Farflung’s Guide to Podcasting: Best Practices

So you want to start a podcast! Awesome! If you’ve got a voice, a microphone, and an idea, then you’re more than halfway there already.

That being said, there are some finer points to solid, professional podcasting that may not be obvious at first glance. We at Farflung don’t want to tell you how your podcast should sound, but we do have a few tips to keep in mind to make your podcast easy to produce, and more enjoyable for your listeners.

This is an evolving document – feel free to check it often!

Chris Muise
Podcast Editor, Farflung Studio

Best Practices: DO’s

• Mute your microphone while your guest is speaking. This reduces chances of background noise and accidentally interrupting your guest. Overlap distorts both audio streams.

• Invest in a pop filter for your microphone. It will reduce harsh, popping P-sounds when recording.

• Speak clearly and concisely. Mumbling or speaking too softly is hard on your listeners. If you flub a line, take a breath and take it from the top.

• Turn off your phone, alarms, chimes, reminders, etc. while recording. Remind your guests to do this as well

• Keep your question to one concise thought while interviewing a guest, as much as possible. This generally helps keep everyone on topic and opens up new lines of thought.

• Discuss your desired topics of conversation with your guest before recording. Try to find what your guest can talk to that no one else can, and focus on that, to avoid repetition across multiple episodes.

• Keep intros and opening chatter short and sweet; a minute, two tops. Get to the guest or topic at hand, because that’s what’s interesting – not their itemized resume.

• Relax! It might feel stressful to record something for an audience of tens of thousands, but remember – you have editors! Also, you’ll sound more natural and all-around better.

Best Practices: DON’T’s

• Avoid using filler sounds and phrases, those little words we let slip out when we’re trying to find the words we want to say. They don’t sound very professional; common examples: “um,” “uhh,” “y’know,” “sorta,” “kinda,” “and so,” etc. (If they slip through, our team will trim them.)

• Don’t feel the need to recap the topics discussed at the end of the episode. Your listeners will have just heard it all.

• Be careful about overusing anecdotes. Your guest on one episode may not have heard the killer story you told two episodes ago, but your listeners have. Retelling these anecdotes comes at the risk of making the show sound stale.

• Don’t eat or fidget with desk toys while recording. It’s very difficult to edit around the background sounds these actions create, and it makes it sound like your show is recorded out of a garage. Advise your guests about this as well.

• Don’t interrupt your guest with interjections, e.g. “interesting” or “wow!” It can interrupt your guest’s train of thought, and we want to hear what they have to say. Interjecting to raise a point is different; use your discretion in those cases.

• Avoid saying things like “this is a great question” if you’re the one asking it. This can unintentionally make you sound self-aggrandizing.