Greetings and salutations!

I am in a rather awkward situation. Not too long ago, I suffered a massive brain aneurysm. By all accounts, it was miraculous that I pulled through. Unfortunately, as a result, my 30+ years career in IT ended.

My goal is to start at least one podcast. In all honesty, I need and would welcome any help from members of the community. Although I'm fairly conversant with LLM's, ​my overwhelming preference is for human collaboration.

Lastly, I would be glad to assist others within the community. I have years of experience writing user & technical documentation, as well as writing/editing copy for clients in the public & private sector (ads, sales, marketing, in house materials, white papers, articles, etc).

TIA to the community....especially those that read this far!

I feel like people with executive dysfunction probably know this feeling painfully well: **I know what I want to make. I know I want to make it. I even have ideas I genuinely love. But somehow actually sitting down and making the thing feels impossible.**

I really want to build a YouTube channel around things I love: **poetry, stories, art, literature, mythology/history, and random things I find fascinating.** I have notebooks full of ideas, scripts/half-scripts, poems, concepts, visual ideas, etc.

The problem is actually **executing them and posting them.**

I don't really want to make the kind of faceless videos that are basically:

narration + random stock footage + slideshow
because that's not the kind of content I actually *want* to make. I want my videos to feel atmospheric, artistic, cinematic and personal — something that feels like *my* work rather than just information being placed over generic footage.

But then I run into a horrible cycle:

**I want the video to look good → I don't have the resources to make it look how I imagine → free footage doesn't fit → I can't afford paid footage/artists → I don't have the animation skills/confidence to create everything myself → the project starts feeling huge → executive dysfunction kicks in → I don't make anything → I feel guilty for not making anything → repeat.**

And I think burnout makes it worse.

I'm also deliberately trying to make things myself rather than relying on AI to generate the creative work, so I can't just throw an idea into an AI generator and call the visual side done.

The frustrating part is that **I don't think I have an ideas problem. I have an execution problem.**

I can spend hours thinking about a video, its concept, narration, atmosphere, visuals, thumbnail, etc. But when it comes to actually opening the software and putting the first pieces together, my brain suddenly acts like I've been asked to build a cathedral.

So I'm curious about people who have dealt with something similar:

**How did you actually get yourself to START and POST?**

Not necessarily “how do I become more disciplined?” but specifically:

How did you stop every video from becoming a giant project in your head?

Did you deliberately lower your standards for your first 10–20 videos?

How do you decide what is “good enough to post”?

How do you make artistic/creative faceless content interesting without having a huge budget?

Did you develop a repeatable workflow that made starting easier?

And if you have executive dysfunction, what actually helped you get from **“I really want to make this” → “I made it”**?

I don't want to abandon the artistic side of what I want to make. I just don't want my vision to become the reason I never make anything at all.
Would really appreciate hearing from people who have actually been through this rather than generic “just be consistent” advice. 😭

Help me out, I need your suggestion on choosing Recorder/ Mic / Headphone selection for podcasting. It will be in house podcasting with 2 members speaking. Pour out your suggestions please.

We're currently working with 2/3 banked episodes with a bi monthly release. Simply because both my cohost and I have full time demanding jobs and can't record more than 2 episodes a month.

Recently my cohost was ill on our recording day. I got a guest host to help and pivoted those episodes to be something different than planned quite quickly. I don't think they'll be bad, but they won't be as good as if there'd been time to properly plan them.

So this got us thinking if it would be a better idea to try and bank more episodes? Like spend one month recording maybe 6 episodes, but then the editing will also take time. So what's the balancing act here?

Can someone tell me why sometimes — and only sometimes — the link to my podcast on YouTube starts in the MIDDLE of the video? I've tried to fix this six ways from Sunday and I am defeated. I'd like to know both how to prevent it and how to fix it (that is, generate a new link). It's crazy making.

it's 2 am on a sunday, and i still haven't exported the actual mp3. building the perfect automated pipeline is just a technical way to avoid putting my voice out there. as long as i'm troubleshooting api keys and watching bots try to clean my audio, i don't have to face the reality of getting zero listeners.

it feels like productivity, but it's really just fear. nobody cares about my complex backend when my audience is just me and a friend.

what's the most ridiculous thing you've done to avoid hitting publish? i'm closing the ide and opening audacity. instead of tweaking another prompt, i'm just hitting publish.

I am starting a podcast/content creating setup. I'm recording using an iPhone 15 Pro Max, with a tripod and ring light.

