Audio episode from Buzzspout.

Testing publishing an audio episode to Spotify.

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I think this is why so many Florida men are on the news. I think so. We're like, oh my gosh, it'd be embarrassing to be in a life vest.

unknown 0:07

Here we go.

Listener Email

SPEAKER_04 0:13

So Priscilla wrote into our base camp saying that, you know, over the years they've gotten a lot of emails about Buzzcast, you know, some good, some bad, but they had actually received one that they have never seen before.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Right. This one stood out for some odd reason. Yeah. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it stood out.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

So Priscilla sent this to the group and I read it and I immediately went to Fiverr and hired somebody to read it for us. This has been pared down a bit. Uh things don't seem as long when they're written as when they're spoken. So, Jordan, I sent you an audio. Uh, let's click it.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Bravo to the cast and writers of Buzzcast. I didn't know what to make of this workplace comedy podcast. As someone who doesn't podcast, I wasn't sure I would find the show humorous or even interesting. However, the first few episodes I listened to were entertaining enough that I decided to check out the series from the beginning. After binge listening to the entire series over the last two months, I need to congratulate the team on the a hundred episodes. Man, I hope they get renewed for a hundred more. There's enough non-industry banner about the characters' lives to keep things relatable, and the occasional cameo by the real-world podcasting figures like Adam Curry, Eve Oterra. Provide many wink wink. We're all in on the joke moments.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

I like that we're a cast of characters.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, what did he say? Real life?

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Real life cameos.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

But we're we're all not we're we're not real life. No, we're characters in a comedy podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

But what really turned me into a fan was the chemistry between the three main characters. Kevin, Jordan, and Alvin. At first, Kevin, the Ron Swanson character, comes off as taciturn and even standoffish. His endless tilting into the Spotify windmill is a funny reoccurring bit. Anytime Spotify comes up, you know he'll go into one of his get off my lawn. Fish shaking diachimes, you know. Comedy gold, bro.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Comedy gold.

SPEAKER_04 2:16

I like that you're the Ron Swanson.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Oh, 100%. None of that is debatable. Yeah. If this was a TV show, we Yeah, I think everybody would agree to that.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Okay. The next character, Jordan, clearly a nod to Roz from Fraser, had an equally satisfying arc. When I went back to listen to the series from episode one, I was surprised to see that the series began with a different character of Travis. I was interested in seeing the usurpation of the co-host slot. Clearly, an Andy Dwyer situation, where an assembled cast member did such a good job developing the character into an audience favorite that the writers decided to make her a series regular.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Alright. I I don't get all these references. He's going very deep.

SPEAKER_04 2:57

Okay, so Andy Dwyer.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

From Parks and Recreation.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

No. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Andy Dwyer is the office because Michael Scott left and then Andy became right? Or am I backwards? We gotta Google this now.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

I don't know. I got the uh the Roz reference from Frazier.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Yeah, Andy Dwyer is Parks and Recreation. It's the Chris Pratt character.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, very little. He was a boyfriend of somebody, and he was funny enough that they continued to write him in more and more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

Aubrey Plaza's character, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah, Chris Pratt's on there for like one.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

I was thinking Andy of the Office, but not like chubby Chris Pratt, Andy.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

And I guess that makes sense because when Travis was still on the show, Jordan, you were a guest on the show. And then you were such a fan favorite that you usurped the co-host role. Okay, so I'm I was thinking this was like a total joke, but I really think Marcos actually did listen to every episode.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I mean, there is like listening to Travis episodes, Evo Terra, that's a long time ago. Yeah. Adam Curry episodes, Kevin Diatribes, that's throughout. Like, this is Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

There was some joking in the base camp, and I was agreeing with it. Like, did somebody just like prompt an AI bot to write something silly? But I don't know that an AI bot could have done this.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Yeah, somebody invested time in this. All right.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Let's keep going. I do enjoy the actor's laugh, especially when she leans into the dolphin whistle range.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

That's not an AI bot.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Who's next? Alvin, right. The character Alvin provides a solid, relatable, everyman constant throughout the series. His presence provides a Jim Halpert-like mirror through which the viewer can experience the advantage of his co-hosts and characters. We've all had that boss that throws out half-baked ideas with expects us to make it a reality.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

That's no, no, no, no. I don't like this. Alright, skip over the uh boss with the half-baked ideas part and keep rolling.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

I'm curious though, because it's kind of like an interesting dynamic, because at first you're described as the Ron Swanson, like get off my lawn type character, but now you're like the zany boss. And so I don't really understand like which it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Michael Scott.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Right. That bit when Kevin tells Alvin to launch a Buzzapalooza conference in three months that had Alvin pulling out his hair and screaming. Yeah, that was a series highlight for sure. His backstory of a lawyer turned marketer, while a bit unlikely, hints at a hidden depth and strength in the world.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

That would be a stretch.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

I love that's like that's unlikely, but okay, we'll buy into it.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

How many of us would be strong enough to admit our failure and follow our dreams into something new and unknown?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. To be clear, failure being a lawyer, accurate. Followed my dream of podcasting, not accurate. This is this is an accidental dream. This is not a like, I've got to be a podcaster, I've got to do it. So I won't I won't claim all of that intentionality.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

So you never had like your foot loose angry dancing moment, like following your actual true passion.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Do you want to know that I've never seen the movie Foot Loose?

