How to Start Your Own Podcast. The podcast craze of the past several years shows no signs of slowing down, and while every armchair broadcaster with a voice recorder app is eager to get in the game, creating a professional sounding podcast isnt as simple as it might seem. Heres how to create, record, and publish your own basic podcastand get people to listen. This story originally ran in June 2. August 2. 01. 7 with additional reporting from Patrick Austin. You Start, Be Ready to Commit. Before you rush into things, its important to keep in mind that podcasts take a lot of effort to get going. Theyre not just recordings of people talking not the good ones, anyway. Pat Flynn, host of the Smart Passive Income podcast, recommends you treat podcasting the same way you would any other big project Podcasting is extremely fun and exciting, but there is one thing you must do before you start podcasting Commit. You must internally commit to podcasting, as you must do with anything that is potentially beneficial but takes some time and effort to do. Its easy to assume that podcasts are easy to produce because theyre audio only, but dont be fooled. They can take up a lot of time to put together, especially at first. Also, podcasts do best when theyre released consistently. Make The Cut 4 1 0 Serial Killers' title='Make The Cut 4 1 0 Serial Killers' />If youre interested in developing any kind of listener base, you have to be ready to release episodes on a regular basis. All in all, podcasting can be fun work, but its still work and should be treated as such. You also shouldnt expect to get rich from podcasting either. Its certainly possible to generate income from podcasting, but that usually requires advertisements and sponsorshipsboth of which youll get after youve built up a listenership big enough to make it worthwhile to advertisers. If youre not interested in starting a podcast for the fun of it or to have your voice heard, you might not get much out of it unless you already have an audience. What Youll Need. You cant start a podcast without equipment, and good equipment will go a long way. Heres what youll need Microphones Any microphone will work for recording your podcast, but listeners can usually tell the difference between low and high quality microphones. If youre not sure what to look for, our list of the five best desktop microphones is a great place to start I use four analog Audio Technica AT2. As you shop around, youll also need to decide whether you want to use a USB or analog XLR microphone. USB mics convert analog sound into digital so you can plug a USB mic directly into any computer and start recording without much hassle, but you could potentially get lower audio quality compared to analog. Considering you dont need any extra tools or devices to record with a USB mic, they can be a little cheaper in the long run. Analog microphones use XLR connectors, which means you need another device to get your audio onto your computer, but you can get higher audio quality and can use them with other sound equipment if you had a PA system or wanted to play live music, for example. ALTERNATES/s615b/Suspected%20serial%20killer%20Jeffrey%20L.%20Dahmer%20enters%20the%20courtroom%20of%20judge%20Jeffrey%20A.%20Wagner%2006%20August%201991' alt='Make The Cut 4 1 0 Serial Killers' title='Make The Cut 4 1 0 Serial Killers' />Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss. Were not here to scare you. All were saying is that many of the worlds most terrifying serial killers are in fact roaming free, and could be outside your door. Of course, if you have a gaming headset or other basic microphone around, you can easily use that too. Portable XLR Recorder optional If you plan on using analog microphones for your podcast, youll need something that captures your analog audio and converts it to digital. Portable XLR recorders can capture multiple microphone channels and allow you to do basic sound level adjusting and muting on the fly. Audio files automatically get organized and stored on a memory card that you can insert into a card reader or slot in your computer. These are amazing tools, but they can be expensive. You can find them for anywhere between 1. I use a 4. 00 Zoom H6 Handy Recorder with four available analog channels. Audio Interface optional If you want to record directly to your computer with your analog microphones, youll need an audio interface. These devices allow you to plug in one or more analog microphones and will convert the analog audio to digital. Most audio interfaces will connect to your computer via USB or Firewire. Audio interfaces can cost as little as 3. You can see why a USB microphone is a cheaper option. A Computer Any Windows computer or Mac should work fine to record, edit, and upload your podcast. Thankfully, editing audio doesnt take a ton of computing power. Additionally, depending on how you choose to recorddirectly to the computer or onto a dedicated recording deviceyour computer will also need the right ports. USB microphones, for example, will obviously need an open USB port. If youre using analog microphones with a portable XLR recorder or audio interface device, youll need either a 3. USB port, or in some cases, a Firewire port. So before you spend any money on equipment, make sure you have a computer that can support it. Audio Editing Software For the actual recording and editing, youll need a Digital Audio Workstation or DAW, there are a lot of good options out there, but the licenses for some of them can cost a pretty penny, though. Licenses for professional level DAWs like Reason or Pro Tools can cost anywhere between 3. Apps like Hindenburg offer simpler audio editing software for under 1. Reaper is a fully loaded audio production app for 6. Adobes audio editing software Audition CC is available with a 1. Because of that, most people will recommend free open source programs like Audacity when youre just getting started, and thats what well use an example throughout this how to guide. Pop Filters optional The clearer your audio can sound, the better. Pop filters, while not required, are fairly cheap and can keep your plosives from making a nasty sound on your recording. If you dont want to buy any, though, you can make some of your own. You might be thinking that all this equipment is pretty expensive, and youre not wrong. However keep in mind that decent audio equipment will last forever if you take care of it. It may be expensive to get started, but after the initial purchase, youre set. Step One Narrow Your Topic and Find Your Niche. Just like blogs, there are a ton of podcasts out there. That means that you can probably find a podcast about everything under the sun already. Dont get discouraged While just about every broad topic is already covered, you just have to find your spin on things to make an old idea something new. Dear Lifehacker, As a side projectexperiment, Ive started my own blog. The problem is, now that I Read more Read. For example, if you wanted to make a podcast about music, ask yourself if theres an audience out there for what you want to talk about. Maybe you narrow your idea down from music in general to bluegrass specifically. Now your coverage is specific the music, people, and culture of bluegrass. Once you have your topic narrowed down, it helps to add a spin to it. Maybe you talk about bluegrass music and culture while sipping moonshine with your co hosts. Its kind of true that everything has been done before, but it hasnt all been done the way you would do it. So find an angle thats personally interesting and youll be better off. Step Two Download, Install, and Set Up Audacity. As mentioned earlier, Audacity is a great DAW for podcasting beginners. Its open source, free to use as long as you like, and is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Friday Edition Of The Journal Science. Before you can jump into recording, however, there are a few tricks to getting it all set up properly Download Audacity 2.