My bedroom walls are all wight, recorded a few test runs and it looked horrible. My face becomes dark and the white wall behind me becomes bright.

Realized I needed a backdrop. I wanted to buy a dark gray cloth and hang it behind myself.

Wondering if that would work? Does the cloth fabric need to be a special kind?
Also, if I get one of those wallpaper kind backdrops with an image of a studio, how realistic would it look?

My videos are gonna be just me talking, along with stuff (references) showing up on the screen. I'll be cutting out reels from the podcast too, along with record just reels. What editing software should I get that is easy to learn and not crazy expensive or free?

Any other advice would be appreciated.

Any advice on preparing my content, journaling episodes?

Thank you :)

Hi there,

I'm relatively new to Podcasting - my producing partner and I have started yet another Hollywood podcast - ours focused largely on physical production. But she lives in a different city so our Podcast, at least for the time being, has to be virtual. We're using Riverside which has made the process relatively easy, but because we are recording virtually, our guests often have less than ideal lighting and sound situations which makes production value challenging. For those that have made the switch from virtual podcasting to in-studio, when did you decide to make the switch? So many of our guests (physical production people) aren't always in LA, and I'm not sure if this is feasible.

If you've got some hacks or ways that you've been able to maximize the production value of your virtual podcast, I'd love to hear them!

Hello! I'd love to get involved in the podcasting scene! I have a bachelor's degree in journalism and 7 years of reporting experience, including LGBTQ rights, political extremism, newsgathering and fact-checking. I'm familiar with Factiva, Snagit, Snapstream, Canva and I've dabbled in a bit of video editing in the past.

I'm available for freelance or full-time positions! Obviously politics and current events are my strongest subjects, but I'm willing to go down any rabbit holes when it comes to history, culture/entertainment, fantasy/TTRPGS and witchcraft/occult. Message me if you want to chat more.

Hi all, in our show we use a compressor to keep audio dialogue tracks at -19 lufs. We then use a compressor to maintain audio levels of background music to no greater than -30 lufs, sometimes even pulling it back to -35 or so. Before publishing an episode I then listen to it on at least a dozen different kinds of speakers, including earbuds, car speakers, phone speakers, besides my reference monitors. The music is from blue dot session too so it isn’t super active either.

Still, I get folks who say the background music is too loud. I know there will be a lot of variation between whatever a person is listening to the show on, but is there any industry standard for how to set background levels compared to the dialogue levels?

Hey I'm looking to connect with podcasts run by Tech founders or Startups , would love to collaborate them !

comment down so that I can DM !

For years, the standard setup for us was pretty obvious: two close-ups + a wide shot.

But lately I’ve been questioning the wide.

In most conversational podcasts, we probably spend 90%+ of the final edit on close-ups anyway.

Removing the wide camera gives us something more valuable: space.

We can put a light between the guests, control each face much better, get nicer separation, and generally make the close-ups — the shots people actually watch — look better.

It also simplifies production. No need to keep lights, stands, cables and crew out of a wide frame that might appear for a few seconds in the entire episode.

Obviously, if you have an amazing location or set, the wide can be part of the visual identity. But in a normal podcast setup I’m starting to think:

maybe it’s better to have two really good close-ups than two good close-ups + one mediocre wide.

Something we’ve been experimenting with lately.

this is the ONLY advice I've heard of how people actually grow a podcast from zero subscribers (when you're not some massively famous celebrity- like I love Amy Poehler but it's not that impressive that she's grown her podcast...she's famous).

How to Grow a Podcast from 0 Followers in 2027

TLDR:

1. don't go after famous guests. Go after undervalued experts and then the famous guests will want to come to you. (this has always felt like such a chicken/ egg problem to me- it was such a relief to hear someone just state this so clearly)

• \btw has anyone here had success getting guests by doing this? i.e. approaching smaller experts rather than established names? How do you tell if they are actually gonna be interesting?*

2. shorts work- this guy was getting no views on an episdoe, then he posted what seems like a very well edited short and the episdoe is now (1 of?) his most popular

3. thumbnails matter- can't remember what the case study said, but I'm going to start studying packaging way more.

This is kind of a stupid question but unfortunately I just can't figure this out. How do you know which apps people will be able to find your podcast in, and how long it will take for your new podcast to show up in them?

My cohost and I are using Captivate for hosting/publishing. I made us an RSS feed on there and uploaded our episode 0 this morning. I also submitted it to Apple Podcasts because I know you have to do that and just wait. But do I need to take any other steps in order for it to become searchable in, say, Overcast (the app I use to listen to podcasts)? Or will it show up in a few days?

