How to turn any topic into a podcast

bre › Learn › How to

What “any topic” really means

The phrase sounds like a sales line, so it is worth being precise. In bre, a topic is whatever you type into the box on the home screen: a question (“why is the sky blue at noon and red at dusk?”), a subject (“the fall of Constantinople”), a comparison (“index funds versus picking stocks”) or a thing you are stuck on (“I don’t get how a mortgage amortises”). You can also add your own notes or files and ask for an episode about those.

From that, bre writes an episode and one to three hosts talk it through. bre’s hosts are AI, and every episode is generated when you ask for it. That is the whole trick, and it is also the reason to keep your judgement switched on: a generated episode can be wrong or out of date, so check anything that matters.

The five decisions

Everything you can set lives in the Studio, the small pill under the box. Five choices shape the episode. The defaults are sensible, so you can skip all of them and press Go, but knowing what they do makes the difference between a fine episode and the right one.

1. Mode. Podcast is a curious conversation. Educator teaches step by step. Debate puts hosts who disagree in a room. News is a briefing on the topics you pick. Stories is for families, set up by a grown-up. Each has its own pace and house style.
2. Length. Fifteen minutes, thirty, one hour, two hours, three hours on bre Pro, or Auto, which fits the length to the topic. A long episode is written in chapters while the first part plays, so you are not waiting for the whole thing.
3. Hosts. One, two or three, chosen from bre, Felix, Vera and Theo. One host explains. Two talk it through. Three argue.
4. Level. Beginner to advanced. This changes what the hosts assume you already know, not how long they talk.
5. Model. Spark is quick and light. Insight is a natural back-and-forth with real depth. Scholar is bre’s most thorough, written in several passes.

How to ask for a good episode

The topic box is forgiving, but a little care pays off. Three habits help.

Ask the question you actually have

“Inflation” gets you a tour. “Why did prices jump after 2020 and why did it take so long to stop?” gets you the episode you wanted. The more your topic sounds like something you would ask a friend, the better the hosts start.

Say where you are starting from

“I know what a stock is but not what an option is” saves ten minutes of the hosts guessing. The level setting does the broad version of this; a sentence in the box does the precise version.

Match the length to your day, not the subject

The Roman Empire does not need three hours; your drive to the airport might. Pick the length you will finish. A short episode you hear to the end beats a long one you never return to.

Or just talk it through

If typing feels like homework, press the waveform button beside the microphone with the box empty. That opens Talk: bre asks you a few short questions, by voice, about what you are curious about, how deep to go, and how long you have, then plans the episode with you before it is made. It is a planning conversation, not a general chat; when the plan is set, the episode gets written.

Picking the hosts

The number of hosts changes the kind of episode more than any other setting, so it is worth a minute.

• One host explains. It is the clearest option for a hard topic at a beginner level, and the easiest to follow on a noisy street.
• Two hosts talk it through. One explains and one asks the questions you would, which is the shape of most good podcasts and the one bre starts you with.
• Three hosts argue. More voices, more disagreement, and the best setting for a topic where the interesting part is that people do not agree.

Then there is who. bre is the default lead: warm, quick and plain-spoken, the friend who has read everything. Felix is calm and unhurried, and explains the hard part slowly until it clicks. Vera knows the sources and tells you where the evidence gets thin. Theo takes the other side on purpose, so you hear the best case against. Otis is the storyteller, in Stories only.

Pair them for the episode you want. bre and Felix for a curious wander through a big subject. bre and Vera when you want to know how solid the evidence is. Felix and Theo when you want a claim tested properly. All of them are AI characters with synthetic voices; none of them is, or imitates, a real person.

Bring your own material

A topic does not have to be a question. Add up to five text or Markdown files (meeting notes, a chapter you are studying, your own draft) and ask for an episode about them. The hosts read the files before they start and you can ask questions about them while you listen. PDF and Word files are not supported yet; text and Markdown are. Files are not available in News or Stories.

What happens after you press Go

The first part of the episode is usually ready within a minute or two, and the player opens as soon as it is. A longer episode keeps being written in the background while you listen. In the player you get the usual podcast controls: speed, skip back and forward, background playback with the lock-screen controls, and a full transcript. Your place is saved, so a two-hour episode can be three commutes.

And at any point you can press Talk and ask. A host answers from what the episode covers, or says it did not cover that, then the episode carries on. If you ask for an episode a lot of people ask for, the topic pages show what it would cover before you make it. For the whole picture of how asking back works, read the guide to talking to an episode.

What to expect, honestly

A bre episode is a good explanation by hosts who are easy to listen to. It is not journalism, and it is not a lecture by the leading authority on the subject. The hosts work from what the model knows, which is broad and usually right and sometimes not. They are better on how things work than on what happened last week, and when something matters, the right next step is to check it somewhere you trust. bre says this inside the app, and it is true.

Questions people ask

How long does it take to make an episode?

The first part is usually ready within a minute or two, and the player opens as soon as it is. A long episode keeps being written in the background while the first chapter plays.

Can I turn a document into a podcast?

Yes. Add up to five text (.txt) or Markdown (.md) files and ask for an episode about them. The hosts read the files first, and you can ask questions about them while you listen. PDF and Word files are not supported.

Can I pick who talks?

Yes. For each episode you pick one to three hosts from bre, Felix, Vera and Theo. Otis is the storyteller in Stories. All of bre’s hosts are AI, with synthetic voices.

Do I have to type the topic?

No. With the box empty, press the waveform button to open Talk. bre asks you a few questions by voice and plans the episode with you before it is made. You can also dictate into the box with the microphone button.

Is a generated episode accurate?

Usually, and not always. Every episode is generated when you ask, so it can be wrong or out of date. bre labels every episode as AI-generated and asks you to check anything that matters. It is for interest and learning, not advice.

What languages does bre speak?

English, for now. The app and the hosts speak English today; other languages are not announced.

Every bre episode is generated when you ask for it, so it can be wrong or out of date: check anything that matters. These pages are for interest and learning, not medical, financial or legal advice. More about the app on the home page and about bre.