Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. In today’s episode, we’re going to go back to the basics and chat all about podcast terminology.
If you’re new to the podcasting world, some of these terms might be unfamiliar to you so I wanted to provide you with an episode where we dive into all the basic terms and their meanings so you know exactly what we’re talking about.
Podcast Terminology 101
This isn’t a completely exhaustive list but I tried to include the terms I think you absolutely need to know as a new podcaster.
If you’re not new to podcasting, I recommend skipping this episode and joining me again next week.
- Podcast host – A podcast host is similar to a website host. You use it to distribute your episodes to places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts just to name a few. Post production – Post production is what takes place after the episode has been recorded so things like editing, shownotes creation, etc. all happen in the post-production process. Podcast RSS feed – What allows users to subscribe to that podcast in order to listen to it without visiting the exact website where it is located. DAW – This stands for digital audio workstation. It’s basically software used for recording, editing, and producing audio files.
- Condenser mic – A condenser microphone is the preferred mic for studio recording. The yeti mic is a condenser microphone.
Dynamic mic – The Samson Q2U is a dynamic microphone. Dynamic mics are great for podcasting and preferred if you have a noisy room or loud co-hosts or you have multiple mic setups.
Microphone Gain – Volume of sound being transferred into your system. You may hear people say that you need to adjust your gain.
Pop filter – Reduce the effect of plosive thumps by disrupting and/or diverting high energy air away from a microphone’s diaphragm aka basically helps make your Ps not sound so harsh.
Standard intro – This is the intro that you run every episode before diving into the content.
Standard outro – This runs right after the episode content and usually directs people to leave a review and take further action whether that’s engaging with you on social media or joining your email list.
Metadeta or ID3 tags – Metadata container used to store information about an MP3 file within the audio file itself.
Mixdown – This is the final edited version of your episode including all the necessary elements.
Split tracks – This is when you record on two separate tracks rather than one. It makes editing a lot easier since you can manipulate the tracks separately.
Wav file – This is an uncompressed file and usually what we edit our clients’ podcasts in.
Mp3 file – This is what I recommend using for your final files as it’s a more compressed file.
Directories – A directory would be something like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, etc.
Podcast distribution – You can use your host (Libsyn, Buzzsprout, etc) to distribute your podcast to all the different podcast directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.
Serial podcast – This is a podcast that should be listened to in a very specific order as each episode builds upon the previous one. Some examples of this are Serial and Up and Vanished which are both true crime podcasts that dive into a specific crime.
Episodic podcast – This is a podcast that you can listen to in absolutely any order that you’d like because the episodes don’t have a specific listening order.
Ads:
Ad sponsorship – A traditional ad sponsorship is where you are being paid to share about a product or service on your podcast. The advertiser will usually have guidelines on the length, where they want the ad to be inserted, what talking points they want you to cover, and more.
Pre-roll ad – This is an ad segment that happens before your show begins. It can be before your standard intro or before you dive into the actual episode content.
Mid-roll ad – A mid-roll ad is an ad segment that is inserted into the middle of your episode. I personally find these ads to be the most effective for getting your listeners to take action.
Post-roll ad – This ad segment occurs after your content.
Self-hosted ads – A self-hosted ad is essentially ads about your own products and services.
Dynamically inserted ads – This is a piece of audio (referred to as the ‘creative’ from here) that is recorded and produced separately from a podcast episode. The creative is ‘stitched’ into the podcast episode file at the time of download when the ad targeting conditions are met.
Related Episodes:
5 Mistakes People Make When Launching a Podcast
Ep. 162 | How to Promote Your Podcast Launch
Okay, I know that was a ton but I hope you learned some new podcast terminology. If this episode was helpful, Shoot me a DM on Instagram and let me know.