About twice a week I get emails or Facebook messages from people who want to know how to produce a podcast. I’m no expert but I do produce two at the moment: one with the very talented Dhaya Lakshminarayanan for Ravishly called Sarcasmic (very cool 2nd episode coming soon) and my own show Chucklepedia with cohost Jim Cotter.

While neither show is exactly tearin’ up the charts, I like to think they both SOUND good. They sound that way because I have spent extra money on the equipment I use, I have spent lots of time tinkering with the editing process leading up to releasing the shows (listen to an early episode of Chucklepedia, if you can stand it, and hear the difference) and I typically spend about twice as long editing a show as it takes to record it.

So when people email me asking “how do I do that and what should I buy?” and I write a long email with suggestions for microphones, mixers and then a rundown on the process, most people subsequently ignore me completely, go buy one crappy USB microphone, record two episodes of a podcast for 17 people to listen to and then they stop doing it completely and put their microphone in the closet with that electric guitar, karate uniform and kettlebells and forget it forever. Which is fine.

But here’s the deal for me – if you want my help, please email me and we can discuss my either producing your podcast OR giving you some sessions to educate you on how to record, edit and what gear you could buy given your current budget and what you have already purchased. I will do these for a fair price. I am not insane and am able to shop on a budget, but you should still expect to be looking at around $400-$500 to start a podcast that doesn’t sound like muffled garbage.

Still interested? Drop me a line. If you’re not, have fun recording with your USB microphone in the middle of the dinner table. I’m sure it will sound great.