Best sounding podcast

Question

I am right now as we type mixing the first podcast in a series which will be distributed on iTunes.

It's along the lines of Radiolab in content.

I need your help in filling out a short survey for me so I have the data:

1. What are your top 2 podcasts you regularly enjoy listening to?

2. What are the top 2 best sounding podcasts you know of? (You don't have to enjoy listening to them, I would like to know what you think are the best sounding ones out there).

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

One podcast that I used to listen to regularly, I haven't for a while as I just don't have the time, is Mysterious Universe by a couple of guys in Sydney. Technically it's very good and they have spent a lot of money on getting a proper room setup and have decent mics and equipment. The content can be really interesting as well.

The way the podcast is mixed and put together is incredibly good, with great research etc.

Apart from that one I really don't listen to any others. I should get back into podcasts again!

Answer 2

I don't listen to many, but the ones I enjoy are WTF with Marc Maron and Doug Loves Movies. Both can be really funny, and Marc Maron does really good inspiring interviews (check the interviews with Conan O'brien, and Ray Ramano).

Both I think are recorded well enough, but not alot seems to be put into the post cleaning things up. DLM tends to have alot of low end mic handling noise that bothers me when I listen to it on some of my systems.

I record The Panel (with Stephen Edwards). It's been interesting to record, and I've evolved how I record it each episode. Getting better results each time. I also spend time compressing and automating a few parts when people talk over each other. I'm most pleased with the latest, Episode 4. Just finished it up and should be posted in a few days.

Soundworks Collections (non video) sound good too.

Answer 3

I'm not a regular podcast listener but I like to follow The Game Audio Podcast and Soundworks Collection's stuff more than others, and the best sounding ones I think I'd say Dolbycast and Shure cast.

Answer 4

Radiolab from WNYC is really good...from the way the hosts sound right across content, music, sound design.

Answer 5

Content:

1. "Puppies and Sunshine" (defunct) with Otto and George. (RIP)
2. The Monday Morning Podcast w/ Bill Burr. Just Burr and a mic. KISS-simple, outstanding.
3. "MMM hmmm" w/ Bobbie Doolie celebrity interviews, produced by Phil Hendrie - on standby, may be defunct.
4. The Phil Hendrie Show Podcast If you don't know Phil...you need a broadcasting education ASAP.
5. "You Know What Duuuude?" w/ Bob Kelly aka YKWD.
6. The Joe Rogan Experience - News/Talk/Sports/Debate/Science/Comedy/Conspiracy/great guests ...what more could you ask for? Arbitron would appreciate that this podcast does an ESPECIALLY good job of capturing the "target demo" - Men (18-49).
7. "The Uninformed Podcast" w/ Joe DeRosa (on standby - poss. defunct).
8. NPR-related casts like "Wait Wait..." and "This American Life"
9. Whatever Greg Hughes and Jim Norton decide to do in 2015 when their XM/Sirius contract wraps. Prediction - it will be nothing short of a benchmark (for quality content and sound).
10. Video: Nature Hates You, Best of Youtube, TEDTalks and Numberphile
11. Honorable mention - "The Black Phillip Podcast," Never aired. See footnote*

Audio quality:

w/ the exception of NPR, Phil and Joe, who have real studios to record in...I don't fault the small guys with the small setup. Mic-laptop-Audacity -have something original/informative/entertaining to say AND.....GO! I can tell the diff. I don't think the avg. listener can. -you can skip the sound panels and ProTools to talk about the Federal Reserve to 25 listeners.

I'm a Clear Channel news/talk veteran, a lifetime fan of the talk format and I've seen college radio, local news/talk, syndication and network broadcasting from inside and out. - the above are/were the elite in broad[pod]casting. Those still living AND still on-the-air that is.

Apologies, even though I'm a broadcaster/tech/sound/engineer/software guy...I find metablogs/podcasts ABOUT these topics to be quite bland. Can anyone do informative tech AND make it worth LISTENING TO? If so ill check it out. Credit to Leo Laporte though; he's the best I've heard.

*10. Patrice O'neal (RIP Big Dawg) gave relationship advice, parodying Dr. Phil....sort of...The prototype tested well on XM/Sirius...likely never to be a regular show but the subsequent podcast would've been amazing. For "Relationships-Target Demo" ANYTHING is better than the fake, ripoff, hacky "Leykis 101" yecchh.

ALL Podcasts are better than your local FM "Morning Zoo" because:

1. They don't use PrepBurger
2. They don't have a PD to slide careless, dishonest "War of the Roses"-like bits or "The Fugitive."-like promotions.
3. They are unlikely to use the formulaic and PLAYED OUT RadioVeteran/StuntBoy/Hole combo...(sometimes including SportsGuy!)
4. They are equally unlikely to have the Guy/Girl format... "maybe they're married...maybe not?"

Answer 6

For both quality and content I am fairly addicted to (1) This week in Tech with Leo Laporte and his panels and (2) the No Agenda Show with Adam Curry (mtv) and John C Dvorak. Both shows are heavily researched and the quality is better than 99.9% of everything else out there

Answer 7

I sometimes listen to podcasts from Resonance FM. It's an arts based radio station in London.

Answer 8

Freakonomics is great. Very interesting content. I also like Radiolab.

Answer 9

Top Score with Emily Reese is probably the best quality podcast I listen to, most of the others are generally just talk based and are created with "quickness" and content.

Quite a few of them I listen to aren't even mixed, they are just edited... which makes some sense when they are churning out an hour long podcast a week as a hobby and I'm usually just going to listen to it in my car.

Answer 10

TWiT, referenced above, is a very well-produced and good sounding podcast.

For good sound design, check out Cayenne Chris Conroy's podcast at TekDiff.com
It alternates between a sketch comedy show (called Tekdiff and a sequential narrative show called The Account). Both are well designed, although sometimes the mastering is a bit off.