Old dogs learning new tricks, one podcast at a time

Wow.  Who knew 5 minutes could go so quickly.

As I started the adventure of recording a podcast, 5 minutes sounded like a long time.  So I wrote my script and sat down to record. 

Let me also tell you that there are no quiet places in my house.  I found myself locked in my shop. Do not feel bad. I have a couch, internet and chickens.  I did not think about the chickens. They live right outside my office and never stop squawking.  I had never noticed it until I needed silence.

So on to plan B.  Try the upstairs bedroom, shut the door and hope nothing sets off the dogs.  It worked for the most part. You will never appreciate silence more than when you are trying to record a podcast.

As the process finally got rolling I realized the importance of a script. I have been onstage, I direct theatrical productions, teach communication and speech, talk at all sorts of events, but when I was trying to blurt things out for a podcast the words always seemed to stumble out. The script kept me focused and progressing forward.  It also appears I get a little off topic without a script.

After the recording was finished it left one thought in my mind. I figured the hard part was finished.  Wrong.

How can 5 minutes go so slowly.  See what I did there. A little switcharoo(that might not be a real word). 

But it sure did take a long time to clean up and edit 5 mins worth of my voice, dog barks and the occasional chicken squawk. However, the editing makes it better.  The more time I took out the better it sounded. Deleting the small pauses, the umms, the aaannds made for an immediate improvement. If you are diving into podcasts for the first time, download audacity, watch a few videos and have fun. It really is a simplistic program to learn. If it can make an old guy like me sound good it can certainly help you.

As for other advice. Remember to have fun. Use a loud voice to record and do not be afraid to stop talking, count to three and start again. I had multiple instances that I was just not happy with and that usually got me a better take. When you are finished make sure you listen to it from the beginning. When you are editing you are only listening to small pieces at a time and it do not notice the imperfections or big differences. As you listen to the whole thing be sure to listen to the volume and listen for transitions. That is something that I learned too late.

In all reality it was fun, easy and a great way to share my thoughts on a subject that I care about.