeners rely solely on their ears to experience the story.
How and what you record is everything, and the quality of your output can’t be compromised. Whether you’re a hopeful beginner or an experienced communicator, your recording techniques need to be solid if you want your audience to keep listening.
But before we dive into some tips for recording a podcast, it’s helpful to look at where this step fits in the process of making a podcast. We think it’s the most critical part of putting together an episode!
Development and Planning:
The planning stage is where you focus on WHAT your episode will cover and HOW to record a podcast. You need to do your research on your guest, their background and expertise, think about the logistics like scheduling, equipment location, and figure out how the episode will fit within the season.
Recording:
The goal of planning is to make the recording as stress-free as possible. If you have everything in place, when you hit record, you’ll set yourself up for success during the post-production phase.
Post-production
This is everything you do after you’ve recorded your episode to make the listening experience as seamless and enjoyable for your audience as possible. You use audio editing software to sculpt your episode from its raw form to a finished product. Everyone defines the end quality of their episodes differently, but the better your initial recording, the less work you have to do to get it into listenable shape.
After post-production, it’s all about finding ways to market your podcast so that it gets into your audience's ears!
6 podcast production tips
So what can you do to ensure that you get a great raw recording? Try to think about every aspect of your recording process and question whether there are compromises to the audio quality. Here are a few podcast production tips to help you optimize your recording:
Curate the sounds around you
Consider your physical environment when you record and how your movements in it might impact your recording. Your environment includes what you wear, what appliances and ambient noise are around, what you're sitting on, how the furniture and equipment are set up, and more. You want to avoid anything that might create unwanted sounds in the background. Most unwanted noises come from people’s movements so get comfortable and have some water nearby.
2. The mic is your friend!
Your relationship to the mic plays a huge role in the quality of your recording. While the quality of the mic is a big factor, the way you use it is even more important. Try to talk with your mouth one hand’s distance from the mic and keep it there. Too close and you could create distortion, too far and you’ll lose richness and volume. Always test your distance to the mic at the beginning of a recording session. You might also consider a mic pop filter to soften the sharp Ps and Ts in your speech.
3. Your equipment matters
Aside from the mic and pop filter mentioned above, there are loads of other pieces of equipment that you could add to your setup. The equipment you choose depends on the level of production quality you are looking to create. Remember, more equipment doesn’t necessarily mean a better podcast. But a few key items that could make a big difference are:
Headphones
Mic stands
A mixer control panel
Higher-quality equipment is likely to give you more control when recording a podcast. You can still capture great audio with your cell phone and earphones, but record some samples to make sure you’re happy with the output.
4. Drop the echo
Most spaces you record in will have an echo but you can do a few things to limit sound reflection. You can either put sound-absorbing objects into the space to limit the echo like blankets, heavy curtains, and soundproofing foam, or you can use a mic that filters out background noises. The bigger the room and the more hard surfaces or windows in it, the more your audio will sound lost in space. Closets are a great option!
5. Do you even hear yourself?
There are a couple reasons why we wear headphones for recording audio for podcasts. Headphones stop other speakers from showing up on your mic if you are recording off of a laptop. Your mic will only pick up your voice. Headphones are also great for allowing speakers to hear themselves. There is enormous value in being able to hear your own voice because you get live feedback about your tone and volume.
6. Don’t ‘fix it in post’
Rather than re-record, test and try to fix the set-up at the beginning so that there is less editing to do. If you do need to re-record, do it in large chunks instead of little bits and pieces. If you are not happy with a question or response, start from the beginning of the segment. Take a pause, clap, or click to indicate an audio signature, and then carry on from where you left off. There is a lot you can do in post-production, but nothing beats quality raw audio.
Know when to ask for help
You don’t have to do everything yourself. While these podcast production tips will be a big help, working with the pros can create a better show than you imagined.
Get in touch with Pod People to get access to a wide range of podcasting services and work with experts who can guide you through full-service production. Pod People has worked with big brands like SoFi, HBO, Netflix, CNN, and Marvel to produce top-quality and chart-topping podcasts. If you want to save time or up your podcast game, Pod People has you covered.
Let’s get the ball rolling — tell us about your project today.