5-piece software stack for podcasting workflows in 2024

So I have been testing dozens and dozens of podcasting software since 2016. I’ve been doing this with my clients as well.

So I’ve gotten to see, what I want to invest in. What should I stay away from?

This is a question that I get asked constantly, specifically in podcast consultations, when people are trying to launch their show, what software do I need?

We solved the equipment problem, and now we’re on to software.

What are the top pieces of software, and that are essential? Not excessive, because you don’t want to spend too much money. I get it.

So I’m going to recommend five pieces of software that I found to be pretty impactful, that make a pretty solid stack.

Podcast Hosting Software

And we’re going to start with number one, which is the most important piece of software. Your podcast hosting software. I have used Libysn for years and I didn’t like it because it caps you in terms of storage which if you’re using wave files instead of MP3 files for uploading your audio, you cap out very quickly.

So buzzsprout is where I transferred all my clients to the stats. They’re very easy to see and understand you have hourly upload limits versus storage-based limit.

And this is basically what’s responsible for distributing your show to Apple, Spotify, Google, and any other platform that comes out.

That is for podcasting and audio.

Buzzsprout is going to be what’s responsible for actually uploading your episodes into there and then it shoots it out to all of the different places.

This starts at like 12 bucks a month. And if record a lot, you need a lot more footage, 16 bucks a month, maybe $20 at most is what you might be spending on something like this, but 12 bucks a month for most people who are starting is pretty good.

Remote Recording Studio Software

The second piece of software is going to be your remote recording studio. This is for solo podcasts and remote podcasts as well.

You could use Zoom. You could get away with that, but it is pretty low quality, especially if you decide to use the video footage in any format.

And I would say that even with the audio aspect of it. There’s not a separate speaker track.

And if there’s internet disruption that will get caught in the recording as well.

So Riverside.fm is just a more professional feel when you invite people to record.

And if you’re working with an editor, it’s very easy to hand off.

So, riverside.fm is what I recommend for actually recording your episodes.

Even if you’re doing solo, makes it super easy, especially if you’re a little bit tech-averse. I have some clients where it’s like, instead of Google Drive and Dropbox and all these different things, just put them into Riverside and everything gets stored there.

There’s one link you click to share your studio with me, and then I get to have access to all your recordings.

Riverside. fm is very easy and even if you want to use it to export your clips and things of that nature, it has a decent editor that you can start with as well. So a little bit more sophisticated for sure and worth it.

Video and Podcast Editing Software

Number three, it’s going to be podcast editing software. So this is pretty important if you are going to be editing this yourself. And even if you’re like, “Oh, I’m not going to have a ton of mistakes and things like that”

You still need a plan for where are you going to add some music or you’re going to chop off the beginning or ends when you do mess up, how do you remove that?

How do you improve the quality? Of your sound and make it just a good listener experience.

I have found that Descript is the best software for this. I used to recommend GarageBand, Adobe Audition, all that stuff.

But Descript has the shortest learning curve for a lot of beginners that I work with.

And think of it as text-based editing using AI.

So it transcribes what you are saying as you are recording into it, or as you upload the file that you just recorded into Riverside, you export that drag and drop that into Descript.

And then you can start editing it from there, just like you would a Google document.

So it is very easy to learn some of the basics of that.

I do have a lot of tutorials on this channel walking you through Descript because it’s software I teach my clients.

I do Like Premiere Pro for editing and there are videos I have on that as well but when it comes to a beginner podcasting software stack, Descript wins it just because of the ease of transcription.

Now, the other thing I love in Descript is the studio sound feature.

This sucked literally like two months ago but what I love about Descript is they constantly make updates and you’ll see it’s like hey restart Descript to get the update and they make tiny updates that are improving things that people are reporting in, which is very good in software.

So Descript is going to be the video editing and podcast editing software that I would recommend.

That’s essential if you’re doing it yourself, or if you want an editor, check out the link in the description below. And get in touch with me.

Now, those first three pieces of software are pretty essential.

You’re going to need them in some capacity, or there are some small workarounds that you can do, but those three are pretty essential.

Email List Building Tool

Number four is going to be the next step. When you are ready to kind of add this layer maybe you’ve launched your show. This is something that I would consider incorporating, which is an email list-building tool.

So not just for sending out newsletters, but for gathering the contact info of your top fans, because if you think about podcasting, you don’t have people’s followers, like what their Instagram handle is and things of that nature, unless they DM you.

So being able to create a freebie and newsletters and things like that, that you put in your description, just like I have in mine.

People click through on that and download some of that stuff.

So I’ve tested Aweber, and I’ve tested MailChimp with some of my clients. I still have that for them. That works. It’s pretty economical.

I like ConvertKit. That’s kind of my go-to because it’s also a landing page builder at the same time.

