From Boomers to Gen Z: How to Start Your Podcast Today!

Hello everyone and welcome to Boomer Podcasters, the podcast that is here to help baby boomers, Gen X, gen Z, gen Y and anyone else start a podcast.

We will help with everything you need from what kind of podcast to start, how to record your voice and your co host, if you have one, to editing and getting your podcast out in the world.

So sit back and get ready to podcast.

Well, what do you think of that?

That was Ben from eleven Labs.

Ben is an artificial intelligence voice from a company called 11 Labs.

Now 11 Labs is a.

You type in what you want to say and then you get a choice of voices to choose from.

And I use this as an introduction to both Boomer podcasters as well as five Minutes of Gray Hair Dave.

Five Minutes of Gray Hair Dave is my other podcast that is a weekly podcast.

Now.

It was originally set up as a five day a week podcast and it was going rather well, to be honest with you.

But it got to a point where I was starting to have less and less to talk about.

That's about growing up as a baby boomer, going through the years, going through the music, some of the news that was going on during the day.

You know, like, you know, if you're baby boomer, you grew up in the 60s and 70s and 50s, right?

So that's of the 1900s, in case you don't know what that is.

So the music and the news that went on of the day, it was important to us.

So if that's something you're interested in listening to, please do.

It's over at five minutes with Grayhair Dave dot com.

That's the number five minutes with gray haired ave dot com.

But let's get into Boomer podcasters today.

You can use AI for all kinds of things now, and I'm not suggesting that you do not to begin with.

Okay, I want you to learn how to podcast properly before you learn how to use these additional intelligent.

They call it artificial intelligence.

I use it as an assistive intelligence.

I can use AI to help me edit through programs like Izotope or even through programs that I used just in my Logic Pro.

It will look at it or even like.

I also use Hindenburg too.

Hindenburg is a daw.

It's a DAW digital audio workstation.

It'll go in once I'm done recording and I hit stop.

It goes in and automatically fine tunes.

The level of the voices, voice, voices, whatever you've got going on.

It's, it's really, really nice.

Yeah, it's called auto leveling, basically now on Logic Pro 10, which is what I'm using also I use, I record on both because I don't want to take a chance.

I made a mistake in editing once on Logic Pro and I don't need to go into all that, but I dual record now.

You don't need to dual record.

You don't need to do what I'm doing.

If I had been going through an audio workstation, through an audio interface to my computer that has the ability to record, I wouldn't have lost.

That doesn't matter.

I want to make it simple and easy for you to start out.

So here's what I've done today.

I want you to know how to get your voice from you, through a microphone of some sort into your computer and onto a digital audio workstation.

Is which is where you're going to make it into what it needs to be to get out into the world, which is an MP3 file or a WAV file.

Okay, an MP3 file.

I'm sorry, MP4.

What is an MP4 versus an MP3?

An MP3 is an audio encoded format.

An MP4 is a digital multimedia container that can store a range of data including video, audio and text.

So unless if you're doing video with your podcast, you want it to be an MP4.

If you're doing a audio only podcast, you want it to be an MP3.

Now, a WAV file, a WAVE or WAV format audio file is a file format for storing audio on personal computers.

Okay, is that confusing?

Yeah.

A lot of the programs now will download to your computer.

When you're all done and you're exporting out, and we're going to get into terminology today too, a little bit.

But basically, if you are, when you export out a lot of the hosts wanted in an MP3, a lot of the DAWs will want to send it out as a wave.

A waveform is a larger file.

Okay, here we go.

So I did my research here.

Sorry, I didn't do this before.

MP3 files do not retain all the data from the original audio and are comparatively smaller.

So to give you an idea, a three minute audio clip in a WAV format will have a file size of 30 to 40 megabytes.

When you convert it to an MP3 file, the same clip will be reduced to 3 to 5 megabytes, showing a compression rate of about 90%.

Now, is a WAVE file great?

A WAVE file is great because it has everything you've got when you export it.

Not saying the MP3 file does not, but it depends on what you're trying to do.

Right, so let's get back to this.

