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 Will from Will’s Band of The Week
When did you start podcasting?
In 2005. From 2005 to 2009 my wife and I produced a podcast called Will and Iris. I used to do a short segment on that podcast called the band of the week.
When we ran out of good ideas, time, and enthusiasm for Will and Iris, I recruited two good friends to help me start a full time music podcast, which became the Will’s Band of the Week podcast.
Why did you start podcasting?
We started Will and Iris because podcasting was a new and exciting medium, it didn’t take any particular talent, and I had enough technical knowledge to figure out how to record it and, with the help of Libsyn, get it out to the world (a very, very small piece of the world, actually).
It was also an excuse for my wife and myself to lock ourselves in a room and spend some time together after we got the kids to bed. The Will’s Band of the Week podcast has been sort of a continuation of that. Barrett, Chris and I like to talk about music and share our opinions.
What’s your show about?
“Band of the Week” is really a misnomer because we have more than one band almost every week.
There’s just too much good music out there, plus it’s hard to kill an hour (our basic, but general, goal for the length of the podcast) talking about just one band.
We usually focus on new releases in the general category of indie or alternative rock. Sometimes we do specials featuring old favorites, and at the end of every year we do a show on our top ten lists for the year.
My son, who is 16 and a big music fan himself, helps out on some of the podcasts. We allow ourselves a pretty open format. We don’t worry too much if we get off topic. I think that gives the podcast a more natural flow than some of the more structured programs out there.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
I need to thank Dave Shepherd from the old Word Nerds podcast. He helped me with my setup. It is pretty basic. I’ve got a cheap mixer plugged into my Mac. We run up to three mics into the mixer. I can also run audio from Skype, iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else from the Internet through the mixer. The output from the mixer runs through a cheap compressor and is recorded with Audacity.
How have you promoted your podcast?
We started out by letting everyone from the old podcast know about the new one. We probably got some listeners that way, but it might not have been many since the content is so different. One of those people, though, has actually become a pretty good friend of ours.
Every once in awhile you can actually meet people through podcasting. We told all our friends, extending to Facebook friends, about it. Periodically I will send a note to a band letting them know that we featured them on the podcast. We also have Facebook and Twitter accounts which we use regularly. I give contact information at the end of each episode, and we encourage people to subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
It’s been an ongoing process, so I have no regrets starting with the level of knowledge I had. And it continues to be fun, partly because we don’t put any pressure on ourselves. We are not trying to make money; it’s just a fun hobby.
I would recommend to people starting out that they at least try to get to a point where they have a natural flow so that the show is actually listenable. Also, try to make your audio quality as high as possible and take the time to edit each episode.
You know you’ve been wanting to discover new music accompanied by great conversation, so it’s time to give Will’s Band of The Week a nice listen.
Connect with Will’s Band over on Twitter or Facebook!
[box]If you have a passion for music and would like to start a podcast, why don’t you give it a go? We can absolutely help you do it![/box]