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Oh. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

You can be forgiven of that. And just to be clear, I'm gonna speak on Alvin's behalf. He wasn't a failed lawyer, he was an unhappy lawyer. He's probably a very good lawyer. I don't know, he never represented me, but he was just not happy doing it.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

I'm looking forward to seeing what other hijinks Salvin and the rest of the cast get up to next. Congratulations to the cast, the writers, and the crew of the show. I hope more people discover this hidden gem before it gets canceled. That's regards, Marcos. Before it gets canceled.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Oh my gosh. That's so great. But how do you listen to a hundred episodes and not know his name? Maybe not Alvin. That's my favorite part of this whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

I gotta tell you, it was kind of like a different experience hearing about yourself from the outside looking in, like realizing, like, oh, that kind of is sort of a character arc.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Kevin's part cracked me up by far the most. He comes off his taciturn, but eventually you learn that he's actually like, he's not just always grumpy, he actually likes the people he works with.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

I'm a little shocked. I know you guys make fun of me because I sound grumpy sometimes. I don't feel grumpy. Well, I perceive grumpiness from you on this podcast. Well, it's not intentional.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Well, we appreciate it, Marcos. Thanks for reaching out. Thanks for uh sending us in that email.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

It's gonna be harder for me to tell you guys this now, but we are not renewed for another hundred yikes.

Making A Good Unscripted Podcast

SPEAKER_04 7:41

So yesterday I stumbled upon an article by Pippa Johnstone from Pacific Content, and she wrote about the production process that goes into a professional unscripted podcast that I found really interesting. It's called Flipping the Script: The Art of Making a Good Unscripted Podcast. And she talks about how a lot of podcasts, like professional podcasts, especially that are made, they're heavily scripted, they're read, but there seems to be a very genuine fluidity that happens in conversation when you don't have it as heavily scripted. And so a lot of podcasters mistake unscripted for off the cuff. And those are two completely different things. And she makes a point in this article that I really love saying, like, if you just hit record and go with like no guidance on where your conversation's gonna go whatsoever, it's probably not gonna end up so great. And I think that that's a mistake that a lot of like independent podcasters make too.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

One of the very first blog posts we ever wrote, Kevin, I think you'd even asked someone to write this before I even started working for you. So this is like 2014, was collecting a ton of tips. And I remember the first tip about podcasting that probably I ever got was that you have to write down at least a few sentences about what you're gonna talk about. Because if you don't, all you get is rambling. And there's something about the pressure of knowing you've recorded and not having anything to say that people get very uncomfortable and it doesn't really go anywhere. And just having a basic outline, here's the articles we're talking about, here's what we're a few of the main points, I think makes everyone so much more comfortable so that you can get a little bit of a better recording. So yeah, I totally agree with this one.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I'm gonna add some flavor. What's an interesting take on that?

SPEAKER_04 9:34

How can I be contrarian right now?

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Kevin just whisper. I'm gonna give my own spin on this, silence, and then I hear him whisper to himself. What's an interesting take on that? All right, shoot.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Okay, interesting take go. Well, I was gonna say we've all heard these podcasts that like clearly they're unscripted and they are unprepared. And so they ramble and ramble and ramble. But then I'm like, wait, is that true? Because I I can't think of a podcast that I listen to like that. And then the thought is connecting, and it's like, well, there's probably a reason I don't listen to podcasts like that because they're not very good.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

And so I'm sure I've heard podcasts like that, but I don't follow them. I don't listen to the whole thing. I turn them off pretty quick. But at the same time, it's not a bad place to start. Like, if you're like, let's just get some mics and let's just try to record an episode and let's see what happens. You can totally do that. You you can publish it, you don't have to publish it. But at some point, you are certainly going to want to have at least a rough outline together of the topics that we're gonna cover and roughly how long this should take us. And are we going down too many rabbit holes? Like we're not getting through the stuff that we want to get through. So, yeah, preparation is key. And if you're searching for examples of people who aren't prepared, is like the the non-example, I can't think of any because they probably don't get a lot of listenership.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah. I've listened to these shows before and never for multiple episodes. I think if you've got two hours to record, you have enough time to do the podcast. But that first 30 minutes, put all of that time as a group saying, what things do we want to talk about? This is a podcast about books. What books are we gonna talk about? Okay. Oh, now I'm kind of jotting down a little idea for what I would say there. And it's not that that's exactly the script. It's not like you're going to go step by step through this outline, but everybody has a little bit of like a shared landscape for where you're moving. And so you kind of see, okay, we're moving from this topic to the next one. I don't need another like rabbit hole in the middle, or else the shows just the ones I think of are they're always these like buddy brew podcasts where it's like, hey, we talk about something and we drink beers and we talk about them. And they get behind a mic and it's a podcast, it's just it's not a very good podcast. And I think, you know, just adding a little bit of prep really, really helps.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

And I think that there's some people that, you know, maybe they're practiced enough with like public speaking or formulating their thoughts that they can pull that off. But once you start getting other people into the mix, it's a little bit more difficult. It's so funny because I think about when I first started working with you guys on this podcast, I would look at the outlines and it was literally just like a punch list. Like, we're gonna talk about this story, then we're gonna talk about this story, then we're gonna talk about this story. And you guys would just like go and you were good at it. I'm not good at that. And so basically what I had to do was I had to have these like fully fleshed out outlines. So that's one of the things when I came in was I was like adding probably too many notes to our outlines, you know, like saying, like, here's all the things I want to talk about, here's all the details about this, whether or not we talk about it. So it's like somewhere between an outline and a script, I think.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Do either of you have private notes? Do you ever like look at the script and write down, like, oh, here's a few things I want to say?

