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First of all, I am very happy that the podcast production column ” Call Me Podcast Manager in 100 Hours “, which is a small number of podcast producers, is finally launched. Both of them are podcast producers I respect very much. Through the communication about podcasting and other fields (such as music collection and Quanzhou stories), I believe this column will definitely help friends who are interested in podcasting.
There are quite a few tutorials on how to make podcasts on the Internet. I have also collaborated with Bai Huancheng of Productivity Wiki before on a simple teaching version of ” A Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting by Xiaobai and Daer “, and I am also in private. Shenzhen offline has done several times to share the experience of making podcasts. Many tutorials and guides tend to focus on technology, equipment, content planning and operation, etc. It is a description at the “law” or “skill” level. For most individual podcast producers, it is especially based on interest. For the producers of the original, they often recorded and uploaded their first episodes on a whim after reading some guides. The rhythm of “Zhou Geng” was interrupted, so it “stopped abruptly”. My own program ” Intercom Chicken RadioChicken ” has also gone through such a process several times. I have also experienced such a process as breaking updates and reducing the number of subscriptions (even though there are only more than 300 subscriptions for Xiao Universe now, the recent dozens are still various. I know social apps) and feel lost and even anxious, but after a series of Buddhist thoughts, I found that the meaning of making podcasts for myself is not at all about “showing sexual expression outwards”, but more joy and happiness, but more It is about “exploratory growth inwards”.
So today I would like to share some thoughts on “inward exploratory growth”, and I hope it will inspire friends who are interested in podcasts and have even started making podcasts.
lower expectations
My first piece of advice to new podcast makers is to do a good job of “lowering expectations, not even having expectations”. I believe that some friends may start podcasting because of “simpleness”. Now some popular podcasts, especially in the pan-cultural field, have low content value and density. Misled by the atmosphere and slow rhythm, I preconceived the idea of ”it’s easy to be a podcaster” or “I can do it too”, so I picked up my iPhone and started recording the first chat with my friends. Looking forward to your show being heard by more people. But in fact, the vast majority of listeners stay within the producer’s private domain traffic, that is, within the WeChat Moments. After a period of double-digit broadcasts, the update was abandoned within about 10 episodes.
The reason is that the ecology of podcasting itself will not give too many opportunities for amateur podcasting. Compared with platforms such as Douyin, the current mainstream podcasting platforms are completely unmatched in terms of traffic and recommendation algorithms. Taking Xiao Universe as an example, the acquisition of traffic is more dependent on the editor’s recommendation and the personal traffic of the anchor. It is a high probability that a new program will not be heard by strangers.
In this kind of environment, rather than expecting your show to be heard by more people, it is better to presume the assumption that “my show will not be listened to”. Under this kind of expectation, some unexpected surprises will often bring You are greatly delighted.
I still remember the motivational feeling that I saw some new listeners leave messages after I stopped my program for a long time, telling me that I would like to hear the follow-up stories and programs. The speech system of the modern Internet society is full of negative emotions. Every day I see news of various celebrity apologies and frequent social incidents on Weibo, which makes me feel tired. After opening the message, the feeling of exhaustion intensified, all kinds of verbal criticism, verbal battles, full of anxiety and hatred, and the negative remarks have a siphon effect, so that you can’t take your eyes off, and you can’t wait to fight the enemy for 300 rounds immediately.
In this atmosphere, we often ignore those friendly words. I remember that some people said that in life, there are not many friends, and it is enough to have three or two friends. I think the relationship between listeners and anchors is also the same, and it is enough to have close friends.
Because conversations change people
After adjusting my expectations and cognition a little, the second thing I think I can give to newcomers is to keep doing it.
For me “podcasting” is the practice of sticking with it, even if few people listen.
Before talking about “dialogue”, I would like to mention “expression” first.
As an amateur researcher of leadership with a business background, I also practiced under the speech training system of Toastmasters International for 6 years, and experienced the organizational development and management of some non-profit organizations and large manufacturing enterprises. After the experience, my perception of leadership skills will put extra emphasis on “expression” and “dialogue”.
“Expression” is to let others understand you, and “dialogue” (or communication) is to understand others. The combination of the two constitutes the basic ability context of “leadership”. The vast majority of good leaders are themselves very good storytellers.
There is a complete system for the training of “expression” ability. Toastmasters International has developed a trackable training system with speech as the core. I will share this part in the next Newsletter, but in the systematic Before the introduction, I can first introduce two main points, namely “practice” and “feedback”.
And these two points are precisely what podcast production brings to you. Language expression is also practiced. Thinking about the early reading we experienced in the compulsory education stage when we were children, starting from recitation, we are constantly strengthening our language control ability. After doing a lot of podcasts, I also felt the improvement of my fluency in the “practice” and “feedback” links.
