With podcasting, you have all it takes to reach millions of listeners. The beauty of podcasting is that anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection can know how to start a podcast on a smartphone or iPad.
It’s quite easy to start, record, edit and publish a podcast from your smartphone. You don’t need tons of equipment to start a podcast or even a fancy studio. That’s why we’ll be helping you get started by exploring the idea of how to start a podcast on your smartphone, an iPhone, or iPad.
There are about 425 million podcast listeners in the world. Now, imagine reaching about 20.3 of internet users right from your smartphone.
In this piece, we will be helping you get started with podcasting from a smartphone. Let’s explore your options on how to start a podcast on a smartphone.
Should You Start a Podcast on Your Smartphone?
There’s always the question of how to start a podcast with a smartphone, but there’s also the angle of whether anyone should start a podcast on a smartphone. The major reason we’ll advise anyone not to start a podcast on a smartphone would be the audio quality issue.
Although there are smartphones with good recording quality, what are the chances that your smartphone will have an excellent audio recording quality? Regardless of your smartphone’s audio recording quality level, it cannot be a match for a proper podcasting microphone.
Did you also know that one of the reasons why podcasts fail is due to poor audio quality? You cannot win as a podcaster with poor audio quality, and you’ll piss off and distract your audience. Your audience will tune you out if the audio quality is terrible. This is likely to happen fast if you rely on your smartphone’s microphone.
Starting a podcast on a smartphone is truly a low-cost option for anyone, but it’s just for you to test the waters. Once you get your feet wet, you should be looking at investing in the right equipment to start a podcast.
There’s nothing bad in starting a podcast on a smartphone as a hobbyist or newbie. However, you will need to grow beyond using your smartphone at a point if you want to make a career out of podcasting.
Tips For Recording a Podcast with a Smartphone
We’ve gathered these tips to help you make the most of starting a podcast on your smartphone. These tips will help you get the best sound possible;
Use an External Microphone
There’s nothing wrong with starting a podcast with your smartphone; you must invest in a detachable podcast microphone. Most of the established podcasters today started podcasting using a smartphone.
While every smartphone has an internal microphone, it cannot record high-quality audio deemed fit for a podcast. In podcasting, audio quality is the focal point.
There’s no better way to improve the quality of your podcast when recording into a smartphone than to use an external microphone. You need to settle for an external microphone that can capture crisp and crystal clear audio while reducing all background noise.
You cannot compare the audio quality from Samsung S20 AOP mic with the premium quality RODE Microphone.
However, investing in the best podcasting microphone is not enough without knowing how to use it. Take time out to learn about the etiquette of using a microphone. This is how you can understand how best to record high-quality audio for your podcast.
Record Your Podcast in a Calm and Quiet Environment
One of the stuff you need to learn on how to start a smartphone is where it’s best to record your podcast. You are not likely to have a studio ambiance, exposing you to all sorts of background noise. This could distract you and, most importantly, your podcast listeners.
This is why it’s best to record your podcast in an environment with minimal noise. A lot of things could find their way into your recording, e.g., traffic noise, air conditioners, fans, and other house appliances.
When recording a podcast on a smartphone, settle for a room with no reflective sound. Recording a podcast in a room with no background plosives increases your chance of being able to record a high audio quality podcast.
Turn off the TV, air conditioner, fans, and other noisy appliances when recording on your smartphone.
Monitor Your Audio With a Headphone While Recording
Just like in a standard studio, you also need to monitor your audio when recording a podcast with a smartphone. This can be done using either a headphone or an earbud.
When recording, you can use a headphone to maintain the quality of your recording. This should also be applicable when you’re editing your podcast. With headphones in place, you will know when background plosives, goofs, and other mistakes could emanate in the course of recording the podcast.
A headphone will pick up more than what you can hear on your own. If you are not monitoring the audio when recording a podcast with your smartphone, you will likely have audio issues that cannot be fixed during editing.
With headphones, you can monitor audio levels, popping sounds, ambiance noise, and other noise that could impact the audio quality.
Record Your Podcast with a Podcast Recording App
With an external microphone and headphones in place, another thing you’ll need will be a podcast recording app. There are numerous recording applications both on the Android and iOS platforms that can be used to record your podcast on a smartphone.
You can use Anchor, Audacity, Google Podcast, Spreaker, and many more. Settle for one that suits your need as a new podcaster.
Prioritize the need for crisp and quality sound when choosing a podcast recording app. The application should also make it easy to share your podcast recording with your podcast hosting platform.
Learn Audio Editing Using a Smartphone
You cannot record a podcast and publish it directly. The podcast recording is still in a raw state until you touch it up and clean it up where necessary. Interestingly, this is also achievable using a smartphone.
There are even podcasting recording apps on your smartphone that also allows you to edit the audio to an extent. When choosing a podcast recording app, you can choose one that will enable you to edit the recorded audio.
However, if the podcast recording app does not have an editing capability, there are smartphone applications that can deliver quality editing.
Final Thought on How to Start a Podcast on a Smartphone
You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to start a podcast on a smartphone. All you will need is your smartphone with a couple of applications.
Don’t let anyone discourage you from starting a podcast on your smartphone. We’ve seen established podcasters do it in the past before switching over to a standard studio. It’s the perfect place for you to start also.
However, you need to get it right with all the nuances and strategies of how to start a podcast on your smartphone. More so, if you can follow these tips, you should be able to produce a high-quality podcast using your smartphone. If you follow the tips, you’ll be close to the professional level of podcasting.
You can also read our 15 Step Guide on How to Start a Podcast
