Shadowing Practice: How to Start a Podcast in 2026 (Start to Finish) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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If you're looking to start or create a brand new podcast this year, but aren't sure where to begin, this video is for you.

There has never been a better time in history to start a brand new podcast with over 500 million podcast listeners worldwide.

The demand for audio and video podcasting is absolutely massive.

So no matter what you're passionate about or an expert in, there are listeners out there who would be interested in your podcast idea.

You've just got to hit record.

So in this video, we're going to break down seven easy steps to launching a brand new podcast this year.

You got to just press record.

So step one is to identify your topic or your niche.

And this is by far the most important step where you

want to spend a good amount of time before you start recording podcast episodes.

So what is it you're going to be talking about?

What is your topic, broadly speaking?

And then even more specifically, what is your niche?

And question for you, do you say niche or niche?

Which one do you say?

I find myself kind of interchanging between the two.

I don't really know why, but I digress.

So your niche can kind of be like a subcategory within a broader topic.

So if you are somebody who's passionate about food, that's a really broad topic.

And you could take very different directions depending on what your emphasis would be on.

You could do food consumption.

So like the eating of food, food preparation, like cooking, or even food education, like nutrition information.

And if you wanted to go the route of like nutrition, there's so many ways you could go.

You could focus on like dairy products in particular.

But even within dairy, there's like so many options.

You got your yogurts.

You got your cheeses.

You got your kefir.

You say kefir, kefir, I don't know.

or even milk, right?

So right now, like raw milk is the craze.

Everybody loves raw milk.

But fun fact, I live in Oregon in the USA and you actually can't buy raw milk from a grocery store.

So there would be like a really interesting podcast topic, like raw milk in Oregon.

Why can't you buy it in Oregon?

But you can buy it in Washington and California, the states above and below us.

Super weird.

But we've kind of niched down from a broader food topic

and narrowed a focus to like food education specifically about raw milk in the state of Oregon.

That's super niche.

Now that's just an example, but usually the more specific you can get, the easier it's going to be to hit a specific demographic of people who share the same interests as you.

So focus on being specific at the beginning, and then you can kind of broaden out your topic later as you begin to build some momentum.

Now, once you've thought through your topic and niche, your second step is to finalize your podcast name and your distribution method.

So this is where we need a title.

You got to lock in the title for your podcast.

And just a little note here, just have grace for yourself.

You can always change the name of your podcast later as your idea evolves, but you just got to lock something in at least at the beginning.

An idea here is to use kind of like a catchy phrase at the beginning

and then attach your name at the end.

So one of our shows here at Think Media is Coffee with Cannell, where Sean just answers people's question and hangs out with them while he's drinking coffee.

So that's kind of an easy format.

Just put a catchy phrase and then your name at the end.

You're also going to need some artwork.

So you need album artwork for your podcast cover.

Now there's a couple of routes you could go.

You could use something like Canva.

Canva has a lot of great templates if you wanna just make your podcast design yourself.

I'm personally a big fan of like big texts

or having your face or a big icon of whatever the podcast is about on the album cover.

So Canva is great for building these yourself.

Or you could look at something like Fiverr where you can hire somebody

and commission them to create your artwork for you For as low as like $20 or $30, you could actually have somebody create your own podcast artwork and you don't have to worry about making it yourself.

And then comes distribution.

So distribution sites are platforms where you can upload your podcast audio

and then it's going to distribute your podcast to the various different listening platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, and everywhere else.

Some popular distribution sites are things like Transistor, Buzzsprout, and Podcastle.

We've used all these here before on the channel.

And these sites specifically let you connect what's called an RSS feed to these different podcast listening platforms.

So that's just a simple web link that contains all the necessary information of your podcast, including episode titles, release dates, and artwork.

And then it sends that information to Spotify, Apple Music, et cetera.

So all the distribution site is really simply, it's one location to host all of the content of your podcast.

And then it distributes that podcast to multiple different locations.

So listeners can listen wherever they want to listen from.

So once you have all these details in place, the third step would be to dial in your tech setup and your podcast format.

So this includes your microphones, your cameras, your software, all that stuff.

And the first thing you really want to think about is your microphone

because audio is going to be the most important part of your podcast.

We'll link actually a video down in the description below to our favorite podcast microphones that cost under $200.

