Welcome to the Hey guys podcast lab where we take podcasts that are ordinary to extraordinary, you're going to hear tips and tricks, and podcast news. Let's do this
My name is Jason and I will be your host, and I am part of the Hey guys, Media Group production company. And this is our first episode. And before we kind of jump into this, I just want to let you know that all the episodes are going to be way out of order. So if you listen to this one, this is going to be about how to start a podcast for free. But it could be a random number of tips and all the other episodes. So these aren't going to go in any particular order. But just going to talk about tips and tricks and a little bit about me again, my name is Jason. And I have been a podcaster since 2017. And I'm excited to share my knowledge with you about podcasting, my passion, and those kinds of things. So let's just jump right into it, how to start a podcast for free. So there are five different things you need gear editing, Intro outro cover hosting, and directories. Alright, let's start with gear. So most of the stuff I'm going to talk about today is free or at a small cost. I mean, nothing is always free. I mean, there's always something so the gear first iPhone, Android phone, it's not free, of course, but you already have one of those. So that's easy. Grab a pair of earbuds elaborately or a mic or a headset, any of those would work. And again, you know, you may have to buy a headset, but you could literally record into your iPhone and with the Apple earbuds, the microphone, the plug-in once, not Bluetooth, not the air pods, which I do have air pods, but they are not good for recording the earbuds that actually come, they probably don't come with them anymore. But the earbuds that you get with an Apple iPhone, and the microphone on the corded ones are incredible. So I definitely would recommend that. Next up is editing. Yes, the dreaded editing. But thankfully, there are some free options out there that you can use to edit your podcast. First audacity works really well on Windows, it does work on a Mac, but there have been some recent issues with compatibility with a Mac. But thankfully on a Mac, you have GarageBand and GarageBand is so incredibly powerful. I do not have a Mac I do edit on a PC. But I know people have used GarageBand and other creators and they like it's incredible for something that you're getting on your computer. So I would definitely recommend it if you have a Mac to learn GarageBand definitely has a little bit of a learning curve audacity for Windows huge learning curve, not trying to scare you. But it is a big learning curve. tons of videos on YouTube. There's a great video on buzzsprout.com If you go there they have great content on there, by the way. And then after you get done with all that editing, there's a site called off phonic, which can kind of put a spin on all your audio that makes it sound great. I mean, it's yes, it's always better to have a professional editor do it and mix it for you. But for free two hours a month, you can basically take your file, and put it in all phonics web-based service. And they can level it, they can make it export it in the correct sound for podcasts, things on mobile, and those kinds of things. So all phonic is great. And of course, I'm gonna put all these links in the show notes. So I know I'm kind of going fast through these. Definitely check all phonic audacity and GarageBand. Out. Next intro outro music, there are two I would recommend, well, there are three I'd recommend two are free one cost money, Creative Commons, music, and royalty-free music. And then the third one is a paid service that we actually pay for because it's incredible. It's called sound stripe. So music is a little weird right now. So you know on YouTube, if you stream something and you play copyrighted music, they shut you down right away, or you get to strike Facebook the same way. And there's a lot of myths out there about music. You can't play copyrighted music you just can't. Now podcast has been a little weird. It's it's been like the wild wild west like right now you probably could play copyrighted music and not get in trouble for it. Because let's face it, we're all just starting out and we're not, you know, there's tons of fish in the sea. We're not this big, big, big podcast where they're going to shut you down. But I would never do that. Play copyrighted music because you never know when they're gonna crack down on it. It'd be terrible if all of a sudden boom, you have to go back and remove all that copyrighted music. So just don't do it. Just don't use it. I know Spotify, who actually owns anchor is cracking down on some of that and they actually have a plan if you use anchor, which I don't recommend. You can use a lot of copyrighted music. Don't quote me on exactly what you can use. I haven't really done a ton of research on that but soundstripe is great again, if you do sign up for service with us. This is
is an ad for Hey guys Media Group production company, we actually use soundstripe for your podcast so you can actually pull some some songs from that but anyways, Creative Commons music, royalty free music and then soundstripe Don't use copyrighted music. Okay cover are super important to cover. It's got to be catchy. It's got to be beautiful colors, it's got to say the things that you want it to say just don't be bland and Canvas great. They have a free plan. And the Pro Plan is super cheap too I think and we pay like $13 a month for the Pro Plan and then if you buy it up front I think like a year I think it's only like 80 bucks some I don't know it's worth it but the Free Will will do you just fine. You can create your cover art on there. Make it great make it stand out make it beautiful. That is super important because that's going to be what people recognize your podcasts from from