Podcast Powerup: How Gear and Experience Brought This Show a Boost

That elusive next level. Sometimes we get there gradually, other times it arrives with a jolt.

Jarika Johnson is the host of the “Blackpacking” podcast.

For Jarika Johnson, the experience of levelling up has been a hybrid of those two possibilities. In May, 2019 she fused her dual loves of podcasting and travel to launch Blackpacking, a podcast that interviews Black travelers from all around the world on their cultural experience being in a different country.

Listen in on the first episode, and you feel immediately like you’ve made a friend. If the topic is your thing you’ll decide quickly that you definitely want to embark on this journey with your host, who comes across as both shy and boundaryless at the same time. No wonder, since Johnson’s got a lot of ground to cover with adventures that have taken her coast to coast, border to border in the U.S., plus backpacking through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile as well as Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and South Africa.

A Show on the Go

Flash forward to 2021, and Blackpacking has hit that next level. Johnson is into Season 3, she’s added video, and is obviously much more comfortable on the mic. That’s what happens when your experience builds up between Episodes 1 and 28 (and counting).

Johnson’s confidence also got a turbo boost when she entered Focusrite’s Podcast Studio Makeover Competition—and emerged as one of three winners among hundreds of competitors. Along with Matthew and Sarah Bivens (Doing It at Home) and Melanie Scroggins (The Creator Speak Podcast), Johnson’s podcast studio received an instant upgrade.

Her new gear included a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 3rd Gen Audio Interface, Heil Sound microphone and boom arm, ADAM Audio SP-5 Studio Headphones, and a Namba Gear Lil Namba Remix Backpack. Services included a design session and $500 store credit with Audimute for a custom sound treatment solution, Journalist Pro from radio and podcast DAW Hindenburg, 50% off a SquadCast annual plan and a discount on podcast hosting from Simplecast. An hour of podcast coaching from Harry Duran, the host of Podcast Junkies and founder of FullCast, was an invaluable included asset.

For the win! The gear comes in.

For the Atlanta-based Johnson, Blackpacking’s specific travel angle leads to a much bigger topic. “This podcast explores what it is like being Black,” she says. “It is a podcast that explores different travel lifestyles and discovers the reason why people travel. Since my very first episode of Blackpacking, the show has evolved from being a narrative to being a podcast that interviews other Black travelers. With the newest season I have added a visual element to the podcast and now people can watch the interviews online. I wanted my audience to put a face to a story and have the audience feel more engaged in the show.

“The core of my mission is still to encourage and promote Black travel,” she continues, “as well as open the minds of other travelers to knowing how our traveling experiences may differ. I continue to dispel stereotypes that people have about Black people not traveling.”

The seeds of Blackpacking were sown when Johnson took a course at University of North Carolina at Asheville for audio production—one that would send her in an unexpected direction.

“I took an intro to audio production class to learn audio skills for video, and I ended up learning so much about basic audio recording and editing techniques,” Johnson explains. “In that class one of our lesson plans was to record and edit a podcast episode. We were instructed to add music and sounds, and I remember really enjoying the assignment and learning how to create an episode.

“After that class I became more interested in podcasts themselves, the different styles and formats to shows. I definitely believe that this led me to the idea to use podcasting as a medium to express my travel experiences.”

When Johnson realized she could merge her podcasting and travel passions into one, she took the leap into launching Blackpacking with a minimal home studio. “My earlier audio setup was simple but a little janky!” she laughs. “I had a condenser microphone that was tapped to my inoperable boom arm. I had an audio mixer that I didn’t really know how to use, and I recorded everything from my desk.

“I liked that I even had a mic lying around to begin recording and experimenting with audio, but I felt I could improve my overall sound and flow. I knew that it didn’t matter as much how nice my mic equipment was but how well I could edit in post production to make it sound better.”

Maximizing the Makeover

Before the Podcast Makeover, from “janky”…

In Spring of 2020, Johnson’s global travel plans were being dashed by the COVID pandemic. But a visit to the Focusrite Facebook page revealed the launch of the Podcast Studio Makeover competition, and with it the opportunity for a new adventure.

“Considering it was at the peak of the lockdowns I had a lot of time on my hands,” she recalls. “So when I first saw the competition I thought it would be  fun things for me to do, and I had the time to create a submission. I thought at the very least if they saw my submission that they would listen to my show.

After: “The space is simply inviting me to record sound.”

“I felt honored to be selected and the experience has connected me to other podcasters. All of [the winning] podcasts are different, you can see why each of us created a podcast, and how our podcast topics were a part of our life experiences.”

Once the gear arrived Johnson took the opportunity to step up her technical specs, while staying focused on raising her podcasting game. “I see myself more of a podcast professional,” she says. “I continue to research podcast trends, and find ways to progress in the industry. I designated a special area in my home for my podcast studio, and I have integrated my mic setup, audio interface, computer, and sound panels into this space. The space now is simply inviting me to record sound. The process has encouraged me to add a visual element to my podcast, and in these visual shows you can see the equipment that I use.”

The 1:1 session with Harry Duran—a podcaster, podcast marketing consultant, and advisor to the space—also paid quick dividends. “The coaching with Harry Duran was helpful and it generated new ideas moving forward with Season 3 of my podcast,” notes Johnson. “One takeaway was learning how to create engagement with my audience outside of my shows, as well as encouraging me to connect with other podcasters that have similar themes to their show.”

Entering New Territory

The upgrades for Johnson’s podcasting studio have also elevated her audio engineer skills. “I have learned more about different types of microphones and how or why to use certain types,” she says of the Makeover process. “I have learned sound techniques about how to record sound in a space. I have also taken the time to learn more about sound frequency, how to edit, and improve my mixing.

“The more episodes that I record, the more of a process I have established when it comes to setting up my audio equipment. My editing process is more detailed now, and I experiment with different ways to boost my audio quality.”

Like it says!

With Blackpacking, Johnson is part of a rapidly expanding podcasting landscape: Apple Podcasts alone currently hosts 1.68 million podcasts (including the SonicScoop podcast!), reaching a listenership projected to exceed 160 million by 2023. It’s a sector that continues to open up new opportunities for talent, audio engineers, and ideas to blossom.

“Now is an exciting time to be involved with podcasting because the industry is growing so quickly and there are so many amazing podcasts being created daily!” Johnson confirms. “Businesses are using podcasts as a way to increase brand awareness and show their reputation in their industry, which is a great way to create content. People are working from home more and wanting to listen to podcasts while they work, making it the perfect time to grow your audience.”

Operating at a time when she sees travel as being redefined, Jarika Johnson intends to keep being creative both with her podcasting and her next adventures. “Considering my podcast is centered around the theme of traveling, I have had to look at travel in a different way to continue to produce episodes since I am not traveling,” she says. “Traveling is being redefined with cross-country RV trips here in the United States, so I am looking into taking an RV trip myself. This is my way to keep up with the current day travel culture.”

• David Weiss

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