Media & Design Center - Labs, Software & Equipment: Podcasting
Media & Design Center
Getting Started
Get Inspired
Types of Podcasts:
- One-on-one interviews (Examples: The Ezra Klein Show, Fresh Air)
- Solo Commentary (Examples: The Gist, The Anthropocene Reviewed)
- Panel Show (Examples: Do the Right Thing, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!)
- Multi-Guest Interviews (Examples: 2 Dope Queens, SmartLess)
- Nonfiction Storytelling (Examples: This American Life, La Brega, Dolly Parton's America)
- Fictional Storytelling (Examples: Welcome to Night Vale, The Magnus Archives)
- Mixed and Repurposed Content (Examples: The Moth Radio Hour, Live from Here)
Plan Ahead
Map out a script and brainstorm ideas; use our planning worksheet to consider your purpose, content, and audience.
- Podcast StoryboardPodcast planning worksheet / storyboard
Copyright Considerations
Review resources related to copyright, fair use, and the public domain when considering audio samples and clips to use for background music and effects. Browse the MDC's Copyright Guide and the Creative Commons Podcast Legal Guide.
Best Practices & Production
Recording Equipment
Reserve a USB microphone, field recorder, or the MDC Podcast Studio to improve the quality of your audio recordings.
Choosing Software
UNC students can register for Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes Adobe Audition for editing audio and podcast projects. Audacity is a good alternative open source audio editor. See our Audio Guide for a detailed comparison of the two.
Audio Editing and Mixing
Review best practices for recording and mixing a podcast with Adobe Audition. For more in-depth tutorials on using Audition for your audio project, see our Audio Guide playlist that covers all of the basics from setting up your first project to mixing and exporting your finished production.
Publishing
RSS Feeds
An RSS feed (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a great way to share your podcast with the world. It distributes your podcast to other platforms, saving you the effort of publishing to each website individually. In other words, you only need to publish your podcast to an RSS feed to have it appear on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more automatically.
Below are some of the most popular RSS feeds.
Anchor
Anchor is a podcast service that allows unlimited hosting of episodes for an unlimited amount of time. It also features an episode builder where you can add in Anchor's stock of sounds to enhance your podcast, built-in ad integration, and analytics from Spotify to help grow your podcast.
Learn more about:
- Getting started with Anchor
- Submitting your RSS feed to Apple Podcasts
- Submitting your RSS feed to Google Play
PodBean
Another service you can use to host your podcast is PodBean. Once you have an account and have uploaded an episode, you can access your RSS feed URL in the Settings page under the Feed/iTunes option.
Learn more about:
- Publishing and Editing an Episode
- Submitting your RSS feed to Apple Podcasts
- Submitting your RSS feed to Google Podcasts
SoundCloud
One easy way to get started with a podcast RSS feed is with SoundCloud. Similar to Podbean, once you have an account and have uploaded your first episode, the account's RSS feed URL is accessible through the Settings page on the Content tab.
Learn more about:
Media & Design Center Staff
The Media & Design Center staff are available to answer your questions on using equipment, finding films, and creating posters or podcasts!
Need instruction for your students in the Adobe Creative Suite or WordPress? We can help!
Contact:
Media & Design Center
Undergraduate Library
CB# 3942
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
919-962-2559