Podcast

[InbetweenDreams]

So I have been thinking about possibly starting a podcast. Now, I have no experience in public speaking so I have to learn as I go along. My idea is to create a podcast that will be valuable to people who are beginning their spiritual path, those who are curious, etc. I do think it will favor more along the lines of Pagan traditions, but none specifically. My problem has been that while there are books and a lot of beginner material, a lot of it doesn't help with sorting out one's personal beliefs or addresses the very difficult questions.

I am learning, quite quickly I might add, how much research and time goes into creating a podcast with content that people might actually want to listen to. Even on topics you might be fairly well versed in, you need to check everything you're going to talk about.

Of course audio, having a microphone and the ability to have decent audio is important. Although I'm in a noisy room with aquariums, computers and so on I have been able to clean up the audio well enough that it doesn't sound too bad.

Now before I post the link, I was mostly fooling around. Making sure I could mix in audio from other sources (say I have music, or have a guest). I thought I would do a quick commentary from a video from CBSN about research about what happens when we die. I think having done the commentary made me realize how much further I would have wanted to take it if I had planned it out, done more research, did a script (perhaps a loose one). I think it would have made the commentary far more interesting.

With all that here's what I did with a this commentary. The file is mp3 which should play inside Google Chrome and otherwise should be easy to download and play.



Anyway, happy to hear constructive criticism, comments or ideas.

[Insertnamehere]

Most podcasts I've payed attention to (so little time to soak up on so many discussions I would like to about whatever...there is always an infinite amount of papers to read) are very conversational, more so than "public speaking" if you know what I mean (I don't even know what I mean at times so good luck with that).

Huh, if Bryan was still around he would probably help you out, he is (still, I assume) a very spiritual-pagan dude and would probably like to discuss these topics.

Now, the audio. It's fine. It sounds ok, your voice is pretty good, the flow was mostly fine.

I would definitely recommend (but of course I would) doing a good amount well-sourced research and do an outline of what you'll talk about before. The resst is just a flow of conversation really.

[InbetweenDreams]

That is one thing i have found in doing a few "test" recordings is you had better know what you're going to talk about and all the diversions that a conversation takes you probably should do research on that. One of my bad habits is talking too fast or "mumbling." Definitely can talk about quite a lot of things in a 40 minute span.

The fun bits are getting good audio of the person you're interviewing since all will likely be done remotely. There used to be Dolby Axon which I used a few times and I recall the audio being superb.

[InbetweenDreams]

So I guess I'm going to use you all as a focus group. I do think I did "better" on this recording which would be slated to be the first episode. Again, it's mp3, plays in the browser if you use Chrome on a desktop.



I would like to hear any feedback, if not about the subject matter, anything pertaining to audio/music. I do think the audio is a bit more bassy now that I got the microphone stand and pop-filter I'm able to get a lot closer to the mic.

Music in the episode:

Ether Vox by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7014-ether-vox

Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/43...-of-spring

Moorland by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4079-moorland

Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/41...nity-walks

Relaxing Piano Music by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/42...iano-music

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

[Bookworm]

Hey Mike,

I've listened to both podcasts. Audio was fine, I could hear you crystal clear. The second one is more bassy, but it's better for it. There's no extraneous sounds.

The second one seemed more structured, I'm guessing you made some notes to direct the flow of the conversation. The first was more of a preamble test though I think 
I was going to suggest adding some ambient background music after listening to the first, but you took care of that on the second one.

If you're planning a deep dive into the realms of consciousness for your next one, I can recommend a podcast that I sometimes listen too.

https://www.youtube.com/c/metaRising/videos

Some of those discussions will burst your brain, but it will be good research material 

Are you uploading your podcasts to your blog site?

[InbetweenDreams]

Thanks for the feedback @Bookworm I did play around with the EQ and bassing it up definitely helps, tweaked it again on the last recording and yeah structure is a big problem, if I don't at least have an outline I will talk about squirrels in 5 minutes. I will definitely check that podcast out, that does sound interesting and can always use inspiration or material for sure.

I did find some background music and Kevin MacLeod to the rescue lol, I did find some piano music that was 24 minutes long which is nice. He has a pretty big library.