now till the end of time. So make sure super important to make sure that thing looks beautiful. To more things hosting I recommend Buzzsprout there's a link in the description you can click on Buzzsprout is great easy able to just do everything on there they even have mastering on Buzzsprout to be honest with you like they I think they use all phonic but you can use mastering what do they call it? They call it something Hold on. I'm just gonna Oh, they call it magic mastering so I was close. But yeah, you can definitely check that out on their site. So Buzzsprout there's other ones Lipson, who is the staple, they've been around forever, there's tons of them. We'll probably dive into a little bit more of those in a future podcast, because I'm trying to keep these 10 or 15 minutes. But yeah, I would check out Buzzsprout last but not least is the directories Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, you name it, those are the big ones, Amazon music, they're really picking up Pandora. There's tons of them. So one thing cool about Buzzsprout is basically you they'll put you can list your stuff all in there. Some of them are automatic. The one caveat is apple, a lot of podcasts tell you that they are a lot of hosting companies tell you that they will get you on Apple, they can't it's all one on one from you, you have to do it separately. And just because you don't have an iPhone doesn't mean you can't do it. Again, we can talk about that a little bit. Another podcast down the road, but Apple is going to be your number one, Spotify and Google those are the top three. So real quick how to start a podcast for free ish gear editing intro outro cover our hosting directories. Again, all these links will be in description in the show notes. Check it out. If you are interested in paying somebody to help you start a podcast. Hey guys, media group.com You go there fill out the contact form, we would happy to give you a quote on starting that. In fact, a lot of our prices are on our website. So you know check that out. Also on this podcast, we're going to do a little bit of podcasts news because you know, it's kind of good to stay in the podcasting news. So one thing I saw from pod news, you can go to pod news.net And subscribe for free. They had an article in here about their the pod people apparently that's a production company is launching an original podcast podcasts with tick tock creators and I'm like, Okay, I love tick tock. It's great. But sometimes, it just seems like everyone is trying to start a podcast nowadays, especially in celebrities. It's like, man, if we would have started our podcast like 10 years ago, we would be like way above, you know where everyone else is right now. Doesn't mean you shouldn't start a podcast right now because, hey, why not? It's a great time to do it. But it's still early. It's still early. It is getting more populated, but it's still early. But anyways, about this. They're basically going to do scripted things, which, again, like some of these creators on Tik Tok, I can't see them doing scripted stuff. I think a lot of their stuff is, you know, real quick. They're just throwing the camera on and doing it but anyways, apparently, pod people is launching an original podcast with Tiktok creators. Well, I'll give you the names. It's not like you're gonna know him. Tyler Gacy stanzi. Why did I even try to
anyways, I'll put this link in the show notes. You can you can check it out if you want to. And then the last one is kind of funny. I have a long story about Spotify. But basically Spotify is removing Neil RUNX Neil Young songs after he complains about misinformation. The singer decided to leave the streaming service because it gives a platform to Joe Rogan, whom scientists have accused of promoting falsehoods and Coronavirus vaccines. So it just kind of funny is like, I've been seeing a lot of memes about Neil Young. You're like, who's Neil Young, so it's an old old singer. I am 45 So I have definitely heard of them. I can't say that. That's my cup of tea.
See as far as singing, but I just thought it was funny. You know, Rogan has been under the microscope since he's gone to Spotify, and just blabbing and blabbing. And there's a lot of Spotify employees that have like, threatened to quit and stuff. But my whole thing was Spotify.
First of all, I think Spotify is platform for streaming podcasts is clunky, I don't use it. I use a separate app just for my podcast. I love Spotify for their music, but, and then I was a kind of little fussy when Joe Rogan kind of sold out and went just to Spotify. I kind of stopped listening to him. I mean, let's face it, we would all sell out to right. I mean, if someone gave us I mean, he got like, what 100 million? Hell if someone gave me.
Let's see, what's my number? If someone gave me $100,000 Just to go to Spotify, I would do it. I know, it sounds stupid. Like I'm bitching about Rogen. But that's not going to happen. I mean, it might, but it might happen to you. Who knows? I don't know. I just don't like this people being exclusive to certain apps because literally you cannot get Joe Rogan podcast anywhere else but going to Spotify. So it kind of reminds me what all these apps are doing Netflix. What is it peacock Hulu is like you can only find stuff on the certain sites and then you end up spending as much as you would with cable. So I am just rambling on about this. But I appreciate your guys's time. I hope this was valuable to you. You can find this on social Hey guys media group on Facebook. And hey guys, media on Twitter. That's the only site we use right now. And we would love to hear from you. If you have any questions you can email us team at Hey guys, media group.com And again, let's take your podcast from ordinary to extraordinary. Alright guys, we'll see you next week.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai