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Podcasting 101

A podcast is a digitally recorded audio file that can be downloaded or streamed for listening. Podcast content is as varied as the hosts who produce them. They can be long or short, serious interviews or comedic parodies, groundbreaking research or fictional stories that last for 5 minutes or span several episodes.

As class assignments, podcasts are usually created by students or pairs of students on a general topic selected by the professor. Podcasting helps hone research and interview skills and integrates layered and nuanced storytelling.

You might use podcasts in a class to:

  • Conduct scholarly research
  • Learn and hone interview skills
  • Synthesize research for a general audience

This process isn’t necessarily linear. Research is done while doing interviews. You may revisit and rewrite your scripts throughout the process. The editing process will change the language you use.

Below is a walkthrough of the process, along with tips, tricks, and references for creating podcasts.

Interviewing

Depending on the goal of your podcast there are many different people you might interview.

  • Expert in the field: a voice of authority to explain the topic and add references.
  • People effected: Create a personal narrative of the human toll or benefit.
  • Person on the street: Show a variety of opinions.
  • Cohost: Find a friend or partner to create a relaxed conversational back and forth.

The interviewer in this excerpt of This American Life, “Hit the Road,” is the subject of the story. However, the speaker painted such a colorful introduction, it became the first lines of this podcast.

Asking Good Questions

Some tips on good interview technique from Joe Linstroth, Macalester’s Media Relations director, and former producer and host at Michigan Public Radio.

  • Ask simple, open-ended questions. Bland questions evoke colorful responses; and colorful questions evoke bland responses.
  • Ask questions that begin with why, how, and what.
  • Ask for details, examples, and anecdotes.
    • “Tell me about a time when…”
    • “What are some specific moments that will stick with you long after the pandemic is over?” 
  • Have a plan (including a list of questions!) but be ready to diverge.
  • Avoid editorializing, value judgements, assigning emotions.
  • Don’t ask long, rambling questions – get to the point
  • Don’t ask either-or questions.
  • Don’t interrupt — resist the urge to fill silence or react too strongly.

Remember: the interview isn’t about you. The point is listening.

Interview Tips

Be Up Front. When contacting a potential interviewee, be clear about the goals of the podcast. “I would like to interview you because….” Also, let them know the types of questions you will be asking. Make sure you are talking to the right person. Let them know how you will record your interview, who is the audience, how much of their time you need, and how they would like to be referred to (pronouns, title, level of formality). 

Get Permission. Send them a Podcast Release Form, which gives you permission to share their interview with the public. Have it signed and returned before the interview.

Know, but ask questions like you don’t. Research your topic and your interviewee, but drill down for the basics in your questions. Your listeners probably don’t know. That’s why they are listening.

Minimize Distractions. Turn off alerts, close the door, put away the food, and have a pen and paper in place for notes.

Scripting Your Podcast

Getting Started

  • Be focused. Know what you want to say. Make you points clear to listeners.
  • Tell your audience what to expect (You’ll learn XX or discover what happens to this character/place/policy/etc).
  • After your opening statement, dig into the story.

Grabbing a Listener’s Attention

  • Ask a question. How are people effected? Was there an unsuspected result? Why are we doing things this way?
  • Put the listener in the middle of the action. Create a strong sense of place. Start with a person or sound.
  • It’s a mystery! “This weird thing happened and we’re going to find out why.” Who did it?
  • Make the story personal. I’m investing this because of my experience.

Visit How Audio Stories Begin for more details.

Soundtracks 

Think about how music sets the tone. What kind of music will you want?

  • Try a few different styles of music and see how that effects your story.
  • What other kinds of sound might you want to capture if you interview someone where they work or live?
  • Where else could you go to collect sounds that tell your story?

This example from This American Life shows how integral music and sound effects can be to audio storytelling.

Applications

Audacity 

Audacity is an open-source, free audio recording and editing software, for both Mac and PC, that can create and edit multiple tracks. It’s what we most frequently use on campus for audio recording and editing.

See the FAQ section at the bottom of this page for some useful tips on Audacity.

