Quick Daily Podcasting Tips by Alitu

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about bitrates. Bitrates represent a sliding scale of quality and size when it comes to the MP3 file format. They’re measured in kbps, or, kilobits per second. Common bitrates for music files are 128 and 192kbps. As most podcasts are purely spoken-word content, we probably...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about the difference between WAV and MP3 files. The major difference between WAVs and MP3s are size and quality. WAV files contain more detail, but are also much bigger. Think of a WAV file as an original painting, and MP3 files as prints of that painting. Podcast episodes are a...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “how loud should a podcast be?” We’ve talked about having consistent volume levels throughout your episodes. But what about the overall volume level of your show compared to other podcasts? Audio loudness is measured in something called “LUFS&...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “what is compression?”. No, this isn’t about blowing your car tyres up. Compression is an audio production technique where you take the loudest bits and quietest bits of a conversation, and bring them all closer together. It’s all about achiev...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about noise reduction and cleanup. Some types of background noise can be cleaned up in the post-production phase. The constant hiss of a fan, or the low static hum of a microphone, for example. Audio software has the ability to recognise this and strip it out, whilst leaving the...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about the minimum effective podcast editing approach. Remember we talked about making mistakes during recording? Our tip was to pause, click your fingers three times into the mic, then start again. Well, now you have a quick and easy way to spot anything that needs chopping out....

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “how much editing should I do?”. As is often the case in podcasting, the answer is “it depends”. As we’ve covered before, there are loads of different types of podcast. So a one-minute scripted solo show is going to need a lot less editi...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about editing and producing your podcast. This is the phase of podcasting where you chop out all your mistakes and cut the fat from your conversations. You can also clean up your audio to remove any background hiss and level it to make everything consistently loud enough. Then,...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about where to buy podcast music. You *can* buy song licenses outright. But the most common route is to pay a monthly subscription for a service where you can use anything on there for the duration of that subscription. These libraries usually include sound effects, too. Many se...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about finding free podcast music. There’s no shortage of tracks out there that you can use 100% free of charge, so long as you credit and link back to the creator in your show notes. We run a free podcast music library ourselves, and you’re totally welcome to pick so...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “so, what music CAN I use in my podcast?”. Whilst Harry Styles’ latest track is strictly off-limits there are plenty of music options that are safe, legal, and - in some cases - free to use on your podcast. Two terms you’ll often come across a...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “can I use ANY music in my podcast?” The short answer here is “no”. And any music you hear on the radio or on your favourite Spotify playlist is probably off-limits. Be wary of myths like “it’s fine if it’s less than seven se...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “do I need podcast music?” There’s no rule to say that your show *must* have music. But many podcasters stick some at the beginning and end of the show to add that extra layer of professionalism and identity. Just be wary of letting music...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about encouraging guests to share your episodes. Whether we like it or not, no guest is obliged to share your content with their audience. But if you follow the advice in the previous episodes, your chat should be memorable enough to make them want to. The key is to ask nicely,...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about “super” podcast interview questions. When you cover the basics well, you can go the extra mile to help make your guest stand out from everyone else. Here are some fun questions that can entertain your listener whilst still leaving them with a few useful insight...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about core questions around the conversation topic. Here we can dig in and explore by asking your guest some seemingly provocative questions. They’ll usually be glad to answer these as it gives them a chance to counter claims they’ll hear a lot. “So, you’...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about core questions to ask your guest. This is another wing to your storytelling angle. It lets the listener focus on the guest themselves. People love to hear things in context, after all. “Believe in yourself and never give up!” is all well and good. But people of...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about seeking out stories in podcast interviews. As we’ve mentioned on the show before, stories are the original and best type of shareable content. There’s a subtle but powerful difference between “here’s how to grow a business” and “here&rsq...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “should I send questions over to guests in advance?” You’ll probably have a list of pre-written questions as a framework for your interviews. But as we’ve covered already, you won’t want to ask these in a linear ‘game show host&rsq...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about asking follow-up questions. So your guest just finishes telling you they built a time machine, travelled back 70 million years, and shot a T-Rex. You take a look at your next question and ask “so, what’s your favourite WordPress plugin?”. Interviewers who...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about introducing your podcast guests. It’s those dreaded words “so, tell us a bit about yourself” that can lead to you waking up, six hours later, listening to an interviewee ramble on about his toy car collection. This isn’t the guest's fault. They&rsqu...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re asking the question “why is this guest on my show?”. Now that might sound a little rude, but don’t worry, this is the question we ask ourselves *before* we even invite someone onto our podcast. In order to answer this question, you need to put yourself in the shoes&hel...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about finding podcast guests. If you run an interview podcast, it can be challenging to get folks to come on your show at first. A great starting point is to approach other podcasters in your niche. They already know how it all works, and you know they’ll sound great, too....

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about organising guests or co-hosts. If you think tech and equipment can be challenging, then you should try wrangling humans. Your guests or co-hosts could live in any time zones around the globe. They might be super-organised, but they might also be pretty shambolic, easily di...

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about booking tools for organising guests or co-hosts. Different time zones and scheduling conflicts can drop you into an endless cycle of messages where days and times are suggested but never agreed upon. If you’re regularly trying to arrange suitable dates and times with...