Podcasting has always been a technology adventure and an expensive hobby. It can also be one frustrating experience after another.
This week was one of the most frustrating I’ve had in a long time.
Producing a good podcast requires:
- Recordings of one to four speakers as separate tracks (audio files).
- High-bit-rate audio so the final mix sounds reasonably good.
- Accurate transcription, so episodes are accessible.
- Sufficient cloud storage for past and future episodes.
- Tools for syndication to Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon, and all other major distribution networks.
Podcasters buy microphones, portable recorders, mixing boards, and subscribe to production software suites. The technology should be invisible to guests. Most podcasts rely on remote interviews. Rarely do hosts and guests get to sit together at a table.
For several years I used Zencastr for remote recording, Descript for transcription, and Libsyn (Liberated Syndication) for distribution.
Remote recording has to be simple enough that non-technical guests can be interviewed painlessly. Sometimes, I long for the old days of landline phones and easier recording. Yes, the audio quality was mediocre, but no guest struggled to make or receive a phone call.
In ancient times, radio and television productions used special hardware to record phone calls. I still have two such devices. One is a “telephone pick-up mic,” which is a simple suction cup with a microphone and an audio jack at the other end. You attached the suction cup to the receiver and plugged the cord into a cassette recorder. The other device is a small box with audio jacks and RJ-11 phone cable sockets. For the curious:
To record podcasts or video segments today, guests need to have computing devices, good microphones, webcams, and some experience with recording services. Guests need to understand their computer operating systems well enough to choose the right input and output devices, too.
We often forget that content creation is a puzzle with a lot of pieces. Most content creators have a few stories about guests who struggled with webcams, microphones, headphones, web browsers, and other pieces of the puzzle.
Most of my podcasting frustrations this week, and in the past few years, have involved trying to record decent audio tracks.
Guests don’t always understand that external speakers cause feedback. They might not be familiar with the recording platforms, such as Zoom or Zencastr. Just getting online to record was a challenge for several guests.
Once the recording is done, the production work begins.
I try to balance what I spend on podcasting and blogging against my ambitions for high-quality audio, captions, and other nice touches. My ambitions also run into the non-existent return on investment.
You can produce a show on the cheap, but that can get painful. You can also spend thousands more than I do. No matter what you spend, there will be frustrations.
The “free” tools for content creation generally work “good enough” — until they don’t. I was content with Blogger for many years, for example, but eventually it’s lack of support for mobile devices and modern web design concepts became too annoying. I still wish Google had continued to update Blogger, instead of letting it wither away.
You can still blog for free on several platforms, including Blogger, Medium, Tumblr, and even LinkedIn. But, to have more control over the creation and reading experience, the best option is to pay a monthly fee for a hosted WordPress site.
For recording interviews with audio or video, the free choices include limited-feature versions of Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. You can even use FaceTime and record the audio or screen on a Mac using free tools.
There are restrictions on the free versions of Zoom and Meet that make them unsuitable for many podcasters and YouTube creators. Reading the feature comparison charts for these platforms, it becomes clear they want you to use the services and then upgrade… and upgrade again.
Free Zoom recording? The length and quality of the recordings are limited. You also don’t get many of the features essential for a good final production. Audio editing is easier when each guest is recorded separately. You don’t get that with the free version. Also, most interviews last an hour or longer and are edited down to 45 minutes or so. The free Zoom service limits recording to 45 minutes.
I’ve found myself using “free” until it wasn’t good enough for what I wanted to create and share with the world.
Descript and Zencastr kept adding production features, until they both claimed to do almost everything for both audio and video shows. Podcaster or YouTube creator, these tools sought to be nearly all-in-one Swiss army knives for production.
Descript, however, always struggled with transcription. Once Zencastr added transcription to its platform, I canceled my Descript subscription, saving $10 a month or more. I fought Descript time and time again, so ending that monthly expense felt great.
I really do like the high-quality audio and tools provided by Zencastr. I really wish I could say it worked well and it met my needs. But, the truth is, my guests struggled to use Zencastr and it failed to work for guests too many times.
Zencastr requires the use of Chrome on a computer. It is not Zoom, with a stand-alone app that works on computers and tablets. If a guest was unfamiliar with Chrome (and yes, those people exist), I was stuck trying to explain how to install Chrome, get to Zencastr, and so on. If the guest only used a tablet (another group that really exists), we would end up using Google Meet or Zoom.
And then, this week, Zencastr wouldn’t work at all on my MacBook Pro. It didn’t matter which browser I used or which settings I changed. It turns out there has been a change in the underlying Chrome application programming interface (API) that renders Zencastr useless until the Zencastr team can update code.
Thankfully, I was scheduled to interview a guest who specializes in meditation and calming techniques. We used his professional Zoom account and he then sent me the audio files. It wasn’t perfect, since I received a single audio file instead of separate tracks… but it was good enough.
Adobe has a podcasting platform in beta. Liberated Syndication (libsyn.com) has added studio tools to its distribution platform. Descript also tries to offer everything in one subscription service. Companies are trying to be the one-stop solution. The best features from the various services will, eventually, be available from the few platforms that survive.
Podcasting (and vlogging / YouTube) remains on the bleeding edge of technology. Yes, audio and video have been around for years, but the technology is positioned to take a huge leap forward. The winning platform will record high-quality audio, use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance that audio, transcribe the recording, and probably a whole lot more.