SPEAKER_04 12:53

I started doing that like two months ago, and I don't know why I didn't do that sooner. It's so much better.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

It's not that I'm going to make all those points, but sometimes if you write down the notes in the outline, somebody else takes the point and then you're like, what the heck? He just stole that. So I started writing private notes at some point. I did this with Kevin and Travis, so this is uh over a year old, and I would have lots of thoughts and I would have typed them out, and I would rarely like look at those notes during the podcast, but it would help formulate the idea that I might use later on.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I don't, I I try not to even look at the outline before we come in to record as much as possible. But my job is to be aware of everything that goes on in podcasting every day. So I have to I'm already consuming everything. At least enough of I like it when there's new things that pop in the outline that I haven't seen before. Like I didn't read this flipping the script blog that you just talked about, or we are talking about right now, but I've read enough stuff around this to understand the concept. So I like hearing you guys make the points of what was in this article and then just reacting to them.

SPEAKER_04 13:55

The second point that she makes is about recording, and she recommends a long recording session. And so the podcast that she talks about in this is called Work Check, and she says work check episodes are usually 25 to 30 minutes long, but we record for 90 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Whoa.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

I know, but that's pretty much what we do too. You know, there's times that we've had recording sessions that go like two and a half hours, and then the episode itself is like 50 minutes. And I think, you know, it's one of those things where the post-production aspect of it, like the editing, is so much heavier, but you're able to get good tape when you have these long recording sessions. You know, it's like it takes a while to get into the groove of things, or sometimes we rabbit trail and it doesn't make as, you know, clear of a point as we hoped it would make. And so sometimes those heavy edits are really necessary to make a really quality podcast.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

It also takes a lot of the pressure off. If you know two-thirds of this isn't gonna make it into the final, you feel fine just going on and making a point that you're not a hundred percent sure if it's gonna land. And sometimes at the end of those, we say to each other, okay, that's not gonna work. Yeah, and it gets cut. And other times we're like, I didn't think you were gonna land that plane, but you did. Yeah. We're using it. So I totally agree with this. If you are going to do an unscripted podcast and you're doing a bit of these notes and that's the prep, yeah, you're probably looking at two to three X the length of the episode is how long you need to be recording.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Yeah. I do think, I mean, she's saying a 30-minute episode you could record for 90. I feel like that's maybe in the beginning, but we've gotten to the point now where we record about twice as long as our final episode. So for us to record, we'll record for about an hour and a half, we'll end up with a 45-50-minute episode. And I feel like if you're at 3x for too long, you're gonna burn your editor out, or you're gonna spend a lot of money paying for an editor. So as you get better, it can get tighter, but shooting for a 30-minute show and recording for 90, that's a fine place to start.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

And then her third and final point in here is post-production, even unscripted podcasts need fixes. One of the things that she talks about pickups, and pickups are the bits of dialogue that need to be re-recorded. And so she's saying, like, even on scripted podcasts, sometimes people will like stumble over their words or say something incorrectly, and it needs to be re-recorded. But the hard thing about unscripted podcasts is that they're very natural sounding and you're not reading from a script. So there's times where you might be laughing, like leading into something, and and you're just like, next up we have da-da-da-da-da. So if you have to re-record that, if you're laughing leading into it, then you have to, in the re-record, try to naturally laugh to match how that sounds. And it feels absolutely ridiculous, but it works and it makes it sound so much better. And then you don't have that mistake in the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Yeah, the best time to do a pickup. I mean, I guess it's not technically a pickup, it's a retake, but the best time to do that is right after the stumble. And so we do it pretty regularly where I'll go, okay, I just misspent, miss said that. So let me redo it. And then you say it again, and you just take the second of the two, or sometimes we'll point out that somebody said something incorrectly, we run back and we say that same thing again. So have we ever gone back and done a true pickup?

SPEAKER_04 17:08

I have really. There was the episode that we had Cameron on, and it was sort of this like last-minute change. And so I hadn't formulated like an introduction. And so it was sort of this haphazardly put-together introduction for Cameron to be on the show. And I thought he was on the show for the entire thing, but he was actually only on for a segment. And so I misspoke and said that he was joining us for the episode, but then he left at the end of the segment. In the editing process, I realized, like, okay, this doesn't make any sense. And so I had to re-record my introduction and specifically say, like, he's joining us for the segment. And it just kind of like clarified his purpose of the segment with us.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

I hate it when you guys do that.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

I think that it does make sense to just pause and redo what you're saying. But sometimes you don't catch things until after the recording and you go, oh wait, that's not gonna work.

RØDE's Biggest Product Announcement

SPEAKER_04 18:03

At the NAB show in Las Vegas, Rode made what they are saying is their biggest product announcement ever with seven new products and product updates. Yeah, this is huge, actually, because Road creates some really cool stuff. And so they've come out with all new things that I think are gonna be really exciting for creators and podcasters.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Road is like all in on podcasting. They really are. I love it. And streaming. I feel like they started out with mostly stuff for podcasting, and then I think streamers started realizing this is really high quality stuff and started picking up, and now they've added some streaming stuff in here too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

So one of the first things that they announced was the wireless me, which I think came out a few weeks ago. It's their compact wireless microphone system. You can have like the lapel mic or the mic that like attaches to your camera phone or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

I've seen these instead of like a lapel mic that looks like a little mini microphone, they have some that are like almost like a little cube. It's like a very large Starburst.

SPEAKER_04 19:04

Yeah.

unknown 19:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

And then that thing you'd put on your lapel and it records. The new thing is that you also have something on the other side that plugs into your phone, but the thing that plugs into your phone now has a microphone too. So if I went around with this little giant Starburst thing and I was like, hey, put this on, let me ask you some questions. When I say, like, what are you really enjoying about this conference? the recording would still have the audio of me saying, What do you really enjoy about this conference? Because there's a mic on both ends of this.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

Exactly. So I mean, you don't have to buy two microphones or be switching back and forth between who's speaking and who is holding the microphone, you know? And then they also added a gain assist to control audio levels.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

One of the products that stood out to me was this thing they're calling the Streamer X. It kind of looks like I have a Elgato wave. It kind of reminded me of that. But or maybe like a really, really small Rodecaster Pro. It's got like four buttons so you could have like four little noises, four little buzz-based sounds. You've got your headphone and your mic audio, so you can adjust those. And it's got a capture card built in. So for a lot of people who stream, you use a DSLR and then you need a capture card often. So you have something, it's like an out on the camera, and then it has to go into something called a capture card. This now has a capture card built in. So you just plug the camera right into it, you plug your mic into it, and then you plug this thing into your computer, and you've got a little bit of like a mini control station, and it looks good.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

So I didn't realize when you're streaming video and you have a DSLR camera, does it have to go through like a stream deck where you have like a video card in it, or can it just plug directly into your computer? Because I was under the impression you could just like put it on your computer and it would all work out.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Depends on the camera. So the camera I used to use, I did need a capture card. And so there's some that they're not that big, but you just have to plug them in the kind of the center, and they are doing some sort of like re-transcoding, maybe. But it's doing something so that the signal is now gonna work for my computer.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yeah. Most computers that have an HDMI port, you might think that you could plug if your camera has an HDMI out, you could just get the right cable and plug it in. But usually the on computers, those are just HDMI outs, they're not HDMI inputs on most computers. Now, some might have capture cards built into them that I'm not aware of, but like MacBooks and stuff, like that's an HDMI out. And so you can't just plug in your camera. But newer cameras have like USB C, like the newer camera Albin just got, so he doesn't actually need a separate capture card device, he can just go in USB C. But anyway, if you have a camera that needs a capture device, then this is a good box for you.

SPEAKER_04 21:52

That's good to know. I didn't know that. Now the other thing that they announced that I was very excited about is the Rodecaster Doom. Which is just a compact version of the Rodecaster Pro 2. And so it has like the same audio features, the same preamps. Everything is the same. It has the same like screen on it and knobs, except for it's only for two inputs. And it's just like a smaller version, which I really love because having the Rodecaster Pro is, I mean, it's huge. We were just talking about this like a couple minutes ago. It takes up so much space, especially if you're like me. I'm the only person recording into this thing. Well, this is massive and it's taking up like a third of my desk.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Yeah. So this is the device that most podcasters probably need. This is everything that they need more. Most podcasters are not having three or four people in the same room. Most are having one most of the time, and sometimes two. And so I think this is a great product. I can't believe that. Well, I guess it makes sense. Like if they would have launched with this, everybody would complain it doesn't have enough inputs on it. So I get that. And you could always have more, but like if it doesn't have enough, that's the real problem. But this is what I'm super excited about this because I also have a roadcaster sitting on my desk, roadcaster pro sitting on my desk. And it's and it's unnecessarily large. I like to keep a clean desk. It's taking up more space than it needs to. I only plug one mic into it. And so I think the Rodcaster Pro that's sitting on my desk right now is going to the office. Because it's a great box, but it's just too big. So this is the exact same thing, just smaller footprint.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

Yeah, and it has six uh smart pads instead of eight. So I mean it still has just like all the functionality.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I could have gone with zero pads. We really don't want to be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

You're the only one who uses them again, and you love you love those smart pads.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

But only like for annoying jokes, you never use them in reality. I guess if you if you use a clip show or something.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

I used them last episode.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Right. If you have clips that you want to play, it is a convenient way to load them in. But it's rare. Yeah. And most podcasters don't like run clips during their show. If you drop like um, then the sensor pad is nice.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Wait, how long have you had the sensor pad built in?

SPEAKER_00 23:55

A little while.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

This whole time.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Every time I get really worked up about something Spotify did, then I can mother.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Make sure our show stays clean. All right, so I think the reason the original Rodcaster Pro, it does have support for like your phone and Bluetooth and all this other stuff. But the reason it had four inputs, I think, is because it was launched in 2019. And I think in 2019, there were way more people recording in person. And COVID is where people started moving more, they were mostly recording in person to most podcasts are recording over the internet using Riverside, SquadCast, Zoom, something like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

That's a really good point. I think that if people are looking at it as like maybe a more affordable option than the Rodcaster Pro 2, they have it listed for pre-order at $499. So, I mean, it's very, very expensive, especially when compared to like maybe the Vocaster 2 or something like that. Um, but I mean it's pretty. It looks really nice.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Yeah, and road stuff doesn't get discounted very often or ever. The best you can hope for, usually, with a road product, is that you can find it on like BH is one of their premier partners, and they will bundle it together with some other stuff. So if you find yourself needing like headphones and a microphone and a Rodcaster Duo, you might be able to get a package at a lower price. But buying just the Rodcaster Duo alone, it's probably going to be always at MSRP, no matter where you find it.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

