How do I find a podcast producer?

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Making a world-class podcast takes a village! When you press that play button on your phone, you may not quite realize how much went into creating the episode you’re about to enjoy. Behind a successful production there’s a whole army of producers, audio engineers, customer success managers, marketing experts, video creators, and of course the hosts and guests that make the magic happen on-air.  One of the most important stakeholders in any podcast production is the lead podcast producer. “Producer” means many different things in different contexts, but in podcasting the Producer is typically the primary person responsible for coordinating, managing, and sometimes executing all aspects of the production. There are several ways to find a great podcast producer, but it can take a lot of time and energy to find the one that’s right for your production. One of the best ways to find the right producer is to work directly with a podcast production agency who has already done the legwork of scouting, vetting, and training highly skilled and professional producers.

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What does a podcast producer do?

Podcast producers sit at the center of the podcast creation process. Podcast producers work to achieve the goals of three main stakeholders on every show they produce: the client, the audience, and the guests. The producer’s job is to ensure the show is serving the needs of the client and the audience. In other words, creating compelling content that the audience enjoys, while also achieving specific business outcomes for the client. 

Podcast producers also work closely with each podcast guest to make sure they have a 5-star guest experience. That means a professional and seamless process from scheduling to recording to promotion, as well as a final product that tells their story in a way they’re proud to share with friends, family, and colleagues. The producer has a lot of different hats to wear in order to achieve successful outcomes for each of these different stakeholders. They can often feel like one part producer, one part customer success manager, one part talent coordinator, one part audio engineer, and one part content marketer. But at the end of the day, most podcast producers will tell you that the most satisfying part of the job is creating quality content that their show’s audience will love.

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How much does it cost to produce a podcast?

There are several elements that go into the cost of producing a podcast. While it’s true that podcasting is an accessible medium, people sometimes have the misconception that podcasts are fairly cheap and easy to produce. In reality, the cost of producing a quality podcast can add up very quickly. That might help to explain why there’s over 2 million shows on Apple Podcasts but almost  two thirds of them have three or fewer episodes. It’s extremely challenging to break through the noise of the millions of podcasts out there, especially if the quality of your show isn’t living up to or surpassing your competition. Not investing enough resources into your podcast is a surefire way to put yourself behind the eight ball before you ever even release an episode. 

To create a successful, high quality podcast, B2B companies will need to work directly with a team of experienced professionals. It costs a lot of time, energy, and money to find and hire these experts. Without working directly with a podcast production agency like Caspian Studios, a B2B company would have to find their own producer, audio engineer, designer, equipment, etc. Not to mention source their own host and book their own guests. Guest booking on its own can end up feeling like a full time job, which is why they’ll probably end up paying extra to outsource it to a PR person to do personalized outreach. Along with hiring the team you’ll need, B2B companies also have to consider the tools they have in their tech stack to record and produce the podcast themselves. Producing a podcast in-house can cost well into six figures. That’s before you ever press publish, create the marketing assets, and start trying to grow the audience. 

All of these challenges can be alleviated by working with a podcast production agency that comes fully loaded with the knowledge, expertise, tools, and talent to produce and grow a world-class podcast.

How long does it take to edit a 1 hour podcast?  

Editing a single podcast episode can take a significant amount of time, because the editing process involves more people than you may think. To maximize the quality of the podcast recording, time is spent listening and re-listening to each episode.

At Caspian Studios, our podcast producers do a first pass of every episode in what we call an initial content edit, where they listen to the episode at a high level to understand the quality of the content. Podcast producers go through a checklist of questions that may include things like: 

• Are the questions and answers good and compelling?
• Can sentences be tightened up for the content to be more digestible for the listener?
• Does the conversation flow?
• Would any of the answers/questions make more sense if they were arranged differently?

We want to deliver the best version of each episode, and that’s what a producer’s focus is. 

After the podcast producer does a first pass, an audio engineer listens to the episode from a more technical standpoint. Audio engineers make sure the audio itself sounds good, and is edited in a way that flows well for the listener. 

From start to finish, the amount of time it takes to edit a 1-hour podcast episode can vary. A good rule of thumb is that every episode will usually take two or three times the length of the actual interview to edit. For example, if you’re working on a one hour episode, it may take two or three hours to edit depending on how much work is needed to bring the episode to its best version.

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Do podcasts need a producer?

You may be wondering, do podcasts really need a producer? The short answer is yes! (But of course I’m biased, since I am one!) The long answer is that it depends on how much work you and your team want to do, and how much time and effort you want to put into your podcast. A dedicated producer will make sure the production runs smoothly and take a lot of work off the plates of everyone else involved. 

Someone is going  to need to do the guest booking and pre, record the interviews, do all the pre-production work including research, writing, and scripting of each episode. For post-production, someone will need to edit the audio, write the show notes and develop social media and marketing assets for your show. 

So it all comes down to this: If you are creating a podcast for your company and have the resources to do everything in house, go for it! We believe in the medium and love seeing more podcasts in the world. (No, podcasts are not oversaturated!) But if you and your team have full time duties that demand your attention and you don’t want to do every step of producing a podcast yourself, your best bet is to hire a podcast production agency. A podcast production agency will provide you with not only a veteran producer, but with a turnkey suite of processes and a whole team of professionals who have dedicated expertise in understanding how to make your podcast successful. From spinning up and launching your show, to ongoing episode production and guest booking, to marketing the show and growing the audience, a podcast production company serves as an extension of your team to make your life easier and help you achieve your goals every step of the way!

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This article was made with consultation from Jon Libbey, Chief of Production at Caspian Studios.