Questions about getting into Podcasting
Posted by andrewj.rager
#1

Hello all,

After Gen Con 50, I've gotten this weird bug. I want to keep talking about board games year round. So I would like to somehow getting into podcasting. I have some radio experience, and I have ran a short lived wrestling site. So here are my questions:

What do I need to do to get started?
Is video desired by the audience, or required?
Would I need to buy a special mic or camera?
Do I need editing software, and is it expensive?
Is there already too many podcasts and would people bother seeking out another?
Any other tips, ideas, or other questions I am not thinking of.

Thank you all for your answers, opinions, and support!

-AJ

Posted by a dark rider on a pale ... unicorn?
#2

As a disclaimer, I've been doing a wildly obscure RPG podcast for a while now, so all of my answers come from that point of view.

You need a way to record, probably a way to edit, and a way to put the results where people can find it.

Editing?
If you're doing audio only, and you're using Windows, then Audacity is a good free editor. You can play with amplification, do some noise removal, move stuff around, ...

Recording?
A good microphone helps a lot, but if you're a bit careful, a decent headset microphone will do the job. Background noise & Breath noise have always been a problem for our show, but playing with the boom mic position so that it's not picking up every inhale and p-pop does make editing easier.

Hosting?
We self-host, because I had a domain with hosting just sitting around.
There are companies like Libsyn or Bluebrry or Podbean who do hosting structured for podcasters, where you're not sure how many downloads you're going to get, do the plan is structured so that you don't go off the air as soon as you get popular, because all your bandwidth allowance got eaten up.

Wild-Ass Speculation.
For RPGs, we never needed to worry about visuals, but depending on what you want to do with boardgames, I could see a video feed, or maybe just still images in a slideshow, being a good thing.
As an audience member, I'd want to have SOME point of reference if you're talking about a game, even if it was just a top-down view of the board, with a pair of hands which reach into shot occasionally to point at things.

My big question to you, as far as there being too many podcasts already; Who are you making this podcast for, and what are you trying to say to them?
If you know that (and it took us a good few episodes to maybe figure it out for our show) you'll be able to focus in on what makes your show different & worth listening to.

Posted by andrewj.rager a dark rider on a pale ... unicorn?
#3

it can be fun to run away wrote:
As a disclaimer, I've been doing a wildly obscure RPG podcast for a while now, so all of my answers come from that point of view.
You need a way to record, probably a way to edit, and a way to put the results where people can find it.
Editing?
If you're doing audio only, and you're using Windows, then Audacity is a good free editor. You can play with amplification, do some noise removal, move stuff around, ...
Recording?
A good microphone helps a lot, but if you're a bit careful, a decent headset microphone will do the job. Background noise & Breath noise have always been a problem for our show, but playing with the boom mic position so that it's not picking up every inhale and p-pop does make editing easier.
Hosting?
We self-host, because I had a domain with hosting just sitting around.
There are companies like Libsyn or Bluebrry or Podbean who do hosting structured for podcasters, where you're not sure how many downloads you're going to get, do the plan is structured so that you don't go off the air as soon as you get popular, because all your bandwidth allowance got eaten up.
Wild-Ass Speculation.
For RPGs, we never needed to worry about visuals, but depending on what you want to do with boardgames, I could see a video feed, or maybe just still images in a slideshow, being a good thing.
As an audience member, I'd want to have SOME point of reference if you're talking about a game, even if it was just a top-down view of the board, with a pair of hands which reach into shot occasionally to point at things.
My big question to you, as far as there being too many podcasts already; Who are you making this podcast for, and what are you trying to say to them?
If you know that (and it took us a good few episodes to maybe figure it out for our show) you'll be able to focus in on what makes your show different & worth listening to.
Thank you very much for your response!

All of that is very good information. The most important thing you brought up is who am I making it for, and what is my focus. This is something I really hadn't given much though, but now that you bring it up, it seems so important. This is something I must seriously consider.

I know little to nothing about almost all of this, so all of that from someone doing it is extremely insightful. I am still very open to more input.

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