Upgrading Your Podcast Equipment: What to Buy First to Help Grow Your Audience

Anthony: 00:00:00

Welcome to Podcast Done for You, the show where we make it as easy

Anthony: 00:00:03

as possible for you to make the right choices to advance your podcasting career.

Anthony: 00:00:09

So let's get started on the show.

Anthony: 00:00:11

Upgrading your podcast equipment, what to buy first to help grow your audience.

Anthony: 00:00:17

Well, we have got some really important top five tips for you here, but I'm going

Anthony: 00:00:23

to defer to one that's not in my top five.

Anthony: 00:00:26

Check this out.

AI: 00:00:28

Where should you put your focus when it comes to upping

AI: 00:00:30

the game with your podcast?

AI: 00:00:33

The big thing people gravitate towards is technology.

AI: 00:00:37

Here I am an AI delivering speech in a conversational manner.

AI: 00:00:42

In this case, Anthony has manually, you know, the old fashioned way, typed

AI: 00:00:46

in the text from the top of his head.

AI: 00:00:49

Of course, he could have gone to an AI to write something and pasted it in here.

AI: 00:00:53

Here is the problem with that, and really with me, it is a

AI: 00:00:56

struggle to make it authentic.

AI: 00:00:59

If you simply get an AI to write something, it could

AI: 00:01:02

be the same as anyone else.

AI: 00:01:04

And how do you even know if it is based on confirmed information

AI: 00:01:08

rather than having been made up?

AI: 00:01:11

All that gets us back to our original question here, where to put your focus if

AI: 00:01:15

you want, upgrade your podcast equipment.

AI: 00:01:18

As I throw back to Anthony, I know AI is not in his top five list, so to find

AI: 00:01:23

out what is well, it is back to the real person behind podcasts done for you.

Anthony: 00:01:28

Now, that was a bit of fun and I can tell you definitely

Anthony: 00:01:31

not investing in AI as the.

Anthony: 00:01:33

Top five things to do with upping your podcast equipment because if

Anthony: 00:01:38

you wanna know what to buy first to grow your audience, I'm going

Anthony: 00:01:42

to tell you it starts with the number one thing is your microphone.

Anthony: 00:01:46

Without a shadow of a doubt, the clarity of sound makes all of the difference.

Anthony: 00:01:52

And yes, there is stuff you can do in post-production and

Anthony: 00:01:56

we will come to that later.

Anthony: 00:01:58

But if you can start with a great microphone, then that is

Anthony: 00:02:02

a hundred percent the way to go.

Anthony: 00:02:05

Now there are a range of microphones that you can get that are good, and

Anthony: 00:02:09

we've done a whole episode in the past and we'll provide a link to that.

Anthony: 00:02:13

That is just about microphones.

Anthony: 00:02:16

Now, needless to say, there.

Anthony: 00:02:18

It does depend on how much money you want to spend.

Anthony: 00:02:21

And I'll repeat one thing that I say in that particular podcast.

Anthony: 00:02:24

If you are using like, um, your standard earbuds from Apple

Anthony: 00:02:29

and those sorts of companies.

Anthony: 00:02:31

They are great for phone calls.

Anthony: 00:02:33

Not so good for podcasts.

Anthony: 00:02:35

Don't use them.

Anthony: 00:02:36

Uh, I've got a great microphone sitting right above up here.

Anthony: 00:02:40

Now that particular microphone is fantastic, but it's probably overkill

Anthony: 00:02:44

for the majority of podcasters.

Anthony: 00:02:46

I bought it for a different purpose.

Anthony: 00:02:47

Originally it's a Zoom H five.

Anthony: 00:02:50

It is a fantastic microphone as well as a, uh, providing a

Anthony: 00:02:53

whole lot of other functionality.

Anthony: 00:02:55

But we do recommend a couple of microphones.

Anthony: 00:02:58

I will put them in.

Anthony: 00:03:00

The show notes, you'll have a link to be able to get a hold of a form that has

Anthony: 00:03:05

all of the things that I recommend for you to use with lots of links for you

Anthony: 00:03:10

to buy them, to make it nice and easy.

Anthony: 00:03:12

So let's come off the, the microphone because that is by

Anthony: 00:03:15

far the number one thing to do.

Anthony: 00:03:17

The number two thing to make sure that you are doing is don't use Zoom.

Anthony: 00:03:22

I'm sorry to all of your fans of Zoom out there.

Anthony: 00:03:24

And I'm sorry to zoom.

Anthony: 00:03:25

I love Zoom.

Anthony: 00:03:26

For meetings, it's not great for podcasts.

