Welcome to Castos Office Hours, our weekly webinar focused on answering your most pressing podcasting questions live. Everything from gear, launch plans, audience growth, to Castos feature updates, we’re covering it all!
We kicked off the series with a brief presentation about the standard set ups and recording softwares you need to capture polished audio files. Then we dove right into audience questions, going more in-depth on the benefits of republishing your episodes to Youtube and how Castos can help you seamlessly upload your files, we weighed the pros and cons of specific microphones, and gave some insight on how Castos is thinking about premium podcasting subscriptions features.
Check out the full webinar below for every last detail or our summary of what went down.
Gear and Recording Questions
Is it redundant to use a wind sock and pop filter?
While it won’t hurt the recording, we think it’s a bit redundant to use both. We prefer a pop filter over a wind sock when recording our podcast.
Is the Blue Yeti microphone overrated?
Our position is it’s not the best mic for the job. The Yeti a condenser mic so it picks up every piece of background noise as you record your episode, potentially leading to poorer sound quality. However, if you’re recording in a professional sound booth, you may not have as many problems. In our opinion, there are better podcast equipment options at a lower price. Webinar attendees recommended Rode Procaster and Shure SM-57 as other great alternatives.
How can I cut down on the time I’m spending editing my episodes?
The biggest way to reduce editing time is capturing quality audio from the outset. We recommend using markers to signal when you’ve made a mistake so you can find it later in your recording and easily remove them. Webinar attendees couldn’t recommend Auphonic enough, calling it a godsend in saving hundreds of editing hours.
Castos Features and Upcoming Updates
What’s the benefit of republishing podcast episodes to Youtube and how can I upgrade my plan to use this feature on Castos?
Youtube is one of the largest search engines (2nd only to Google!) so there is a big opportunity for new listeners to discover your show on the platform. You also want to meet your current listeners where they already consume podcast content, the less you make them work to tune into your show the better! To use this feature today, you’ll need to upgrade to our Growth plan then follow our instructions on setting up Youtube republishing.
Will Castos have premium or paid subscription features in the future?
Yes! And for those not familiar with this feature, think of it as “membership site functionality for your podcast”. With this, you can charge access to some (or all) of your podcast episodes.
It’s on our roadmap to rollout paid subscription features allowing you to charge for your audience for premium episodes. While we don’t have an exact launch date today, we’re working towards putting together an awesome solution to help you monetize your show. Stay tuned for more details!
Do I need to use both Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin and Castos to host my podcast?
You need a Castos subscription in order to host your audio files on a dedicated server that is not your website server. This is considered to be a general best practice in the podcasting industry. You only need the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin if you use a WordPress website as your show’s home base. If you’re a WordPress user, you can set up your podcast directly from your WordPress dashboard using Seriously Simple Podcasting and your show’s information will automatically be pushed into your Castos dashboard. If you use Seriously Simple Podcasting, we recommend making all of your edits and uploads through the plugin as any edits made on your Castos dashboard won’t be pushed onto your WordPress site.