These are all really great options, but a couple of quick ones that I'll mention are the Samsung Q2U.

This is a $70 USB microphone that sounds really good.

So you can just plug this directly into your computer and start recording your first podcast episode.

Another microphone that I really like is the Shure MV7X and it's around $150 for an XLR microphone.

So you have to have an XLR interface to use with this microphone.

But in my opinion, it competes really well with this $500 Shure SM7DB.

So this thing and the Shure MV7X sound really similar and the Shure MV7X is way cheaper.

So in that video, I break down a bunch of different options under $200.

You can check that out and we'll link that down in the description below.

If you're taking the time to record a podcast, I'd also really encourage you to hit record on a camera and turn it into a video podcast.

Video podcasts are more popular than they have ever been with 33% of US podcast listeners opting for watchable podcast

and not just audio only.

So if you're just starting out, I think your phone is a great option.

These cell phones nowadays have really great video quality.

So if you're going to sit down and record a podcast episode, at the very least, just whip out your phone and hit record on the camera on your phone.

And if you do want a dedicated camera, we'd highly recommend either the Sony ZV-E10 Mark I or Mark II.

There's some subtle differences between these two cameras in terms of image quality, but overall, both of these cameras are really solid.

I would just choose whichever one you can afford, and we've linked those down in the description below.

Now, in terms of format, are you going to be a solo podcast where it's just you or are you going to have yourself plus guests?

So if it is going to be solo, what's your setup?

Are you going to be talking at a desk like this

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or be kind of more relaxed on a couch vibe or something like that?

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Or if you have guests, are the guests going to be virtual or the guests going to be in person with you in a studio space?

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So you got to figure out all of these questions.

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But truly one of the easiest ways to get started is to just host virtual guests in a virtual podcasting studio.

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And honestly, one of our favorite solutions is StreamYard.

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They're actually a sponsor of this channel.

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We use StreamYard all the time.

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It's our go-to platform for not only live streaming, but also recording our video podcasts.

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There's been so many times where Nate and I will hop on StreamYard to record a podcast episode,

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or even Sean often hops on StreamYard for his Coffee with Cannell show or to host guests for the Think Media podcast.

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So whether you're recording your podcast audio only or directly into a camera, or you're using recording software like StreamYard, you're going to want to think through which option is best

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and what your tech needs would be for each of your preferred formats.

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Now, after you have all your tech dialed in, step four is to record your first few episodes.

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And it really is important to launch your podcast with more than one episode.

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So you can start to build some momentum at the beginning.

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A super interesting stat here is that 99% of podcasts fail if they release fewer than three episodes.

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So you can just put yourself ahead of the curve of

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99% of podcasts out there just by uploading more than three episodes.

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Now, there's a couple of ways you can do this.

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Way one would be to just post one episode per week for like four weeks straight.

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So this is a whole month's worth of content.

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You could just drop them the same day four weeks in a row and there you go.

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You got your four episodes put out in the first month of your podcast being live.

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And then the second way would be to release a handful of shorter episodes all at the same time.

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So this gives your listener a decent amount of content to consume at the beginning of your show going live.

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A little tip here for recording your first few episodes is that it's definitely going to be a learning experience.

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Don't get too stressed about it.

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The goal here is just to record several episodes

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and get them out so we can learn from those episodes

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and then start making adjustments to episodes that we record in the future.

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Now, after we've recorded our episodes, step five would be to edit your podcast.

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And the main thing here is to continue to keep it clean and simple.

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Podcasts are really designed to be more conversational and candid and even like have a raw feel.

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So you really don't need to overdo it on editing.

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The only thing you might be able to explore is building

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an engaging hook that's like maybe 10 to 30 seconds at the beginning of the episode. And then

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that hook can highlight some of the best moments of the

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episode as sort of a teaser to keep the viewer wanting more.

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So this is something you can check out on our Think Media podcast.

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We often do these sort of hooks at the beginning of our podcast episodes to drive retention, but it's not something you have to do.

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Just one sort of editing technique we found that is really helpful.

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But in short, when it comes to editing, you're going to want to chop out any big mistakes or mess ups that you had during your podcast recording,

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but you don't want to get too crazy with it and you still want it to feel natural and well-paced.

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After you've edited your podcast, step six is to publish and promote your podcast.

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So this includes needing a title for each episode, and then you'll use that title in your audio file

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and then upload those to whatever distribution site you have for packaging and release.