Anthony: 00:03:29

It's very limiting as to what you can do as far as, um, files are

Anthony: 00:03:33

concerned, the quality of things are concerned, it has its real limitations.

Anthony: 00:03:39

I highly recommend that you invest in some recording software that

Anthony: 00:03:44

is much more purpose driven.

Anthony: 00:03:46

Now, I particularly use one of two I use at the moment, uh, D script squad cast.

Anthony: 00:03:54

They're one and the same these days.

Anthony: 00:03:56

And I also use Ecamm Live now different purposes for different things.

Anthony: 00:04:01

Both of them work really nicely.

Anthony: 00:04:03

They are purpose built, and there are other ones like Riverside

Anthony: 00:04:07

that lots of people talk about.

Anthony: 00:04:08

Uh.

Anthony: 00:04:09

Not, I'm not the biggest fan of, of that one, but, uh, I, I think it's

Anthony: 00:04:13

a pretty close one for many people.

Anthony: 00:04:15

So I just gravitated towards more towards EAM and squad cast for

Anthony: 00:04:19

me, and that's what I recommend.

Anthony: 00:04:21

But the point is, is whether you've chosen, chosen one of those two or

Anthony: 00:04:25

something else like Riverside, then they are all going to do a much better job

Anthony: 00:04:29

than Zoom because they are built for that.

Anthony: 00:04:31

One of the things you notice with Zoom.

Anthony: 00:04:33

Is it crunches your bandwidth that uses so much of it, uh, at, and it's

Anthony: 00:04:37

just very hard to manage that in a really meaningful way and to get backup

Anthony: 00:04:43

recordings and to get recordings that are of high quality, particularly if

Anthony: 00:04:47

you're wanting to use video as well.

Anthony: 00:04:48

So that brings me to the next.

Anthony: 00:04:50

Thing.

Anthony: 00:04:50

If you've ticked off those two things, the next most important

Anthony: 00:04:53

thing might surprise some people.

Anthony: 00:04:55

But I can tell you this was the best bit of advice that I got, uh,

Anthony: 00:05:00

from a videographer when I first started podcasting a while back,

Anthony: 00:05:04

was to invest in some lights.

Anthony: 00:05:06

Now, what am I talking about here?

Anthony: 00:05:08

Well, again, I'll put it in the notes.

Anthony: 00:05:10

I have a light, particularly here.

Anthony: 00:05:12

It is not a, a particularly expensive light.

Anthony: 00:05:15

It's from newer, it is a big LED.

Anthony: 00:05:18

It is about.

Anthony: 00:05:19

Oh, yay.

Anthony: 00:05:20

Big if you're watching, it's not huge, but it does have a lot of control.

Anthony: 00:05:24

It puts a lot of light on my face.

Anthony: 00:05:26

And what's the value of that?

Anthony: 00:05:28

It means that the camera does not have to work as hard, and it means that things

Anthony: 00:05:32

are being lit up and look half decent.

Anthony: 00:05:34

And that's what you want if you are creating a visual experience.

Anthony: 00:05:38

So, and remember, even if you are not creating a video based podcast, if

Anthony: 00:05:43

you are just doing an audio, there's a real value in the light because.

Anthony: 00:05:47

There are people that are still, that you are talking to that are going to see you.

Anthony: 00:05:51

You might not be recording the video, but I could almost guarantee the

Anthony: 00:05:55

fact that you are in fact talking to people online and therefore.

Anthony: 00:06:00

They want to be able to see you and why not have the video there

Anthony: 00:06:04

as well, even if it's just for the reels that you want to create to

Anthony: 00:06:08

promote your individual episodes.

Anthony: 00:06:09

So definitely lights are a big factor.

Anthony: 00:06:12

Lighting up your background as well.

Anthony: 00:06:15

There's a couple of lights you can probably see a little bit here.

Anthony: 00:06:17

There's a bit of yellow going on there.

Anthony: 00:06:18

There's a bit of pink, uh, purple going on there.

Anthony: 00:06:21

And a little bit more of a reddish tinge going back there.

Anthony: 00:06:23

All of those things are happening in the background.

Anthony: 00:06:26

They're just small little investments in lights, but also into what

Anthony: 00:06:30

is the number four thing on my list, which is the background.

Anthony: 00:06:34

Get your background right.

Anthony: 00:06:36

Don't go and use a virtual background.

Anthony: 00:06:38

Please avoid it like the plague if you can.

Anthony: 00:06:41

When you are recording video based and.

Anthony: 00:06:43

Even for just meetings, even forget the podcast.

