Podcast Stockton turns 1 year old

I just finished watching Matt Beckwith (aka @PGHMatt) and Rod Villagomez (aka @rjvillagomez) record the 29th episode of Podcast Stockton.  On Feb 28th, 2010, the podcast will be a year old.

They make it look so easy.  Segment after segment, they would briefly discuss their topic then hit the record button and have a natural conversation without any script.  I was thinking to myself, “how can they be working without a script?”  But then I realised that when you’ve been doing something for a year difficult tasks start to become  natural. 

They have developed a very professional one-hour format that works well.  During the time that I was watching, I was astounded by the consistency of their voice levels and how well they worked with each other.

While I was there, I got a chance to record a stinger, a short intro of the announcer and a reminder about the show being listened to.  This being my first time, I had it written down, so I wouldn’t forget.  They had me record the phrase 3 times with a pause in between.  “This is Wes from MrWes.Net. You’re watching Podcast Stockton.”  I was a little anxious at first, but now that I look back at it, there was nothing to be afraid of.

I’m not ready to take the plunge yet, but seeing Matt and Rod having so much fun, I can see myself possibly podcasting someday.  The part I didn’t get to see was all the editing that takes place after everything is recorded.  After the recording is done, Matt gets to do 3 more hours of work.  He double checks the sequences and the fade-in and fade-out levels.  Then the show is processed into audio files for podcasting.  He does one final verification that the audio quality is there, then he uploads the podcast to the server.

I never knew how much work goes into creating a podcast.  Now I have a much better understanding about what goes on behind the scenes.