Most of the time, when we edit programs, we listen to our own “expressions” at least twice. This is a “self-feedback” mechanism. I used to talk about ” how hard it is to be a podcaster in the Greater Bay Area ” on a friend’s podcast ” Small Room ” ? When broadcasting “Guests’ Distress “, two Cantonese anchors mentioned that after doing many episodes of Mandarin podcasts, they clearly felt the improvement of their “Mandarin language proficiency”.
After sharing the meaning of “expression” to individual producers, let’s talk about “dialogue”.
When I attended Podfest China last year, I hadn’t thought deeply about the profound connection between “dialogue” and “Socrates”. Until this year, although the frequency of my podcast production has decreased a lot, more “dialogue” has Makes me feel more and more valuable.
Related listening: ” Yipai Podcast | Listen to Yang Yichao Podcast “
Even, I would elevate “dialogue” to the level of “transmission of wisdom”. I remember that some articles mentioned that each person’s learning style and efficiency are different. Some people read books and absorb knowledge quickly, some people are more accustomed to watching videos, and some people mainly listen. But one of my own perceptions is that, unlike other inputs, the form of simultaneous input and output of “dialogue” is the most efficient among them.
Imagine you have an in-depth conversation with a highly respected professor about his area of expertise, as a practical example of mine, a single session with one of my speech coaches (the champion coach of the International Impromptu Speech Contest) The training cost is about RMB 1500 per hour, and when I asked him to record a podcast later, the communication for nearly two hours was free. One-on-one communication is always the most luxurious, and this form of output is worth it.
I also mentioned this value exchange in a podcast. As a podcast producer, you might as well change your thinking and temporarily forget the benefits of being heard by more people. Just think about it, the guests you found, The value of talking to them. To this day, I’m still impressed by all the podcasts I’ve done, they definitely changed me and made me a “better person.”
Of course the above description is very utilitarian, the three most important podcasts to me so far:
It is the power brought by “dialogue” at another level, which is equal communication, which is an irreplaceable value in online communication.
These three episodes are one of the few programs I have had the opportunity to have a good opportunity to communicate with some feminist friends on the two issues of “30-year-old anxiety” and “gender equality”. For me, it is more about healing and The role of opening new ideas.
Regarding the criticism of WeChat, BBS or Weibo, which are currently popular or old-fashioned Internet information communication tools, I think many readers will have some thoughts. In the past, I have also criticized the negative impact of product design such as Weibo on the extreme of speech ( For example, like and stick to the top), but one of my perceptions now is that compared to offline face-to-face communication, the physical state of an Internet user is isolated in his own field, and most of the time he (or she) will only Imprisoned in one’s own emotions cannot be freed. But the pheromone of offline communication, language only accounts for a small part, including facial expressions, emotions, body and other pheromones can give you more space for understanding, the problem of online communication is that it is easy to misunderstand, but the line In the “dialogue” below, many times we are actively seeking consensus.
Up to now, I have produced more than 80 podcasts. The improvement in the above two aspects brought by podcasting has not been shown in my podcasting career, but has been unintentional. These abilities and skills It has become a very important cornerstone of my ability in my career.
Create a space for dialogue
In the first two parts, my sharing is more focused on the level of personal change. In the third part, I would like to do some systematic sharing on the field of “dialogue”. Of course, these frameworks are my own thinking and summarization. It must be completely accurate, but also needs to be better polished. However, this part of the content will greatly help producers to output more efficiently and tap better content throughout the production process.
At present, my podcast production time is about 8 hours per episode. Apart from the 1 hour of recording, my editing time is generally only 1–2 times the recording time, and most of the time it is 1.5 times. I have emphasized in many sharings that pre-production is far greater than post-production, and the core of pre-preparation is to “create a space for dialogue”.
I believe that many experienced producers will encounter a problem, “the best parts are outside the recording”, this is an annoying and anxious “law of uncertainty”, because of many factors The interviewee of Tan, who seems to be cursed as soon as he faces the microphone, has changed to a “interview personality” to talk to you. This subtle psychological change is also a dilemma that I have often encountered, and even now.
In this regard, I have summarized several key factors to help Dialogue avoid the influence of the “law of uncertainty” as much as possible, as follows:
trust and respect
Trust and respect are the cornerstones of all dialogues, and the foundations on which the dialogues can be carried out and built.
Trust means that both parties need to have a certain understanding of each other and establish a trusting relationship. Respect means that the expression of each other should be accepted in a friendly manner.
These are also the two things that I am most concerned about in the pre-interview stage. Pre-interview generally refers to the initial communication with the interviewee about the scope and boundaries of the topic, as well as a preliminary understanding of some basic information about the other party. Many of the interviewees’ works can be found online. I generally do research ahead of time as a basis.
