The Audacity to Podcast

Interviews can create good content and share powerful stories across all media. Podcasting is full of interviews with problems, here's how to fix them. Before anything, respect your guest Regardless of whom you interview, make it easy for them! Don't give them a multipage checklist or require them to do complicated things to be on your podcast. Whatever problems you face, remember to respect your guest, their time, and choose wisely what is really worth inconveniencing your guest to fix or prevent. 1. Poor audio quality Unless you're interviewing other podcasters, it's very likely that your guest is not as passionate and knowledgeable about audio quality as you are. Before I help you understand and fix poor audio quality, you should know that content and presentation are far more important than production. As long as people can hear, understand, and get value from what your guest says, your guest's audio doesn't have to be as good as yours. In fact, most people will forgive lower audio quality from your guest, but expect higher audio quality from you. The following three things affect your guest's audio quality the most, even more than the particular technology they use. Mic technique Ensure your guest knows how to use a microphone. Generally, this means doing only three things: talk into the mic, stay a consistent distance away (a fist-width away is usually ideal), and don't touch the mic or anything connected to it. Thus, instead of their using their computer and it's built-in mic, consider suggesting they connect with you over their smartphone (via Skype, or whatever tool you use). The reason for this is smartphone mics are often pretty good, especially when they remain a consistent and short distance from the voice. Environment Ensure your guest is in a quiet and low-reverb space for recording. This should also be somewhere with a good Internet or cellular connection (wired is best if talking over a telephone line or a computer). Processing This responsibility is yours. Regardless of the technology you use to communicate with and record your guest, you will probably need a little audio processing afterward. Usually, the only things you need are loudness normalization (to get your guest's volume level to match yours) and maybe compression (to reduce the difference between loud and quiet spots). Other considerations If your guest is more tech-savvy or willing to try better things, consider more advanced call-recording solutions such as Cast, Zencastr, or Ringr. 2. Scheduling Getting availabilities to align can be almost as hard as aligning the planets! But here are some general tips for fixing scheduling problems. * Suggest specific times—Even if you have a scheduling system, it may be most convenient for your guest if you simply suggest a couple specific times that you know will work. * Always use time zones—Your guest might be anywhere in the world, so always ensure you're talking about the same time. If you know their location, it may be best to speak according to their time zone, but still include the time zone in case they are traveling. (Sidenote and pet peeve: American time zone abbreviations change with Daylight Saving Time, and so do GMT/UTC offsets. So make sure you're either using the correct abbreviation—such as “EDT” versus “EST”—or keep it universal—such as “ET” or “Eastern Time.”) * Prioritize your guest's schedule—Unless you're famous, be flexible to accommodate your guest instead of forcing them to fit your schedule...

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