Tech Help for Churches — Podcasting Equipment and the Stages of Production


On today’s Tech Help for Churches, podcasting equipment and the stages of production

Podcast Equipment
The equipment you use depends on whether it’s an audio podcast or one that includes video and the format.

Let’s start with audio. You’ll need editing software, a modern (2010 or later) computer, a microphone, headphones, and maybe an external recorder.

For a video podcast, you need a camera, video editing software, lights or a sunny day, a set (where you shoot), and perhaps (if you’re doing it live) a switcher, graphics generation software, and a way to record the live video.

Video is much more difficult than audio, so don’t be too ambitious too soon.

The stages of production
For any production, there are three distinct phases you go through. Each minute you spend well in the preceding stage, saves you more in the next stage.

Plan everything during preproduction. Collect the equipment you need. Recruit talent. Find a set or location, etc.

During production, you actually do what you’ve planned. If you haven’t planned well, you might need to reshoot things that you didn’t know to shoot or you might miss important details that you need to fix later. Allocate enough time for this. Few productions will be shorter than the final product (unless the shoot is just a tiny part of the whole). Most will be longer. Some are exponentially longer. Plan for that.

Post production is where you put it all together and deliver it. My editing is limited to a few minutes of trimming off the beginning of my recording. That’s because I shoot live-to-tape or live-to-HardDrive. Most postproduction takes at least twice the final length, but it’s not unusual to take an hour per finished minute or longer. A movie would take much longer. A commercial might be done in a half hour to hour.

These ideas are fleshed out in my book Podcasting Church. Get your copy at http://bit.ly/podcastchurch.

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