How to Make a Podcast

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Categories: Technology | Web Entertainment | How Tos

  • Do you have something to say to the world? Then podcast it! How to Make a Podcast shows you how to record your own audio program, then broadcast it to the world via the internet.

  • Podcasting Tips

    1. Choose a topic you're passionate.
    2. Podcast on a regular schedule.
    3. Get a good microphone for better sound quality.
    4. List your podcast in online directories to get noticed.

  • Introduction

    (Photo by Ante Vekic)

  • Step 1: Choose a Subject

    (Creative Commons photo by Bernard Goldbach)
    1. Listen to existing podcasts. You may get some ideas for your own show, and if there are already shows out there similar to what you wish to do, try to find a way to differentiate yourself from the crowd.
    2. Consider what you're passionate about. It's much easier to come up with regular episodes about a topic that genuinely interests you. Do you have a job in which others would take an interest? Do you have a hobby you love? Is there a news topic on which you would like to provide regular commentary?
    3. Think about what you have to offer. Once you've figured out what you're passionate about, how do you think you can be helpful to others interested in that subject? Do you have access to people who could give good interviews? Can you provide instructive how-to videos? Do you have a unique point of view that could help others to understand something differently?

  • Step 2: Decide On a Schedule

    (Creative Commons photo by Glenn Batuyong)
    • It will be easier to build up a following for your podcast if you broadcast on a regular schedule.
    1. Don't start at a pace you can't maintain. The first episodes of your podcast will be the easiest to come up with and produce, since you'll be full of ideas. However, you must consider more than your first week. Do you think you have enough ideas, or can come up with enough regularly, to shoot out a podcast every two weeks? Every week? Every day?
    2. Consider how much time you have that you can reasonably devote to your podcast. While you may be able to produce a podcast episode every day during vacation, can you keep up with it when work resumes?
    3. How long will each episode be? This will depend largely on the content of your show. If you're going to run a series of tutorials, how much time will each task take? If you plan to do interviews, what's a reasonable time commitment to expect from your subjects? If you're doing a solo talk show, how long can you keep things interesting and informative?

  • Step 3: Choose Your Path to Fame

    (Photo by Nick Benjaminsz)
    • At this point, instructions for creating a podcast become more or less complicated depending on how much of the process you want to handle yourself and how many tasks you would like a host site to automate for you.
    • If you're a do-it-yourself type of person, you can handle recording, editing, uploading, hosting, and publishing your podcast all on your own. The rest of this how-to will guide you through each process.
    • However, if you're not really interested in the technical aspects of producing a podcast, the following and similar sites make things easier by allowing you to record, host, and publish your podcast all on one site:
    1. Odeo Studio: Record or upload audio; free hosting; publish to Odeo directory; extremely limited online editing; can't record shows longer than one hour; file size limit of 50MB, but no limit on number of files; small intro to Odeo added to each MP3
    2. GarageBand.com: Record by phone or upload files; free hosting; no ads; extremely limited online editing; podcast channel added to directory
    3. Hipcast: Record online, by phone, or upload audio; paid service
    4. MyPodcast.com: Free hosting; record online or upload audio; unlimited storage; no online editing; you choose placement of required ads; podcast automatically added to directory

  • Step 4: Gather Your Equipment

    (Photo by Thiago Felipe Festa)
    • In order to record and upload your podcast to the internet, at the very least you'll need:
    1. Computer
    2. Internet connection
    3. Microphone
      • You can use your computer's built-in microphone, if it has one, but recordings made this way won't sound as professional as recordings done with a better mic.
    4. Recording software

