Podcast Evaluation

We were tasked with making a documentary styled podcast, myself deciding to do a topic on "The Difference Between the UK and Portugal."

Through the process of creating the podcast, I learnt how to uses Tascams to record audio and that you need to be in a quiet environment to pick up the most of the person's voice as possible. I also learnt how to edit audio in Adobe Audition, giving me some experience with this program for future reference. I also learnt how to interview professionally, taking in some research I did and applying it to my script and how I asked the guest questions.

The recording process went well, not needing to stop the recording. If we messed up, we would leave a gap before repeating the sentence so it became easier to edit later on. I did provide her with the questions beforehand which made the recording even smoother, reducing the amount of silence and making the whole process a lot easier. We recorded more than five minutes, meaning I had more audio to work with so I wouldn't run out of content and could remove some. Editing was a simple process because of how we recorded it, myself being able to delete some audio and for it to still make sense.

I believe that our voices sounded professional and weren't boring. We tried to speak professionally but also casual, bringing in a laugh now and again. We didn't speak in monotone and tried to change the tone of our voices to make it sound more interesting. Overall, I believe this part of the podcast went well. I believe that my guest was very professional, providing myself and the audience with much information that we didn't know before in a very professional and interesting way.

The topic could've been more exciting for the audience but I do believe it works for one podcast. This believe this as you can learn the differences, expanding your knowledge of culture. If the audience are neither British or Portuguese, they will gain even more information. My podcast is much more informative than entertaining, meaning the topic could become boring over time. I tried to make the podcast more endearing by speaking about different things that were included under the topic of culture.

I made sure that there was audio at all time, avoiding any dead space with quiet background music to keep the audience entertained. I also tried to make the audio flow naturally so the audience feel that they are a part of the conversation, making the podcast more interesting to them.

The worst problem that I encountered was that the Tascam picked up a lot of background audio, creating random noises through the editing process that I couldn't remove because they were under someone speaking. These noises were created by the movement we were doing, meaning that I now know to sit as still as possible so the noises do not complicate the final process.

Another problem was finding the correct sound effects for the transitions, myself resorting to the bell noise. Although it is not perfect, it was the best that I could find to fit with the atmosphere my podcast gives off. This could be resolved by researching more sounds or by creating a different atmosphere for the podcast overall. Either way, it is something I shall remember in the future.

If I could improve this project, I would make sure the ambiance in the background isn't so loud and would try and make the audio levels sound better. Although they are edited correctly, I feel that they could be slightly better and that I could remove the random pops throughout the audio. If I was to make a second podcast, I would make sure to do this and to make the podcast sound more professional overall.

Overall, I think that the podcast went well and there are some things that I could improve on. I am overly happy with this first attempt of this podcast and know what I could do to make it better in the future.