The last product that I really like stuck out to me was what they're calling the Podmic USB. So Podmic came out. I think that's another like 2019 product. And it always was just XLR and it's just a good mic. The build quality of it was superb. I think we've had two since they launched and both still work perfectly. And they've both been taken to tons of conferences and bumped around and dropped and all sorts of stuff, no issues yet. And now they've made one with a USB connectivity built in and it's got a little audio switch in it. And USB-C looks good. It's like all matte black, so it's even prettier than the old one. I think this could be a contender for a lot of people. If they want to upgrade slightly from the Samsung Q2U, this might be kind of that next step up.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah, one of the nice things about this mic, you're gonna pay a little more for it. I think the Q2U, you can usually get around $70. This one is always $99, and I think the price stays the same for the USB version. Is that right? Let's assume it's gonna be around $99. So for $30 more, what are you gonna get? Well, it does have an internal shock mount built into it. So with the Q2U, if you end up putting it on a boom arm, you have to buy like a shock mount adapter to go onto your boom arm, and that's about $30. And so you're kind of net even if you're gonna put this thing on a boom arm. Um, if you just plan on using the stand that comes with the Q2U and that works for you, you don't need the boom arm, you don't need the shock mount, then that might still be cheaper. I think they do sound pretty comparable. I think most people wouldn't hear the difference. But if you'd like the look better, if you're gonna put it on a boom arm, can't go wrong either way. It just kind of comes down to you know your budget constraints and how you're setting it up.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Yeah, and they are made really well. It's funny that you mention taking them to like conferences and stuff. So I did a presentation on podcasting at my daughter's career day last Friday, and I brought my pod mic to hand around to the students because I was like, they can drop it, it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

That's the one that they can beat up.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

It is the one.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Yeah, you're not taking some super expensive, ultra fragile mic. The pod mic, you know, those kids are gonna drop it and it's still gonna go for it.

SPEAKER_04 27:28

Yeah, and they didn't drop it, but it was just like I took comfort in knowing that if they did, it was going to be totally fine. The thing that I thought was really interesting was I think it was like last month they came out with um the NT1 that had the the USB was inside the XLR port, which was kind of funky but kind of cool at the same time. But they didn't do that with the pod mic USB. So if people don't like the two ports being one and the same, then this might be a better option for them having both the XLR and the USB separate.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah, the NT1 just doesn't have as much space on the back of the mic as the pod mic does. And so I wonder if there was a bit of a design constraint that they just were like, hey, we don't have space, so we got to put this USB-C inside of the XLR port. And then on the pod mic, they're like, you know, we have plenty of space, so no stress. I like the idea with the NT one. I just went looking at the pod mic though, I'm like, yeah, this is probably an easier way to set it all up.

SPEAKER_04 28:27

I really like the all black too. It looks really good. I think it looks so much better than the previous version.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

It's always cool to see Rode and everybody else building tons of equipment for the podcasting industry, especially when it's kind of you could tell it was geared for podcasters in particular and streamers. So thank you to Rode, and we're excited to see what else comes out. Maybe we'll get our hands on some of these.

Smartless: On The Road

SPEAKER_04 28:52

All right. So some little, I don't know what to call these news bites or small segments, like just little things happening in the podcast. Pod snacks. Pod snacks.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Appateasers. Appate.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Oh my gosh. Oh, so stupid. HBO Max, which is now renamed to just Max. During the relaunch or rebrand, they played a trailer for the podcast Smartless. They're doing a documentary style series. It's like a short series called On the Road. And it's a Smartless podcast going on tour and having guests at like live shows. And so I'm really interested to see it because I want to see what the behind the scenes of like these live shows for podcasters is like. I mean, obviously, this is a very heightened version of it because it is celebrities. They're probably not on like a private jet, you know, they're not, you know, taking the bus to the next city. But I think it'll be really interesting and probably very funny.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Have either of you ever listened to Smartless more than just like little clips? Yeah. I've made it through plenty of episodes.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

Yeah. That's a podcast I jump around. I just look for guests I'm interested in.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yeah, I'm probably a like single digit level of minutes that I've ever listened to of it. Like I've heard little clips, but never a full episode for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yeah, it's not a bad show. I I understand why it has mass appeal. I mean, it's pretty funny. It's famous people talking with other famous people. Yeah. I don't know. It's fine. It's like when I used to watch TV on a regular, you know, like it was a normal part of my life to watch TV. There's a lot of shows that I watched that were just fine. And I think that this podcast kind of falls into that. Like if you're new to podcasting, or if you just open up the app one day and you're like, what should I listen to? Like it's always there. It's featured, it's on the top of every chart. But probably not because it's the greatest podcast ever, just because I don't know, when they had a good marketing campaign when they launched and there's celebrities, and so it got featured a lot, and now it just stays on top of those charts. It's there's nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_04 30:49

I mean, there's kind of like beloved celebrities, though, like in in a weird way, in that like, you know, arrested development is just kind of like cult classic.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

It's broad appeal for sure. I ask people all the time, what podcast do you listen to? And I've heard plenty of people mention smartless, but I've never heard anybody say it's my favorite podcast.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

See, and I've heard people say it's their favorite podcast. See, I haven't.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

So who knows?

BeReal Spotify Integration

SPEAKER_02 31:10

This is one that Megan highlighted in the bus drop newsletter today. I thought this was interesting. Uh so be Real just did an integration with Spotify. And so uh when you take your Be Real, it'll act it can show what you were listening to on Spotify. So if you pulled open your podcast real quick and started your podcast and pulled open your be real and took a photo, there you go. You can share what you're uh listening to.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Okay, I don't know what Be Real is. Is it like an app?

