First Actual Rambling Podcast!

 

The Podcast Journey

 

Figuring things out

 

To start out with, what is a podcast? In simple terms, it’s like talking on the radio, but it’s an online thing. You don’t broadcast at a certain time, you just upload whatever you record and people can download and listen to it whenever they want. Or people can totally ignore you. A podcast can be just you talking about something, or you interviewing someone. It can be about zombies, or writing, or really anything you want. It’s your show, so you can pick the subject and format.

“But what if no one listens?” you might ask. Well, no one will be listening to start with. You need to find your audience. I think for me, I’ll just be talking to let off some steam. I used to write a blog and rant about things, now maybe I’ll do a podcast and just rant about things with my voice. Someone may listen eventually. If nothing else, when I finish my time on this earth, family will still be able to go back and hear my past thoughts in my own voice as the podcast should still be around somewhere. That sounds like a win to me.

So first things first, how do you get started podcasting? You need a way to get things online, and a microphone. Believe it or not, you can do a podcast with just a cell phone. You can use a laptop computer, or even an iPad, or other kind of tablet. If it has online access and you can record your voice with it, you can podcast with it. I think I’m going to probably use my desktop PC computer for my podcast. But you never know, maybe one night I’ll use my iPad, or cell phone just for the hell of it.

I found a web site called Anchor.FM that will put out a podcast for you for free. That’s incredible! Not only will they put out the podcast, they will distribute it everywhere and even offer you some ads if you think you want to make money. I’m not ready for ads, and don’t know if I’d ever want to do that. I hate hearing ads on other people’s podcasts, so why would I put them on mine? This isn’t a money making endeavor for me, but maybe it will be for you.

I signed up with Anchor and began setting my podcast up. I’ve recorded one episode so far and it’s up and I think it’s live on Spotify and Apple. I’ve had one listener so far, but that’s not surprising. I’ve just started out and no one really knows me. What is my podcast? It’s called Vegas Ramblings after a book I self-published with a bunch of my old blogs in it. I’ll talk about different things and just ramble to whatever subject I want to talk about. I liked that idea.

I had an old microphone to use, but for some reason it wasn’t working with the PC I have. The microphone on a small PC camera was working, so I used that for the first episode. I don’t think it was very good. Why would anyone listen to a podcast recorded with a bad microphone? Well, the only excuse I can give is that this is a journey, and I’m just starting out. The best thing for me to do I think, is to try to improve, so I’ll need to invest in a better microphone.

As I was looking around at microphones, I came across podcasting “equipment”. Those are small boards that come with a microphone and you can record sound effects and do all kinds of things. You can change how your voice sounds and add applause, or even boos I that’s what you want to do. You can add background music or take phone calls with the board. Now things are getting interesting!

These things are differently priced, but for the most part, they seem to do the same things. So which one should I buy? A cheap one would probably do the job, but is that what I really want? A board that cost a bit more might be better and have more options, but is it really worth it? And then I have to think about what microphone comes with the board. Are the type of microphone that comes with the board really going to make a difference?

There are “condenser” types of microphones, and “XLR-condenser” microphones. Some have different plug ins. So far it’s been hard to make a decision and pick which one I want to purchase. I’ve so far narrowed down the brands at least to Hayner-Seek, or Maoano. Both look pretty good. I’ll think about it and make a decision soon.

The other thing I have to think about, and maybe get used to, is to learn to just talk. For a lot of people, including me, if you put a microphone in front of them, they don’t know what to say. There is a lot of things running through your head, but nothing seems to come out of your mouth. So how do I do a podcast if it’s hard to talk into a microphone? For the first episode, I wrote things out like I’m doing here. Then I just tried reading what I wrote for the episode. I’m sure it sounds like I’m just reading a script. Horrible, horrible stuff, especially for a podcast called “Vegas Ramblings”! I’m not really rambling, I’m reading a script! I need to change that and get used to just talking away and adding in the sound effects.

I can add music, but where do you get music that isn’t owned by someone? I don’t want to violate anyone’s copyright! I think the answer to that is YouTube. You can download royalty-free music from YouTube. If I do that, I can maybe have some professional sounding music to introduce the show, or maybe even play behind me while I talk away (If I can think of anything to say.).

So this will just be the start. I’m going to write things down here in this blog about how things with the podcast go. This will be a good way to go back and see how I got started, or maybe help someone else get started? If you are starting your own podcast send me the link! I’d love to exchange thoughts on this! So until the next blog telling you how things are going, goodbye!

P.S. I’ve decided not to put the web link for the podcast in the blog quite yet. I’ll wait until I get a bit better and then post the link so you can find me and listen.