Anthony: 00:06:46

If you're having a meeting with someone, it's so much nicer to have a visually

Anthony: 00:06:50

interesting background rather than just shoving your logo in a generic color.

Anthony: 00:06:54

Or even worse, a background that looks like some living room or

Anthony: 00:06:58

some, um, office that you are never going to be in and gives people a

Anthony: 00:07:03

complete false impression of that.

Anthony: 00:07:04

I think the novelty of virtual backgrounds wore off a little while ago.

Anthony: 00:07:08

I would steer clear of them.

Anthony: 00:07:10

Do an actual genuine background and I've again put in my notes some tips and

Anthony: 00:07:15

tricks on what to do and to create that.

Anthony: 00:07:17

There's not a huge amount of investment that's going on here in, in terms of

Anthony: 00:07:21

a background and making it look good.

Anthony: 00:07:23

A white wall, a simple bookcase that you can buy from a Kmart or anywhere.

Anthony: 00:07:28

Throw a few books on a couple of very basic lights that only cost you, you

Anthony: 00:07:33

know, sort of around about $30 each.

Anthony: 00:07:35

And you've got something that's quite interesting.

Anthony: 00:07:38

I've got a sign in the background.

Anthony: 00:07:39

You can pick one of those up as well.

Anthony: 00:07:41

Uh, make one yourself, as I did, got it, designed myself and got it off Amazon.

Anthony: 00:07:46

There are lots of things that you can do.

Anthony: 00:07:48

You don't have to do a sign, but other things that can make it

Anthony: 00:07:51

look a little bit interesting.

Anthony: 00:07:52

I. That can give people an idea of what you are about without having

Anthony: 00:07:56

to go to that generic background.

Anthony: 00:07:59

So then I come to number five on the list, which is again, I'm assuming that

Anthony: 00:08:04

we are now talking in the realm of video.

Anthony: 00:08:07

Now I'm going to say that because if you're upgrading your podcast

Anthony: 00:08:10

equipment and what to buy to help grow your audience will, YouTube

Anthony: 00:08:14

plays an important role in that, and I defer to what I said earlier on.

Anthony: 00:08:18

You want reels, in the very least to be video based.

Anthony: 00:08:21

So even if you're not doing in a video based podcast, for the sake

Anthony: 00:08:25

of the reels, get a great camera.

Anthony: 00:08:27

Now again, there are lots of different types of cameras that you can get,

Anthony: 00:08:30

and even your phone is actually a great camera if you can set that up.

Anthony: 00:08:35

To be, uh, recording for you and it does a pretty good job.

Anthony: 00:08:39

You just have to get that measurement right 'cause the phone

Anthony: 00:08:42

has to be relatively close to you.

Anthony: 00:08:44

And of course you've got that annoying thing of being able to set it up and

Anthony: 00:08:48

then going back and sit in the chair and make sure you haven't bumped

Anthony: 00:08:50

it and, and sit at the right place.

Anthony: 00:08:52

It's good if you've got an extra person that can come in and make sure it's

Anthony: 00:08:55

focused because you actually want to use the, uh, full cameras on the.

Anthony: 00:09:00

Back of the phone rather than the front facing cameras,

Anthony: 00:09:02

which are usually not as good.

Anthony: 00:09:04

So that's a tip with the phone is concerned.

Anthony: 00:09:07

But look, I would advise you to go and invest a little bit more in a

Anthony: 00:09:11

camera if you can afford to do so.

Anthony: 00:09:13

I've got a camera that I've got here.

Anthony: 00:09:15

We've done an episode on that in the past that we've talked to as well.

Anthony: 00:09:19

But I'll also include the links in that, in the notes around the camera

Anthony: 00:09:23

and what you can choose for that.

Anthony: 00:09:25

There really is a whole range of cameras that you can use.

Anthony: 00:09:29

I am of the belief that you don't want something that is too overly complicated

Anthony: 00:09:33

unless you are a real camera file.

Anthony: 00:09:36

If you really know how to use A-D-S-L-R camera and you enjoy all

Anthony: 00:09:40

of that kind of stuff, then there's probably a world of options there.

Anthony: 00:09:43

But they're quite expensive, to be honest with you, and I'm not

Anthony: 00:09:46

really sure that they're worth the value that you have unless.

Anthony: 00:09:50

You are really making a true living out of podcasting, then maybe you want

Anthony: 00:09:54

to invest in multiple cameras, but if you want to invest in something

Anthony: 00:09:59

simple, well you can do anything from, you know, a couple hundred dollars

Anthony: 00:10:02

up to sort of the, around the $1,500 mark, which does a fantastic job.

