Talking is an art and hosting a podcast is an extension of that art. To make an effective podcast there are some things that you should remember when recording.

One of the most common pitfalls of beginner podcasters is talking too quickly. You should watch how you pace your talk when you do your podcast. Talking at a fast pace usually happens when you’ve done a run through of your material a few times. The familiarity with what you’re going to say may result in you trying to “breeze” through the whole show. Slow down. Give yourself the opportunity to actually take a breath and check how fast you’re going.

You will also have a tendency to speed up when you are tense. The whole podcasting setup with the microphone, headphones and hearing yourself talk is quite a strange experience that not everyone will be immediately used to. Try to do relaxation exercises before recording. Avoid caffeine which can make you more tense. You will also usually get tense when you put such high expectations on your performance. Remember that practice makes perfect and it is the rare person who takes to podcasting like duck to water. Take comfort in the fact that there is also a learning curve here and that you will continually improve as long as you take note of what aspects you should improve on.

You may have gotten the best possible microphone to help you improve your podcast but it will just be a waste of money if you don’t practice good microphone technique when recording your podcasts.

Probably the cardinal rule of audio recording is position. By properly positioning yourself to the mic you can achieve better clarity with the recording. The general rule is to have a hand’s width distance between your mouth and the microphone. In order to make this easy, you can actually use your hand to determine the proper distance. Place your thumb to your lips and your pinky finger on the mic, this is the ideal space. The distance is quite enough to get some bass from the proximity effect generated by the mic but still not close enough that you’re practically millimeters away from the mic.

Positioning relative to the microphone will also help in making clearer recordings. Try to place the mic slightly above your head off to either the left or right at a 45 degree angle. The elevation will help in cutting down mouth noise and the angling will lessen the so-called plosives, which are the bursts of air you produce when pronouncing consonants like “p” or “b”. Placing the mic directly would mean it will directly catch those powerful bursts that result in popping noises. One way to eliminate plosives is by putting a small screen in between you and microphone. You can even make these screens, called popstoppers, on your own.