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You're listening to Up an Octave, a podcast by Sonivia, the podcasting agency that believes that women and non binary people deserve to take up space in the podcasting industry. Because our thoughts, voices, and stories matter. Here, you'll learn how to make dope podcasts that inspire, educate, convert, and most importantly, make your voice shine.
I'm your host, Rue Spence, and I'm here to take podcasting up an octave. Let's get into it.
Hello, hello, and welcome back to Up an Octave. I am super excited to be coming at you live from my folks house. Get ready for some different house sounds ASMR in this episode. But we are talking today about podcasting on a budget without compromising quality. Just because you may be starting your show on a shoestring does not mean it has to sound like you're broke as a joke.
So, let's get started. Let's get into it to make sure that your podcast sounds its best and helps you accomplish your goals for your show. Now it's very easy to spend way the heck too much money on your podcast, whether it's equipment or software or a studio space, whatever that is, it is very easy to spend a chunk of change.
And if you are excited to do that, that's awesome. Come to me. I have tips for that as well. But if you are maybe in your, you know, dabbling mindset where you're not sure that you really want to commit full time, that this is going to be something that you are super passionate about, you know, start small, there's always room to grow.
And I'm going to give you the tips to help you dip a toe without getting too in the weeds or too far in debt. Tip number one is, of course, gonna be prioritize the essential equipment. It's really easy when you're starting off to think that you need all of this exciting stuff. You need a mixer, you need the flashiest computer, etc, etc.
And I'm here to tell you that that's just not the case at all. I do recommend getting an actual external microphone, and I do recommend using a computer or a laptop instead of just your phone. But other than that There's really no gear that you have to have. I always recommend getting a microphone, but you don't need to spend 605, 000 whatever dollars on your first mic.
I am a big fan of the Fifine AM8, which is about, like, 60 bucks. And you know what? I even have to say that under the right circumstances, I'm a Blue Yeti girl. I know. Shocker. Shocker. We thought that I would never say that, and in a lot of cases, I'm still not. But if you invest the time to learn how to use it properly, it can absolutely be a serviceable starter mic.
Those do run you about 100 brand new, and I, I think that you can probably do a lot better for that price point, but if you see someone who is getting rid of one for cheap on Facebook Marketplace, or you can find it secondhand somewhere else, go for it. The nice thing about the Blue Yeti is that they are so common because they were like a Zoom meeting pandemic era favorite.
So almost everyone has one laying around that you can, even if you don't buy it yourself, maybe you can ask and source one from a friend. Something else that is free 99 baby is your recording space. Do the like soundproofing tiles that you'll see on YouTubers backdrops look cool as heck? Yes, they do. But there's some mixed reviews on their efficacy depending on which ones you buy, and also there's just a way better way to use the money that you would shell out on those.
If you've got a closet, awesome, um, those are my favorite place to record on a shoestring just because your clothes hanging up are actually going to act the exact same way as those acoustic tiles. Awesome. Awesome. If you can't feasibly record in a closet space, just do your best to make sure that the space that you are recording in is at least somewhat treated, and by that I mean hopefully you're in a carpeted room, hopefully it's not the hugest room in your house, and hopefully you're able to record at a time when the dishwasher's not going, kids are in bed, etc.
Even in a wonderfully sound treated room, if you are not following best practice with some of those other things, it's not gonna matter that you've spent thousands of dollars to create your studio. And, of course, you know that I'm an Audacity girly. Audacity is a free digital audio workstation. That is where you can do all of your recording and editing to make sure that your podcast sounds crisp and clean and amazing.
And it is totally free, open source software. And if you do want to get a little extra help learning the ropes to it, you can grab my Editing with Audacity guide. Which, there's info for that in the show notes, but that helps you learn how to edit like a pro without having to shell out the funds for a pro.
Some other things that you can do that are totally free are to work on your content. Make sure that you know what you're going to say and how you're going to say it before you even approach the mic. That's gonna make you sound more polished, more professional, and all it costs you is your time. Save your finances to allocate somewhere else, and just make sure that you're showing up as your best self, because that really, truly goes a long way for the quality of your show.
