Adventures in Podcasting

In today's episode, Don Voltaire shares how he started podcasting with his son, and why he decided to produce his own show "Work from Home Forever". He shares the joy he's found in both podcasts, how he finds guests for the show and the impact of remote work on people's lives.
For extensive show notes, check out https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/ep-71
Summary and links, below.
Don's initial experience as a podcast guest, leading to the creation of "The Middle School Mind" with his son during quarantine. His journey into podcasting, including learning from online resources and utilising existing hardware.
Mention of ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASMR
08:15 mins
Don's passion for audio leading to the inception of a podcast focused on remote work. Challenges in finding guests, leveraging LinkedIn and online communities, and managing recording schedules.
18:20 mins
Introduction of podcastguests.com for sourcing guests, preferences in selecting guests, and insights into remote work's impact on different demographics. He mentions this episode: https://wfhforever.com/2-10-building-confidence-working-from-home-with-disabilities-with-chris-mitchell-chief-empowerment-officer/ Also, the process of preparing for recordings and managing unedited conversations.
31:45 mins
Don's editing process using Audacity, his meticulous approach to sound quality, and content creation for blog posts and social media using ChatGPT.
LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7100966581337292800/
Mention of Babyboomer.org's interest and the broader implications of remote work. Final thoughts on expanding the podcast's scope to include diverse careers and a call for stories about remote work experiences.
Get in touch with Don: https://wfhforever.com/tellyourstory/

If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.

Michele Ong, is the host of Steam Powered and she joins Pilar all the way from Australia.
She started podcasting because she wanted to get a better idea of what women were doing in the STEAM fields. She knew many women doing incredible things in their work and their lives, and wanted to share their stories with others.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics/ medicine, but Michele talks about STEAM, as it includes “art”, which is key when interacting with technology and engineering.

Michele asks people to guest on her show after reading their research or coming across the work. Sometimes the women don’t accept, but this doesn’t surprise her. What did surprise her were those people who replied saying they didn’t think they would make good guests because their work was boring. This kind of mindset was a surprise to Michele - and to Pilar as she heard Michele's story.

With this example we can see the importance of podcasting in giving attention and reassurance to people who think their work is not interesting to anyone. Some people simply don’t want the attention and just want to get on with their work, but others underplay their contribution to the field. Sometimes we need someone else’s perspective to understand the impact and scale of our work.

Apart from getting their ideas out there, there is a benefit to guests by simply creating the space for them to reflect on their work for about an hour, to talk without an agenda, with no KPIs in mind: they’re simply talking about what they love doing.

19.00 mins

Michele has a release form for her guests making the copyright clear, after hearing from other podcasters that they’d had problems with some guests. As Michele wants to be able at some point to repurpose her content, she thinks it’s better to be prepared. You can find the Guest Intake Form, with the Release copy at the end here.

Michele is in charge of the whole production process from beginning to end, and it’s pretty much self-taught. She’s summarised everything she’s learned and shared it with the world in The Rail Yard section of her website. She has documented everything she’s learned along the way and shared her resources. Do check it out, as well as a space full of resources that might be useful, it’s a great example of how to showcase your podcast. www.micheleong.com/rail-yard/

Michele looks for ways to cover the costs of the show by setting up affiliate links, for example, she’s also set up Patreon and Ko-fi, although she hasn’t been active about promoting these links. It’s a fine balance to try to figure out how to support the project without feeling like you’re constantly asking for money for it. (Pilar also forgets, so don’t forget that you can support this show if you sign up to Buzzsprout through this link.)

Michele uses the Davinci Resolve to edit video, and she tried to fix the audio there too, but eventually she purchased Isotope RX. (Pilar uses Audacity and Auphonic.)

In the end, you need to understand the environment you’re working in and find something that works for you. It’s an iterative process.

Michele has some advice for new podcasters: just do it.
Three of her favourite podcasts:

You Ha

If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.

