Podcast production

The PR industry chuckled when Weber Shandwick made it into the pages of PR Week a couple of years ago with news of its bespoke podcast studio when the simplicity of the format means that a microphone and laptop PC are all that it required.

But the quality of podcast production distinguishes good from lousy. Noise levels, hisses, pops, coughs, splutters and pauses are not acceptable.

There’s an awful lot can be done to clean up an interview in an editing application such as Audicity but it’s time consuming and there’s some background glitches that just can’t be removed. It’s far easier to follow best practice for radio interviews and get it right first time.

I know. I re-recorded the reverses for an interview three times this week to eliminate electrical interference from a mobile phone and an orchestra of audio interference including pencil tapping, chair shuffling and page turning.

Weber Shandwick’s studio aside, the entry costs for podcasting are minimal. But the skill required to edit down and produce a professional podcast is anything but.

Neville Hobson is the first and last word in podcasting for the PR and marketing industries and a prolific podcaster himself. The search box on his site is the first place I go whenever I’m looking for advice.

Also posted on www.rainierpr.co.uk