Okay, let's.

Let me get rid of that.

Let me bring that back up.

Okay, so folks, I wanted to talk, to give you a basic idea of what happens now.

I want to talk to you about microphones and computers and dos digital audio workstations.

Do you have to have a computer to make a podcast?

Absolutely not.

You can record yourself with your phone, your tablet or your computer.

I also have, and there's a lot of them out there.

Zoom makes a bunch of products where you can record to.

I have a Zoom H4N Pro which allows me to plug a couple of microphones in and it records, then it records to a, an SSD card or I have a H4, I have a.

Anyways, I have a single one too.

And it just records to a card but it doesn't allow you to put a big microphone in, but a regular one.

But if you take your phone and put in your head but your headphones that you got from Apple or from wherever you purchased your phone, don't mind me, I have Apple.

I don't know a whole lot about Android phones anymore, but originally you came with headphones that were wired.

You want to be wired.

There's no latency or less latency through a wired headset microphone than there is through wireless.

Latency is delay.

Okay.

In basic terms, latency is just the delay between you saying it and it getting recorded into your daw.

Now you're saying, well, is there room on my phone to record into a dawn you.

There might be.

There are programs that you can download like Riverside FM and other ones like that that will allow you to record to them through your micro, you know, through your phone you can record into your video or I'm sorry, your audio memos.

Right.

My iPhone has audio memos or voice recordings.

Just click play and start talking.

You can then, you know, save that file and send it over to your computer.

Am I going to explain to you today how to do that today?

No, I'm not.

I'm going to put.

I'm going to create a video though here shortly, probably this weekend to show you how to do that because it's not hard.

But I'm just saying you don't have to have big, big fancy equipment.

You don't have to have two and three hundred dollar microphones to start a podcast.

You can start it with your phone.

You really can.

If you don't have a cord or head, a wired headphones or you Know, with a microphone on it.

Just start talking.

Okay?

We can clean it up for you.

It will need to be cleaned up.

I want to tell you something about recording too, right now, and I'm going to repeat this as often as I can on every podcast.

You need to be in a quiet place.

Please do not do this while you're driving your car.

Okay?

It's very, very hard to get rid of all that road noise.

Can it be done?

Yes, it can be done.

Is it easy?

No, it's not easy.

And do you want to take that kind of time on your podcast?

Now?

I don't know how long you think editing takes, but let me tell you this.

When I first started five, oh, five years ago or more, I started out with a 15 minute podcast and it took me two and a half hours to edit it.

It won't take you that long.

I was as gray.

I'm not gray.

I was green at it.

I didn't know what I was doing.

I learned on my own.

I learned through videos on YouTube.

I learned through listening to other podcasters talk about it or show things about it.

And it's become.

Doesn't need to take that long, doesn't that the technology today is so much better that you can honest to goodness record for 15, 20 minutes, a half an hour, an hour, whatever you want.

It only takes you half an hour, 45 minutes, maybe an hour to edit it.

If you need to edit at all.

You may want to be one of these people that say, I'm live here.

Just like being live.

You can do that.

It's okay.

It doesn't matter.

It really doesn't matter.

Okay, so editing does not talk about editing today.

Editing is.

Well, we got to a little bit.

Editing comes with your daw.

But let's talk about different kinds of DoS and computers, all right?

I am on a Mac.

I also own a Dell.

It sits right here on my desk too.

And I used to record on that, but as time goes by, the fan gets louder and it comes in more often and it's hard to get it far enough away that you don't really hear that.

I use it for.

For things, but not for much.

Where my MacBook doesn't have a fan, so I never hear it.

Can't hear something that ain't there, right?

So if you're on a Mac or if you're on a Windows PC or if you're on a Linux PC, doesn't matter.

You can do this.

It's just as easy.

Almost all these programs will work on either one, I'll let you know.

So I pulled up a couple of lists.

Free Dawes.

Some are free, some are not.

Okay, Some of them have 14 day free trials, some of them have, you know, free forever.

Some have minimal costs, some are paid by the month, some are, you know, yearly only.