This means that you don’t need to build a whole new website, maybe just for your podcast right at first, you can make a go-to-where people click on this link, they see the freebie signup page, and then they sign up.

So it just shortcuts that pathway where it’s like, focus on getting the free download. If you do a nutrition podcast, maybe you’re giving away a grocery list or something like that, and you’re getting names and email addresses, which in 2023 is like getting a phone number.

Very valuable to have a database of that contact input that you have own and that’s not just mediated by Instagram or Facebook or even Apple and Spotify and all that stuff.

Convertkit is a great place to do that. It is a little bit pricey, but remember it includes the landing page builder. And it sends out emails, it’s a broadcasting tool as well.

So you can do the newsletters and all that stuff.

And it grows with you. So as you have more subscribers, once you get past a thousand, it’s gonna charge you a little bit more.

But it starts at like 29 bucks a month.

I also, it’s a great lesson in branding. They appeal to creators solopreneurs and people who are underdogs like us. It’s just an interesting lesson to take if you go with them versus someplace like MailChimp.

So if you’ve heard of something like ClickFunnels, right?

ClickFunnels is awesome. But it’s like a hundred bucks a month.

So I’ve tried that as well, but it’s also not sustainable maybe long term for a lot of people. ConvertKit is kind of that starting point. That’s a little bit past maybe MailChimp, but still well under click funnels.

Project Management Tool

Now, number five, the final piece of software for the stack to kind of round it out is going to be Notion.

The reason I recommend Notion is because it is my most used software in podcasting, outside of podcasting and my whole workflow day to day, in my business.

I use it every minute of the day.

I track my time on it I’ve got a time-tracking video, which you can check out if you want to.

I track all my projects on it and my client’s project internal content that I’m doing.

So all of these things I find for 10 bucks a month It is the most insane investment where it’s like if you figure out how to use more than one board

I have a content handoff board that I use with a lot of my editing clients where it’s like, okay, we come up with ideas for stuff in one column. Then when they’re ready to hand or they’re in recording, I can see those stages.

So you can build out cool things like that or that time tracking sheet that I built.

I customized it a little bit and kind of made it my own. And there have been over 300 people or something that have downloaded it from that video that I made. It’s coming straight, 78 percent of silence. You’re coming straight from just those in that video.

So Notion is a great note-taking tool and a database-building tool because if you are podcasting or you are making YouTube videos, whatever your form of creation and expression is, you need a place where you kind of, build a database and document things.

I find that Notion is a very interactive tool that works great. I have podcast launch checklists and tools like that, that I share with all my clients through there.

It’s a little bit better in my opinion than Evernote or the native note apps. It’s that you had on just your phone that works too. But again, the sophistication of a project management tool.

Even as a sales CRM. So if you eventually let’s say you sell nutrition, coaching, or fitness coaching, and you get leads for that, you can track there’s templates where you can track all of that stuff.

And those things normally cost like a hundred bucks a month Salesforce and things like that.

So there are a lot of ways that you can. I honestly have 10 different pieces of software that you are using with Notion that you just kind of customize and make your own and replace.

I know there’s a bunch of other time tracking sheets and things like that for freelancers out there.

But I wanted my version. I like the spreadsheet view. I like being able to expand and collect notes. I like how I set it up. And so Notion is great. I think for that.

You could take the templates as is where you keep it very simple and have all of your notes and thoughts in one place so that when it’s time to record you have everything you need kind of ready to roll and in one quick scan you can kind of jump back into those creative moments where you were, “okay this is what I’m talking about, this is what I wanted to share, this is a question I wanted to ask. This is a point about the guests that I want to make sure to highlight.”

So Notion is just again, like I said, it’s a luxury tool, I think, relative to those first three recommendations. That I had for you, but numbers four and five are worth the investment.

If you ask me. If you resonated with any of the uses that I kind of mentioned. 

Summary

So, I hope this was useful just to round it up real quick.

Number one is a podcast hosting tool, which is going to be buzzsprout.

Number two is going to be a remote recording studio, which records solo or guest episodes, especially if you’re doing it remotely. And that’s going to be riverside.fm.

Number three is a video editing slash podcast editing software, which is going to be Descript. It’s the easiest to learn if you’re doing this yourself. So you can kind of get yourself launched quickly.

Number four is an email list-building tool and also a landing page or final building tool, which is going to be a convertkit.

And number five is going to be a project management tool, a note-taking database tool/CRM/SOP home base, your notebook, you can make this so many different things and that is notion.

So I hope this was useful. Let me know if you have any other recommendations or if you have any experience with some of the ones I mentioned, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, but I appreciate you hanging out.

If this was useful, check out all the links in the description below. And I will talk to you soon.