Light Podcasting
Efficiency with podcasting. What am I using, how long does it take, where do I spend my time? How do I do this as one solo person?
Identifying a Format
I had to think about who I am, who I know, what can I do. How can I create a podcast that is light, engaging to me, and setting a low bar for me to pursue.
Will I find joy in recording this? Will I find joy in the post processing?
So began my experiment in light podcasting.
Conversational Podcasts
The listener is drawn to the overheard conversation between the host and the guests, who interact with laughter through their conversation. An example of this type of podcast is What Now? with Trevor Noah.
Narrated Podcasts
Another form of podcast I am drawn to is where a narrator enchants with their voice and storytelling. Examples include, BookFox (on YouTube), Malcolm Pyrce, and Lore.
Courage born of Friendship
I started this journey with my friends, Eunah and Lisa. I said to myself, If I start a podcast—it needs to be a conversation between friends. We recorded three episodes with the unscripted format: ask me anything.
- A Conversation on Audience & Animals
- A Conversation on Higher Order Beings
- A Conversation on Masks, Playing God, and Striving for Enlightenment
The Problem with Unscripted Podcasts
The main problem is finding a co-host who enjoys the topic as much as you. With Myths & Samsara, I'm running on my steam. Lisa and Eunah are there for the ride but don't have the level of interest or time that I have. Perhaps what I need is another author or someone who's in love with my writing. That's not happening today.
The knowledge pool was draining, interest waining, and my patience lost. I would not succeed without forward momentum. I dropped the idea of the conversational podcast—at least until I have a willing collaborator.
Readings from the Ancient Texts
I experimented with reading from old obscure texts. The English was from the Victorian era. Even I eye-roll realizing this is not easy to follow. It's just me droning on. It's not fun. No one's going to want to listen to this.
I also did not like the visual experience on YouTube. A new subscriber with an audio/visual background suggested the animation of the text did not help the non-English as a native language reader.
So this format, isn't fun to listen to. It's not fun to make. It does give some authenticity to the channel, but I prefer more of an explainer when it comes to storytelling.
Narrative Podcasting
At about this time I connected with another author, Heather G. who writes podcast scripts. She recommended I attend a local free workshop on narrative podcasting by local podcast author, Kim Sparks. I did.
The workshop emphasized the audio experience of the podcast. We're talking intro/outro music, intermission sounds, sound effects, and the voice actors involved in making a script come to life.
They also explored the ways to do this on a budget or for free. It's early days, there's no monetization here. But that doesn't mean I can't incorporate some of these things into my podcast.
Not yet having sound effects, I focused on storytelling. The Hat Seller is a story I've heard as often as Cinderella during my childhood. It's one I can tell with a smile. Lisa suggested I tell the story as if I'm telling it to her. I did. The result delighted me.
- The Hat Seller Took less than 5 minutes to record and less than two hours post-processing given my perfectionism and experimenting with Canva.com for AI generated images for the visual presentation on YouTube. I posted this one on both my Ahasae Tharu (for kids) and Myths & Samsara YouTube Channels. This was light and fun.
- The Demons of Disease A couple of hours to script, 30 minutes to record and a full-day of post processing. This did not count the two years of research I spent digging up all that I could find on Sanni Yaksha. I skipped the AI except for the cover photo while making notes for how I would skip the AI alltogether the next time around. This is not light. But this was fun.
Conclusions
The first rule for a podcast is that the subject must be one that is dear to me. By focusing on pulling together past research, I am not only cementing the folkloric and cultural aspects in my knowledge base but I am also creating something that is profound, well-researched, and potentially interesting for my audience.
By pre-scripting the podcast, I am setting myself up to re-record errors as they occur for easier post-processing. I am also better able to focus on keeping the narration on track. The script provides me with a basis for creating the podcast description and blogpost. The order of information when talking is not necessarily the same as the order in which information must be read. I admit, I use Chat GPT to help with the podcast description and keywords. By the time I get to the stage of posting to social media, the content is so close to my fingertips that it's much easier for me to write something off the top of my head.
It's also a slow journey of learning how to grow a podcast audience whether on YouTube or via social media. Whether I'll have success is yet to be seen.
D.M. De Alwis
Music & Sound Effects
Post Processing of Light Podcasts
Editing Tools - Used to Keep It Stupid Simple (KISS)
Additional Tools - Not used at this time
is type of podcast
