How I made my first podcast + an interview with Julie Zhu
Julie Zhu
I made a podcast! I can scarce believe it myself. Making a podcast has been something I’ve thought of doing for years, but I was never sure what the content would be. Then along came Breakfast Chats. Read more to listen to my very first episode with Julie Zhu, a local creative sharing stories from minority cultures in Aotearoa, and find out how I made my very first podcast.
Podcasts almost feel like old hat at this point. A while back it seemed like everyone had a blog (why, hello), and then it was vlogging, and now podcasting. When it feels like the thing you want to create has already been done, it’s hard to find the motivation and confidence to give it a go anyway. I know this oh too well as a creative and have heard these concerns from many friends and peers. But then at some point, the urge to make the thing becomes too much. So you say to hell with fear and nothing being original anymore, maybe your work will resonate with someone all the same. That was my call to action, and it’s my encouragement to you and the creative project lurking at the back of your noggin.
How to make a podcast
Making something like a podcast is more work than you think and less hard than you think. If you’re interested in making a podcast or embarking on almost any other kind of creative project, there’s probably going to be many resources pointing you in the right direction. To make my podcast, I researched the following online:
How to make a podcast (duh)
How to use Zoom to record a podcast
Best podcast hosting platforms (I then googled reviews for the platforms)
I ended up choosing Simplecast to host my podcast. It’ll cost me about USD$15/month after my free trial ends. My interview with Julie was recorded through Zoom, which is free to sign up and use for a max. 40min meeting. The audio was a bit sketchy because of wifi issues, so I think next time, I’ll ask the person I’m interviewing to separately record their audio on their phone while still recording the Zoom call. Audio is obviously key in a podcast, so you want to make sure it’s as good as possible.
Creating the podcast image
To make the podcast image, I used Canva. If you haven’t heard of Canva before, I 100% recommend checking it out. Pitched as the design tool for non-designers, it’s free for a single user and includes templates and pre-made elements, like images and shapes, to help you design everything from social media posts to presentations. They even had a podcast image template, which I played around with to get the final image (cue baby Kim smiling with glee in a cute outfit).
Editing the podcast
I used Premiere Pro to edit the podcast, which I already have some basic skills in. There are other editing tools out there, but I wanted a bit more control to remove the ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’ that naturally happen in speech but that ultimately slow down the pace of an episode, as well as to include music, and an intro and outro monologue. Editing is by far the most time consuming part of the podcast process, so take your time with it, be patient, and pay attention to pacing. If you want the podcast to be a certain length, like 30mins but you’ve recorded over an hour of audio, be prepared to make some drastic cuts. Prioritise your content by considering your audience and what you want the theme of the episode to be.
If you’re completely new to editing audio, I suggest taking a look at Anchor, the podcasting platform from Spotify. They have a really simple looking in-built editing tool that makes it easy to switch around bits of audio. You can even record directly into the Anchor app, so no stress about importing files. I was very tempted to use Anchor because you can include music from Spotify in your podcast, but I ended up choosing Simplecast because I liked its kaupapa (values) and their desire to make their platform accessible to differently abled users. What champs!
Finding free music
So free is a loose term here. Most music that you find online is ‘royalty free,’ which means that you’ll often have to pay a one-off fee to use the copyrighted music, but you won’t have to continue to pay royalties every time you use it in your work. There is a lot of music available online in many different genres, so you have a lot of choice. I found it really tricky though to find exactly the type of music that I wanted – chill, instrumental, didn’t sound like the beginning of a tech demo video. I also didn’t want to pay too much money for it. I definitely support creatives being paid fairly for their work, but after forking out a lot of money in the form of subscriptions each month to maintain a blog, portfolio, and now a podcast, I thought I could at least try to find something decent that was maybe free or cheap. I ended up using free music from Youtube’s audio library, which is intended for use in videos or other content that you create. There are restrictions to its use in the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the library’s page.
I also found this Youtube playlist of copyright free music that looks pretty good. Now, I’m still new to copyright and how it’s applied to different media in different countries, so if you see something that I’m not doing correctly in my usage of things like music, please send me a message.
My first episode
Hopefully, by now you’ll see that making a podcast can be pretty straightforward. Before I started, I found the entire process very intimidating but, like most things, if you tackle one step at a time, you get the job done. And now I have a podcast, something I was scared I’d never be able to say.
In the first episode of Breakfast Chats, I talk to Julie Zhu, a local creative helping to share stories from minority cultures in Aotearoa. Over 50ish minutes, we chat about why she learnt te reo, how this helped her to heal old wounds after denying her Chinese heritage, and the work she’s done through film. Episode notes are included with links to some of the things Julie and I mention during the episode. Give it a listen on any of your favourite platforms.
