Podcasting While Quarantined - Podcasters' Roundtable

I was just on the latest episode of Podcasters’ Roundtable where we discuss the struggle of working remotely, and how you handle the stress of your home now being your place of work. We also cover the large influx of podcasters who are now streaming, and what someone just starting a live stream can do to ensure the best experience for their viewers and listeners.

Thanks to Ray, Daniel, and Dave for having me on the show, and if you want to checkout and subscribe to the Podcasters’ Roundtable (which I suggest you do), you can do so by checking: https://podcastersroundtable.com/

Why Are There Differing Opinions on Microphones?

The absolute legend Curtis Judd was recently asked why reviewers have such a wide variance in opinions of the same microphone. Curtis was kind enough to ask me to chat with him about this topic, and we spent 30 minutes discussing a few reasons why this might be. I had so much fun chatting on this topic and was honored that Curtis asked me to be a part of this discussion. I hope you learn something from this video, and would love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

If you do not follow Curtis on youtube, you absolute have to. He makes extremely high quality videos covering audio, lighting, and video production, and I guarantee you’ll learn a bunch from him.

Sunshine Summit March 2020

On March 16th, I was on the Sunshine Summit hosted by Heather Welch of the Sunshine & Powercuts Podcast along with another guest Ben, the host of Tourette’s Podcast. On the stream we talk about connections, and answer questions from the Geeks Rising live stream we did last year, and answered a bunch of questions from the live stream viewers as well. It was an absolute blast of a chat and I highly recommend checking it out as Heather & Ben share amazing stories!

Thank you so much to Heather for inviting me and Ben on, and I highly recommend y’all check out both of their shows which can also be found on the Geeks Rising Podcast Network.

The Creators Club

I just had the pleasure of being The Creator Club with Josh to discuss audio for creators. I highly recommend checking it if you want to hear me walk through what you need to know about audio and talks about his own creating skills in audio.

If you want to subscribe to The Creator Club to hear Josh chat with a bunch of other creators, make sure to subscribe at: https://anchor.fm/thecreatorsclub

Big thank to josh for having me on the show!

Podcasters' Lounge: The Podcast Academy "Golden Mics"

On Valentine’s day I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the absolute LEGEND Chris Curran on Podcasters’ Lounge for about an hour. If you don’t know who Chris Curran is, he’s the host of The Podcast Engineering Show, and he runs The Podcast Engineering School!

On this lounge, I hung out with Chris while we waited for some attendees from Podcast Movement Evolutions to come by and share some updates. Two folks were able to stop by and share some updates; Dan Hughley from The Johnny Podcast Podcast and Focusrite, and Todd Cochrane from The New Media Show and Blubrry.

The main announcement was that there is a new awards ceremony titled “Golden Mics”, run by The Podcast Academy. The Academy is made up of publishers and producers such as Spotify, NPR, PRX, Sony Music Entertainment and Wondery. The general consensus is that this can be good, as long as they are open to feedback from the podcast community, and it’s used to advocate for the medium as a whole. We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, I had a lot of fun chatting with Chris, Dan, and Todd. Thanks for having me!

7 Tips To Improve Your Podcast Audio Quality

I’ve been using sweetwater for ages especially to purchase higher end gear. Because of that, as soon as they sent me an e-mail asking to share some tips to improve your podcast quality, I jumped on the opportunity. I don’t want to give the whole blog post away, but you can check the entire post which contains 7 Pro Tips For a Better Sounding Podcast.

I want to issue a sincere thank you to sweetwater for asking me to share a tip for this blog post. I think there are some great and practical tips on here to help you improve your sound quality for your podcast.

I Return to The Podcast Engineering Show Episode 164

YEAH OH YEAH! I was just on another episode of the Podcast Engineering Show hosted by the infamous, amazing, talented, and absolute Mad Lad, Chris Curran. I was honored that Chris asked me back on the show since this is one of my all time favorite podcasts that goes right to the top of my queue as soon as it’s released.

On this episode we walk through my current audio rig since I have upgraded a lot since the last time I was on the show in 2017 (Episode 77 from 21 Dec 2017), as well as my production work flow and we have a bunch of fun along the way as is standard for the PES!