And especially if you are going to be outsourcing your editing or you're just someone who is maybe a really busy entrepreneur and you don't have a lot of time or energy to put into editing for yourself. Something else that can help keep it cheap is to minimize your post production work. And that kind of goes into what I was saying earlier about planning to execute your show efficiently.
So if you are hiring an editor who maybe charges For time, or charges for difficulty, different editors work with slightly different rate structures, et cetera, but keeping things as concise as possible is going to save either you or your editor from having to go through all of those painstaking steps, which can also save you some money.
Another tip is to keep your music royalty free. You can find royalty free music options as simply as just Googling that. The YouTube Audio Library is helpful, Free Music Archive can be helpful. A lot of times, royalty free music is going to have an attribution clause where you just need to say in your show notes that this music was provided by, insert credit here, and you are able to use that for free.
Now, this is somewhere that you do need to read the T's and C's, because sometimes those conditions for use are case specific, or it cannot be used commercially, etc., etc. Just make sure you're keeping your booty covered. I, I always hate seeing shows get pulled down because some fine print was missed. But, I don't think that you need to be shelling out of course, unless that is something that feels good for you, and There is a creator that you really want to support, but if music is not the end all be all of your show, you can probably get away with just royalty free.
As long as it doesn't sound like terrible office HR presentation music. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. You can also do what I did and make your own music on Soundtrap. They have a free level, and it's a lot of fun to play with if that's something that is exciting to you. Somewhere else that you can pinch a few pennies is with your hosting and distribution.
So I am a Buzzsprout girly through and through. I do pay for that. It's twelve whole dollars a month. But if you want to stick to something that is going to be free and consider maybe upgrading later, Spotify for Podcasters is definitely an industry standard at this point for free hosting, and they have a lot going for them.
There are some reasons that I don't personally use them for my show, but if you are especially just getting your start, I have no reason not to suggest going through Spotify for Podcasters. And as far as promotion, that can and should all be free for a very long time. Uh, the only thing that I really think that you Benefit from spending money on, in that regard, is a website, whether that's something like Podpage or a website that you built yourself.
It can still be economical, but it really does help with SEO and helping you really plant a flag for your business. With your show, with what you are doing, with your show, on your corner of the internet. PodPage used to be free, but it no longer is. That's something that has been a recent change, and is getting a lot of people upset, for obvious reasons.
But I do think that they still have a fairly economical price point, so that's something worth looking into as well. And then when you are ready to start investing some money into your show, do it strategically. There are certain things that I recommend spending a little bit of money on first. And that tends to be your microphone if you've been using a not so great mic, it feels really good to make that upgrade.
It's also really nice to treat yourself to some super comfortable headphones. I've known people who've edited with not so comfy headphones and then they make the upgrade and they're like, Uh, this is night and day. And it also makes your show sound better because you're more able to hear the nuance of it.
that something like, you know, earbuds are just not going to cover. But I do think that those are things that you should be researching well, and if you are looking to upgrade, Wait for sales, we've got Cyber Monday coming up right around the corner and I just don't see a reason to pay full price for most things.
I'm also a huge fan of Reverb. com, Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, those are all places that I've gotten gear from for less than full price. And in addition to saving yourself some money, you're also helping the environment by reusing Eventually, hopefully you're recycling, uh, what you're able to with electronics as well.
Something that saves people money in the long run is tracking your analytics, seeing what's working well, what's not, so that you can invest in making the things that are working even better. And maybe call the things that aren't working so well, especially if those have the potential to be draining your resources.
That is where I will leave you today. Of course, there are about 5 million things that I could talk about on this topic. Just a little shorty to pop in, help you, and send you back on your way. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I will, of course, be back next week. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram at Sonivia Studios.
Or you can head over to sonivia. com and grab your free session with me. That's also where you can find my editing with audacity guide. Thank you so much for being here and helping me take podcasting up an octave.
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