Rockin’ Libsyn Podcasts: Bloody Good Horror

This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!


Q & A with Eric Newell from Bloody Good Horror


When did you start podcasting?

Bloody Good Horror started back in 2007, I believe our first episode went live right around Halloween.

Why did you start podcasting?

Bloody Good Horror, as a brand, has existed since 2001, mostly as a website that posts reviews of horror films and interviews with the people who bring them to life.

I was inspired to start a show by another horror-themed show on Libsyn, Night of the Living Podcast.  Theirs is a show about horror films where everyone records in the same room, but since our writers are all over the country, I decided to bring some of our writers together over Skype to bring the show to life.

What’s your show about?

We review new, mostly theatrical horror films, and try to stay as up-to-date on new releases as we can.  That goes for movies that look incredible as well as ones that we dread having to pay to see.

The fans seem to express gratitude that we’re taking the bullet for them in those cases, and a lot of our listeners will say that they wait for our review before making a choice whether or not to go out to the theater.

What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.

As mentioned before, we record over Skype.  Most of us use Yeti USB podcasting mics, which can be found on Amazon for around 100$.  It’s a pretty good all-purpose mic, and having us all use the same mic has done wonders for our sound quality.

I record the Skype call on my end on my Mac, with a program called “Audio Hijack Pro” in uncompressed AIF, then I bring that into Final Cut Pro (I’m a video editor by trade) where I add all of the music and bumpers in post-production.

I then export it back to AIF with the newly added effects and import it into Audacity (a free online audio program for Windows and Mac), where I run the audio through filters to balance the levels. Recording with Skype, it’s very hard to get consistent levels, which is why we do this extra step.

It’s then exported from Audacity, again as an uncompressed AIF, and imported into iTunes for the final step, exporting as an MP3 at 96 kbps.  An average show then comes to between 50–60 megabytes, perfect for uploading to Libsyn.

Our process is a little more convoluted than shows that are done “live to tape”, and it took YEARS to nail all these steps down.  Believe it or not, if I’m focused I can get all of this done in around an hour.

How have you promoted your podcast?

To be honest we don’t do a lot of outside promotion. For us, the thing that has helped the most are iTunes reviews and word of mouth.

There are lots of other horror movie-themed podcasts, and because of the large amount of 4 and 5-star reviews we have we always tend to pop up on the “Recommended” page when you’re looking at other horror shows.

Also, having the words “Good Horror” in our name has done wonders when it comes to Google searches.  I can assure you that was unplanned, but it’s been a real boon to our show.

 What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?

It’s hard to say exactly what I would have liked to know before I started podcasting, but I can certainly give advice to those wanting to jump in, or trying to improve their shows.  Mainly it’s about being willing to go through a long, protracted growing process.

Your first show is probably going to be terrible, as a general rule. I know ours was, but I refuse to listen to anything back further than episode 20 (we’re in the 230s now).

Always listen back to your show in its entirety after it hits iTunes, in fact, download it straight from there and listen to it the way you would any other show.

It’s the only way to truly hear it the way your listeners will, so you can pick out the flaws. Then, trace those back and hit Google to learn how to fix them.

You always want to start with the highest quality raw file, so record in an uncompressed format like WAV or AIF, then do the conversion to MP3 at the end, that should ensure a good sound.

More than anything though, just jump in and have fun with it, and remember that there are no rules when it comes to podcasting.  This is a new medium for a new century and every time you turn the mic on, you’re helping to write its future.


All you horror fans, you know where to go now when you wanna know all about the GOOD horror films! So go ahead and subscribe. If you have any feedback, comments, or questions for Eric go ahead and email info(at)bloodygoodhorror(dot)com


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