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Kevin, do you know what Be Real is? Yeah, I know what B Real is. Well, it's the next type of social media. No, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

It's been around forever, it's not gonna get any more popular than it is, it's on the decline.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

I love that the beginning of this podcast started with Kevin being like, I'm not grumpy like everyone thinks, and then you just trash everything.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Well, B Real has already moved. I said, I I know some stuff, and this is one of the things I know about. B Real has already moved out of like cool young kid culture, and it's already moved into like Facebook status. Like that's something for the oldies to do.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

So is it like Instagram?

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Yeah, it gives you a notification once a day, and it's like you have two minutes to post to be real, and you have to take a photo with the app. It takes front camera and back camera and whatever you're doing. Oh, whoa. And the whole point is like this is what's happening in my life right now.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

It's a different time every day. You just get a notification at a random time, and everyone gets it at the same time, and then they collect all those photos, and then that's what everyone can peruse over the next 24 hours or so until the next notification goes out.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Oh, that's cool. It's trying to be, in my mind, more like what you do in a group chat with your close friends rather than like Instagram. Instagram is super highly correlated, but like I don't know about either of you. I have group chats that every once in a while you just get someone's like selfie photo that does not look good, and then everyone in the whole chat just responds with weird photos of themselves. I don't know what's going on there, but it's pretty much it's a private be real.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Well, that's a little bit of like Snapchat culture. Snapchat culture is all about Snapchat culture? That's all about just shooting random pictures of yourself. I've never, if you got too good in them, it's actually like a bad thing. It's like, oh, why are you trying to make yourself look

Spotify Opens Gimlet To Other Platforms

SPEAKER_00 33:15

so good?

SPEAKER_04 33:15

The other quick story we have here is Spotify drops exclusivity for Gimlet shows. And I don't know. It's so weird because Gimlet, like, some of their shows were exclusive, some of them weren't exclusive. So I was actually confused because I thought all Gimlet shows.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Let me try to explain what this article is about.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Spotify has to have a press release every 24 hours. And if they don't, somebody gets fired. And so it was like hour 23, 45 minutes in, and they were like, someone's gonna get fired. Push something out. And so they're like, let's drop exclusivity for all the Gimlet shows. And they're like, most of them aren't exclusive anyway. It doesn't matter. What about poor Joey's? Joey's gonna get canned. All right. So that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

That's how it feels. I think you actually hit the nail on the head there because I was so confused by this news release, and that it was getting like so much press, and people were talking about it because I was just like, so yeah, it's it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Well, I hope everyone appreciated this uh quick bites, quick hits, appetitezer segment. Uh, we'll be sure to do it again because it went great.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

So great.

Sound-Off

SPEAKER_04 34:24

It's time for Sound Off, the segment where you send in your tips, tricks, and podcasting advice. Last week, we had the question: what is the biggest mistake you've ever made in podcasting and what did you learn from it?

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Sarah Rossett reached out on Twitter and said the biggest mistake that she had when it came to podcasting was waiting too long to create a subscription or a support option. I didn't understand value for value, and now I'm trying to apply that in other parts of my business too. Sarah, thanks for sharing that with us. I think really for anybody who has a podcast and is doing it regularly, as soon as you hit even a small number of listeners, maybe 30 listeners, there's no reason to not turn on your Buzz Brow subscription. There's literally no downside, it doesn't cost you anything. And then if your listeners want to come alongside you and start sending you money, then they can send you money. And it doesn't have to be a quid pro quo, like you get something in return for something. It's just you're already receiving value. Would you like to send some money in to support the show? And uh, you know, that's available to them. So thank you for sharing that with Sarah. Uh, we're excited to hear other ways that you implement it in your business.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

All right, Crystal Prophet wrote in in answering the question, what's the biggest mistake you ever made? She said, Two things. Always figure out how to pronounce your guest's name if you're having a guest and you're unsure, and always do a mic check before recording. I think two good tips.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

I do this a lot too, like not just with like guests, but also with subscribers. When I do like a shout out, like a supporter shout-out. If I'm like even slightly unsure of how to pronounce their name, I will send them an email and like try to double check. And if they don't get back to me, I'm just gonna do my best. But it's uh that's definitely a fear that I have. So it'd be very embarrassing to do that to a guest that's on the show. And then uh her second part about always do a mic check before recording. I think that a lot of podcasters can relate to this. There's always been like at least one point where you were in a hurry or you didn't do your mic check and it just wasn't usable, and then you just lost like half an hour of your time. So it's always better to just take like two minutes to make sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Yeah. Jordan and I just did a mic check yesterday because I got some new hardware on my desk and wanted to make sure it was all working before today. Yep, it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

And then we also have some boostigrams.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Uh yeah, so booster grams, we've got a bunch this week. I'll run through them all pretty quickly. Um, Dave Jones sent in a bunch of stats, said he has a misogynistic clothing story as well. So Alvin and Dave talked about that at their leisure. Uh Mere Mortals wrote in and said mine is not a misogynistic clothing story.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Wait, hey, hey, let me get through the booster grams. Don't step on top of the booster grams. Mir Mortals wrote in, this is Karen saying, are you going to add the ability to name sound bites uh because some apps might be surfacing them? Absolutely. Like we're totally open to the idea. Like, let's see what happens with the apps if they start surfacing them. We're happy to entertain ideas for new features at any time. Anonymous wrote in, said Podverse demo. Thank you for the feedback, Anonymous. Gene Bean wrote in, pretty excited about pod roles. Looking forward to mobile apps implementing them. I agree. Pod rolls, awesome idea. It's already in pod news. We have one for a buzzcast. So I think that's going to be a win for the community. Gene Bean also writes in, Congratulations on 100 episodes. Thanks, Gene Bean. Happy to be here, happy to be renewed. Uh, Mirror Mortals Podcast, jealous, can I get hooked up with some pod roll? Yes, you can. I think we've already settled that through email. And Moritz from Albi wrote in and said, talking about YouTube and RSS feeds, can you subscribe to the RSS feed of a YouTube channel and import it into a feed reader app? This is the one for the BuzzCast channel, and he, you know, put the URL there. So thank you all for the feedback. We love BuzzBoost. They always come in with a little bit of support, which makes them extra special. So keep them coming.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Uh, sound off for next week. I would like to know if you could go back to when you were just a brand new podcaster.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

That is such a it's almost a cliche at this point.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

It's a good question. No, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

What's a conspiracy theory that you actually believe is true?

