You’re not NPR for goodness’ sake

This past week Podcast Artistry™ client Ariane Sommer (host of the outstanding Superhumanize podcast which I highly recommend checking out) sent over some material to put into the podcast sausage factory we’ve honed and fine-tuned with a great deal of success and efficiency.

Upon downloading the files, entering the interview into the template and giving it a cursory listen, I realized her audio wasn’t quite the standard to which I’d become accustomed.

“Ariane, you sound like you’re speaking into a pillow,” I very diplomatically said to her via WhatsApp.

“I know, I recorded it on a different laptop and wasn’t thrilled with it myself but let’s roll with it.”

That in so many words was her reply.

And that’s absolutely the right way to go.

I see way too many podcasters get distraught when their audio, their studio setup, their this and that isn’t perfect, when it doesn’t perform to the level of an NPR or Joe Rogan.

And the maxim “you can’t polish a turd” holds true to podcast interviews too.

But let’s keep things in perspective.

When an individual, a solopreneur, whatever the case may be starts a podcast, I think it’s a noble venture in its own right.

And I truly believe that when the content is outstanding, less than stellar audio is always forgivable to those listening to it.

Ariane, our subject for today’s lesson, has nothing to worry about in that regard as it seems every person she interviews remarks that she’s among the best interviews they’ve ever done – and these are people who do a ton of interviews.

So when things aren’t optimal, you roll with it.

Ariane does her interviews on a laptop with a USB mic attached. Is it going to sound like NPR? No, and who would expect it to?

I maintain that a solopreneur recording in their coat closet can sound 95% as good as NPR, Rogan, name the top broadcasters today, at 1% of the cost of doing business.

That’s because the tech has improved to that extent. When Sana and I do a podcast together, we sound like we’re in the same room, but I’m using my Shure SM57 mic, and she a Sharper Image USB mic I paid $20 for at Ollie’s.

The sound quality matters, but so does the content. Buying a new mic is a quick fix. Preparing adequately to provide informative, inspiring and entertaining content? It takes years of personal development, going through the school of hard knocks, etc.

At the end of the day, yes sound quality matters, but time spent honing interview skills, watching YouTube’s of great interviewers, doing some deep thinking regarding the purpose and message one wants their show to bring to the world is time far better spent than shopping for gear, buying the right mixer, the perfect mic, etc.

It’s not the tool, it’s the one using it.