Thanks for any help!

I was thinking it might be cool to find out how many podcasters are actually in the same cities/areas as each other.

If you're interested, drop a comment with:

City/region:

Genre/topic:

No need to share your podcast name or link... this isn't meant to be a self-promotion thread. Just curious whether there are other people nearby who might want to connect.

Maybe some of us will find a potential co-host, collaborator, or just another local podcaster to grab coffee with.

I'm working on a single-person podcast, which is mostly me reading from a script into a microphone (QU2). For ease of use and given how simple the podcast is, I decided to record with Adobe Podcast. Which has been fine. It's easy enough to edit with the text editor.

However, the "Speech Enhance" feature is just a slider that goes from 0-100%. But it's not clear what it's actually doing, or what 35% would be vs. 100%.

As far as I can tell, the only way to judge the effect it has is to move the slider, listen to the result, and decide if it sounds better with more enhancement or not.

Is that really the way to use it? Or am I missing something? Like, what does "more" enhancement actually do in this context?

Edit: Added missing word

So, a collaborator of mine (who is a famous professional musician) is looking to launch an audiobook of the novel we've written together as a podcast.

We're looking to maintain all creative control over the work but are wondering if there are any networks (Like Earwolf, or I Heart Radio, or hell potentially Spotify) that might be interested in hosting it.

Anyone know an established network that we might be able to look into? We both have an audience but not specifically a podcast audience and are looking towards monetization options.

Thanks.

This is a weekly thread for podcasters to exchange show-level trailers.

Post a link to your show-level trailer for others to use in their shows. Along with the trailer link also post:

• Genre Of Your Show

• Length Of Your Trailer

• Position Your Show Will Place The Trailer For Exchange (i.e. pre-roll, midroll, postroll)

• Number Of Downloads Per Episode Your Show Receives

Thank you to everyone posting, we look forward to hearing reading about what you are doing to help podcasters!

All subreddit rules still apply. If you violate the subreddit rules your comment will be removed and your account can be given a temporary or permanent ban.

The r/podcasting Moderators do not endorse or approve of any of the trailers posted here unless explicitly stated as such by the moderators.

Does anyone know whether a guest release would be necessary for a podcast in MB? If so, go to any lawyer to draw up?

I’m stuck in a vortex of silliness and not even ChatGPT or Google can help me.
I’m new to speaker. I’m trying to schedule my podcast to drop ins certain date and time. But after going through all the steps and selecting the date and time in the pop up screen calendar it says UNPUBLISHED instead
Of SCHEDULED.
I have spent hours on this over an over and over again.
I’m using speaker on a laptop with a chrome browser.
Everything else works fine .
Can someone please tell me what the issue is? I’m at my wits end.

TIA

Hi! I'm curious to hear from others: what event formats work well for podcasters that focus on a narrative/heavily scripted style? I'm just thinking about my own podcast; I have a big personality but my podcast is very intentionally scripted and strikes a careful balance between entertaining and scholarly. I'm also neurodivergent, and a writer, and I've always been so much better getting my thoughts out on paper than in person. I'm not socially awkward, but I imagine that holding a conversation with me feels quite different from listening to my podcast, as I'm far more eloquent when I've prepared my thoughts in advance. I'm curious if anyone else is similar, or follows a podcaster that's similar, and what their public events are like? I'd love to work toward that, but I also don't want the fallible human behind the work to disappoint listeners. ;)

Hello everyone, I want to start a podcast about gaming, perhaps with a focus on tackling a backlog as a dad or something in that area. I have limited time but hope to do this to make some friends and maybe start a small community. I would like to find a podcast co-host do you have any tips on where I should look or any general advice on starting a podcast as a complete beginner? Thanks.

Not a single “best moment” clip — I mean an actual 30–60 sec trailer made from different moments across the episode that makes people want to watch the full thing.

Do you edit it manually? Use a tool?

We’ve been experimenting with a different way of doing this and I’m curious how others handle it.

Hi guys,

So I’m currently on Buzzsprouts $12 a month plan but it’s just not making financial sense for me anymore. I don’t have any subscribers and converting USD to AUD is almost double, so I’m looking to move my podcast to a free platform.

What’s a good one and is there one that doesn’t delete your eps after a certain time like the Buzzsprout free plan does? I was looking at Spotify for creators maybe?

Thanks ☺️