Production Time

It's a part-time job to stay on top of the workload and do it right.

Expenses

One thing, and I’m pretty firm on this. Do not cheap out on gear. You can get away with USB microphones and a laptop or an iPhone on an oven mitt set to record. But your sound quality will leave you wishing you had spent that good money on better gear. Get better gear.

Zero-cost solution. If you want to dabble with this, do put your iPhone (or personal recorder) on an oven mitt in the middle of your gaming table and press record. Then, edit what you have into something coherent. See if you like it.

Gear Recommendations

There are tons of hardware review sites out there that will align you with the right stuff. Here is my right stuff:

Shure SM7B. The absolute standard in podcast microphones: they’re the right size, come with an internal shock mount, and do not take up much space on the gaming table.

Sound Devices Mix Pre-6 II. This portable recorder offers 32-bit recording, which is fantastic for post-production, as it’s nigh impossible to clip the recording by being too hot on the microphone. Be amazed; I was.

REAPER. I’ve used Hindenburg Pro, Audition, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, and a handful of others; Reaper beats them all. Reaper has high utility, community, and an unbeatable price: $60 for a single license, with no subscription shenanigans. Reaper allows us to modify it for a podcast editing workflow, whereas most Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are designed entirely for music creation workflows.

My second recommendation is Hindenburg if you want something more straightforward (such as an audio drama). They’re focused on spoken word and reporting. The people behind the product also deeply care about the world and getting a good message out.

iZotope RX. Industry standard for audio repair that helps clean up and improve recordings in post-production. I could live in iZotope RX if I had my druthers. Bonus: You can use it from within Reaper.

Sound Absorption. This one is difficult as it can radically change your house, and you’ll become acutely aware of how much your walls reverberate. My recommendation is to do research and find out what works for your space.

Producing

When we first launched, I started recording a bi-weekly Blades in the Dark and Tomb of Annihilation campaign (the tape reels piled up to half a terabyte); going back, I wish I had ditched the longer campaign stories for shorter ones. The 1–3 episode one-shots always had a higher listener count and were more accessible to release.

Games with a combat-focused core activity made editing hours of tape tedious; I wanted to create something worth listening to, not a RAW recording of us playing D&D, but a story-focused, abridged listening experience. Games like Tales From the Loop, Mörk Borg, or anything Powered by the Apocalypse were downright delightful to edit, as the stories tilted closer to roleplaying and showcased the mechanics sparingly.

Post-Production

My cut of the raw experience removed almost all talk of mechanics; instead, I used a dice roll FX to cue the audience and skip to the outcome. Other editing included removing microphone bleed (time-consuming, but you get a better product), editing for clarity, and ensuring the story is tracking.

Distribution

Do not use SoundCloud, their community is focused on music, not podcasts, and you get stuck with each other. My final hosting solution was Transistor.fm, which I thoroughly recommend; they’re fantastic for the price and have deep analytical tools. But I will recommend Substack because they do podcast hosting, and you can cross-post your content to others in the tabletop roleplaying game community, which is vital for the hobby's growth.

Community

If you love this hobby, please contribute to it! Share creators you like, be cheerleaders, and ask if you can get involved, even if it’s proofreading. You’ll meet inspiring people and get inspired to create something yourself.