An Exploring Holidays Podcast
Podcasts, what are they? Well the name podcast comes from a combination of iPod and broadcast. Podcasts are digital audio files that are available on several platforms like Spotify and iTunes which can be accessed on computers and mobile devices. Podcasts are available as a series and broken down into episodes. These episodes can be any length from 5 minutes to over an hour. Podcasts typically include: an ad, intro (bumper), welcome and overview of the episode, the interview or discussion, and then an outro (end bumper).
We were given the task to come up with our own podcast topic idea and create two episodes that support that topic. We first started with brainstorming 2–3 subject ideas we could do and share them and then give and get feedback.
Originally, my podcast was to be called The History Behind the Holiday. However, after receiving feedback and thinking about the celebrations I wanted to focus on, I decided to change my podcast to Exploring Holidays. I decided it would be of more interest to focus in on foreign celebrations that aren’t typically celebrated in the US and have each episode focus in on a different celebration. For my artwork, I wanted it to be clear to viewers it was about celebrations. So I decided to incorporate an image of fireworks to help solidify the concept. When changing the title, I ended up changing the image as well to help the image and text feel more balanced and flow better with each other.
After finalizing my overall podcast topic idea I began searching for different foreign holidays and made note of ones that stuck out to me the most. I decided upon the Japanese Setsubun Festival and the Irish Rose of Tralee Festival. With these episode topics in mind, I was able to create a podcast outline that summarized what the podcast was about along with a short summary of each episode or celebration.
Because my podcast involved discussing what these celebrations are that meant I had to do a lot of research on the two festivals before I could even begin recording. Therefore, I took my time researching both festivals and wrote down important notes for each which I then converted into a script I could use for recording.
After getting all of my information and getting a script set up I thought about sound effects and music I would want to incorporate into my podcast. Since my topic is about celebrations I decided to using opening/closing music and effects that had to do with fireworks and celebration or festive music. I was able to get access to and download several free to use music and sound effect media files that went with what I wanted.
Time for recording! I recorded everything on my iPhone since computer audio is strongly not recommended. I had an app downloaded on my phone already that I have used several times for audio recording called Voice Recorder. It’s an app that while recording allows you to pause and start recording anytime without having to stop the recording completely and make a new recording. It made it easier for me to take breaks from recording audio so I wouldn’t sound out of breath. I also used Adobe Audition after I finished all recording for editing purposes because I have used Audition in the past for other projects.
For each episode I broke the script down into sections and would record each section separately. This made it easier and faster to work with in Adobe Audition. I was able to locate certain audio parts and make edits when necessary more quickly and easily than having one large audio file recording. I recorded the intro, welcome, and outro for the episodes together first. This is because these would remain the same for both episodes. This was the trickiest section to work with. I had to make adjustments to the different audio file volumes to make my audio more clear and easy to hear over the music and fireworks playing. I adjusted the firework effects and celebration music to have a fade in and fade out to help with transitions and lowered the volume bar during parts with speech.
For all of my speaking audio, after importing into Adobe Audition, I would first open them in Waveform. Waveform allowed me to take the audio recording clip and apply a noise reduction effect to it. This allowed me to remove the room background noise and make the audio sound more clear. After applying this edit to the audio clips I would then applied two track effects called: Flanger and Vocal Enhancer to also help with making the audio sound more professional, louder, and clear.
When recording the main discussion for the podcast, I would often pause and re-read parts two or three more times to try and make those parts sounds more clear and less jumbled and have multiple audio choices to select from when editing. I use the razor tool Adobe Audition offers the most throughout the editing process. I was able to play and listen to the audio and then pause and cut the audio sections into smaller pieces. This made it easier to remove pauses, audio clips that just didn’t work or sound good, and re-read parts I decided not to go with.
Many times, I would get my iPhone out and re-record some of the parts that didn’t sound clear which I hadn’t caught while recording that section. That would include anything that sounded like words were being slurred together, stuttering, or even whizzing. After putting each episode together I would listen to each several times to listen for any edits that needed to still happen.
Finally, after listening to and finalizing each episode I used Anchor to publish my podcast. I started by creating my overall podcast by setting the podcast name, description and uploading my pre-made cover art. For selecting a category, I was suck between History and Society & Culture. However, I chose to go with the Society & Culture category because my podcast is about learning the celebrations of other countries and how they’re celebrated even today.
Next came uploading the episodes. Anchor allows you to record using your browser and added music, messages, and transitions or you can upload your pre-recorded audio. Since I already recorded, edited, and exported my final audio version all I had to do was drag my edited ACC file over and have it uploaded. Afterwards, I entered my episode names, the short descriptions, and episode numbers and then the episodes were ready to be published and viewed on my Anchor public site!
In conclusion, as someone who feels more comfortable as a listener than a speaker, I enjoyed this podcast project more than I thought I would. Not only is brainstorming various topics to do create podcast important but also focusing on topics that actually interest you. If you’re not interested in the topic itself then creating the podcast will be much more challenging for you to develop. On top of that, it won’t be enjoyable for listeners who will be able to sense your disinterest. For my podcast, it was also crucial to do background research. That way I would be able to understand and actually know what each celebration was before talking about them. It’s also important to engage and fun your listeners by going a step beyond and incorporating fun sound effects or music when possible for your episodes.
Anyone interested can create a podcast of their own. They don’t need expensive equipment or a recording studio. If they focus in on what they like, learn how to use the tools they have available to them for recording and editing, do the necessary research, and finally actually publish and share what they’ve created with others whether is be Anchor, Spotify, iTunes, or another platform of their choice.
Maggie McCausland is a student in the Digital Media program at Utah Valley University, Orem Utah, studying Web & App Development. The following article relates to podcasts in the (DGM 2260 Course) and representative of the skills learned.