If you want to subscribe to Chris’ show you can do so here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-engineering-show/id1079525975?mt=2&ls=1

Or you can check Chris’ Blog Post here: https://podcastengineeringschool.com/bandrew-scott-of-the-bandrew-says-podcast-and-podcastage-pes-164

EPISODE 164 - 9 JAN 2020

Recording a Podcast to Tape

Back in 2018 I was in a voice chat in the Podcastage Discord with a few folks, and we got talking about older recording technology and how 4-track cassette recorders were all the rage back in the day. When I was younger and playing in bands, I had always wanted one of these devices to record “high quality” demos, but we could never afford one. In this voice chat we came up with the silly idea that I should buy one of those 4-track recorders and record an episode of the podcast to it.

Fast forward a few weeks and a used Tascam Ministudio Porta02 was in my hands. It went unused for a few months until episode 150 of the Bandrew Says Podcast, where I recorded the entire thing directly to my computer as well as through the Porta02. I edited two versions of the podcast, an official episode that sounds pretty normal, and a lost cassette edition with a VHS filter over the video and a never before seen introduction that was exclusive to that version of the show.

While I was preparing for the podcast, I was filming the setup and a walkthrough of the process with the intention of making a video for Podcastage titled “Recording a Podcast to Tape”. At the end of the week I had almost the entire thing completed except for an outro.

You may be confused now because it is now 2020, and this was recorded in 2018. That’s correct. I completely forgot that I did this and just stumbled across the video project which was still incomplete. I thought that it was a pretty fun video so I went ahead and filmed the outro and published as the first video in 2020 on the podcastage channel. I hope you enjoy this experiment as much as I do. Is it good sounding. No. But it’s recorded with an important piece of technology especially for anyone who was in a band in the late 90’s early 00’s, and it was a dream come true to finally be able to record on one of these devices.

Official Podcast Episode Recorded to Computer

The Lost Cassette Edition of the Podcast

The Bandrew Says Podcast was a Top Show of 2019!

Wow! Could 2019 get any crazier!? I was just listening to The School of Podcasting year end show, which is always the “My Favorite Podcast of the Year” episode, where listeners send in audio recordings discussing their favorite show. Then near the end of the show THE Dave Jackson himself named my show his favorite of the year! WHAT!?

What a crazy and awesome way to tie a neat little bow on 2019! I am honored that I was selected out of all the shows Dave listens to, and flattered to be included in this years 2019 roundup! Appreya Dave! And also, congratulations on 700 episodes!

If you’re a podcaster looking to improve, I highly recommend check out Dave’s show as theirs a crazy amount of knowledge being shared there. If you are interested and you would like to check out the full episode or subscribe to Dave’s show you can do so by checking out this link: https://schoolofpodcasting.com/my-favorite-podcast-is-2019-edition/

My Goals for 2020

2019 has come to an end, and although it was a year with plenty of downs and difficulties, as well as a complete lack of completing goals, I think it was a very successful year. We hit 100,000 subscribers on the Podcastage YouTube Channel, I launched Podcastage.com, and Sunshine & Powercuts and Tourette’s Podcast joined the Geeks Rising podcast network!

For 2020 I have a few goals set, and almost none of them are analytics based (there is one), because I don’t want to focus on growing subscribers or followers, because I think that can lead to causing the content to suffer. Here are the goals I have:

• Release 52 videos on Podcastage

• Get caught up on gear reviews that I have had sitting around for a year+

• Launch a series focused on preamp reviews

• Do at least 6 versus series

• Create more personality driven content as opposed to item driven content

• Do a quarterly Geeks Rising podcast which is a roundtable with different GR members

• Have one post on this website per month

• Keep developing podcastage.com, and grow it to 1,000 unique viewers per day.

I think all of these goals are very attainable, and I think it will ultimately lead to higher quality content that is more enjoyable for an audience as well as more enjoyable for me.

I also want to share a thought around goals. You should never feel discouraged, or self loathing, or overly disappointed for not hitting a goal because in most cases it’s an arbitrary goal that you’ve set for yourself. Instead of beating yourself up, ask “what can I learn from this?” or “was this goal unreasonable to begin with?” or “how can I adjust this make it more valuable for me?”

I would love to hear from you in the comments what your goals are for 2020 and what your plans are to reach those goals. Thank you all so much for an amazing 2019. I know that 2020 will only be better and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for all of us.