Podcasting Course for Beginners

What you'll learn

Learn how to start a podcast with our video short courses in Sydney!

Right now, the ability to make professional-quality recordings has never been easier. What’s your story? Why do you want to podcast? Maybe you want to make an audiobook, create a radio series, record family and friends or add some narration/voice-over to your videos. In this podcasting course, you will learn how to plan a recording, set up your equipment and use professional software to record, edit and enhance your recordings to share with the world.

Whether for personal use or to kickstart a career this podcasting course is designed to be practical, easy and fun and will take you from an idea to a well-structured show, book, series or voiceover all in a 2-day Podcasting course! Tell the world your story, explore your passions and build your listening community!

Learning outcomes

By the end of this podcasting course, you should be able to:

• Understand correct microphone usage & set correct sound levels for recording
• Understand optimal recording environments & troubleshoot in less than optimal environments
• Record quality audio using a DAW and audio software
• Fix common audio flaws such as background noise from your recordings
• Edit audio recordings and export in various audio formats

Course content

What will be covered in this podcasting course?

Day 1: Introduction to Podcasting (6 hours) Pre-Production

Session 1: Understanding Podcasting Basics (1 hour)

• What is a podcast?
• Genres and types of podcasts
• The market (ears)
  • Popular podcasts
  • Length
  • Language
  • Platforms
• What do you listen to?
• Why start a podcast?
• What are your goals? What do you want out this effort?

Session 2: Identifying Your Niche and Audience (1 hour)

• Choosing a podcast topic or niche
• Defining your target audience
• Researching existing podcasts in your niche

Session 3: Planning Your Podcast (1.5 hours)

• Feasibility (time, space, resources, will, talent, F&F audience)
• Structuring episodes: formats, segments, and episode length
• Planning content and episodes
• Talent and your format

Session 4: Creating compelling content (1.5 hours)

• What is the story? Fiction or nonfiction, you need a hook
• Understanding storytelling and narrative in podcasting
• Interviewing skills and techniques
• Writing for the ear: scripts and conversational language

Session 5: Equipment and Recording Techniques (1.5 hours)

• Essential podcasting equipment (microphones, headphones, recording software)

Day 2: Production and Post-Production (6 hours)

Session 6: Recording (1 hour)

• Recording best practices
• Direct demonstration and practice session
• Your voice – vocal techniques
• Voice talent and talent management

Session 7: Editing and Sound Design (1 hour)

• Introduction to editing software (Audacity – it’s free)
• Basic editing techniques
• Adding music and sound effects
• intros, outros

Session 8: Publishing Your Podcast (1 hour)

• Choosing a hosting platform
• Uploading episodes
• Creating podcast artwork and metadata

Session 9: Building a Brand and Marketing Strategies (1.5 hours)

• Branding your podcast (logo, thumbnail)
• Marketing strategies and promotion
• Show Notes
• Using social media and other channels to grow your audience

Session 10: Monetization and Business Aspects (1 hour)

• Monetization options (sponsorships, crowdfunding, Patreon, merchandise)
• Understanding analytics and measuring success
• Legal and business considerations

Session 11: Q&A and Review (0.5 hours)

• Open floor for questions and clarifications
• Recap of key points and takeaways
• Feedback on individual podcast concepts or plans
• Next steps and resources

Intended audience

Who is this podcasting course for?

This course is for beginners, and would appeal to anyone interested in starting a podcast, small business owners, writers, and journalists looking for a new medium to share their work, and anyone interested in learning how to record and edit basic audio for distribution.

Course Venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd on the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class

• 3.5mm connection headphones (no AirPods)
• A portable storage device for taking home finished recordings (optional)

Additional information

Please note the following:

This Podcasting course runs in our computer lab, fitted with 27-inch Apple computers as well as Dell computers running the Windows operating system.