Perfect is the enemy of good in podcasting

I was talking with a friend the other night about podcasting and getting word out about their music. They had been talking with others and their description of podcasting and recording seemed very complicated. Below are my thoughts on podcasting and how it can be very difficult to get started when “perfect” gets in the way. — Douglas

Voltaire said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” and it seems that this has never been more true. So many people are kept from exploring the amazing uses of the Internet today, all because they let perfect get in the way.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have perfectly recorded, beautifully mixed sound, but I think letting people hear your music is much more important. The fact is, if you have to go through this much trouble, you will never get anything on the web.

I see this happen all the time. People desperately want to get stuff out, but they end up fiddling with it again and again. Eventually, they say “This is too much trouble!” and abandon it, never realizing that it was their overwhelming desire for perfection that caused this to happen, not any technical issues. Your friend touches on this when he talks about having “tracks” and such. This isn’t a studio recording. A simple, nice stereo mix, recorded from the board or recorded through house microphones would give listeners a great feel for the club and how you actually sounds live. In the same way, I think recording you, solo, in your apartment, would also be a great idea. MTV had it right! Strip it down to the essentials. Let the listeners in and they will greatly appreciate it.

It is my personal belief that people are more interested in hearing you and your music than even the most fantastic audio production. I think they will accept less quality than they might hear from a studio recording, because a live recording simply has more heart, more of you, in it. I am not saying you should be sending out crappy stuff that is unlistenable, but first and foremost, you need to be sending something out. You need to be communicating with your audience directly, long after you pack up the gig and head home. Your fans want to listen to your music, yes, but they also want to know more about you. They want to hear the live shows, warts and all, because they are interested in you. They want to feel like they shared something, even when they couldn’t be there in person.

The fact is, yes, record at the highest quality level possible, then you will be able to use to in any other form later. Record digitally, yes, as it saves time and energy when moving it to a computer to edit. That said, do NOT let these things STOP you from doing it, though. There is a world out there who wants to hear your music and you should do everything possible to make it happen.

Does this problem sound familiar to you? Are you having trouble getting started with podcasting? It just might be perfect getting in the way.

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