I thought about creating another website for the podcast, but I'm debating on self-hosting or not. I might do something like squarespace if it is cheap enough. The catch 22 about self-hosting is you physically can control all the content you own, but it might not be all that cheaper because SSL, which I really ought to have, is about $100 a year and a lot of hosting plans like squarespace build that stuff into the site. The domain names are usually cheap.

Now the problem I am stuck with is coming up with a name for the podcast. You probably heard me say "Navigating the Path" which at first I thought sounded good but having second thoughts as it sounds perhaps a little generic, also sounds like I am supposed to be a "teacher" perhaps and not sure I want to be seen as someone with the answers lol

[ChadCoxRox]

I cannot access the links due to flags from malwarebytes. I'm on the east coast of US so not sure. But is there a URL I can follow to access since they are not published yet? I'd love to listen.

Name ideas...
Walking My Journey, Opening To the Path, Taking My Own Path, Making A Way, Living My Path, Spiritual Exploration, Spiritual Gardening, Growth, Discovery, just rambling now...

[InbetweenDreams]

Well @ChadCoxRox Not sure why Malwarebytes is flagging my site. The site is self-hosted...meaning it's on one of my computers. However, it is probably flagging it because I do not have SSL...that is there isn't a HTTPS at the beginning. Not sure if Malwarebytes allows you to proceed to visiting my site but I can assure you that mikefoley.xyz is a safe site, it is my own webserver here at my house and I do patch it regularly...I'm just too cheap to buy a SSL certificate. It is on the to-do list and since I may be doing a website for the podcast I may end up moving it off my personal webserver anyway.

edit: I installed Malwarebyte's trial and installed the browser extension and for reasons unknown didn't seem to block anything for me... :?

Once I get the name sorted out and can get 3-4 more episodes recorded I plan on publishing them on anchor.fm and that should get it out on just about everything. I "could" self-host my podcast but it is way more work having to deal with RSS and having to go to each platform and publish it.

[ChadCoxRox]

Well @ChadCoxRox Not sure why Malwarebytes is flagging my site. The site is self-hosted...meaning it's on one of my computers. However, it is probably flagging it because I do not have SSL...that is there isn't a HTTPS at the beginning. Not sure if Malwarebytes allows you to proceed to visiting my site but I can assure you that mikefoley.xyz is a safe site, it is my own webserver here at my house and I do patch it regularly...I'm just too cheap to buy a SSL certificate. It is on the to-do list and since I may be doing a website for the podcast I may end up moving it off my personal webserver anyway.

edit: I installed Malwarebyte's trial and installed the browser extension and for reasons unknown didn't seem to block anything for me... :?

Once I get the name sorted out and can get 3-4 more episodes recorded I plan on publishing them on anchor.fm and that should get it out on just about everything. I "could" self-host my podcast but it is way more work having to deal with RSS and having to go to each platform and publish it.

It did have the option to bypass the block and so I did since you explained your assurance. And it worked fine. Listening today and will respond later.

[ChadCoxRox]

I got to listen. The recordings are actually better than many other initial attempts I've consumed. I agree with the comments above about practicing the articulation and rate of speech, limiting "uhs" and other extraneous mouth noises. We have a local and wonderful DJ on am radio here who smacks his lips and it drives me nuts. He's beloved and precious around here, including to me, but the older he gets the more we hear him pursing up and drawing the lip smack. LOL

The first was confusing because of the extended clip at the beginning having no setup and once you began I realized I was glad I just listened and didn't skip through because it was not what I expected. On the second I didn't hear much if any ambient music or noise except for very low level squeaky sounds very infrequently through the episode.

For me, this can be provocative subject matter so I find it interesting. Having spent years developing my own understanding it was a bit intriguing experiencing someone else at an earlier stage of that process, and taking it somewhat seriously without a great deal of value judgement.

My last comment is to advise avoiding any self deprecating remarks, or even developed attitudes that might influence or promote bias. I know this is not a big issue with your effort thus far, but having checked out and followed many bloggers, vloggers and podcasters over the years, this concept is my least enjoyed aspect of any running themes. For my listening pleasure, being vulnerable, transparent, genuine, and/or entertaining is degraded by self-deprecation. Introspection in discussion is like values in fine arts painting, it does not take much white or black to have a strong impact on the product.

I'll certainly look forward to more Mike! Thank you for sharing it.