Pilar talks about some of her adventures when recording and editing an episode, as well as a more holistic decision she made about content. The 2nd part of the episode covers the 4th part of episode production: consolidation, rounding up the experience for the listener after you’ve created your episode.
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Mis-adventures in recording
I talk about a recent problem with the tech recording for Gastronostalgia. I couldn’t get into the recording app, I tried 2 browsers and even the phone, and it wasn’t working. It’s important to have a plan B that you can easily move to.
We moved to Zoom, but I think an app I had previously installed supposed to remove. background noise kicked in, and the audio was terrible. I’d forgotten to have a local recording on Audacity! Be careful with noise-cancelling apps that are designed to work with the in-built microphone, as they work in a funny way with proper microphones. Make sure you test the app with your kit.
The second mis-adventure relates to the two planes in which we might operate when we’re recording: producer and host. I do get distracted sometimes when I start to think about how I’m going to edit the episode, or if there is background noise at my end or the guest’s… and that leads to not being present or listening to the guest. Which can lead to embarrassing situations. Is this something that happens to you? I would love to hear!
10.42 mins
I have an adventure about content, how personal we can get in what we share. Recently I added a piece of content to Facilitation Stories talking about my personal experience attending a workshop which took me out of my comfort zone and challenged my values. Knowing the audience of FS might share the experience, or how the experience affected me, I decided to include it.
It also helped that I had a guest on the show who’s a friend, so I was able to share it with him and get his opinion, and in the process, share it with listeners. This is the episode.
We need to sense what’s appropriate and know the value it will bring to the listener.
16.00 mins
I’ll be taking a break until mid-January. It’s ok to take a break, many podcasters get burnt out. Listeners will stay with you, although it’s worth knowing that some apps will pause downloads for subscribers if you don’t release regularly.
You can republish some episodes if you want to keep your feed “warm”, and add an introduction. (The Bestseller Experiment does this very well.)
Recently I did a socially-distanced voiceover job, it was a bit weird, but interesting, and a bit like recording over audio-only.
19.33mins
CONSOLIDATION of your episodes.
You can read the section from Plan Your Podcast on the Consolidation phase in the website version of the show notes.
I cover my choices and advice on using:
1. Show notes.
The text accompanying your audio, useful for both listeners and to draw listeners in. Make sure they have all links and resources you mention, as well as information on guests. I share my decisions around
You’re now ready to upload your file to your podcast media host and let them push it out to “wherever people listen to podcasts”. Your episode will take less than a couple of hours to appear in every app.
As part of your episode creation workflow, you might also do some of the following.
Show Notes
Show notes have two functions: letting potential listeners know what the episode contains, and providing listeners with a roadmap of the content. An effective way of creating show notes is to prepare them before recording, and use them as a guide.
If you have segments in your episode, or distinct topics, provide time codes for the start of each section. This will help listeners who want to listen back to a specific section, or who want to share with others a few minutes of an episode.
Show notes are also the place where you remind listeners of any books, etc., you’ve recommended and where you share the links to articles or other online resources you’ve mentioned.
The show notes included in your RSS feed (those that you enter in the episode description in your podcast media host) can be as long or as short as you want them to be. Having said that, making them too long will increase the size of the file, which might be an issue for listeners downloading episodes instead of streaming them. Some shows have only a couple of sentences describing what the episode is about and then point the listener to a web page to access the full show notes. For 21st Century Work Life, we have a short set of show notes for the podcast apps, with time codes and links, and refer listeners to our website for those who require more detail.
I’ve invested quite a bit of money in having good show notes for 21st Century Work Life, which read more like a blog post than episode show notes. I do this because some listeners have remarked that they are the most impressive part of the show, so it helps us stand out. (I don’t know how I feel about that, as I don’t write them myself!) I also know that they help with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) because I get plenty of spam referring to them. This means that bots looking for relevant keywords are finding them online.
29.04mins
Episode artwork
This is a bonus. Episode artwork includes the title of each episode and profile pictures of guests. It will appear in some podcast apps, but others will just show the main artwork and can be used in your blog posts and social media. Very easy to create in canva.com and sometimes this is integrated with your media host.
Audiogram
Another bonus and one that is becoming popular at the time of writing. An audiogram places an animated sound wave over your episode artwork, while playing a short clip of your show, and a transcript of that section.
Transcripts
You can also consider having a transcript of your episode. You can use online services for this, although you will need to do some cleaning up of the text at your end. This might be a way of making your show notes more popular with search engines, and they can also be useful for deaf or hard-of-hearing audience members. Although, don’t assume that a transcript is always preferable to good show notes. In episode 75 of Podcast Envy, host Andrea Klunder shares anecdotal preference for well-crafted show notes, rather than straight transcripts.
I’m thinking of doing these soon. I’ve stayed away because, although the tech is improving, machine-generated transcripts still need cleaning, so it’s a question of budget. There are many reasons for creating them, but it’s a question of cost.
Check out Otter.ai and Descript
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