Luis Congdon

All right. Welcome back to How To Create A Podcast Series.

Today, I want to talk to you about recording and recording etiquette, what software to use to record your show, how to get the best sound possible, and the importance of good, great, reliable audio.

A lot of people are going into this recording and just pushing record, and not having any forethought into what’s happening, in what they’re doing, in what they’re trying to create and produce. All these things are important to look at as you learn how to create a podcast.

If you’ve listened to the previous episodes where we’ve talked about creating your avatar and the purpose of your show, then you’re ahead. Now, you’re ready for this piece but don’t skip ahead to just listening to how to record your show.

Luis Congdon

If you don’t understand and have some foundation behind for how to create a podcast and as to why you’re creating the show, what it’s for and the purpose of recording, get clear on that stuff before you jump into this.

Now, let’s say it’s clear to you who your show is for, why you’re doing your show, and you have a strategy in place onto how this is going to support your business or help you in your mission to sell books, coaching expertise, whatever it is that is your end goal.

Luis Congdon

Most of the time in my world is to sell something to become more well-known at something.

And so, if you have the foundation done, now, you’re ready to start recording. The first thing I want to say to you about recording is that it doesn’t have to be hard. It can be pretty easy, and in today’s episode, I’m going to show and teach you some methods so that when you record, you don’t have to go out and buy big fancy equipment or get overwhelmed and make this too complicated. I want to make this easy for you.

One of the first things that I want to talk to you about when it comes to recording, not going to go into the software or the hardware. I will go into that in a moment, but the first thing I want to say to about recording is it starts with you.

Good quality audio begins with you. It starts with the environment that you’re in.

Luis Congdon

Before you record, think about a place or a room where you can record, and you can get good audio where there’s going to be no echo. If you’re thinking about recording in an empty room with wood floors, which I’ve done before, it’s not going to be a good place. You’re going to get an echo, and no microphone and software can help you fix bad audio. We can make it sound a little better. We can tweak audio, but we can’t fix big problems.

When we try to fix audio problems that are too big, we lose quality audio through the process of trying to fix the problems.

So, we want to try to avoid the big problems when we look at how to create a podcast. One of those problems is recording in a room that is not acoustically sound, that isn’t a good place for you to record. Think about a room that has at least some furniture in it, doesn’t give you an echo.

Luis Congdon

Then, the next you want to think about is, is there a lot of sounds coming in from outside? Are there going to be dogs barking? Are there going to be dogs walking around the floor and you have a wood floor? Think about all these stuff and the potential noises that can come up when you’re recording because that also impacts your choice of the room.

For example, in our house, we want a room all the way in the back, maybe downstairs in the basement. We want carpeted floors. We want some furniture in the room, and by having all of these like the carpets, no echo. Being all the way in the back and downstairs in the basement, definitely no echo, no sounds, no sounds from outside coming in.

If anybody walks around or our dog comes into the room, we don’t have the issue of the dog being hurt. We take the collar off so that if the dog shakes or moves around, that isn’t picked up by the microphone or the recording equipment. These are important things to consider when looking at how to create a podcast.

Now, we’ve covered that briefly, but I think that we’ve covered that sufficiently because it’s crucial that we have a basic understanding of a good quality room for audio.

What I’d recommend is wherever you’re going to record, go into that room and do some practice sessions and then listen back and see what the audio sounds like. Because sometimes, if a room does have an echo and we don’t pick up on it, the recording software and the microphone will pick up on the echo, and then we can’t get rid of that bad audio.

Luis Congdon

If you want to get rid of echo in a room, just put more people inside the room if you can, or put some furniture in the room, or build a little fort.

One time, we did this when we were traveling abroad. We were in a place that had granite floors, and we took some mattresses and created a little fortress in the corner of one of the rooms and then we had a soundproof room with some mattresses.

So think about what you need to do to make the room the best room possible for recording. Once we have that out of the way, the rest of the stuff is easy. We can use a program like GarageBand if you’re using a Mac to record and edit.

You can use a program like Audacity to record and edit. This is really helpful as you explore how to create a podcast. Both of these are free programs. Macbooks come with GarageBand so you can use it right there, and you can also use Audacity for Mac or Pc. You can go online and just download it.

Garageband and Audacity are very easy software to use. It’s not super hard. It will take a learning curve if you’ve never recorded before. So what I recommend is either you’re going to Google and research, or you just go to the podcastersecretweapon.com. You’ll learn everything you need to know about how to create a podcast.

Luis Congdon

The podcastersecretweapon.com is my program, and it has everything that you need in regards to recording. It has a step-by-step tutorial on how to use various programs ranging from MacBook’s programs, PC programs, and other programs that work on both different kinds of iOS or different kinds of software; Windows, Microsoft, Pc. We cover all of that inside the Podcaster Secret Weapon. It will teach you everything you need to know about how to create a podcast.

The cool thing about that is you don’t have to try to piece it all together by Googling here and there, or having gaps and then wanting to figure it out. Sometimes, there’s no way to figure it out unless someone’s laid it out for you and has gone through some of the experiences that you’re going through as you hit this bridge or this new place of learning how to use editing and recording software, which doesn’t have to be too hard.