SPEAKER_02 38:24

That's my question. You know, you're trying to steal my question and say all my questions are bad.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

That's a good one. So use that. What is a podcast conspiracy theory that you think is actually true? That's what we're doing. That would be interesting. Let's do that. Lock it in, Jordan. Is that it? Are you gonna say it? Or I can't. You're saying you did it. That's it. All right. So I'll question for next week or two weeks. What podcast conspiracy theory do you think might actually be true? I just want to be clear. This is not my question.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

This is your question that you interrupted my question, which is okay, but that's the question, it's a Kevin question.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

If that's what you want to submit for your conspiracy theory, go ahead, but it's kind of so we're hoping to get some better answers. Here are the constraints. If you want to use our pod inbox, please keep your responses to 30 seconds or less, or we will not be able to play them.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

And and on the less side, the better. The shorter the better. But yeah, let's hear the crazy conspiracy theories. They have to be about podcasting, not just not just like put out there by a podcaster that you might think could actually be true.

SPEAKER_04 39:21

All right. To send in your response, visit podinbox.com slash buzzfrout, send it to Instagram or tweet the answer at BuzzCast Podcast. And as always, thanks for listening and keep podcasting.

Post Show: Swim for Survival

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Yeah, so I've been uh I've been swimming because you know all my my children swim. And so, and I've I've been doing running for a long time, but it's it's hard on the body. And so a lower impact exercise opportunity has come my way and it's swimming. And so I started swimming. It's been a lot of fun. I've never done it like on a I was never swimmer in high school. I've never, you know, just swam mostly for survival and a little bit for fun.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

Mostly for the fall in the water, you just in Florida, it's like for survival. Have you ever been in a need to survive situation where you, if you didn't swim, you would die?

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Uh yeah, one time. Only one time. I was um I was in the Bahamas and I was on a no in the uh Virgin Islands, sorry, close to the Bahamas, in the Caribbean, Caribbean, and we were my wife was uh laying out on the beach, and I decided to go swim around this island that was off the beach. It was like, you know, a couple hundred yards out, and then I was gonna swim around it, and then I was gonna come back. What I didn't know is when I got to the back side of the island, the water like dropped off super deep, and I was like, oh neat. I had a mask on, and I was like looking for fish. And I so I swam out there, and then there was some very strong currents, and I felt myself getting pulled, and I popped up and I looked and I was getting pulled away from the back side of the island. So no one on the beach could see me. I was out there all by myself and I was like, I need to swim towards these rocks. And I started swimming pretty hard, and it was tough. I was not making a lot of progress, and so I actually got really scared. So that's the one time I did swim for survival, and I made it, believe it or not. I made it back, and I came back and told my wife. I was like, I almost died. Spoiler alert. Yeah, you're fine.

SPEAKER_04 41:08

And she went like that's why I don't go in open water. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

I had one. I was just sitting on the beach, I think I was with my brother, and we saw that there's people at the beach who have like rafts, and their raft just started floating away, and they all kind of walked towards it and then stopped. And I'm like, what are they doing? It's just floating out in the water now, starting to get pulled by a rip current. And I went, Oh, none of them know how to swim. So I go, I'm gonna help solve this problem. And I run and I'm like, Do you guys not know how to swim? They're like, No. I was like, okay, I'll go get your raft for you. And I start swimming after it. Then I pop up, okay, it's another hundred yards off. It's another 90 yards off. And it just keeps getting ripped faster than I'm getting out to it. And at some point I look and I'm like well beyond the edge of the Jacksonville pier. And I turn around, and when I'm in like between the waves, like whatever the middle of a wave is. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

The crest is the top.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

The crest is the top and the trough. I don't know, the bottom. When I'm in there, I can't see the top of the high-rise buildings anymore. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so you're out there. And I go, This is how I could die. Because I keep thinking I'm getting pretty close to this thing, but for every bit, and now I'm getting pretty tired. And so I'm like, I have to turn around and like just accept I'm not gonna get it. And it had been long enough that by the time I was getting back, like people had come out to try to like help me because they were like, that guy's been out there a really long time after that. And I think the Coast Guard was called because a boat flew up like minutes after I got back. But um, again, similar to Kevin, spoiler alert, made it. But don't get caught in a rip current. It is surprising.

SPEAKER_04 42:51

Why do you guys not wear like life vests, like life-saving devices?

SPEAKER_02 42:56

Jordan, you want to talk about something that would really put you in danger? Wear a life vest to the beach in Florida. That's dangerous.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

Why? Because you'll get beat up.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

I would beat that guy up.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Yeah. That's like when you guys go out for a hike in what are the mountains near your house called? Are they the Rockies still?

SPEAKER_04 43:14

The Rockies, Sawtooths, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

Yeah. Do you wear a survival suit?

SPEAKER_04 43:18

Would I wear a sur what?

