How to start a podcast in Lisbon
Most podcasts die before episode three, and almost never because of the microphone. They die because the format was too heavy to repeat.
- Audio
- 7 September 2026
- 6 min
- Kreators, Alfama
Everything below is what we watch work, week after week, in the podcast room in Alfama.
Pick a format you can repeat
One host and one guest around a table is the most durable format in podcasting because it survives busy weeks. Every extra element — panels, locations, elaborate video — multiplies the chances that an episode slips.
Decide three things before anything else: how long an episode is, how often it comes out, and who it is for. Write the answers down. They are the constraints that make every later decision easy.
Audio first, video when it earns its place
An audio-only show needs a quiet, dressed room and one microphone per voice. A video show needs all of that plus lighting, framing and a plan for cutdowns — roughly double the setup for the same conversation.
Start with audio if you are alone. Add video when the show has a rhythm, not before: a filmed episode nobody finishes is worth less than an audio episode that ships every week.
Record in a room that is already set
The cheapest studio hour is the one where nothing has to be built. In our Alfama room the table, the microphones and the control station are permanently in place, so a session starts with a level check instead of a rig build.
The room runs Shure SM7B and Rode Procaster microphones into a Rodecaster Pro II, with a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 for multitrack and a Zoom H6 for anything recorded outside. Three hours costs €450 with 23% VAT included, and a two-hour DJ booth session is €60, VAT included.
Publish the first episode badly rather than not at all
Record a real conversation, keep the edit to cleaning the top and tail, and put it out. Episode one teaches you more than any amount of planning, and nobody's audience hears a first episode twice.
Then protect the slot. The shows that grow are the ones with a fixed recording day, because consistency is the entire strategy.
Short answers
- 01
How do I start a podcast in Lisbon?
Choose a repeatable format, decide audio or video, and record a first episode in a room that is already set. The Kreators studio in Alfama has the microphones, recorder and set in place from €450 for three hours including VAT.
- 02
Do I need video for a new podcast?
No. Audio-first shows are cheaper and easier to keep weekly. Add video when the format has a rhythm, because filming roughly doubles the setup for the same conversation.
- 03
What equipment do I need to start?
One dynamic microphone per person, a recorder or interface, and a quiet dressed room. At Kreators that means Shure SM7B and Rode Procaster microphones into a Rodecaster Pro II, already installed.
More from the journal
The Shure SM7B needs more gain than you think
It is the most photographed microphone on the internet and the most badly gain-staged. Here is how we run it in the Alfama podcast room.
A video podcast is two productions at once
The failure mode is always the same: the episode looks fine and sounds like a conference call, or the other way round. Plan both, or drop one.
How to record a DJ set that is worth sending
Promoters listen for thirty seconds. A phone recording of a room tells them nothing except that you own a phone.
Come make something in Alfama.
Your need, your hour, Apple Pay. Walk up the hill, press record, and leave with the work done.
Kreators produces. bridgr connects. Kreators is the production studio and event space of bridgr, the creative residence and community in Alfama, Lisbon.