Categories of Podcasting and Post-Production
I’ve been working with some companies these days trying to set up podcast strategies. One of the first things we need to consider when setting up these strategies is what resources they have to dedicate to podcasting. Podcasting can be as simple as picking up the phone and leaving a message, which is great for recording quick media releases or news updates, but it can also be a really big production depending on what you want to do.
I’ve tried to break down the types of podcasts someone can do in terms of what is needed in terms of post-production resources. I’ve done this with audio podcasting in mind, so if you are thinking of doing video you should probably triple or even quadruple the effort estimates here.
The Phone-In Podcast
This is as simple as making a phone call. It takes one person and zero post-production time, but it is telephone quality. It is possible to spend an extra 5 - 10 minutes making optional enhancements to the show notes and tags after recording.
The Editless Record-Upload Podcast
This takes very little production time and can have high production quality depending on your recording equipment and the skill level of the host. It involves a minimal amount computer work which could take anywhere from 10-30 minutes of post-production time per episode. The average person could do one of these from start to finish, but they’d need to have access to some equipment and software.
The Trimmed Podcast
This introduces editing to the production, which takes time and some extra skills. If the editor is familiar with the software it will not take too much time. Depending on the length of the recording and the skill of the editor this could take an extra 15 - 60 minutes of post production time per episode. The average person could do one of these from start to finish, but it’s likely you’d have one person hosting it and another person doing the post production.
The Template Podcast
This is a good podcast to produce if you have a regular show that has certain standards. You can get professional sounding production quality with not a lot of extra production time. However, it does require some up-front production time to produce high quality templates. It will take an extra 15 - 60 minutes of post production time per episode. The average person could do one of these from start to finish, but it’s likely you’d have one person hosting it and another person doing the post production. Yet another more skilled editor may even do the templates.
The One-Man Band Podcast
If you’ve got a studio and you’re a talented host, it’s quite possible to record your podcast and add all the effects and music clips and everything you need as you go. You’ll need a lot of stuff to set this up though and you’ll need to know what you’re doing. If you do, it’s possible to record good shows with very little post-production time.
The Full Edit Podcast
This kind of podcast takes a lot more care and attention. It involves serious post-production time and some skill with the editing software. It probably involves a lot more care when recording as well. It may take 60+ minutes of extra post production time per episode. One of these podcast will probably involve a one or more people other than the host who handle the production of the shows.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I would add another category: Documentary Podcast
A radio documentary can take several hours of work for every minute that the listener hears. We do about half of our shows this way. Our Full Edit shows (as you call them) take about an hour per minute of finished program. Our documentary pieces, including travel for location recording, and associated research, have taken more than 5 hours for every minute of finished product.
For our documentary pieces we:
Edit and clean-up the clips from the interviews.
1) Research the topic, and write a internal rough-draft journalism piece about it.
2) Schedule interviews which might include phone interview, in-person meetings, or attending various events.
3) Record the interviews, which might include travel, or hiring a remote engineer.
4) Transcribe the interviews.
5) Fact-check the interviews.
6) Listen to and log any location sound-effect recordings.
7) Write a show script, based on the draft story, and incorporating clips from the interviews.
9) Record the narration.
10) Assemble and mix the narration, music, sound effects, and interview clips together.
11) Encode and upload.
12) Write the blog entry.
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
[…] - bookmarked by 5 members originally found by dolmen on 2008-10-12 Categories of Podcasting and Post-Production http://blog.dailysplice.com/general/categories-of-podcasting-and-post-production/ - bookmarked by […]