The Tech You Need To Run Your Podcast In 2024

Starting a podcast is easy, but maintaining one successfully over the long term is much more challenging. The amount of podcast tools and technology can be overwhelming, and when added to your business's existing software expenses, the costs can quickly add up.

For this exact reason, I want to share the software that my team and I have used as of February 2024 to create high-converting podcasts for ourselves and our clients. This is by no means an end-all-be-all list. Various podcast experts may recommend different tools so let's get into it!

Planning Your Episodes

We have to start with the software that keeps the whole thing running smoothly and on time. That's AirTable. 

I use AirTable as a content management and project management tool. We keep track of everything from episode ideas all the way to show notes and episode live links. If we ever need to reference a previous episode topic or previously gathered information, Airtable allows for easy navigation. It is especially useful for keeping track of multiple shows with different deadlines as well. 

In addition to Airtable, the classic Google Docs and Google Drive platforms come into use. We use this for script revisions with clients. Final scripts are placed in there and revisions are tracked pretty easily. In turn, Google Drive is where we keep the raw episode files, final episodes, and all the social media clips pulled from each episode.

Recording Episodes

After episode content is planned and deadlines are set, it is time to record. 

While my team and I record on a Rodecaster or other interface, we also like to have a recording going straight into GarageBand so we always have a backup file already on a computer.

Riverside is my preferred software for remote recordings due to its superior quality and functionality compared to Zoom or Google Meet. If you are doing guest or case study-style episodes, Riverside is your best bet. While I don't personally use their editing or clipping features, they are great tools if you are DIYing your show and want to maximize repurposing ability.

Editing Audio

After you have planned and recorded your episodes, the next step is to edit them.

The Adobe Suite is our expensive partner in crime. I do pay for a full access subscription since I have a use for almost every one of their products, but for most podcasters paying for just Audition and Premiere Pro as stand-alones is great.

You can also try Audacity as a free alternative.

All audio for intros, outros, episodes, and ad spots gets edited in Audition. All video episodes and short-form clips for social media get edited in Premiere Pro.

If you're not doing video yet, and you still want Audiograms, I'm a fan of Headliner. It's simple to use and customize when combined with a CANVA subscription for the backgrounds. All the shows we work on have video so this isn't currently something we pay for, but I have used it in the past and enjoyed it.

Personally, AI tools for editing short-form clips are not yet ideal. More time is often spent fixing the videos than would be spent creating them manually. With that said, the next time you see me do a software breakdown that might change due to their software updates.

While many may prefer it, I'm a Descript hater - I believe it to be unnecessarily clunky when you are already familiar with editing tools. Especially now that Premiere also has some transcript editing capabilities.

Frame.io is now an Adobe product as well and I use it to do remote episode revisions and approvals. I heard about this years ago through Vanessa Lau and it changed my whole workflow. I don't have to do any annoying uploading, downloading, and email revision notes. With Frame.io, I can communicate with my editors what areas to look at again and clients can do one-click approvals, saving time for audio and video edits.

Show Notes For Episodes

Now moving on to show notes or episode descriptions. I write them inside AirTable and we have a formula for putting them together from our episode scripts for solo episodes.

Again, since we do word-for-word scripting for solo episodes, I don't always use it for those. But they are amazing for guest episodes or longer shows where you want help getting to the heart of the message.

Visuals for Elevating Your Podcast

As an online business owner, visuals are essential to catch potential customers’ attention. To help do just that, CANVA Pro is my user-friendly and efficient go-to option. 

Specifically for podcasting, I use it to create YouTube Thumbnails and episode promotion graphics for social platforms. All my clients get custom-designed CANVA templates to promote their episodes and designs we create for them every week.

Distribution platform:

After all your hard work in planning and creating your podcast, it is time to release it to the public on distribution platforms. We have tried several podcast hosting platforms. Visible with Isa Media Inc is currently hosted on Spotify for Podcasters but we will be switching soon for deeper analytics and customization.

Analytics

Finally, in terms of analytics, we use Google Analytics to track website clicks from the show notes of each episode so that we can measure the ROI of this show and our client's shows.

Podcast production comes with many intricate, moving parts, but hopefully, this helps! 

And if you don't want to have to worry about learning, managing, and paying for all of this software yourself, know that your show is ready for the next level. I encourage you to book a call with me to discuss further on how I can help your podcast!