  • Step 5: Record Your First Segment

    • The following instructions explain how to make a voice recording with Audacity, since that program is readily available to most users. However, many of the steps apply equally well to other recording programs. Simply consult your program's instructions or manual for program-specific directions.
    1. Set up your microphone or other audio input device. How you do this will depend on the device and your computer, so see their instructions for specifics. If you plan to use your computer's built-in microphone or webcam, you can skip this step.
    2. Select the correct input source for Audacity.
      1. On many computers, this can be done within the Audacity program itself. Simply choose the correct source (such as "Mic" for microphone) from the Mixer toolbar pull-down menu.
      2. In OS X, on the other hand, you must change the computer's audio preferences. You can do this by opening "System Preferences," opening the "Sound" options, and changing the input device.
        (Screenshot by Mahalo)
    3. Check the sound input levels. If the sound level is too high, the recording will sound distorted.
      1. Make sure that "Enable Meter Toolbar" under the "Interface" tab in the application preferences is checked.
      2. Choose "Monitor Input" from the pull-down menu next to the microphone icon under the right-hand meters.
      3. Speak or play music at the loudest volume you think you'll use while recording.
      4. Watch the sound levels (the red meters on the right). Make sure that the little gray slit ("clipping indicator") on the far right doesn't light up red at any point.
      5. Adjust the input volume using the Mixer Toolbar's right-hand slide control -- the one next to the little microphone icon. You want the input to be as high as possible without lighting up that bar. If the indicator lights up at any point, you'll need to lower the input volume, click on the bar to clear it, and test again.
        (Screenshot by Mahalo)
    4. Click the "Record" icon. It's a button with a red circle on it.
    5. Speak or play whatever sound you want to record.
    6. Press the "Stop" button when you've finished.

  • Step 6: Edit Your Recording

    • How much and what kind of editing you want to do will vary largely from person to person and recording to recording. However, here are instructions for cutting out unwanted sections from your feed in Audacity.
    1. Open your audio file in Audacity.
    2. Use the cursor to select a section of the audio file that you want to delete.
    3. Delete the section if you want to cut out the entire block of time—not just silence the audio for that period.
    4. Or choose "Silence" from the "Edit" menu to mute the sound for that period of time. This is useful if you want to keep a pause between the previous and the next section.
    5. Other edits you may want to make include reducing ambient noise, adding music, adjusting the volume for different sections, adding sound effects, and including images.
    (Screenshot by Mahalo)

  • Step 7: Save Your File as an MP3 (Optional)

    1. Pull down the "File" menu and choose "Export as MP3."
    2. Name the file and label it with any other information included in the dialogue box that pops up.
    3. Save the file to your hard drive.
    (Screenshot by Mahalo)

  • Step 8: Create an RSS File

    • You'll need to create an RSS file in order to deliver your podcast to your audience, unless you choose to use a hosting site that automatically generates a blog or feed for you.
    1. About.com and PodCast411.com provide instructions for writing your own RSS file.
    2. You can use a free online RSS feed generator to create your file:
      1. Apply Tools
      2. WebDevTips
    3. At the very least, you'll need to have the following information handy:
      1. The title of your podcast as a whole.
      2. A description of your podcast as a whole.
      3. The title of each episode you'll include.
      4. A description of the content of each episode.
      5. The main URL for your podcast.
      6. The URL for each audio file.
      7. The language of your podcast
      8. Any copyright information for your podcast.
    4. Save your code with a .rss extension. In Word you can do this by saving the file as "Text Only" and manually appending the .rss at the end of the file name (make sure the box labeled "Append file extension" is unchecked).
    (Screenshot by Mahalo)

  • Step 9: Find a Host for Your Files

    • In order to share your podcast with the world, you'll need to post your audio and RSS files on the internet. At this point, you have several options.
    1. If you already have your own website hosted on a server that allows you to upload multimedia files, use that site as your host.
    2. You can host your files on a site that offers free storage for media files, such as Internet Archive or Ourmedia. If you choose this option, you'll also need to go through the process of publishing your podcast yourself.
    3. Finally, you can sign up with a site that both hosts and publishes podcasts. Some popular sites include Podbean, Blubrry, and Liberated Syndication.
    • Below we've listed the steps to follow to host your podcast on one of each of the above options.

  • Hosting On Your Website's Server

    1. Log in to your server as an administrator.
    2. Follow your server's process for uploading files. Many website hosts use an FTP program to upload files, or they may have a built-in program on the site. Contact your hosting service if you're unsure of how to do this.
    3. Note the URLs where your files can be found.
    (Screenshot by Mahalo)

  • Hosting On Internet Archive

    1. Sign up for a free account on Internet Archive. Go to the homepage and click on "join us" in the upper right corner of the site. Follow the site's instructions to set up your account.
    2. Click "Upload" next to your login information in the upper right corner of the Internet Archive webpage.
    3. Enter a title for your file.
    4. Click "Next."
    5. Fill in the required fields for the file.
    6. Choose a license for your content. Attaching a Creative Commons license to your podcast helps you to retain certain copyrights for yourself while allowing others to share your work.
    7. Choose the file you want to upload by clicking on the "Browse..." button next to the "File to upload" field.
    8. Click on the "Upload files" button at the bottom of the page.
    9. Note the URL that Internet Archives provides for your file.
    10. When you're ready to publish your podcast on your blog or website, you can find the URLs for the audio and RSS files at the location you wrote down in the previous step. If you're providing the audio file in a post on your blog, you may want to use just the audio file. You can find the URL for this in the list of "Individual Files," under "Audio Files." MP3 is a commonly used format, so right-click on the link to the MP3 file and copy or save the link location.

