Transcript
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This is Podcasting where I'm on a quest to conquer the podcasting realm,
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and I'm bringing you along for the journey to help you achieve your own podcasting success.
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In this episode, we're diving into how I created this.
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This is Curiosity Overload, the podcast where we dive deep into the most fascinating and
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unexpected topics that ignite our curiosity and, well, we just have some fun.
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Let's dive in to today's episode.
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Before we jump in, quick update. PodQuesting has a brand new website at, you guessed it,
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podquesting.com. I'm testing out PodPage, a website platform built specifically for podcasters.
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One cool feature is it offers the ability for listeners to leave voice mails, so if you have
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any questions or comments and want to be featured on this show, head over to podquesting.com and
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leave me a message. Now back to the topic at hand, podcast intros are arguably one of the most
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important parts of your show. They set the tone and hook your audience right from the start.
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If your intro doesn't give listeners a clear idea of what the podcast is about, or at least
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establish the vibe, you risk turning people away. Some podcasters believe you don't need a standard
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intro with background music or sound effects, and honestly I agree, a simple hook can work wonders
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whether it's a brief topic overview or a teaser from the episode. But here's the thing, I'm pretty
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biased, I love creating intros with music and sound effects, so let's walk through how I created
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the intro for a podcast that's in development that I'm doing with step one. Alright, so step one is
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crafting the script. The first step in creating any intro is scripting. I have a simple formula
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I like to follow. It's like the ingredients for a spell that brings your podcast to life.
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Here's how it goes, so start with a phrase like, this is, welcome to, or you're listening to.
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This is, follow that with the podcast name, for example, this is Curiosity Overload or welcome to
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Curiosity Overload. This is Curiosity Overload. After introducing this show, the next step is to
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briefly describe what the podcast is about. For a show like Curiosity Overload, which covers a wide
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variety of topics, I kept it broad without giving too much away. Originally the script for Curiosity
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Overload was, this is Curiosity Overload, a podcast where we dive deep into the topics that spark our
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curiosity. But as I recorded the voiceover, things evolved, which is pretty common for me at least.
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Now let's dive into step two, which is recording the voiceover. So once I had the script, I recorded
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multiple takes, experimenting with different tones and word emphasis. Then came the audio production,
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which includes, you know, normalization, compression, limiting, and all that fun stuff, until I got
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something like this. This is Curiosity Overload, the podcast where we dive deep into the most
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fascinating and unexpected topics that ignite our curiosity, and well, we just have some fun.
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Let's dive in to today's episode. Now step three is adding background music. This step often blends
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with the recording process for me, because I like to experiment with background music while recording.
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If you're looking for music like the kind I use here, check out PixBay or similar sites that offer
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public domain media under Creative Commons licenses. And the best part is they are free, so check those
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out. There are definitely some good options there. PixBay for instance has, as well as music, sound
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effects, images, and videos that are all public domain. And so you can use those freely, which is
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pretty awesome, so definitely check that out. For this intro, I wanted an upbeat tone, so I found a
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track that was called Intro Fun, which obviously kind of makes sense, but it really did work. I
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didn't know if it was going to, based off the title. So here's the background music all by itself.
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All right, so now that I have the background music and the recording done, we are into step four,
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which is mixing the voiceover and the music. So next I focused on making the voiceover stand out
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over the background music. This involves lowering the music's volume, gain, and using a tool in
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Audacity, which is the DAW that I use. It is a free option if you are not using Audacity and you're
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looking for a free audio editor, definitely check out Audacity. And so I use a tool on there called
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the Envelope Tool. Now this tool lets you control the track's volume over time, so you can make the
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music louder at the start and then fade it down when the voiceover begins. Then when the voiceover
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ends, you can raise the music back up. It is a really cool tool that they offer on Audacity.
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So here's an example of before and after I use the Envelope Tool. All right, so once I use the
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Envelope Tool and I've created more of a balance between the voiceover and the background music,
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we are at step five, which is adding sound effects. Now at this point I liked the intro,
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but it needed something extra. That's sound effects, so I tested a few different ones,
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but eventually I found the perfect effect, and after experimenting with it, I decided it sounded
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best at the beginning of the intro, which added a bit of magic to the whole thing. I actually try
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it first at the end of the intro, which worked, but didn't have the same ring to it, the same magic
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as it did when I put it at the front. So you kind of want to experiment with the sound effects and
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the background music and really just enjoy the creative process. Now that's the process I use
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to create this intro, and I could honestly spend all day creating podcast intros. I really enjoy
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making them and the creativity that goes into it and just kind of trying different things and
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experimenting with different music and tones and sound effects, and so I really enjoy doing that.
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So hopefully walking you through this process was helpful. One final tip, if you want to add a touch
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of professionalism to your podcast, you can consider using a different voice for your intro. So there
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are plenty of options. You can hire a voiceover artist on Fiverr, or you could try swapping
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intros with someone from the podcasting community, which I think is an awesome idea. I've seen people
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on Reddit ask for intro swaps, and I think that is a great idea. So if you go on a sub right, like
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podcasting, you can see those posts that I'm talking about where people are asking for podcast
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intros swaps, which is a really cool idea. And I think that you should definitely check that out.
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If you're working on your own intro and need a fresh voice, feel free to reach out to me through
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podquesting.com. I'd be happy to help the community for free. I enjoy doing these intros, and I would
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love to help you guys out. So feel free to reach out to me again on podquesting.com. That's it for
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this episode of podcasting. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on your favorite podcast
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platform of choice, and we'll see you in the next episode. Good luck on your quest. Until next time.
