S1E7 - Does podcast sound quality really matter?
My cohost says content is king and people will listen no matter what!
Hello. I’m Jason Rigden and you are listening to the Podcasting Questions Podcast. This is the show that answers your podcasting questions in under 5 minutes per episode.
Herbie from Baton Rouge, Louisiana asks,
Does sound quality really matter? My cohost says content is king and people will listen no matter what!
This is a tough question. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and transmitted that line about one step for mankind, the sound quality was awful. But nobody cares because it is incredibly compelling. It was a recording by the first human stepping on the moon. Herbie, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guest that you are not making episodes as compelling as the moon landing. That’s okay. The standards for podcasts are much lower. But remember, when folks are listening to you, they are choosing to not listen to something else.
At any moment, the listener may change their mind and just skip your show. Bad audio quality is annoying, and it can make it hard to understand the folks talking. Having the volume too high or too low is bad. Having too much noise or reverberation is bad. There are all kinds of bad audio. If the bad audio is bad enough people will start to think about skipping your show. You are making your audience make a decision. Is this content worth listening to this bad audio?
The answer will almost always be no. You need to be producing extraordinarily compelling content for folks to listen to bad audio. And the fact is, you are not making extraordinarily compelling content. You might think you are but you are not. A big part of being a creator is loving your own work while also being honest about it.
And this is a problem we run into often in podcasting. Being honest and realistic about your show is hard. You are never going to be completely objective about your own show, but you should try.
So, you need to be honest about why you are doing your podcast. Are you doing the show for yourself or for the audience?
This is a fundamental question that every podcaster must answer. Are you doing the show for yourself or for the audience?
If you are just doing the show for yourself, then don’t worry about audio quality. All that matters having a good time making the show. But you are not going to have many listeners.
If your priority is the audience, then your audio quality must be good. All that matters is the experience of the listeners. But you are going to have to do more work.
So, it is up to you. Which style of show do you want to do? Are you doing the show for yourself or for the audience?
If your priority is the audience, then your audio quality must be good. All that matters is the experience of the listeners. But you are going to have to do more work.
So, it is up to you. Which style of show do you want to do? Are you doing the show for yourself or for the audience?
It is okay to just do a show for the enjoyment of yourself and your cohosts. Just don’t expect anyone to listen. Don’t even look at your stats. Just have fun.
It is also okay to do a show that prioritizes the audience. Just know that it will not be as fun to produce. There will be much more work to do and sometimes it just will not be fun. But that is because you are doing the show for your audience. They are your priority. You kinda work for them. Show stats and feedback will be vital to your show.
Are you doing the show for yourself or for the audience? When you answer that question, you’ll know if audio quality matters for your podcast.