Our Podcast Setup

If you've ever thought of starting a podcast, I have to tell you, it's a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. We recently started the "Let's Get Up To Business" podcast and so far it's going really well.

First off, most of the programs we're using to record and distribute the show are completely free so the only real costs have been the equipment and the few custom sounds we're using in our intro and outro.

To start with, we're recording the show using my work computer and the Audacity program. One issue we had with Audacity is that it only allows for single microphone input and we wanted to have more than one person sitting at the table. I found a free Audio Mixer program called VoiceMeeter. The program is usually used for online gamers sharing their playtime to Twitch and other networks but works great for our needs.

For publication and distribution, we're using Anchor. They took care of pushing our show out to the various networks (including iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify) and their settings are easier than some of the others we looked into, including an easy the ability to update the podcast cover art per episode and schedule publication in the future.

As I mentioned we went out and purchased a license to the music we use, and had a custom intro and outro created for the show. The music we got from PodcastMusic. We chose the buyout option so we wouldn't have to renew the license every year. It cost a bit more upfront, but it will save us headaches in the future.

For the voiceover, we went through Fiverr and found an actor who could mimic the classic voice actor Don LaFontaine. Since the expert of the "In a world..." dialog is, sadly, no longer with us, we found a good alternative.

The hardware has, of course, been where we've actually spent a few dollars. Fortunately, my office has a natural alcove where we were able to put up some acoustic panels that help limit the echos we heard during our early sound tests. Of course, we had to match the firm colors even if it was $1 more per box.

Currently, we're using a couple of Blue Snowball microphones for our recording. If the show takes off, we'll probably upgrade those, but for the price, we really can't complain about the sound quality. We also bought a couple of swing arms to hold them, rather than the tripod they came with. I had to return a couple of the cheaper ones we started with as they squeaked and the clasps didn't work well.

The arms allow for a bit more flexibility for those doing the interviews to get comfortable in their seats and still make sure the microphone is able to pick up their voices. We added the pop filters later, and I have to admit, I'm surprised at the difference they've made.

Amusingly the table we're using has a significant lip on it so the swing arm clamps kept slipping off. to solve this, we got a small tabletop shelf to hold them. This has caused some issues as there is, what can only be called a subsonic thud, whenever someone bounces their leg. To help mitigate this we've simply cut one of the additional acoustic tiles into quarters and put them under the shelf. For now, it seems to have addressed the issue.

We'll be publishing our fifth episode of the show on Thursday morning, and I think we've now knocked out all the major issues we've come up against, and have spent less than $500 getting it up and running. Since the show is a direct attempt to reach out to potential clients of the law firm, we're hoping to draw in an audience of potential clients and referral partners.

If you're in Central Florida and are interested in being on the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. You can go to LetsGetUpToBusiness.com and fill out the form there, or reach out to me and I'll get you on our schedule. If you're unavailable to come into the office, we can do the interview by Zoom or Skype. Just let me know what your availability is.

Important Links:

• Let's Get Up To Business - the podcast
• Computer - The system where all the recording and production is done
• Audacity - audio production
• VoiceMeeter - multi-channel sound mixing
• PodcastMusic - Music licensing
• Fiverr - Voiceovers
• Acoustic Panels - to deaden the sound
• Blue Snowball - to record that sound
• Swing Arms - to hold the microphones
• Pop Filters - to clean the physical sounds
• Tabletop Shelf - to hold the microphones
• Zoom - free/low-cost online recording program
• Skype - video and voice call software