How To Make A Less Boring Podcast
I have no idea if they will be popular, but you will have more fun making them.
It will come as a surprise to no one that I love podcasts. I love audio, generally. My first job after college was as an assistant engineer at Sony Music Studios. It was not glamorous. But gosh, ever onward, I love audio and well-produced spoken word content. I grew up with “produced audio” as a kid, also. My favorite “book on tape” was the BBC radio drama of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Amazon affiliate link).
For a moment…this is one of the best radio productions ever. If you love production value in audio, recall, the whole thing was done in the late 1970s on analog tape—no digital effects, no pro-tools, workstations, reel-to-reel tape, and artistry only. A close second was the Bob and Ray Show, a humorous NPR show that lived on in cassette tape form during my 80s childhood. Before that, the audiobook of Wind in the Willows rocked my 4-year-old world.
I have listened to podcasts or books on tape to fall asleep almost every night of my life. There were some times I listened to music, sure. However, the recorded spoken word is the default refuge for me. I became friends with a senior producer on RadioLab, and subsequently giants of podcasting like Ben Adair at Western Sound. This ruined me for what was likely to be successful: a regular release schedule.
The shows that win on the internet have a regular release schedule. Getting regular episodes out is difficult when you are a full-time doctor with a penchant for classy production. I might not be a successful podcaster, but I am here to help you avoid my fate.
Tip 1: Variety!
Like a TV show or a book, if there is only one “scene,” it gets boring. Most interview shows are just one or two mics, and record is pressed, and that is the show. Audio from different acoustic environments makes things much more exciting to listen to. You can use different microphones to do this, too! They have very different frequencies emphasized, for example. Some mics boost the bass of a voice satisfyingly, especially when you get closer. This is called a proximity effect. This variation in tone can keep things from being boring. Use it to your advantage.
Here is a clip from a recent episode, audio-illustrating how this works:
Tip 2: Your Phone is a Microphone… and Mobile Recording Device
Oh my gosh, the mic in the iPhone (which is my phone) is quite good. The newest version of the OS also lets you record calls, as long as you put up with a beep to remind everyone the call is being recorded. You can use these recordings in your podcasts! You can use that phone to record sound effects, music, ambience, chimes, people on the street, or anything else you need. The quality is good enough for “variety.”
Here is an episode where I recorded the ENTIRE THING on either my phone:
It was mid-pandemic, and my good audio interface wasn't working. All the crowd sounds were recorded on phones. My narration was done in one take, on an iPhone. The street sounds? Phone. Piano? In my friend July’s living room.
It ends up coming together in the mix!
The other pro-tip is using the phone as part of a “double ender” setup—if you are doing a phone or Zoom interview, you can have the other person record using their iPhone as a mic and send you the audio later to splice in. It sounds like this on a fancy mic (not perfectly clean, because of a “clocking issue” which I won’t get into now):
This audio clip was recorded just now on an iPhone 16 Pro Max, just using the “Voice Memos” app, with no processing of any kind:
Tip 3: Don’t leave your audience guessing...with narration.
When you move from an interview-style show to a narrative journalism style, you need a narrator. If it’s your show, that’s probably you. Narrating the exciting “tape” coming up next is your job. Set up what your audience will hear and why with your narrative. You don’t have tools more impactful than letting listeners know what to expect!
It doesn’t have to be heavy-handed, but that “written” or improvised narration can make or break a conversation recording turned into a podcast. Most conversations have a lot of “filler,” so the narrative helps set up for an audience why they are hearing what they are hearing, much like a tour guide enables you to feel like wandering around a city is fun and not the terrifying experience of being lost in a strange place. This podcast started as just a conversation, but the narration makes it work much better!
Audio conversations usually require extensive editing to be “tight,” which takes time out of your life before the episode comes out. A great example of how stylistically different narration makes stories is the difference between Dune (the modern edition) and the heavily narrated Dune created by director David Lynch.
In scripted content, people talk to move the plot forward. In human interaction, we don’t do that explicitly. Overlaying some narration to move “the plot forward” lets your audience follow what is happening in the interview more clearly!
Thanks for reading…and listening!
Excellent advice(s).