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I just read a small blog article Vacuum - Edward Vielmetti in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104: Vacuum News podcast for 3/15/2005, and it prompted me to write about something that has been puzzling me for a while now.

Edward writes:

It took me a lot longer to do this production tonight than I expected, since I did it in multiple takes instead of all straight through. I’m better off writing the whole thing all at once.

The bit that puzzles me is wondering how anyone else makes their podcasts. I’m not (this time) concerned with the hardware (microphones, voice processors, recorders, etc.), or content and licencing. In this case it’s all about whether you:

1. just switch on the mike and ramble, then switch it off and upload when you run out of things to say
2. plan, make notes, etc., switch on the mike, perform from the notes, then switch it off and upload when you have covered all your notes
3. switch on the mike and ramble when you feel like it, switch off and on as the mood takes you, and upload when you think the ‘cast is big/long enough.
4. prepare a bunch of muisc, recorded interviews, sound effects and stuff in something like MixCast Live, WinPodcast, or iPodcast Producer, switch on and ramble, pressing a button to add pre-prepared content in “real time” when you feel like it
5. record your podcast in separate chunks, and edit them together with prerecorded material using a sequencer or other “non-linear” editing software
6. some other approach that I can’t think of right now
7. some combination of the above

My natural inclination is to use the “non-linear” approach (number 5). I guess this is because of my background in video. The few times I’ve tried to do live video editing I’ve found it so stressful that I much prefer to do multiple “takes” of each bit, and assemble the final production from the best take of each section.

I’m guessing, though that this is not a particularly common way to make podcasts. It’s a relatively time-consuming, perfectionist, way to approach the problem, and can lack the raw energy and edginess that works so well in some podcasts.

I’d love to hear how people do this stuff.