GarageBand 

GarageBand is a free, Mac-only program. GarageBand comes with built-in sound effects libraries and audio loops. The interface is a bit more finished than Audacity, but the tools are very similar. Apple offers help documentation to get you started.

Equipment

On Campus

Microphones, headphones, and recording devices–everything you need to get the highest quality recording possible–is available for checkout in the Digital Resource Center. There are even quiet editing suites you can reserve for audio and video editing.

At Home

One of the great things about podcasting is that you don’t need to have special equipment to make one. You can use the record feature on your phone or use the mp3 file from a Zoom recording.

Recording

Find a quiet place.

Even during the shutdown you can find recording space. It might be a good excuse to build a pillow fort studio. Be aware of ambient noise like cars and fans or activities in other rooms. Getting a good recording makes the rest easier.

Test your levels

Before you begin recording, do a test recording. Are you close enough to the microphone? Is the recording loud enough? Are there any weird noises you are picking up?

Collect ambient noise

Record the ambient noise in the room for about a minute. When you’re editing your audio later on, you can copy and paste this ambient clip to prevent clips from dramatically dropping off.

Breathe

Take your time. Take a breath before you begin and in-between paragraphs. This gives you room to edit and makes sure you are not speaking too fast.

Free Music and Sound Effects

Check out the DLA’s digital media and rights page for a big list of free sound and music repositories.

Publishing

Copyright

In order to publicly share podcasts, you should use your own sound/music in your podcast or to use sound/music in the public domain or released with a creative commons license. This link offers more information about copyright and links to repositories of usable media files.

Sharing

The best platform for your podcast will depend on your accessibility preferences—on how public or private you’d like your podcast to be, and how you’d like listeners to find your podcast. For example, you may want to publish the podcasts on your own website as a media file, or you may want to publish on Spotify.

Faculty should ask permission from your students to share their work publicly. Prior to asking them for permission, they should know a few things:

  • Where their podcasts will be published (For example, on a Macalester website? on Spotify?)
  • They have the option of saying “no” and that this option will not impact their grade in any way.
  • They have the option of publishing their work anonymously. Again, this option will not impact their grade in any way.

Faculty might like to create an agreement form for your students to sign. Or they might ask for their permission in an email.

Google Drive is probably the best option for sharing podcasts only with a class or only with members of the Macalester community. You can share a link to the podcasts in Moodle, if you have a Moodle page. With Google Drive, you have the option of restricting access to the files.

Further Resources

Check out these links on making great podcasts. Includes professional resources on everything from planning to recording to podcasting in the academy.

Podcasting FAQ

  • How do I use wireless headphones with Audacity?

      • First, make sure they are connected to your computer via Bluetooth

      • Open Audacity

      • Select Transport > Rescan Audio Devices from the top menu bar

      • Click on the pull-down menu next to the speaker icon in your Audacity interface

      • Your paired headphones should now be listed
  • How do I get audio from my phone into Audacity?

    Recording on your cellphone is an easy way to capture audio on the go. Newer phones do an excellent job of recording high quality audio especially when you are recording remotely.

    One thing to be aware of is that using the built-in audio recording app on your phone will create an .m4a rather than an .mp3 or .wav file. These .m4a files need a little help getting into Audacity. You can either convert them to a compatible file type, or download plugins for Audacity.

    Converters

    • Zamzar: Zamzar is free and no sign up is required. You can easily convert your files to .mp3, download, and import into Audacity.
    • AnyConv: AnyConv is also free and easy to convert audio files from your phone into .mp3 files.

    Plugin — if you intend to do a lot of recordings with your phone, add the .m4a plugin to Audacity
  • How do I save in Audacity? How do I export a finished file?

    Saving and Exporting Audio

    When you Save your project, Audacity creates an Aup3 project file. When you Export your project, Audacity can create finished audio files in a number of different formats (Mp3, Wave, Ogg, etc). MP3s work great for an  initial master recording and for exporting a final product, but won’t keep separate tracks. This is the type of file you will use to turn your completed project in to your instructor.