80: How to Get a Job Producing Podcasts

Cool Stuff to Check Out: podjobs.net Without Fail: Ira Glass: The Man Who Launched a Thousand Podcasts (That Gimlet podcast interview I mentioned, real good) Most Jobs Don't Have An Official Job Posting Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. - Anton Ego, Ratatouille The best jobs are never advertised. - Unknown The jobs I linked to in that Twitter thread just the ones I found easily on job boards with a quick Google search. I know there are more podcasting jobs that aren't being shared on job boards because I've landed a few of them myself over the past 5 years, and that was before the big podcasting boom of 2017. Podcasting is still a relatively new field, and many people, companies, and brands are only now beginning to think about starting a podcast. They might want to hire someone to produce a podcast, but they may not know how to put together a job posting, or they may not want to. They might not know which skills are required or what kind of person they need to hire in order to end up with a good podcast. This is a time of opportunity for motivated podcast producers at all levels. Q: If I want to be a professional podcast producer, what do I need to know and be good at? I took a look at the job postings again to get a sense of the most commonly listed skills and requirements, and here's what I think are the essential skills for podcast producers. Essential Skills for Podcast Producers: Content creation and direction: You should have experience developing shows and episode content, writing scripts and stories, participating in brainstorming sessions, etc Audio recording and editing: You should know how to record audio that sounds good, how to put a project together and edit it in audio software, how to write narration (if necessary), add music, mix and master, and whatever else the production requires Working well with others: You should be able to work with—and possibly manage—producers, writers, audio engineers, editors, freelancers, guests, and so on Ability to work under deadlines: You can get stuff done and shipped on schedule (time management skills) Proactive problem-solving skills: There's going to be stuff they don't know, stuff you don't know, so you should be able and willing to figure it out Leadership skills: This means you have opinions and taste and are comfortable with setting goals and identifying how you'll measure success Q: What if I don't have all those skills yet? That's ok, I didn't have all those skills when I started producing podcasts either, and I'm still working on getting better at all of them. Study those podcast producer job postings for insights into what you should study, but remember that you don't need to be a master of everything to produce a great podcast, and the best producers are always learning on the job anyways. The important thing is to have a firm grasp on the basics and a willingness to work hard, experiment, take feedback and criticism, and keep learning. But since this is a prescriptive advice podcast, here are a few things I believe you should focus on if you want to increase your chances of landing a job producing podcasts. How to Increase Your Chance of Landing a Job Producing Podcasts 1. Learn everything you can about recording and working with audio Study all the various options for capturing audio in studio and live environments: Microphones, audio interfaces, soundboards, etc. Practice recording with different gear and in different locations. Learn how the gear and the room or environment changes the sound of a recording. Learn everything you can about how to manipulate and work with audio once it's been recorded. Learn about editing and post-production: EQ, compression, noise removal, limiting, and loudness metering. Learn how to organize and share your audio files, and how to backup and archive your finished projects. You can learn the basics in a few hours, but mastering recording and working with audio is a life-long project. That might sound intimidating, but I promise that it's actually a lot of fun (doing the same thing every day sucks). 2. Learn pro audio software like ProTools, Logic Pro X, or Audition Many people get started with podcasting using the free or easy tools like GarageBand or Audacity, but if you want to be a powerhouse podcast producer, you should acquire and master a professional DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like ProTools, Logic Pro X, or Audition. While it's true that you can make a successful podcast with almost any editing program, the professional DAWs have useful (maybe even essential) features that the free or cheap DAWs don't, including non-destructive and multitrack editing and other features for tweaking or enhancing audio once it's been recorded. Professional production studios and other podcast producers are also likely using the one or more of these pro DAWs, so if you're serious about producing podcasts, try to master at least one of the three DAWS I