And you know, some are native to your computer.

Now if you're a Mac user of any, at any, of any type, any type, whether that's a, an iPhone, an iPad, any Apple computer, you are already blessed to have a free program called GarageBand.

Okay?

Garage Band is Apple based.

It's an Apple computer, it's an Apple product.

You can't get it on anything but a Mac or an Apple device.

And I'm sorry, but that's one of the ways I started this podcast was well, five minutes of gray hair Dave as well as living in God's rhyme.

We're all started on a Mac.

My journey online was started with Adele.

But anyway, I believe also 5 living or memories from the mouse was started on the Dell.

But so you can do it.

It doesn't matter.

I was just using different programs.

So GarageBand is easy to use, but I want to get you into something that's just as easy and just as quick and it's not hard to use at all.

And it's free.

First one I want to talk to you about is Audacity A U D A C I T Y.

It's a free open source dawn that's perfect for beginners.

It offers all the basic tools you'll need to record and edit your podcast without any cost.

It gives you options for multi tracks, it gives you options for ed, you know, it gives you basic editing tools and it supports plugins.

Plugins are things you may buy or use and you add it to it like equalizers or if you want to have, let's just say sound effects.

Well, sometimes you have to buy those sound effects or you have to get a program to create those sound effects.

You can download it and it will go into that daw.

It's great for beginners and those looking for free audio, you know, digital audio workstations.

Okay, so that's GarageBand and that's Audacity.

Now there is Adobe Audition.

Adobe Audition is a professional grade DAW that offers a comprehensive set of tools for products, recording, editing and mixing.

I think of Adobe Audition as a high powered DAW that has way more than the very new person needs.

In the description of it, it says it's best for experienced podcasters seeking advanced audio editing capabilities and I agree with that.

I wouldn't mess with this if you were brand new.

If you are, you already know what audio engineering is and you've worked in a DAW before you jump in.

Go right ahead.

Another one that's free out there again also is and I just downloaded it today because I saw it.

It's called Ocean Audio.

O C E N A U D I O OSINT Audio is a lightweight free DAW that provides essential audio editing features.

It's ideal for quick edits and it's user friendly for beginners.

It gives you real time previews of effects, multi selection for delicate editing.

It's free.

It's best for beginners needing straightforward audio editing tools.

It even has spectrograph editing which I paid a lot of money for.

Rx10 by izotope I could have just gone to this one and got a bunch of it too.

Okay.

Anyways, I played with it a little bit.

I like it when it comes to free for and it's good.

And it's good for Apple products as well as Windows products and Linux.

There will be links in the, in the show notes to all these if it's something you want to check out.

A couple other ones I don't suggest yet, but maybe there's Pro Tools.

Pro Tools has a subscription price for about $30 a month.

Pro Tools has been the industry standard for years and years.

It has a very steep learning curve, folks.

I used to use it when I first started with my, my Dell and yeah, it has a learning curve, but it's good.

It'll do everything for you.

I mean it'll do everything you need it to do.

I.

I loved it but I hated it all at the same time.

And it says right here in.

I'm going to put a link to this blog too by Wundercraft.

It says it's best for professionals seeking top tier audio production software.

Okay, Studio One is out there and it's.

It's an annual fee of $100.

It's a balance between features and affordability.

And there's a couple other ones.

Let's see what this other one shows me.

There's a couple of.

This one didn't get Cubase is one waveform Free is is interesting.

I personally don't like it.

I mean I'm going to have to leave it there because I really.

I don't know why I don't like it.

I've looked at it.

I've tried it.

It's.

It's more confusing to me than Pro Tools and maybe because of its simplicity, I don't know.

Anyways, let's move on.

Another one out there is Studio One.

Studio One is.

You gotta buy it.

Okay.

It's not that much, but it's not bad.

Another one you might like is Podium Free.

It's.

It allows VSTs.

There's no track limitation, it's well designed, it's customizable, it's Windows only.

Ah, a Windows exclusive.

Daw.

There you go.

Now you go.

You can go out against Some people with GarageBand or prod logic Pro and say haha, I've got my own too.

