I want you to close your eyes and think.
What has been something that looks, tastes, feels and sounds so good raw that you wouldn’t want to perfect it?
Some may say ‘sushi’. That’s fine. However, if you eat the wrong type of sushi, the effects can be quite damaging to your system. Some may argue some artforms of music – with lessening the composition’s product as a whole. There is some truth to that. However: In the long-term scheme of things, a music artist had to undergo some type of polishing to get to making something sound ‘raw’. Otherwise, they would be considered a novice possessing no skills whatsoever.
The point is simple: Everything raw is not palpable for the consuming public.
The same is true with podcasts. I reached out to PodcastOne – a company that hosts many stellar podcasts on their network platform. They said to me, “In order to be on the roster of PodcastOne, you must have at least 40,000 downloads an episode.” 40,000! Do me a favor: I want you to listen to the shows on their roster and tell me their quality. Many of them have big names, sure. However, they are keenly aware that putting forth a horrible product does nothing to help their overall brand. In fact, it can – and more than likely does – hurt their brand.
Come to every recording understanding you are going to give your listener an experience so good that they want to come back again … and again … and again. That only happens when you respect the person taking in your product. It feels good when you have a listener say, “Is it just me … or do you catch yourself saying ________?” It could be because the content is great. It also could be because the host is that dynamic. I guarantee you, though, it is totally because the listener had no other distractions in his/her way so he/she can enjoy all of what you have to offer on the mic.
Respect your listener! If you know that you want to not hear random noises, ringing phones, cars passing by or white noise – then attack each recording with the knowledge that your listener values the same thing. That way – he/she can invest themselves into what you are saying, and are more readily available to believe what you are about in whatever genre you specialize in broadcasting.
Love what you do enough to let your listener know you respect their time, effort and patronage to the value you are audibly offering. The benefits will extend far beyond a good sound, but it will help you gain another loyal customer as a result.
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If you want to make your audio sound professional, then …