A podcast producer is the person who makes your show actually work. They shape the format, manage the workflow, handle the audio, and keep the whole production moving from idea to published episode. Depending on who you work with, they may also coach your performance, write your show notes, cut your social media clips, and help you think about content strategy.
The role varies more than most people realise. Some producers come from a radio background and focus on storytelling and structure. Others are primarily editors and engineers who specialise in making audio sound great. A growing number do both – and bring content strategy into the mix as well.
At East Coast Studio, offer a podcast editing service but also take an end-to-end approach for some clients. If you want to understand exactly what that looks like in practice, take a look at our production packages.
For this article we also asked three fellow producers to share their take on the role – what they do, how they work, and where they think production is heading. You can read and listen to those conversations below.
What Skills Does A Producer Need?
Some producers find the story, some pull all of the interview questions together, some give you coaching, while others focus on editing and assembling beautiful audio.
So, on behalf of people who may be thinking of becoming clients, we asked ‘Which combination of skills do you need in your producer? What are they ? and how to work with the right person’.
In this episode we cover:
What does a producer do? What does the client bring as a starting point for a podcast? What should potential clients expect from their podcast producer, and what’s their remit?
Lead Producer, Martin Franklin from East Coast Studio gets some quality Zoom-time with fellow producers, Courtney Carthy, Nick McCorriston, and Louise Poole to explore the different dimensions of production on Planet Pod.
Transcription
Martin Franklin
Hi, Welcome back to Metapod. This is Martin Franklin from East Coast Studio. And we are still deep diving into the world of podcasting and finding our things tick. So my question for this episode, what does a producer actually do?
I noticed that there’s quite a variety of approaches to production within the podcasting world. And I was kind of curious about how different people do it. I wanted to produce some sort of guidance for people who are perhaps thinking about producing a podcast or appointing a producer to produce their podcast, so that we just had a little bit of an overview of what you could expect and the different approaches that different people take to do that work.
Once again, I canvassed the Australian Podcasters group, and I had three sterling individuals step forward, willing to talk to me and just share their thoughts in a conversation. So in this episode, I’m talking to Courtney Carthy, from Nearly Media, Nick McCorriston from Sound Boy Audio, and Louise Poole, from Welcome Change Media. And I’m really happy with the conversations that we had, because each of them takes a slightly different approach to the craft of being a producer, which is shaped by their background and their particular aptitude and take on what they do best. So we get into what’s next for podcasting, music, copyrights, content strategy, and a whole load of other stuff.
Courtney Carthy – Hearing the Potential
Martin Franklin 2:07
So let’s jump into the first conversation I had, which was with Courtney Carthy from Nearly Media, he’s got a really strong radio background, spending almost a decade as a producer for ABC, he very kindly squeezed this interview into his journey from one place to the other in his car. So you will hear the sound of the car in the background. And this is what it sounds like:
Radio Production
Martin Franklin 2:50
I know your background is originally as a reporter, and then producing in radio, I wonder if you could just give me your take on what’s involved in the producer role for for radio.
Courtney Carthy 3:04
It’s basically everything but speaking on air, is how I used to think of it. So I didn’t sort of get myself boxed in about, you know, what was or wasn’t part of my job. I think before I worked in radio, I really didn’t appreciate or media, you know, Southern first media sort of, like, role that I had was student radio. But I never appreciated how much work there was outside of the final product. And whenever I hear producer, I just think, you know, like, the person that does everything that knows what’s going on everywhere.
Podcast Context
Martin Franklin 5:52
Yeah. So that’s, that’s great. So can we move on to how does that role transfer into the world of podcasting, as far as how you do it?
Courtney Carthy 6:02
Well, the ability to conceptualise and then conceptualise audio, and hear it before you’ve heard, it is probably the biggest thing, I spent so much time explaining what shows will sound like and show formats, how they’ll run to clients or, you know, just people, you know, that don’t work in podcasts. But you know, we’d like to have a podcast made or, you know, helping me with a podcast show.
Martin Franklin 7:15
They usually want a story told or a message conveyed. So they want they want to tell people about how, yeah, their customers had a great experience, or that they’re, you know, Senior Manager is really knowledgeable about something or update their staff on, you know, weekly things. Often, it’s something that they’re interested in. And you know, that’s, that’s fine. But it usually often has to be shaped a little bit to make it interesting beyond their immediate team.
Nick McCorriston – Game Community
So let’s jump into the interview with Nick McCorriston. When you popped up on the Facebook thread, you kind of introduced yourself as an engineer and editor. Yeah. And I know I’ve just had a quick look on your website and you’ve got production duties as well. How do you see the difference between those different roles?
Nick McCorriston 9:50
It’s interesting because I do generally prefer the editing side of work. I like the that’s the where I feel skilled. And that’s where I feel creative. I feel as though in the industry these days when a company says they’re looking for a producer, they’re looking for someone who’s a script writer, they’re looking for someone who is ready to write copy that is ready to churn out more of a commercial, the commercial end of a product, as well as have some skills in digital editing and in, yeah, digital production and, and generally, some sort of an idea of how to make something sound good.
Louise Poole – The Content Web
Martin Franklin 18:33
What should potential clients expect from their Podcast Producer? And what’s the kind of general sort of remit? Because different people kind of do it differently? So I just wonder, What’s your take on the producers role?
Louise Poole 18:49
Well, podcasting isn’t radio. So that I suppose that’s always important to realise from a production point of view, and from a listening point of view, as well. As when you email me that question about what does a product producer do? I actually thought maybe the question should be what doesn’t a producer do? Because it’s like everything in a way, depending on how much people want to invest with us in terms of time.
Content Strategy
Martin Franklin 23:11
The other thing I was curious about is you mentioned about content creation, do you get involved in that side of things as well? Or like, helping people to produce content to promote what they do?
Louise Poole 23:22
Yeah. So that’s, that’s the actually. And I probably would say, we have more clients, in least in the early days, because we’ve only been running the business out for a year that are coming from a more of a spinning of content side.