  • Hosting On Podbean

    • You'll need to upload your audio file, but you won't need an RSS file.
    1. Sign up for an account on Podbean.
    2. Log in to your account using the password that Podbean sends to the email you supplied.
    3. Click on the "Publish a Podcast" tab at the top of the page.
    4. Select the link for "Publish a new show."
    5. Enter at least one tag (keyword) for your episode.
    6. Give your show a title.
    7. Enter any text that you want to accompany the podcast episode in the body of the post.
    8. Underneath the blue bar that reads, "Podcasting," click on the "Browse..." button.
    9. Select the audio file for your podcast episode from wherever you've stored it on your hard drive.
    10. Select the file type of your audio file from the drop-down menu.
    11. Click the "Publish" button.
    12. Repeat this process if you have more episodes to upload.
    13. To view your podcast page when you're done, click "View site."
    14. Visitors to the site can now subscribe to the podcast from the website.

  • Step 10: Publish

    • If you decided to use a site that both hosts and publishes your podcast, like Podbean, you can skip this step.

  • Publish to iTunes

    • Submitting your podcast to iTunes allows iTunes users to find your podcast on their own.
    1. Sign up for an iTunes account. Though you will need to enter credit card information, you won't be charged unless you make a purchase in future.
    2. Make sure to include the optional iTunes tags in your RSS file. You can find the coding for those tags in red in this article by Podcast411.com.
    3. Validate your RSS file.
      1. Open the iTunes application on your computer.
      2. Pull down the "Advanced" menu and select "Subscribe to Podcast...."
      3. Paste the URL for your RSS file in the dialogue box.
      4. iTunes should begin downloading the most recent episodes of your podcast.
      5. Open the latest episode of your podcast once it becomes available by double-clicking on its title.
      6. If you can hear your podcast, the RSS is fine, and you can continue. Otherwise, you'll need to check for mistakes in your RSS file.
    4. Go to the iTunes Store in iTunes.
    5. Follow the link for "Podcasts."
    6. At the very bottom, on the left side of the page, follow the link for "Submit a Podcast."
    7. Enter the URL for your feed and click "Continue."
    8. Complete the requested information and follow any instructions to complete your submission.
    9. Wait several days, then search for your podcast in iTunes. Eventually, it should also show up in the iTunes category you provided.
    10. iTunes has further instructions on updating and troubleshooting your feed.
    (Screenshot by Mahalo)

  • Publish On Your Website

    1. Validate your RSS file. You can do this for free at a number of websites. Simply enter the URL for your RSS file:
      1. RSS.scripting.com
      2. FEED Validator
      3. W3C Feed Validation Service
      4. RSS Advisory Board
    2. Create a link to your RSS file's URL on any page on your website.
    3. You must update the RSS file every time you add an episode to your podcast. You can do this by adding an item to the code you wrote yourself. You can also use an updater tool, like that provided by WebDevTips. You must then upload the new file to the same location on your server.

  • Publish On Your Blogger Blog

    1. Make sure that your blog has enclosure links enabled.
      1. Go to "Formatting" in your blog's "Settings" tab].
      2. Choose "Yes" from the pull-down menu next to "Show Link fields."
      3. Click the "Save Settings" button at the bottom of the page.
    2. Create a new post for your podcast episode.
    3. Give the post a title.
    4. Below the "Link" field, click on "Add enclosure link."
    5. Enter the URL for your audio file. For example, if you're using Internet Archive to host your podcast files, use the URL you copied for the MP3 file.
    6. Enter any text you want to accompany the audio podcast in the body of the post.
    7. Click on "Publish Post" at the bottom of the page to publish your podcast.

  • Step 11: List Your Podcast in Directories

  • Conclusion

    • Congratulations! Your podcast is up and running! Hopefully, you'll begin to attract a growing audience immediately. Continue to update your podcast regularly with new episodes. Also, check out other people's podcasts to stay current in the podcasting community. Networking can be the key to success.

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