Can I make a podcast myself, or do I need to use a production company?
Summary: It is possible to make reasonable quality podcasts yourself, but it will take time and effort to learn the production techniques involved and having a background in media or audio will be very useful. The resulting quality may not meet future audio standards which could be introduced by major platforms, as podcasts become a mainstream media format. At its core, your decision is time versus cost. Making a podcast yourself will have a lower cost than hiring a production company, but it will be far more time consuming. Pursue this option if you have lots of time and a keen interest to learn recording and editing.
As I write this in 2021, it's possible to make a basic podcast with little more than your smartphone. If production values are not important for you right now, or if you have low to no budget, then using an app such as Spotify's Anchor is a great choice. You could also prototype your ideas there first before going into full production. After all, the message is the most important aspect. Inspiring ideas and meaningful exchanges should be top priority.
But before you download Anchor and call up your first guest in the next 5 minutes, think about this.. What would you think about your favorite brand if their podcast contained distorted voices, constant mic bumps, background noise, and extreme volume changes? It wouldn’t instil confidence. It might send the wrong message and backfire badly on the reputation of that brand.
Crisp, clean audio is definitely important then. If you are reading this, you are likely a brand or community leader who prides themselves on superior products or services, and you are justifiably concerned about making your podcasts sound as good as possible. Let's remember why we make podcasts in the first place: to allow our communities to get to know us. We probably don't want our audiences to have any doubts about what our values and standards are, which they might do if they listen to low-fidelity episodes that have hum and hiss, bumps and plosives, silences and background noise. It’s distracting at best, and could lose you supporters at worst.
There's also an existential risk to consider. Whilst there are no strict audio standards required by the major podcast platforms such as Spotify and Apple today, there could yet be in future (reference). These changes could limit or stop your episodes' availability on major platforms in the future. Even if such standards are not introduced by platforms, listeners are accustomed to ever-improving media quality. Just think of how the technical and production quality standards of videos on YouTube have increased since the platform launched. Does anyone watch older, low resolution videos on there anymore? Having the best possible quality now, means your archive of content should last longer with listeners in the future. Given the reasons above, at Adventurous Media we already record and publish podcasts which meet the stricter audio mastering standards used in broadcast media.
If you still prefer to make your podcasts yourself, here are some brief links and tips on purchasing the necessary equipment, assessing and treating your recording environment, and consumer grade podcasting software.
Recording
In a nutshell, you’ll need a mic, headphones, a computer, and a quiet place to record.
For simplicity, we recommend using a USB microphone, as this is less complicated than using professional microphones (which require XLR connections, preamps and A-D converters). The Blue Yeti USB Microphone is a very popular midrange choice, ideally paired with a shock mount to reduce rumble and noise.
There are a huge selection of headphones on the market, and anything from 50 dollars upwards should be ok. We recommend the Audio-Technica ATH-M30x.
Recording location: These types of USB podcast mics are highly sensitive to other noises around you, so you need to find a quiet space, ideally a small room with lots of soft furnishings and not too many hard surfaces or edges nearby. You can also use blankets, cushions, foam and other absorbant materials to block the hard surfaces which reflect sounds. The purpose of doing so is to avoid an echoey or a "boxy" sound quality to the voice recordings.
Editing
You can plug the microphone directly into your PC or Mac via USB, open your chosen recording software, and start recording. Below are two software suggestions which can be used both for the recording and the editing of the audio.
Garageband (native with Mac) - here's a great post on how to use Garageband for podcasting.
Audacity (shareware for PC or Mac) - there is a rich wiki on the features and techniques for Audacity, updated regularly by the community. And here is a great simple article about podcast editing using Audacity.
Exporting
You should export your final file as MP3, 192kbps, VBR (variable bitrate).
To publish your episode, it will not matter whether your final file is stereo or mono, but note that stereo files are twice as large (two audio channels, left and right, instead of one). If your show is a typical interview-style format with just voices, then mono will likely be perfectly fine.
Conclusion
Your main reason for making a podcast by yourself should be that you don’t have a budget. If you are a start up for example, you probably have the people and the time, but no capital to spare - in which case this option makes a lot of sense. There’s no external time pressure, you can experiment and take your time. But if you are making the recording yourself, it means it is your responsibility - it is rarely possible to fix bad recordings if you change your mind afterwards. Can you dedicate yourself to podcasting fully? Shut out the work chaos and noise, carve out space to make your podcast properly?
But if you do have a budget, then you should definitely use a producer. Sure, using a producer or production company does cost more than doing it alone - but it has many benefits, the biggest being high quality audio. Producers use professional microphones and equipment, recorded in quiet rooms or studios, carefully prepared so that voices sound good all the time. All technical matters are the responsibility of the producer, so you can forget about technical matters and focus on the content; the dialogue; the guest; the messages.
Not only that, a producer will work with you on the speaker performances, suggest changes, spot mistakes or things to improve and rerecord. Editing might be bundled or discounted with the costs. It will be quicker too: producers deliver episodes just days, sometimes hours after recordings. Mastering (final process where clarity and loudness are optimised) is typically included, which will future-proof your episodes to a greater extent, should platforms changes their publishing guidelines in the future. Lastly, producers know how to distribute the episodes you make for maximum results.