Rising Creators Forum

I want to start a podcast but I have zero experience with audio editing, recording, or anything technical. I have ideas for topics and potential guests but the technical side is overwhelming me

What do I actually need to get started? and how complicated is the learning curve for podcast production?

invest in learning the basics properly before launching

I tried the "just start" approach and my first 15 episodes were so bad i had to delete them and relaunch. wasted 3 months because i didn't learn the fundamentals first

what i wish i'd done:

• taken a basic audio editing course (udemy has courses for $15)
• learned about audio levels, compression, and eq
• invested in at least decent equipment from the start ($200-300)
• practiced recording and editing 5-10 test episodes before publishing

bad audio quality will kill your podcast faster than anything else. people will tolerate average content with good audio. they won't tolerate good content with terrible audio

minimum quality standards you need:

• no background noise or echo
• consistent volume levels
• clear voice with no distortion
• professional intro/outro music

this doesn't require expensive equipment, but it does require basic knowledge of audio production

spend 2-3 weeks learning the basics before you launch. watch youtube tutorials on podcast production, practice recording yourself, get feedback from friends

launching with quality from day 1 is better than launching fast with bad quality and having to fix it later

I started my podcast 8 months ago with zero technical knowledge and honestly it's way easier than you think

minimum equipment to start:

• decent usb microphone ($50-100, i use blue yeti)
• free recording software (audacity or garageband)
• quiet space to record
• headphones

That's literally it. you don't need a fancy studio or expensive equipment

my first episode workflow:

1. recorded myself talking using audacity (took 20 min to learn the basics on youtube)
2. edited out long pauses and ums (literally just cutting sections out)
3. exported as mp3
4. uploaded to podcast hosting platform (i use buzzsprout, $12/month)
5. they distributed it to spotify, apple podcasts, etc automatically

total time to launch first episode: about 6 hours including learning

things i learned later that i wish i knew:

• record in a closet with clothes around you (dampens echo)
• get close to the mic for better audio quality
• always do a test recording first

You don't need to know everything before starting. My first 10 episodes sound rough but I learned by doing. episode 30 sounds way better than episode 1

just start. You'll figure it out as you go