Yeah, that's fun.

Oh, there's a lot of editing going to go on in this one folks.

I'm sorry.

I want you to look into Soundbridge though.

There will be a link to that too.

Magic's Music Maker.

A Magic's Music Maker is a Windows program again and it is very very robust.

But it is oriented towards beginners.

It's easy to start.

It's got intuitive file management, there's an eight track limit.

It's not ideal for a large project, but it is Windows only.

So there's two for Windows only.

And you like that.

Luna is out there.

Luna is a.

It's another Mac only one.

I played with it for a while folks and I got frustrated.

And if I'm going to get frustrated and I know what I'm doing, I don't want you to do it.

Waveform Free is for Mac os, Windows, Linux.

Anyways, that's what we're at with with Dawes.

I want you to understand if you're going to go get a free daw, why not try two different ones?

Okay?

Just my opinion.

Two or three, if you've got the room on your computer to do this, try a couple different ones.

All right.

I would suggest you download.

Download Hindenburg.

It has a free trial.

Okay.

Definitely download Audacity doc.

You know audacity.org it's audacity teams.org and then also I would download Ocean Audio.

I think that you might be very happy with that one.

To be a hundred percent honest with you.

I am.

I'm very very.

Gosh, I am.

I'm impressed.

I really really am.

Now if you want to start out buying one, have fun.

That's great.

I think it's a fantastic idea.

If you are a Windows Only person right now and that's all you're ever going to use is Windows, I thought that that's all I'd ever use is Windows.

Excuse me.

Until I saw what a Mac can do.

I'm on an M1 chip right now and I just got all excited because the M4s are coming out and this week and I'm excited about the M4s.

I'm going to upgrade.

Just trying to decide which way I want to go.

Do I want to go to a Mac Mini now because they're coming out with 16 gig as normal, or do I want to go to a MacBook Pro again?

Don't know.

MacBook Air might just be fine enough for me now.

I don't know.

But anyways, that's what's going on here.

I know this may not be moving along quick enough for you and if it's not, please contact me on my on my website boomer podcasters.com there's a little microphone in the bottom right hand corner where you can leave me a message or you can go to the contact me page and say, hey Dave, you know, this is.

I want to know more quicker and I'll help you with that.

But let's, let's just spend a little bit of time looking at these daws and playing with them.

You can play with them with your computer audio and not worry about it.

Or you can plug in your, you know, your, your headphones from your telephone, you know, your cell phone and use that for a while.

Try it that way before you go out and spend money on microphones.

Because there's a couple of different kinds of microphones.

There's dynamic and there's compressor and which do you need?

And you can with one you need extra things like an audio interface.

With others, they plug right into your computer.

You know, there's XLR microphones and there's USB microphones.

And then there's one that I'm using right now that we'll use either way.

Now I'm using right now a dynamic Samson Q2U.

It's I think I paid $69 for it, $68 for it on Amazon.

I'll put a link in the computer or on in the show notes.

I also have used a bunch of condenser microphones, one from mxl, one from focusrite, which was very, really, really nice.

I want to tell you something right up front.

If there's a lot of noise in your room, I'm talking no carpeting and no dressing for sound deadening because you want some sound deadening.

You don't want your voice bouncing off the walls and coming back and echoing at you.

Then don't use a condenser microphone.

Use a dynamic A dynamic microphone is what you see most of the people on television using.

And like, if they're record, if they're into music, you see how they're so close to the microphone.

That's because the microphone doesn't pick up things all the way around.

It picks up things right in front of it.

It's a much tighter cone of what it's doing of what it's listening for.

And a compressor gets you the whole room or whatever's happening in the house.

You'll hear it and then you're gonna have to edit the crud out of it.

I don't want you to have to do that.

So my suggestion, it depends on you and your personality, is to start with a dynamic.

You can go to Amazon and buy 20, 30, 40, $50 microphones.

Do not, please do not go out and buy a blue Yeti.

If you don't know how to use a blue Yeti.

You don't set it up right.

It gives you terrible audio and you'll hate it.