At first, there’s going to be a huge learning curve for you because most people aren’t using recording software and figuring this out isn’t intuitive. Not at first. And so, that’s usually the biggest hurdle that people have in podcasting, and getting good sound. Getting good sound is something that most people have trouble with.

The thing that I tell people is, “The recording, sound, great quality audio begins with you and then after that, then it’s the software and the microphone that you’re using.

Luis Congdon

In the software, we’ve covered that. You can use the MacBook software. You can use Audacity for Mac or PC, and there are various other programs that we include inside the Podcaster Secret Weapon which teaches you about how to create a podcast. There are the other programs that I love, but those two are the most essential programs that I advise beginners to check out because they’re free. There’s just a lot of information out there, and we also cover how to create a podcast very thoroughly inside The Podcaster Secret Weapon.

Now, the next thing that you want to think about though is a microphone. When I first started podcasting, I used a regular old headset. I just used the headset that came with my iPhone4, and that worked just fine. A lot of people are going to get wrapped in buying expensive microphones and XLR, cords, mixing boards, and all these different stuff. That is overkill for podcasters and for people looking at how to create a podcast.

Personally, you can start with a headset that came with your smartphone if you have one, or go out and buy a headset that has a little speaker on it so that you can listen and you can speak into it and record it. You’ll be able to get decent if not a pretty good audio through that and then if you’re using a good room for recording, then you’re not going to have terrible quality. You’re not going to have the best quality, but you’ll have sufficient sound quality that your listeners won’t be turned off.

Luis Congdon

The next thing though if you want to level up is you actually can use an ATR2100 Audio-Technica. It’s a big name for a microphone that doesn’t cost very much. It’s somewhere between $49, $59, maybe $69. It’s fantastic. It’s the one that I’m using currently right now as I speak with you. It’s the microphone that I use when I travel and go on the road. A lot of podcasters and those that are big time, use this type of microphone.

You can level up, and you can use other more expensive fancier equipment but I’m going to tell you right now there’s no need. A $59-$69-microphone, the ATR Audio-Technica microphone is fantastic. It’s lightweight. It’s a plug and plays microphone. I could show a seven – eight-year-old kid how to plug it into their computer.

I could show him how to plug it into the computer and boom! They’re ready to go. I can show them how to turn on the software and how to push record. It’s not complicated, and as soon as you plug-in into your computer, your computer registers it, and it’s ready to go. So, nothing difficult.

You can get into using other more complicated microphones that require a mixer soundboard kind of thing that you plug-in to and then, plug that into the computer, and then plug the microphone into the mixer and it just gets way more complicated, and I don’t think you need to do that. Not for podcasting.

Luis Congdon

I have more complex audio set-ups because I’ve been gifted them by other companies, but I don’t recommend that for most people, and I don’t think that you need to go there.

You have a microphone. You have some software that you’ve gotten. You have a good room to record in, and now, you’re ready to push record. Now, open up your software. Push record. Have a listen, and listen back.

The next thing I recommend to people is to play around with the position of where you’re holding the microphone. You can hold the microphone further away and see what that sounds. You can hold the microphone up close and see what that sounds, or you can do it a few inches away from your mouth and see what that sounds. But play with the audio and listen to it to see what sounds the best.

Some microphones will pick up your breathing a lot and so, you might want to put the microphone a little further away. You ought to use some different equipment that blocks out some of the heavy breathing that sometimes happens when we speak. But there’s no reason to get too complicated with this. Sound is the obvious issue when looking at how to create a podcast.

Luis Congdon

I personally just say, buy the microphone I suggested. Use the software I’ve recommended for the beginners and then play around with the microphone placement. Play around with recording in different rooms. Once you’ve played around with that, you’ll be able to find the best audio quality for your needs.

Remember this is podcasting. This isn’t producing some crazy album that’s going to require amazing sound. This is a podcast.

When you upload this into places like iTunes, Stitcher, and all the other places that I’ll show you to upload your podcast, even if you are using a $2000-3000-microphone, you’re stuffed. The amount of information that’s held there to make it such a good audio quality is going to get downsized, put into an Mp3 format and then put into iTunes.

You’re going to lose a lot of the sound quality anyways, so there’s no reason for you to go overboard and buy crazy equipment and treat this like you’re recording some album that’s going to go platinum.

You can treat this like it’s going to be a podcast. It is a podcast and people are going to be listening to it through their phones. They’re not going to be connecting it to some very expensive audio equipment to hear to and have some crazy superior sound. People are just taking this on the road with them, and it’s in a small file size. There’s no reason for us to go overboard.

Luis Congdon

Let me give you a recap of how to create a podcast:

• Audio begins with you. Use the right room.
• Use the right equipment. It doesn’t have to be crazy expensive stuff.
• Play around in different rooms. Play around with the mic settings and the distance of the mic.
• Find the setting that works best for you.

If you want more information, go over to the podcasterssecretweapon.com and learn all you need to know about how to create a podcast. I will teach you more in-depth about how to get that great audio quality, and not only that, also how to sound like a pro even if you just began today.

Even if you just start today, I can show you how to sound like a pro. These are some of the most basic steps that I can dive into it with you a little bit more, but this stuff that I talked about today is the most foundational and most important thing for anyone. So there you have it.

This has been great sitting here with you and talk about how to create a podcast and how to create great audio quality for your podcast.