Another small tip is: One of the ways to gain trust is not to be stingy with your own expressions. The conversation itself is also a process of exchanging information. If you ask questions unilaterally, you will be like a reporter or a paparazzi. Many interviewers have no relevant experience. , will also not grasp the scale of the problem, and at this time, proper self-disclosure is actually a window for the other party to understand you. Only when both parties have a certain understanding, will trust be established.
And respect, in fact, in most cases, podcast makers can do it, but an extended question I want to raise here is, why is it easier for us to respect each other when we are offline? I once tried to carry on some of the thoughts of offline conversations in Internet conversations, but occasionally I was obstructed by the hostility of both sides, so I rarely argue or discuss with others online now, but I still think that the Internet, Especially the Chinese Internet still needs a public space where people of different positions can have a dialogue space. Even if it is an extravagant hope, I often remind myself to think about the circumstances under which I lost my respect for others.
Ambient and sound equipment selection
With the basic attitude of “trust and respect”, the next thing to consider is what kind of environment is more suitable for the other party as the expressor. I still try my best to give a comfortable space for “conversation”. Comfort does not mean privacy. In many cases, the effect of conversation at the wine table or in the coffee shop is more than that when I take my friends to some specific places. studio effects.
Part of the reason for this is as mentioned above, not everyone is a qualified “expressor”. For example, when I worked with some talk show actors, their status on and off stage was very different. With so many punchlines, he became serious under the stage and sat up straight.
In my mind, I will probably make a simple score for the language expression ability of the interviewee, including the use of oral habits, the coherence of the voice and whether it is nervous about the microphone, etc. Good expressors can basically do One Take, No post-editing required.
This is also the reason why I don’t like to do remote recording more and more. The loss of pheromone in remote recording leads to an exponential decrease in the fluency of dialogue and an increase in editing difficulty. Therefore, I will not choose remote recording unless it is a last resort.
Regarding the choice of equipment, I currently have three sets, which are:
- Zoom H5 : Suitable for recording ambient sound and portable microphone access.
- Wireless GO II : Suitable as an invisible microphone, reducing the tension of the guests, and highly adaptable to the environment.
- RØDE Caster Pro + PodMic : Studio equipment for the best sound quality and maximum productivity.
In my current workflow, the frequency of using the Wireless GO II has increased a lot, mostly due to a combination of circumstances and the status of the interlocutors.
How to ask questions: Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
How to ask questions in the dialogue is another meta-proposition that often causes headaches for producers.
Good questions determine the quality of a show. A long time ago, when I first started podcasting, I talked to a friend about how to make myself a better interviewer and questioner. At that time, my friend gave me advice: , let’s take a look at how the famous people who did talk shows in the past did it.
So, the first thing that came to my mind was Dou Wentao.
I am an old viewer of “The Threesome of Qiang Qiang”. Later, although the “Round Table School” has been done for several seasons, I still love Wen Tao and his old friends during the “Three of Three” period. Tao is the best sample. What impressed me the most was his “pretending to be crazy and selling stupid” questions. Good guy, there are so many questions. I think Dou Wentao must have his own set of values and answers in his heart before he asked them. But the wonderful thing is that he is not ashamed to ask questions. I regard this questioning method as a performance of inviting you to enter the urn.
I have tried similar routines, but I always feel that the script is too heavy, so after pondering over and over, I still like to get stories and answers that I didn’t know before during the recording process, because in that state, I was surprised and confused. The state of amazement is also the most natural.
Different types of methods have their own trade-offs, and the point of emphasis is also on the original intention of the producer.
So in my way, I’m not afraid of making mistakes. Since “podcasting” has become my way of “seeking the Tao”, asking questions naturally happens. Programs made with curiosity trends may still need to be polished from the perspective of the audience. , but it is beneficial to their own growth.
Some time ago, when I listened to the programs I did in the early days, I could clearly feel that I was jerky, but now I am obviously more familiar and learned.
Conclusion: Creators and Explorers
The above is a small summary of my past podcast production career. Recently, I am working on a new project, and the overall rhythm has reached the peak of my podcasting in the past few years. I found that I still like making podcasts.
In the previous issue of the newsletter ” Humans Are Practical Explorers – “Goose Farm” Vol. 015 “, I shared some stories about exploration, challenging new fields, and exploring the unknown, which I believe is the essence of human genes One, and being a creator, a podcaster, our work is exploring.
It’s just that, as originally described, sometimes we can think about the value of “exploratory growth inwards” while “exhibiting sexual expression outwards”. Youdao is not forgetting the original intention, and Fang Dezhi always thinks about the moment when he picked up the microphone, maybe there are not so many distractions, and he wants to make works that more people love, just because:
“I want to challenge myself, I want to try it out”.
So do a few more episodes, hold on for a little longer, move forward slowly, and the road will be opened up.
The above, may you all encourage each other.
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