So You Want To Start a Podcast
It all begins with an idea. Launching a podcast is easier than you think. The bare minimum that you need are a microphone, a hosting platform, and audio recording and editing software.
Microphone
We use the Blue Yeti Microphone with USB and find the quality to be strong. Be sure to read through the settings and pick the one that matches how you are recording.
Hosting Platform
A podcast hosting platform is where your audio files are housed and distributed to various outlets (like Apple Podcasts and Spotify). We chose Libsyn because they have been around for a long time and their prices are reasonable (we are on the $20/month plan).
Recording with Remote Guests
We use zoom, primarily because we had accounts already to support our businesses and we were looking to launch with the least investment possible.
Riverside is a popular recording platform that caters to podcast creators with built in features for editing and capturing clips for use on social media.
Editing
Initially we edited using iMovie, which comes with MACs. Our current podcast producer uses a free software called Audacity that allows her to isolate individual audio tracks to adjust for varying volumes or background noise.
Descript is a popular editing software because it creates a transcript that you can use to do the editing. Similar to Riverside, it also helps you create clips for social media.
Additional and Optional
Canva is where we create social media graphics. We have a pro account because it’s used for business as well but the free version is probably sufficient for starting out.
We use Otter.ai to create transcripts. Its AI feature does the first pass at show notes and pulling quotes - our editor then makes it sound more like our voices.
Later is social scheduling software. We’ve been using over the last year for both the podcast and business posts. It’s pricy though, so will likely switch to scheduling things in the apps.