Other Articles in Make
Podcasting Blog
8 step guide to podcast marketing
6/28/2008
Podcasting leader Christopher Penn has published a short PDF guide, 8 step guide to podcast marketing, that seeks to help you jump start how you’re marketing your own podcast. This is a very short PDF and covers topics that include whether your podcast is worthy of buzz, is easily found and how you’re measuring your success. The … Continue reading »
Publishing a Podcast with ExpressionEngine
6/24/2008
If you’re a user of the wonderful ExpressionEngine CMS (this site has been running on it for more than 2 years) and want to easily and efficiently publish a podcast with it, I just released a new screencast you might be interested in.
The latest episode of the ExpressionEngine Screencasts covers … Continue reading »
Voice Over Training
5/10/2008
One of the obvious aspects of podcasting is using your voice. And using it properly. If you’re looking for some more information about how to improve your voice technique in your podcast, I’d suggest checking out the Voice Over Experts Podcast from Voices.com.
Hardware Recommendations
- Kustom KM4 Mic with Cable
- Behringer XM8500 Microphone
- Shure SM58 Mic
- MXL MXL V63MBP Computer Desktop Recording Kit
Masthead
Contact
Ryan Irelan, Editor - listen@podcastfreeamerica.com
How Long Should it Take to Produce Your Podcast?
A production time primer for the podcasting beginner.
So, you’ve decided to start a podcast. Good for you! For some people, recording and publishing their voice and thoughts is a huge deal. It is for me. You have a great idea, the energy to do it and the hardware you need. All set, right? So, what kind of time commitment should you be prepared for when embarking on producing your podcast?
The bad news is that I don’t have the perfect answer. The good news is that I can give you some rough estimates of the time it would take and then from there you can plan accordingly. Let’s figure it out, shall we?
Set Up Your Tools and Workflow
While recording your podcast you should be focused on the presenting the content clearly and with authority. In order to do this it is important that you set up and test all of your recording software and hardware beforehand. This may take some testing and even a few hours of tweaking to get it right, but most of this work is a one-time investment. It pays off to spend some time with your tools.
Pad, pad, pad
Whatever amount of time you think it will take to produce your podcast, you can just go ahead and triple it. And even then, it could take longer. Until you get more experienced with your tools and workflow it’ll be difficult to predict how long the process will take.
My recommendation is to take the length of the podcast you want to produce and multiply it by 3. So, for example, if you’re doing a 30 minute podcast, it would be prudent to budget 90 minutes for production. If you’re publishing a 60 minute podcast, plan on around 3 hours to do the production.
(This also includes any light editing or audio cleanup you decide to do. Heavily edited podcasts or those that consist of many different audio excerpts edited together could take much longer.)
The 90 minutes allows plenty of time for retakes, random software or hardware issues or interruptions (although you should be turning off email, phone and warning other members of your household that you’re in production mode).
Also, I’ll be the first to admit that three times your podcast length is probably on the high end, but find yourself surprised when it takes less time and with more experience, it certainly will.
More Experience, Less Time
Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get. After publishing several episodes of your podcast, you decrease the amount of time it takes you to produce your podcast until it’s a well-oiled machine.
Pay attention to your mistakes and don’t repeat them in your next podcast. Learn your tools well and soon you’ll find that producing a podcast is not only easier but much more enjoyable.
Discuss
Lend your opinion and thoughts on this article. Join the discussion »
If you find this content useful, won't you consider subscribing to get regular updates? (It's free!)