Track music and sound effects are podcast essentials. Without them, chances are that your podcast will sound really flat and lack the oomph needed to capture your listener’s attention during the entire podcast. Anyone who records podcasts know this and so put much effort in finding the right music and background effects for each episode.

When looking for the perfect music loops to go with your podcast though, make sure that you don’t just pick out music based on what blends well with your current episode. Before anything else, you should make sure that the music you pick is counted as “podsafe music”.

Podsafe music is simply any music or sound byte which license specifically allows its use in podcasting. Note that most of podsafe music you’ll find are distributed the Creative Commons licenses. Check for specific license details, especially as to the form of artist attribution required. Note too that not all music distributed under the Creative Commons licenses allow for commercial purposes, so find out if this is the case.

While you may reckon that a simple sound byte is not really that of a big deal, it is still better to err on the side of caution and not have to worry about being slapped with a lawsuit in the future. You also don’t always have to search for podsafe music every single time you record podcasts anyway since editing software usually come with a good selection of free/built-in sound effects. However, for those special music tracks and sound bytes, make sure that you only use podsafe music.

Image via PodSafe Twitter Account

Live interviews are best done face-to-face, but realistically speaking this is not possible at all times. Most of the time you won’t be able to get an interview not just because your prospective interviewee is unwilling, but because of logistic problems and time constraints. Doing an interview online via Skype is the perfect work around in such cases, eliminating the need for meet ups and allowing you to do the interview any time of the day.

If you plan on doing an online interview for your video podcast via Skype, here are some tips to ensure that you get the best interview quality:

• Choose a good call recorder – You can not record your video chats on Skype without using a special recording app/tool. Some tools you might want to check out include the Call Recorder (Mac), Total Recorder (Windows), Audio Hijack, PowerGramo, and the Pamela Recorder (Mac and Windows). Some of the apps have free versions although pro-versions usually range from $20 to $50.
• Test audio levels and video quality before starting  - Make sure you test both the audio levels and video quality of both you and your interviewee before doing the actual interview. Turn off your speakers while recording the interview and rely on earbud earphones instead. The last thing you want is to get feedback and echos and have to redo parts of the interview or have a tough time editing the whole thing.
• Practice where you look – If you don’t practice where you look while recording your video interview, chances are that you’ll end up looking everywhere, which isn’t too nice to watch. Look at the camera only or at your interviewees video display.

Image via eCamm