As I share my recent adventures in editing episodes, I hope there will be plenty for you to take away. In this episode, I talk about why I make certain editing choices, the minimum you need to learn if you want to edit yourself, or the different ways in which you can work with an editor. There are even some real-time examples recorded as I went along.
I've started a new format for the co-hosted episodes I do with Maya for the 21st Century Work Life podcast.
https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/rethinking-digital-workspace
I'm also mindful that episodes can probably be shorter now. When we started, we were one of the few podcasts in the space, but now there's a lot more choice.
Got a fab piece of feedback for the first time in a long while, saying how much they enjoy that show because it's like overhearing a conversation, that you want to know more about.
It's important to know what reaction you want your listeners to have to the material.
However, many people like myself still enjoy long-form content.
Episode 159 of podcasts roundtable is one hour 43 minutes long
https://www.podcastersroundtable.com/ads-for-everyone/
They only release about once a month, so the audience, and producer can take it!
We've reached 100 episodes for My Pocket Psych! If you are considering starting a show, you might want to listen to find out what Richard, a coach himself, has learned through the process of podcasting, and working with me.
https://www.worklifepsych.com/podcast/100/
I mention two apps:
https://www.notion.so
https://trello.com
I managed to get back to editing an episode of Gastro, I love listening back to those episodes, they remind me of the true spirit of podcasting. My main concern there is to remove the mannerisms from co-host and myself, arm, arm, and myself getting tangled sometimes not being able to find the right words. It’s nice to leave mistakes in sometimes.
13.20mins
(To see some screenshots go to https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/adventure-of-editing-a-podcast-episode/)
I also enjoying putting sound effects in, something I can’t do in any of my other shows, except this one, hence why you might hear random sound effects, I’m still playing and seeing what works.
I mention Audacity, Auphonic and other resources. You can find the full list here:
https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/resources/
Should you hire an editor, I talk through the levels of help you can get with editing.
Talking of editing, three phases:
Editing the conversation
Building the episode
Polishing the sound to export
How much should you edit yourself: Learn to silence bits, to cut bits, or to duck music, and check the specs for exporting or you something like Auphonic.
The more prep you do, the less you have to edit, believe me I know this.
You cannot remove sounds from under your voice.
When you listen to other podcasts, pay attention to the editing. Sometimes you can tell when something has been stitched up, sometimes you can tell that there has been no editing, listen with a podcasters ears.
BONUS info: The original recording was 35 mins, the final episode, with all the special effects is just under 33 minutes. It took me 1.5hrs to edit it.
If you have

If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.

In this episode, Pilar shares her failed attempts at releasing an episode in Spanish in a dubbed version, and what she's ended up doing instead.
(If you have any experience doing this, I'd love to hear from you: https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/contact/ )

Hello, it's been a while, and there's a reason for that.
I recently interviewed Cristian Curto and Roberto Shlesinger, the hosts of the Spanish-language podcast "La Gran Renuncia" (The Great Resignation), all about remote work. We did the show in Spanish, as they're more comfortable speaking in that language than in English, and I thought, hey, with the explosion of generative AI, I'll be able to come up with something to offer to my regular listeners!
(The episode is now out, it's episode 75.)

I initially used Eleven Labs, but I found the results disappointing due to the strong accents and inconsistencies in the AI-generated voices. I even experimented with dubbing my own voice, which was a surreal experience hearing myself with a completely different accent.
You can listen to some samples of that, at around 07.11mins, and here's the video I refer to there.
I then thought of translating the transcript, so I looked for a good transcription solution. I explored various options, including Riverside.fm, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify for Podcasters. However, each platform had its limitations, such as the inability to download transcripts or the absence of speaker labels.

In the end, I transcribed the conversation using AssemblyAI, copied the transcript into Google Docs, and then used the built-in translation tool to convert the text from Spanish to English. The resulting translation was quite good, with only minor issues like incorrect name translations. I've fixed some of it, but not all, and I have left the US spelling in there.
(If you have any experience doing this, I'd love to hear from you: https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/contact/ )

If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.

In this episode, I talk about how great it is that listeners feel more like old acquaintances than strangers when you first meet them, and how developing relationships with listeners is one of the unexpected benefits of podcasting. (I'd love to hear from you by the way: here's my contact page.)
I've started working on Gastronostalgia - working with a co-host is hard work, as you develop your personas and dynamics. (It's also a lot of fun by the way!)
At 12.37 mins, I go into how to create your Intro and Outro, for those of you new to podcasting.
I'm still deciding whether to have a stock Outro to end THIS show, as I quite like the post-roll feature in Buzzsprout.
I recommend Buzzsprout as a media host - if you do sign up to them, you can use this affiliate link to support Adventures in Podcasting.
Thank you for reading (and listening if you have listened to this episode) -
Keep podcasting!

If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.