Touring - Our first touring podcast... what do you think?

Hi all --

We're now on our RTW bike trip and have finally managed to produce a podcast. Hurrah! We have more stuff waiting to be put together, but I'd really like some feedback if anyone has the time / inclination to listen. Any and all advice, comments very welcome. Totally new to this but really want to keep doing it.

You can listen by going here: http://travellingtwo.com/71

Thanks!

Friedel & Andrew

Pretty cool! Nice plan for the winter heading south. Plan will probably change alright, that's my favourite part actually :)

Your motivation is dead on, exactly why I love cycling. Hmmmm, wonder what I can afford to do if I quit tomorrow...

I liked Chris's mention of how you appreciate something simple like a shower. Btw for insects, I brought long sleeved/legged stuff for the evening, and great tip: oranges, or orange peel to be precise: rub the inside of the peel over your skin - insects don't like the citric acid taste and don't bite you. Cheaper than spray, just as effective, and you get some healthy food! Works, honest.

Podcast likes: canadian's saying aboot, some of the content was interesting, conversational style, women in podcasts - rare from what I've listened to!

Dislike: sections were a little bit too long for my liking - then again I'm practically ADD - and I switched off during some of the content, because I'm a bad person and I got distracted by shiny pictures of bikes. But I did rewind cos I felt guilty and I wanted to hear what I tuned out over. Make it more snappy? I dunno. It's pretty interesting so don't go losing sleep over my opinion ;)

Overall, great start, look forward to hearing some wacky adventures, especially from Tangiers etc I'm sure. My favourite part of touring is the cool stories you gather along your travels... like the time me and my cousin stayed in that weird French guys house and .... nevermind, that's a story to recount over a beer.

What recording gear did you use? The recording quality is great, especially for being outside.

Yeah, it's a little long. The numbers: people only listen to about one hour of podcasting per week. But they download about six episodes per week. That means your podcast should only be 10 to 12 minutes long if your want people to listen to the whole thing.

I figure leave them wanting more than than dragging it out forever,

Check out: http://www.podcastingunderground.com/

It's a podcast about podcasting.

Thanks very much for the feedback. I did wonder about the length. I guess I am going to have to edit down some of my interviews because the two I have "waiting in the wings" are 10-12 minutes long themselves! I understand what you mean about snappy though. Will have another go. Thanks again, and also for the links :)

You're welcome.

If you want to sound even more pro (and you do already with that equipment) then if you have any musical skills or even just search stuff online, add a section break musical piece - 2-5 seconds long like on the radio, I love that in a podcast when it's done well.

i have something a smidge embarassing to admit. That was the first podcast i've ever listened to! Who knew "podcast" just meant "mp3 of regular-joe/jane creation". Seems weird that the tech has been around to make a "podcast" for years, yet until the term "podcast" was coined, nobody really did it. What's next? VODcast? as in Video On Demand - cast? The term videoblog just doesn't seem to be working...but I digress

I enjoyed it, maybe a tad long, but i liked the interviews and I played it while I was doing other things. Overall I liked it and i've bookmarked the site so I can keep up on your trip. I look forward to your future podcasts. One thing that might be cool is if you could interview some regular folks you meet along the way. You meet some cool, interesting, weird people while out on a bike and that's one of the many great things about touring! Interviews with those types of people could help us demystify to our non-touring friends what it is about spending all day riding a bike somewhere that you could easily get to in an hour if you were to take a car.

You're welcome.

If you want to sound even more pro (and you do already with that equipment) then if you have any musical skills or even just search stuff online, add a section break musical piece - 2-5 seconds long like on the radio, I love that in a podcast when it's done well.

Ah, good idea! I was working on some intro music but hadn't thought about little breaks inbetween.

Someone else asked what we were using. It's an Edirol 09 and edited with Audacity. We are just using the inbuilt mics on the Edirol, no external add-ons.

I have had some problems with wind blowing in the mic and I may start to use an external mic with its little 'sock' (don't know the correct term) to see if that helps to counter that problem.

Anyway, thanks all for listening. I appreciate it. Hopefully another podcast coming your way shortly :)

What's next? VODcast? as in Video On Demand - cast?

I believe those are now vlogs! They are starting to become more common as people get video ipods. Or just look at YouTube. That is full of vlogs.



One thing that might be cool is if you could interview some regular folks you meet along the way. You meet some cool, interesting, weird people while out on a bike and that's one of the many great things about touring!

That is a really good idea. I also have an interest in food and I was thinking to do interviews with 'foodies' along the way and feature them on another site but maybe I should just incorporate them into the interesting people category and feature them in the shows on their own.