The Rock and Roll Librarian, who I mentioned a few weeks back, offers his list of podcasting tips. I’m surprised that he is so quick to offer advice after only a few forays into audio recording (at least, there are only a few on the website). But since he has, I can’t help but add my two cents to his list.

1. Be comfortable with the sound of your voice.

Yup, it’s not easy to change it (in a positive fashion), so deal with it.

2. Podcasts can be too short or too long.

True enough. He suggests greater than 5 and less than 25 minutes. That’s reasonable. For me, it depends on how often you are doing it. If you are doing it more than once a week, then absolutely no more than 30 minutes or I won’t have the time to devote to listening to you. Some people have more listening hours to fill and therefore their mileage may vary.

3. Keep the podcasts semi-focused.

I could probably use to take this advice.

4. Take the time to edit.

Nahhhhhhhh. I still have a day job. OK, I do some minor editing, but not of the variety that he is talking about. I used to, when the novelty was there, but the time involved is a real barrier to getting content to you more frequently, which is my current preference. Tell me if I’m wrong on this one.

5. Don’t Rant.

Well, some people have made careers of ranting, so I’m not sure this is universally good advice. But yeah, objective criticism is probably better on the whole.

6. If you interview someone, know something about them.

Yes.

7. Make sure you have a layout.

I would probably benefit from taking this piece of advice as well, but I’m trying to avoid being too “cute and clever” with segments and such. If a layout comes naturally to me, I’ll go with it, but I refuse to force it.

8. Use Inflections.

I don’t think this is a big problem for me, but I’d be curious if you think I’m monotone in delivery. My singing voice certainly is.

There are other pieces of good advice out there, but since I don’t adhere to any of them, I best not share them here.