9 Tips to Improve Your Podcasting Workflow

When it comes to a podcasting workflow, finding ways to do things faster is essential. If you could adjust your workflow and save just 30 seconds each day, that adds up to 2 hours per year. Consider these 10 tips to improve your podcasting workflow and see your time savings add up.

Set Your File Associations Correctly

File associations make it much easier to open files in the software most used with those file types. What program begins when you double-click a file is controlled by the file associations. Perhaps you should have .wav and .aif files set to open in your favorite audio editing software? Maybe you should have .mov files open in your favorite video editing software? These things will save you countless hours of time when set correctly.

Change your file associations with these steps:

• For OS X, right-click a file and click Get Info. Change “Open with:” to your preferred program. Click “Change All…”
• For Windows 7/8, open Control Panel > Control Panel Home > Default Programs > Set Associations (or type “Default Programs” into the Start search). Select the file type you want to change and click “Change program.” Alternatively, you can right-click the file type you want to change and click Properties. Go to General tab > Type Of File > Change > Choose a program.

Consider an FTP Client to Upload Episodes

If your host supports this (Libsyn does), it can be a much faster alternative to uploading via their website.

If you upload to LibSyn, upload a fully tagged MP3 file to the “quickcast” folder. This will read the title, description, and other meta information from the ID3 tags; set the file as a post (not as “for download only,” which you shouldn’t use); and publish the file immediately. You won’t even have to log in to the LibSyn website! This saves a bunch of time with your podcasting workflow!

Make Use of Templates

Most people who blog have a template they use for WordPress posts. Extend this idea to the software utilized in your podcasting workflow.

• Preparation template in your favorite note-taker (for example, Evernote, Workflowy, Google Drive)
• Production template with intro, outro, bumpers, and even track effects in editors (for example, Audacity, Adobe Audition, Premiere Pro)
• Design templates for images with fonts, colors, and layout
• Email templates for interview requests, feedback responses, and business opportunities
• Effect presets for tracks, clips, and recordings

Make Use of Macros

Many programs will let you record a set of actions to save as a macro. These are called chains in Audacity, favorites in Adobe Audition, actions in Adobe Photoshop, and other names in other programs. Macros speed up repetitive tasks during your podcasting workflow.

Work on Podcasts in Mono

There are many benefits to podcasting in mono. Effects that need to run don’t need to run against two tracks. Following this approach decreases the processing time and improves your podcasting workflow.

Always Paste Without Formatting

When you copy and paste text, font sizes, colors, and other formatting are usually captured and pasted with it. This can make text-editing very annoying. Many applications offer a “paste as plain text” or “paste without formatting” option. This is commonly Ctrl-Shift-V on Windows and Linux, and Cmd-Shift-V on OS X.

The text you paste will inherit the formatting of your target (such as a heading or color) instead of carrying over the previous formatting.

Write Your Show Notes Directly in Your Web Site Editor

e use WordPress for our shows.

Instead of going through a lot of hassle to paste without formatting from a separate app into WordPress, why not write your show notes directly into WordPress?

You won’t struggle with formatting transitions and invalid characters. And it also means you can seamlessly insert your hyperlinks, formatting, and multimedia while you write your text.

Create Bookmarks, Favorites, and Shortcuts

You will no doubt find yourself using the same tools, websites, and folders, so make it easier to access them by creating bookmarks, favorites, and shortcuts.

• In your web browser, use the Bookmarks toolbar to place your most commonly visited pages (like WordPress’s “new post” page) and bookmarklets (like social-sharing or bookmarking services).
• In your file browser, add shortcuts to your common folders in the sidebar or favorites for easy access from the file browser or save/open dialog boxes.
• In project folders, make shortcuts/aliases to other commonly accessed folders.
• In programs, add your favorite effects to a favorites menu or palette, if supported.

These things will save you a bunch of time!

Learn or Program Keyboard Shortcuts

Much of the software you use will have keyboard shortcuts for commonly used functions. Even more of the software will allow you to create custom keyboard shortcuts yourself. Take advantage of these features, and you will save time tremendously.

Take the time to review your workflow often and make fixes where required. You will be thankful for the time you save. Every second adds up to minutes which add up to hours.

Originally published at yogispodcastnetwork.com on September 5, 2018.