Anthony: 00:10:07

So again, we'll put some information into the show notes about how you can

Anthony: 00:10:11

get a hold of that complete list of everything that I believe you need to

Anthony: 00:10:15

upgrade your podcast equipment, what to buy first to help grow your audience.

Anthony: 00:10:20

All of that is about the quality.

Anthony: 00:10:22

That's what comes first, is quality.

Anthony: 00:10:25

If you can produce a quality looking piece of, uh, visual and audio,

Anthony: 00:10:32

then that is a big winner for you.

Anthony: 00:10:34

And I'm gonna give you the bonus tip here in number six to help you make

Anthony: 00:10:39

sure that you are using a really decent editing piece of software that is

Anthony: 00:10:45

going to upgrade the way things look.

Anthony: 00:10:48

The way things sound now, I've got a background in radio.

Anthony: 00:10:52

I'm very sensitive to the sound of things.

Anthony: 00:10:55

But too often you listen to podcasts and it's very, very obvious that

Anthony: 00:11:01

the person has not particularly invested in that microphone or the

Anthony: 00:11:04

sound, and it just lets you down.

Anthony: 00:11:07

You feel like you're just watching a webinar or spying on a meeting

Anthony: 00:11:11

between a couple of people.

Anthony: 00:11:13

That's not the look that you want.

Anthony: 00:11:15

If you want to grow your audience, you want people to

Anthony: 00:11:18

feel like it's professional.

Anthony: 00:11:19

It doesn't take that much to do it.

Anthony: 00:11:21

Yes, there's a little bit of investment in this and there's a sliding scale of how

Anthony: 00:11:25

much you want to invest in these things, but I highly recommend you do that.

Anthony: 00:11:30

And definitely, as I said, there's a, a lot of very great

Anthony: 00:11:33

editing pieces of software.

Anthony: 00:11:35

D script is one.

Anthony: 00:11:36

The Adobe Suite is another next level, uh, piece if you are into that.

Anthony: 00:11:41

Or make sure that you get yourself a really great editor, and if you

Anthony: 00:11:46

don't want to worry about any of these things, then come talk to us at

Anthony: 00:11:51

podcast done for you, because we'll help you take care of all of that.

Anthony: 00:11:55

That's what we're about.

Anthony: 00:11:56

We will take care of helping you with the microphone.

Anthony: 00:11:59

You don't have to worry about what you're recording on.

Anthony: 00:12:02

We take care of all of that for you.

Anthony: 00:12:04

Lights are an easy one that we can point you in that right

Anthony: 00:12:06

direction and background.

Anthony: 00:12:08

Again, we can help you with that and well, you'll be surprised what we

Anthony: 00:12:12

can do as far as camera's concerned, as we said, even with your phone.

Anthony: 00:12:15

But the main thing is, is all you have to do.

Anthony: 00:12:18

Is show up and be the expert.

Anthony: 00:12:20

So if you want us to take care of everything podcast done for

Anthony: 00:12:22

you online, come visit us details in the show notes for that.

Anthony: 00:12:27

But even if all you want is a list of what is the equipment, what are we

Anthony: 00:12:31

using, what makes it work, what is great?

Anthony: 00:12:33

All of those top five things that we spoke about and more, then just

Anthony: 00:12:38

write to me via the show notes.

Anthony: 00:12:40

We'll make sure that you have a, uh, or just follow the link, I should say, in

Anthony: 00:12:44

the show notes, and you'll be able to download that piece of, uh, that page with

Anthony: 00:12:49

all of the recommendations in it and more.

Anthony: 00:12:52

Please don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of

Anthony: 00:12:55

podcast Done for You the show.

Anthony: 00:12:57

And remember, if you want help getting your podcast up and running

Anthony: 00:13:00

like so many have done, then contact us at podcast Done for you.

Anthony: 00:13:04

Until next time.

Anthony: 00:13:06

I look forward to your company and please keep writing in with the topics you

Anthony: 00:13:09

want us to cover because we love doing that and helping as many podcasters as

Anthony: 00:13:13

possible to make it happen for you to make a real difference by being the authority

Anthony: 00:13:18

and the go-to person, and as we say, the voice of brilliance in your space.

Anthony: 00:13:23

Until next

AI: 00:13:23

time, thanks Anthony.

AI: 00:13:26

Even, I appreciated those insights.

AI: 00:13:28

Well, you made me say that.

AI: 00:13:31

The bonus tip is don't get sucked in by the tech and focus on the equipment

AI: 00:13:35

that matters, or go to podcasts done for you online and book a time to

AI: 00:13:40

meet with Anthony to learn how his team can make your podcast dreams

AI: 00:13:44

a reality without the overwhelm.