You'll absolutely hate it.

Don't go out and buy assure SM7B or SM7BD yet, because do you need it yet?

Now, if you know what you're doing and you just, you're just listening to me to get some more tips and tricks and you want to be on an SM7B or an SM7V, more power to you.

I just don't want to see you going out and spending a whole lot of money until you're sure this is what you want to do.

Okay.

You need to get your story out there, and it's easiest to do in a podcast, am I right?

Yeah, you're listening to one.

It's entertaining, it can be fun, it can be educational, it can be musical, it can be anything you want it to be.

So it's got to be what you want it to be.

I don't want to force you into doing one way or the other.

I just want you to.

I want you to start it and try it and not give up on it because you got frustrated.

Come back to here, Dave.

You're an idiot.

You.

This is not for me.

If it's not for you, it's not for you.

I'm okay with that.

That's why I don't want you to spend a lot of money at it in the beginning.

But I'm going to help you with some of the editing down the road.

And it's going to be important that you subscribe to my YouTube channel once I get it all up and Running because that's where the videos are going to live about a little bit about the editing and the difference in.

The difference in daws and the difference in microphones to start out with.

So while you're looking at that, while you're looking at those audio.

The digital audio workstations, think about which ones you might want to try.

Download a couple of them because they're free and almost all of them have trials.

Okay, we're going to talk about microphones next week because I think it's really important now to talk about microphones.

And I really, really hope that you have been trying to decide what genre you want for your podcast.

You know, what do you want to be like me, just sitting here being educational, telling you what to do?

You want to be funny?

You want to be comical?

Do you want to be habit about music, golf, whatever, true crime?

Do you want it to be narrative?

What do you want to do?

That's what I'm asking.

That's all I'm asking, that you have some kind of an idea.

And once you have that idea, here's the rest of your homework.

Okay?

Try and write out and put it on your computer, put it on a piece of paper.

It doesn't matter.

Write out what ideas you think you want to do.

Talk to your.

Talk to your spouse, talk to your friends, talk to people you trust and say, you know, would you listen to something like this if I put it out there and see what they say?

If they say, yeah, I'd like to hear you talk about that.

Or they say, yeah, well, then they're just jealous that you're thinking about it and they haven't yet.

But think about it.

It will be fun.

So think about that.

Get yourself an idea of what it is you want to do.

Please, please, please decide what you want to do.

Then I want you to write out and like an outline of what you would like it to be.

You know, I'd like episode one.

I want to talk about what is golf?

Number two is what, what kind of clubs do you need?

You know, number three, what's the best golf balls to have?

You know, number four, whatever.

Go to that.

And then just start writing out and then start off with the outline and then add some.

Some bullet points underneath.

Okay, do that for me and then let me know if you've come up with any.

If you got any questions.

Again, don't forget my website is Boomer Podcasters Calm Boomer podcasters dot com.

Okay, Go to the Contact Me page.

Go to the right hand, bottom corner.

It's a little green microphone.

Tap on that.

You have to put your email address in there.

I don't give your email address away, folks.

I'm keeping it.

I'm so, I'm, you know, I'm selfish.

I'm not giving it out and you can't pay me for it.

So.

So on behalf of gray haired Dave, a couple of things.

If you know somebody who doesn't know what a podcast is, doesn't know how to find one, what to listen to, where to listen to it, on me, a favor, show them for me, please.

Also don't forget, go out and smile at somebody today, folks.

You're going to make their day.

So on behalf of gray haired Dave, who is having a weird day, you all have a good one and I will talk to you next week.

Bye bye.

So if you stuck around this long, thank you folks.

I really, really appreciate it.

I have cut out approximately seven and a half minutes of goof ups.

I'm going to, I think eventually I'm going to make a reel about my outtakes just for this show alone.

I hope you enjoyed it, folks.

Have a great day and if you listen to this, leave me a message and say, hey, I waited all the way to the end and I got the fact that you made all those mistakes.

You should hear what I cut out, folks.

I couldn't talk or the dark.

Have a great day and bye.