Libraries are podcasting! Whether supplying the equipment and/or space, running programs, or even creating their own, podcasts are a hit for libraries. Keep reading if you are looking to get started in either creating your own podcast for your library, or supplying space and equipment for your community.
Podcasting equipment can be as simple as a smartphone or tablet and a good app such as Anchor or one of these You could also go big with a recording booth and a Mac, quality microphone, headphones, and soundboard. To start off we suggest if it’s a one person podcast a simple lavalier mic will work, if you want to have multiple people on your show one of the Blue microphones are high quality like the Snowball or the Yeti, but feel to research microphones to see which would be best suited for your podcast needs.
You’ll want to have audio editing software to make the most of your podcast. You’ll edit out all of your mistakes you made while recording (we all make them), even simple um’s and ah’s can be edited out to make it sound cleaner, it’s also recommended that you add music to set the tone for your podcast. All that will be done in an editing software. You can use one of the apps mentioned above or free software like Garageband that comes preloaded on most Mac computers or Audacity. Audacity is a free open source software that can be downloaded to a Mac or PC. The learning curve on Audacity can be steep but there are many tutorials online you can watch. As you progress in your podcasting you may want to look into paid softwares such as Hindenburg. You can find free music, fair use music in the YouTube Audio Library and many other places online.
Now that you’ve recorded and edited your podcast you will want to upload it to a site so that your patrons can have easy access to it and you can also share it through all your social medias. When you start a Soundcloud account you get 180 minutes worth of uploading for free. Depending on how long your episodes are this could be several episodes which is a great start.
When you upload your file, Soundcloud recommends a lossless HD file format such as FLAC, WAV, ALAC, or AIFF, you’ll be able to title it and add any metadata you would like. Once you hit save you will get a link you can copy and share through social media or embed on your libraries website. After you 180 minutes are up you can sign up for a Pro account or you can look into websites like Podbean, Blubrry and Himalaya just to name a few. These sites are all specific to hosting podcasts and provide data and other features but they do require a paid subscription.