SPEAKER_00 43:20

For going for a hike.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

For going for a hike? I mean, yeah, you bring survival stuff. You don't just like go for a hike in the woods.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

No, you don't. Yeah, you do. Oh my gosh. No. You have to always be prepared. You need fire making, you need warmth, you need water, you need food.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

You put all that stuff in your little pack before you go out for a house.

SPEAKER_04 43:44

You take a thousand percent. I got lost on a mountain once. I really did. And I almost got stuck there overnight. You bring your stuff. Like it can be really dangerous. And I just don't understand why you guys don't wear like a life vest of going out in the ocean. You're just like, yeah, I'm just gonna swim.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Well, I guess. In Florida. Yeah. In Florida, I guess we just we just live on the edge a little more.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

Yeah. I would never I would be embarrassed to take all that stuff with me if it was only for like a couple miles.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

I mean, you it's not like huge. I mean, you just bring like a couple things, like maybe you bring like a flint or a box of matches, and you bring like one of those like little heat blankets and you bring like a bottle of water. It's not that much stuff. You can fit it in a small backpack.

SPEAKER_02 44:24

The like astronaut blankets?

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

It's like a big sheet of aluminum foil.

SPEAKER_04 44:29

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Maybe it's a Pacific Northwest thing, but like you you bring that stuff. You you make sure that your life is preserved if you get like in a sticky situation. You don't just like swim out in the ocean and say, like, hope I don't die.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

I think this is why so many Florida men are on the niche.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

We're like, oh my gosh, it'd be embarrassing to be in a life vest.

SPEAKER_04 44:51

I think we're finally getting down to it. Like, you guys were giving me a hard time for thinking Florida was kind of like crazy, but you guys just like don't care about your like well-being.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Well, I mean, not off the beach. The beach is is not not that bad. If you go out on a boat, you definitely have all your survival stuff. But off the beach is fine. Anyway, Alvin and I, we started swimming. So I joined a team, I think Alvin's swimming independently, right? Chime in here whenever you want, Alvin. Solo swim. Solo swimmer. So it's it's going terribly. There's a lot of lanes in a pool, and they typically go like on the furthest left side is the slowest, the furthest right is the fastest. I'm in the furthest left lane. I've got a couple lane buddies with me. Their names are Joyce and Teresa. They are both in their 80s or older. They're super nice. They give me lots of swim tips. Do you they give you any like were their original like candies? They are super nice. I hope I I I they might listen to the show. I hope they do. If they do, hi Joyce, hi Teresa. Thanks for all your help in the pool. They they mostly go back and forth on their kickboards while I struggle to keep my head above water and make it down and back. And they give me swim tips all along the way. And it's been a lot of fun. I'm not good. I'm very slow, but it's a great workout. I don't do any of those fancy flip turns. I wear baggy swim pants. I don't have like a speedo or anything. That's all coming soon.

SPEAKER_04 46:15

You know what I love about you, Kevin, is you like skip several steps because if it was me and I was taking up swimming, I would probably swim with a private instructor, like to get really good, and then I would join a team so that I would be a really good member of the team. You, you go, I don't really swim. I'm gonna join a team. Yeah. You just like go for it.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

I jump in, I ask a lot of questions, and uh I'm not afraid to look like a fool, and I just go for it. And I think I do both those things. I ask way too many questions. Nobody else has questions, and I absolutely look like a fool.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Kevin is probably being pretty modest about his swimming abilities, though, because Kevin's kids are all excellent, excellent swimmers. Well, I I've watched a lot of swimming.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

That's like it's like watching a lot of.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

But I'm just saying your comparison is not against like, hey, can I not die in the pool, which is where I'm probably looking. Your kids are at least one D1 college swimmer, and the others may be someday. And so for you to be like, oh, I'm not a good swimmer, you're comparing yourself to people who are pretty good swimmers.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

No, I'm comparing myself to Joyce and Teresa, who are much better than I am. Way materially better on every measure. Joyce a D1 college swimmer. She might have been. She might have been. She's not now, but she's way better than I am. What's your swim story, Alvin? How you been doing?

SPEAKER_02 47:38

Oh, not good at all. I mean, swimming's just confusing because like it there's so much more technique than there is like just raw power. So running, like, you know how to run faster. You just do it more quickly. But swimming, if you just start doing it faster, it doesn't mean you're going to go faster.

SPEAKER_04 47:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Yeah. And so it's a lot of me trying to learn the strokes and then really breathing. I think the breathing part is difficult. I do try to do the uh spin move at the end, the flip turn.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Flip turn. The spin move. I don't even attempt the flip turn because in my mind I'm gonna break my neck. Like somehow I'm gonna get my neck caught up on the edge of the pool and snap myself and then just be laying there in the water, and Joyce is gonna have to save me. I don't even want them to have to deal with that.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

Yeah, I'm not good at it. I dragged my hand on the bottom of the pool somehow in my last spin move. The last time I was at the pool. So I'm not good. I hope to get better, I hope to improve. Someday I hope to be swimming there right alongside Kevin, Joyce, and Teresa.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

Yeah, but you know what this is telling me is that when we have our Buzzapalooza conference, we're going to have to have a swim event. We're gonna have to have like relays or something.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

We've also been playing pickleball. We could have a pickleball championship.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Yeah, we're gonna have pickleball, quartz, and a lap pool. It's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

I'm worse at pickleball than I am swimming, and I'm not good at swimming.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

Are we also gonna have like that thing where you put the egg on the spoon, you try to walk fast? That could be part of it.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

The Buzz of Palooza Olympics are coming together.