First Impressions Matter in Podcasting
In the New Media space, you may have heard the slogan “content is king.” I’m not going to argue that point, but I want to add an asterisk on to the end of that statement, because content may indeed be king… but presentation can still be very, very important in podcasting.
If a listener ever takes a few minutes to listen to your show, chances are, they are already interested in the topic, whatever it may be. Congratulations! They discovered you; you’ve already achieved what is probably the most difficult part, getting someone to actually “tune in” in the first place—but now you’ve got to hook them in, to seal the deal, and this is where I see all too many podcasts stumble.
First impressions are very important. If your podcast has audio that is distorted or muddy that makes it difficult to understand what is being said, or has inconsistent levels, where I’m constantly reaching for the volume control, because I have to turn it up because the voices are too low, and then when the music comes up I’m being blasted… well, you get the idea. These may be extreme examples, and maybe I’m jaded, but if your show doesn’t meet a certain level of technical production quality, people are simply going to tune out. The amazing thing about the Internet is that it gives people such an incredible variety of content they can consume, and can consume only the content they choose to… which can mean listening to or watching something else other than your podcast. The flip side of there being so much content out there is by having high quality audio (and video), you can distinguish yourself and get ahead of the pack.
With that said, just because a podcast has professional-level, high-quality production values, it does not make it a great podcast. So you’ve drawn people in, but you’re still going to have to deliver that content. But if your production sucks, they might not tune in long enough to find your content, no matter how brilliant it might be. When it becomes a chore to listen to (or watch), you’ve already lost them, and they’re probably never coming back. Will I listen to a podcast just for production quality? Heck no! But time is finite, and if it comes down to listening to one or the other, it’s going to be the better quality one. Life is just too short to suffer through poor quality production. If you as a producer don’t care or can’t be bothered to put forth some effort, why should I care enough to listen?
Now, I’m not necessarily advocating spending money to build a professional studio…God knows I’ve spent more than I probably should have, and it’s not a magic bullet. Getting high quality doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, if any at all (though judiciously spending a few bucks can go a long way). What kills me most of all is common problems that can be so easy to fix. Care enough to make an effort! Don’t make rookie mistakes; doing your due diligence as a producer, and performing some best practices can go a long way, and you don’t have to be an audio engineer or production guru to do so.
For goodness sake, enough with the plosives (popping “p”‘s, etc.), and use a good pop filter (not the same as a foam windscreen), or at least reposition the mic to talk across it, and not in to it; make sure your levels are consistent (use the Levelator), if one host is louder than the other, or the voices are quiet but when the music comes in I’m being blasted, you’re making my ears bleed; and don’t be afraid to do a little editing to tighten things up, removing painful pauses and long unnecessary tangents, because a little bit can go a long way toward professionalism—but, lay off the noise reduction, it’s noise reduction, not noise removal, and it’s not even close to a magic bullet… I could go on, but you probably get the idea.
This isn’t exclusive to podcasting, either. If you’re a blogger, for example, and your writing is filled with typos and spelling and grammatical errors, you greatly undermine your credibility.
What technical problems do you find most annoying?
As always, sound off in the comments, and if you’ve got any specific podcasting problems, let me know!
Man, sore points of my own, too. Every one!
Nothing is more annoying than trying to listen to something that was obviously thrown together in just a few minutes.
In my opinion, it’s just plain laziness (or perhaps simple impatience) that results in those very amateur-sounding productions. I’m reminded of countless flash animations I’ve seen that took a really good idea, genius animation/art, and then completely trounced all over it with crappy voice samples captured from what may have been a Fisher Price phone. Listening to that makes it clear that somebody doesn’t really care about what they’re putting out there, so neither do I care to stick with it. As you say, it becomes more chore than pleasure.
Anyway, I think the core of the issue is that some people get too focused on getting something out there, without first doing their due diligence and research into some aspects of the process with which they may not be familiar. This is a tragedy from where I’m sitting, because I *know* there are some really brilliant ideas out there, but when people start caring more about “shotgun” releases than the actual content they’re putting out there itself, the entertainment/information value is completely lost in the shuffle.
Yes, “Content is King”, but I think perhaps that asterisk should read: “*Quality, Not Quantity”
It can be such a shame sometimes, because some podcasts or blogs really improve over time to become as professional and well put together as the best out there. Some might say that they could have waited and built up the equipment first to get the great sound, which would have also given them time to put together great content too.
Put some podcasters/bloggers just need to *start* to get ball rolling and to get comfortable with putting out opinions that others might disagree with or with content others might say sucks. Too many projects stall and die for legitimate reasons that become reasons for never doing it at all.
It isn’t a simple thing to do all on your own.