May 19, 2021 (Podcasting)

I've been looking into podcasting for a while. Podcasts are easy to ship because they don't take much.

In my case, it's cheap gear and $15 a month. Not much at all. Doesn't make it easy though.

There are a few parts to podcasting:

  • Recording (gear, software)
  • Publishing (editing, hosting)
  • Growing (distribution)

I'm going to break down what mattered to me for each topic.

To get it out of the way now: I don't recommend Anchor. that when the product is free we're the product. I don't like that. Also, their terms were weird and I can't tell who owns the content I make. Not for me.

Recording a Podcast:

I have cheap gear. It's a $49 Fifine microphone from Amazon and a free plan on Descript. That's it. I record everything in one take and - long as there are no serious issues - I go straight to publishing. A friend of mine checks them and does a few one-button edits for me here and there.

I record with Descript, which is super easy and inexpensive. But the value of the product is undeniable. I'd love to try a paid plan, but for now free is the best fit. Maybe after a rhythm of some kind, I'll upgrade. Don't need to yet (it would be overkill.

With the budget as it stands, I'm concerned that it would end up being too much. If I could divide all podcast costs across 3 different projects then it's a no-brainer.

Would be $10/month per podcast including hosting, recording, and editing. Descript & Simplecast let me host many projects in one account. This makes it much more efficient for my purposes, which I obviously love.

So that's the idea. Right now I'll be recording a few more episodes of the personal podcast and then see about setting a strict schedule.