Podcast production cost?

jrey1981

Have an idea in mind and looking for a rough idea of how much it costs to produce, say a half-hour podcast.

Am guessing you need the following

small studio...?
mikes for the people in the discussion
a digital means of recording
means of editing the recording if necessary
somewhere to store it online from where it can be downloaded

Anyone know how much it costs?

flogen

Here's what I'd suggest to keep the cost down:

Do you have a computer/laptop with a line/mic-in plug? If so, that's the first thing sorted... secondly get Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) and you have yourself a decent and free audio editing programme... now... a studio is optional and the cost of mics can vary depending on what you're looking for, the cheapest solution would be to get involved with a nearby community radio station; it's a good way to get to grips with radio, a good way to bulk up your CV (if you want to) and a good way to get access to studios/mics/equipment (I'm not saying go there and take advantage, but it might be something worth doing if you haven't already). If you're only planning on doing this as a once off you obviously won't want to spend too much, so there's no point in buying a load of good mics for one use... maybe get in touch with some local stations (commercial or community) about renting their studio, could be cheaper than you'd think...
Now, depending on their recording equipment you could record the show on a computer and transfer it from their set up to your own computer (via usb drive, ipod etc.) or you may have to record it onto a media like MD or Cassette... if you get it as a computer file you can put it straight onto your computer and get to work editing, if you have it on a tape you can use a lead to record it from a tape/md player to your pc via the line in lead... save it as an mp3 and away you go.
There are also sites that allow the free hosting of podcasts... go a google on it.. of course if you do decide to have complete control you can get cheap hosting packages from the likes of godaddy etc.

So if you work it right, get free access to a studio and have the right computer already you could do it all for free...

jrey1981

thanks for that flogen. It is just an idea still at the conceptual stage at the moment, and it helps to know that it can be done for free with the right contacts and bits and pieces.

In practice, I guess it is going to cost a few quid.

Will see where my idea goes (if anywhere) and take it from there...

mneylon

The IIA's most recent talks included one by Brian Greene from Doop which covered a lot of this. There's a podcast available for it

I got some very good recommendations when I mentioned podcasting a while back:

http://www.mneylon.com/blog/archives/2006/03/18/podcasting-equipment/

projectmayhem

like was said, podcasting costs can vary depending on what you want. you can easily rig together a few cheap mics and some free editing software (audacity as linked above is great). you can go "high end", too. get a €200+ Shure mic and stick it in the middle of the "round table" and use that.

or, visit a community station (i believe 1 or 2 of the boards.ie podcasts were done in nearFMs studio), or even a college (ballyfermot have a studio afaik)

also, i'd like to table the motion that podcast be renamed to zencast