20 Podcasts that Musicians Should Subscribe To (And Why!)

Rather than listening to music as I drive, shave and garden, I regularly listen to podcasts. That way I’m not just being entertained, but educated as well. In this post we introduce you to the Top 20 podcasts musicians should subscribe to.

A podcast is like a radio show, only distributed via RSS over the internet. Some are professionally produced, but many are done by amateurs. Most are about a particular interest or topic. And there are a ton of them on music and recording – some featuring indie music, others exploring music technology, and many explaining techniques for playing and recording music. In this article we’ll focus on the podcasts that teach you about producing music, and not the ones that help you discover new music. Maybe we’ll cover those in a future post.

This article is based on some earlier posts and their comments. You can check them out here:

• Open Mic: Which Audio-Related Podcasts Do You Listen To?
• Open Mic: Tell Us About the Audio Podcasts You Listen To
• 20 Podcasts that Keep Musicians Up-to-Date

In the list below I start with podcasts I listen to regularly, then those I listen to from time to time and those recommended by our readers, and finally those that look interesting but I haven’t tried yet.

Do you listen to podcasts? How do you find them helpful? Did I miss any of your favorites? Let us know in the comments. And let us know which podcasts in the list you found helpful, too.

1. The Home Recording Show

www.homerecordingshow.com

The Home Recording Show is pretty cool. They do experiments and discuss different techniques. (Will) Many readers concur!

The format of the show is simple – each member of the trio produces a segment, they play the segment, and then have a small round-table discussion about it. The round-table discussions can often be as informative as the produced segments. (Robert Weber)

I’ve been listening to these guys the longest and it’s through them that I’ve both learnt a lot and discovered everyone else. (Ben Peilow)

2. Inside Home Recording

www.insidehomerecording.com

The show has a similar set-up to PSN, with some banter at the beginning, music-related news, topical segments, and ending with an opinion section where Dave and Derek sound off about something going on in the world of music right now. The biggest difference between IHR and PSN, of course, is that IHR is currently producing new episodes. (Robert Weber)

3. Project Studio Network

projectstudionetwork.com

Their shows consists, like many on this list, of a short banter segment (Crosstalk), the latest music news, informational segments on some aspect of home recording, and at the end they “tweak the stupid knob” giving some humorous story from the world of (usually) popular music. (Robert Weber)

4. Sessions with Slau

sessionswithslau.com

Slau runs a full-time recording studio in New York City and podcasts about his adventures. Sometimes it’s a mic shootout, sometimes it’s an interview, sometimes it’s a story. The episodes are always well-produced, but few and far in between. (Robert Weber)

5. Electronic Musicians Podcast

emusician.com/podcasts

Electronic Musician’s podcast is pretty good. Great interviews and they actually talk about music production techniques. (Sean Duncan)

6. Square Cad

squarecad.net

This guy has a great podcast with good interviews. Focus is on mastering. (Jeigh)

7. cdbaby Podcast – DIY Musician Podcast

cdbabypodcast.com

I’m a fan of cdbabypodcast.com. Very useful discussions and interviews. (Kevin)

8. Sonic State – Sonic Talk!

www.sonicstate.com/sonictalk

Discussion show featuring music industry professionals riffing on a range of topics related to music creation, studio and live work.

9. The Sound on Sound Podcast

www.soundonsound.com/podcast

Monthly music production & recording advice, tips and comment from the SOS team.

10. Home Studio Corner

www.homestudiocorner.com

Helping home studios excel.

11. Ronan’s Recording Show

ronansrecordingshow.com

Recording and pro audio: behind the scenes interviews, recording studio tours and music production tips.

12. The DSP Project

thedspproject.com

A new video podcast.

13. Musician’s Cooler

musicianscooler.com

The Musicians Cooler Podcast is a weekly podcast to help musicians get more gigs, more fans, and more music sales by harnessing the power of the Internet through relentless marketing, efficient use of music promotion tools, and a driving desire to spread their music to the world.

14. Gallery 41 Podcasts: Interviews with Jazz Legends

www.gallery41.com

Gallery 41 is produced from a collection of rare, historical, and personal conversations with many of the greatest Jazz legends of our generation. People like Max Roach, Teddy Edwards, Billy Higgins, Joseph Jarman, Abbey Lincoln, Frank Morgan, and Sam Rivers to name only a few.

15. Synthesis Radio

synthesisradio.net

Free online companion to the national Synthesis Magazine. Music, Art, Film, Fashion, Culture, Tech. Exclusive interviews, music, specialty audio and more. The podcast seemed to stop being produced about two years ago, but still contains valuable information.

16. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s Podcast

flatpick.libsyn.com

A podcast dedicated to flatpicking guitar fans all over the world. Featuring music, interviews and more.

17. MusicNewsTidBits.com

musicnewstidbits.com

Get your dose of the latest music news and music industry news.

18. Music Business Radio

blog.musicbusinessradio.com

Music industry talk radio show for musicians, songwriters, and others in the music business.

19. SCOREcast Online Podcast

www.scorecastonline.com

Something else you should check out aswell is the SCOREcast podcast by Deane Ogden and a number of other composers. Well worth checking out if you are interesting in composing for film :D (Emmett Cooke)

20. Open Source Musician Podcast

opensourcemusician.libsyn.com

Your guide to open source for musicians.