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You could also upload your podcast to YouTube.

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And if you have a video podcast, you especially want to do this.

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If you just go to your YouTube studio, hit create, and then hit upload podcast.

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This is where you're going to have a few options to upload your podcast episodes.

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and then your episode will show up in a dedicated podcast playlist as well as your regular video uploads.

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When it comes to promoting your podcast and trying to build awareness about your podcast even existing, one of the best ways still is by producing short clips from your longer podcast episodes.

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These are great for Instagram or TikTok or YouTube shorts.

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We're constantly posting clips from our Think Media podcast to all

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of our social platforms to just drive interest to our long-form podcast.

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Another great way to scale quickly is just to bring on guests who already have an audience of their own, you can kind of build momentum by leveraging another person's audience.

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We call this OPAs, other people's audiences.

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And this can be a great way to scale a little

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bit more quickly as you're trying to get your podcast off the ground.

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And finally, step seven is to review and improve on each podcast episode.

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You really do need to learn from each upload.

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What went well?

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What didn't go well?

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How did your episode even sound?

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Are there like any technical adjustments you could make to your microphone placements or your camera settings?

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There's lots of questions that you can ask after every episode to constantly keep improving.

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I'd also highly encourage you to review the stats from your episodes.

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You can dive into YouTube analytics and see a lot of your stats about retention and watch time.

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And also whatever distribution site you've chosen as well will have some good data that you can learn from.

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Be sure to always also dive into the comment section of your podcast episodes, especially at the beginning, because all of these comments can give you clues as to what your audience is really interested in.

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And then your comment section can kind of lead you down a trail of creating your next podcast episodes.

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So this seven step framework is a simple yet proven method for starting up a podcast this year.

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So truly now is the time.

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There's never been a better time to start a podcast.

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So we encourage you to punch fear in the face and press record.

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If you're still dialing in your tech setup for your podcast this year, you're going to want to check out this video right here, where we highlight some of the best podcast microphones under $200.

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All of these are great options for getting your podcast up and running.

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So check out that video right there and we'll see you in the next one.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Start a Podcast in 2026”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: podcast, episode, record, step. This video has 177 sentences and 2521 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:00. The speaker talks fast, about 229 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
podcast noun	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on…
microphone noun	/ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌfəʊn/	A device (transducer) used to convert sound waves into a varying electric current; normally fed into an amplifier and either recorded or transmitted over radio.
upload verb	/ˈʌpˌloʊd/	To transfer data to a computer on a network, especially to a server on the Internet.
niche noun	/nɪt͡ʃ/	A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament.
listener noun	/ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/	Someone who listens, especially to a speech or a broadcast.
artwork noun	/ˈɑɹtˌwɝk/	A painting, drawing, sculpture or other piece of creative, visual art.
dial noun	/ˈdaɪ.əl/	A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
momentum noun	/ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/	Of a body in motion: the tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity, or the vector sum of the products of its…
catchy adjective	/ˈkæt͡ʃi/	Instantly appealing and memorable.
dedicate verb	/ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/	To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate.
distribute verb	/dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/	To divide into portions and dispense.
retention noun	/ɹɪˈtɛnʃən/	The act of retaining or something retained.
adjustment noun	/əˈd͡ʒʌst.mənt/	The action of adjusting something.
passionate adjective	/ˈpæʃənɪt/	Fired with intense feeling.
dairy noun	/ˈdɛə.ɹi/	(also dairy products or dairy produce) Products produced from milk.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break down verb		To stop functioning.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
think through verb		To fully consider, so as to understand all the consequences of.
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
sit down verb		To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
start out verb		To emerge suddenly; to jump out.
start up verb	/stɑɹˈtʌp/	To rise suddenly.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

You've just got to hit record.
What is your topic, broadly speaking?
Which one do you say?
I don't really know why, but I digress.
How did your episode even sound?

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 46 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: retention /ɹɪˈtɛnʃən/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, nutrition /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/, conversational /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: momentum /ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/, conversational /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/, analytics /ˌæn.əˈlɪt.ɪks/, demographic /ˌdɛm.əˈɡɹæf.ɪk/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like podcast, microphone, upload.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How to Start a Podcast in 2026 (Start to Finish) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?

How to ACTUALLY Start a Healthy Lifestyle in 2025