Starting Your First Podcast
WIT lecturer Mark Graham creates a timely introduction to starting your first podcast
This video introduction to podcasting focuses on getting budding podcasters up and running with tools that are free and easy to use
Starting your first podcast; A guide to podcasting has been developed by a Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) academic who is also a podcaster. Mark Graham, a lecturer on the BA Music Course in WIT, produces and presents The Irish Music Industry Podcast, a series that has reached No. 1 on the Irish podcast charts a couple of times since starting just over a year ago. Mark has previously worked for RTÉ Radio, Today FM and WLR FM. He draws on that experience in an instructional video which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/
“Creating podcasts is an exercise I’ve worked on with BA Music students, and some of the most engaging results were students interviewing and recording family members, asking and discovering things about their closest loved ones that they never knew before. There’s never been a better time to do something like that, and even if those interviews never get shared publically, they’re a wonderful thing to have” says Mark. “Truth be told, making things like this is also incredibly fun, and most people will already have everything they need to get started”.
Mark started his own podcast as a means of creating a frank and honest picture of how the Irish music industry works. The target audience was originally students and anyone hoping to carve out a career for themselves within the music sector, along with professionals already working within the industry. The audience has since grown to include anyone with an interest in music, it’s provenance, and all the things that happen around it.
Since starting The Irish Music Industry podcast to address topics for his own students, Mark regularly receives messages from lecturers in other third level institutions around the country telling him that the podcast is included in their essential learning materials, and he’s been invited to other colleges and festivals around the country to record the podcast in front of live audiences. “One of the really rewarding things about a podcast that deals with a discipline that’s relevant to students that I teach is that I’m still interacting with our graduates, years after they finish the course. About a half dozen of them sent me messages after publishing this week’s episode. It’s like providing a form of positive after sales service” he says.
“There are more people listening to and creating podcasts than ever before. As the scope of what mainstream radio covers has started to narrow, the depth and range of what podcasts cover is expanding. There are so many free tools available to create and promote podcasts, coupled with tools for remotely communicating with people, this might be the best time ever to start your own podcast,” he says.
The instructional video and the accompanying resources discuss the tools that are needed, some approaches to using them and a couple of pointers to get a podcast up and running successfully. “Hopefully this video might provide a spark to light some creative fires or at the very least provide a bit of distraction and give us an excuse for talking to ourselves while we walk around the house. Podcasting is something you can do in your pyjamas.”
Accompanying resources for instructional video
Recording audio on your phone:
https://www.wikihow.com/
https://www.popsci.com/record-
https://learning.linkedin.com/
Online platforms for capturing multiple voices:
Zoom – https://zoom.us/
Zencastr – https://zencastr.com/
Audio file conversion:
Zamar – https://www.zamzar.com/
Digital audio workstation:
Audacity – https://www.audacityteam.org/
Reaper – https://www.reaper.fm/
Audacity tutorials:
How to Record and Edit a Podcast in Audacity – https://youtu.be/xl-WDjWrTtk
Equalization and Compression in Audacity – https://youtu.be/E8LO21cHzZQ
Podcast hosting platforms:
Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/
Libsyn – https://libsyn.com/
Podbean – https://www.podbean.com
Acast – https://www.acast.com/en
Digital audio file formats explained:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/
Recommended listening/reading:
This American Life – https://www.thisamericanlife.
Radiolab – https://www.wnycstudios.org/
How to Start a Podcast – https://www.thepodcasthost.
