Dave's Podcast Playground
This is a podcast that changed it's description for Dave's Native App Testing things.
Dave's Podcast Playground
Buzzcast Rode - Processing (2:15) // AI (7:15)
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Ever wonder what it would be like if your favorite podcast co-hosts were compared to a comedy show cast? Marcos did just that, and we're loving it! Join us as we embrace our newfound comparisons to Ron Swanson, Roz from Frasier, and Jim Halpert, while appreciating the chemistry between our podcast team members. We even reminisce on memorable episodes with podcasting legends like Adam Curry and Eva Oterra.
In this laugh-filled episode, we also dive into the significance of preparation in unscripted podcasting. Learn how just thirty minutes of prep can make all the difference between a chaotic off-the-cuff recording and a structured, engaging podcast episode. We'll also discuss the differences between amateur unscripted podcasts and professionally produced ones, so you can level up your podcasting game.
Finally, we'll touch on new audio equipment releases, like lapel mics and the Roadcaster Duo, and what they mean for podcasters. We'll also explore the current state of podcasting culture, from the popularity of shows like Smart List to the implications of Spotify dropping exclusivity for Gimlet shows. Don't miss out on this entertaining and informative episode that's got us feeling like sitcom stars in the making!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Intro
Speaker 1I think this is why somebody floored a man around the news. I think so We're like oh my gosh, you'd be embarrassing to be in a life vest. Here we go.
Speaker 2So Priscilla wrote into our base camp saying that over the years they've gotten a lot of emails about BuzzCast some good, some bad but they had actually received one that they have never seen before.
Speaker 3Right, this one stood out for some odd reason. Yeah, she couldn't put her finger on it, but it stood out.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1So Priscilla sent this to the group and I read it and I immediately went to fiver and hired somebody to read it for us. This has been pared down a bit. Things don't seem as long when the written is when they're spoken. So, jordan, i sent you an audio. Let's click it.
Speaker 4Bravo 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 100 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, eva Oterra provide many wink-wink. We're all in on the joke moments, okay okay.
Speaker 3Wait, wait, wait, wait wait.
Speaker 2I like that. We're a cast of characters.
Speaker 3Yeah, what did you say? Real life.
Speaker 2Real life cameos.
Speaker 3But we're not real life podcasting ourselves.
Speaker 1We're characters in a comedy podcast.
Speaker 4But 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 Tassentern 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 diatribes. you know Comedy gold bro.
Speaker 1Comedy gold.
Speaker 2I like that. you're the Ron Swanson Oh 100%.
Speaker 1None of that is debatable. If this was a TV show, yeah, I think everybody would agree with that.
Speaker 4Okay, the next character, jordan clearly a nod to Roz from Frasier 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. At Travis I was interested in seeing the usurpation of the co-host slot Clearly a 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 3All right, i don't get all these references. He's going very deep.
Speaker 2Okay, so Andy Dwyer.
Speaker 1From Parks and Recreation.
Speaker 2No, wait, wait, wait, wait. Andy Dwyer is the office because Michael Scott left and then Andy became right. Or am I backwards? We got to Google this now.
Speaker 3I don't know. I got the Roz reference from Frasier.
Speaker 1Yeah, Andy Dwyer is Parks and Recreation. It's the Chris Pratt character.
Speaker 3Yeah, very little. He was a boyfriend of somebody and he was funny enough that they continued to write him in more and more.
Speaker 2Yeah, Aubrey Plaza's character, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Chris Pratt's on there for like one little cameo. I was thinking.
Speaker 2Andy of the office, but not like chubby Chris Pratt Andy.
Speaker 3And I guess that makes sense, because when Travis was still on the show, jordan, you were a guest on the show.
Speaker 1Yeah, and then you were such a fan favorite. Yeah, you serped the co-host role.
Speaker 3Okay, so I was thinking this was like a total joke, but I really think Marcos actually did listen to every episode.
Speaker 1I mean, there is like listening to Travis episodes Evo Terra, that's a long time ago, yeah, adam Curry episodes, kevin Diashrives, that's throughout Like this is.
Speaker 3Yeah, 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 1Yeah, somebody invested time in this.
Speaker 3All right, let's keep going.
Speaker 4I do enjoy the actors laugh, especially when she leans into the dolphin whistle range.
Speaker 3That's not an AI bot.
Speaker 4Who's next? Alvin right, The character Alvin provides a solid, relatable, every man constant throughout the series. His presence provides a Jim Halpert-like mirror through which the viewer can experience the avanantics of his co-hosts and characters. We've all had that boss that throws out half-baked ideas, All right wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's a bit of a success, to make it a reality.
Speaker 3That's no, no, no, no. I don't like this. All right, skip over the boss with the half-baked ideas part and keep rolling.
Speaker 2I'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 3Yeah, no, Michael Scott right.
Speaker 4That bit when Kevin tells Alvin to launch a buzz-up Huluza 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 of the character, oh we never said Alvin was a good lawyer.
Speaker 3That would be a stretch He was just gay he was.
Speaker 2I love it.
Speaker 4That's unlikely but, okay we'll buy into it. How many of us would be strong enough to admit our failure and follow our dreams into something new and unknown?
Speaker 1Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait To be clear. Failure being a lawyer accurate Followed my dream of podcasting not accurate. This is an accidental dream. This is not like I've got to be a podcaster, i've got to do it, so I won't claim all that intentionality.
Speaker 2So you never had your footloose angry dancing moment like following your actual, true passion.
Speaker 1Do you want to know that I've never seen a movie Footloose?
Speaker 2That's okay.
Speaker 3You can be forgiven of that. And just to be clear, I'll 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 4I'm looking forward to seeing what other hygiene 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 3Oh my gosh, that's so great, but how do you listen to a hundred episodes and not know his name?
Speaker 1Maybe not Alvin. That's my favorite part of this whole thing.
Speaker 2I 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. Yeah, i agree.
Speaker 1Kevin'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 3I'm a little shocked. I know you guys make fun of me because I sound grumpy. sometimes I don't feel grumpy.
Speaker 1Well, I perceive grumpiness from you on this podcast.
Speaker 3Well, it's not intentional.
Speaker 1Well, we appreciate it. Marcos, Thanks for reaching out, thanks for sending us in that email.
Speaker 3It's going to be harder for me to tell you guys this now, but we are not renewed for another hundred.
Speaker 1Yikes.
Speaker 2So 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 no guidance on where your conversation is going to go whatsoever, it's probably not going to end up so great, and I think that that's a mistake that a lot of independent podcasters make too.
Speaker 1One 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 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 going to 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 you can get a little bit of a better recording. So, yeah, i totally agree with this one.
Speaker 3I'm going to add some flavor. What's an interesting take on that?
Speaker 2How can I be contrarian right now? How can I be contrarian right now?
Speaker 1Can I just whisper? I'm going to give my own spin on this silence. And then I hear him whisper to himself What's an interesting take on that? Alright, shoot, okay, talking out, talking out.
Speaker 3Just a day go. Well, i was going to say we've all heard these podcasts that like, clearly they're unscripted and they're unprepared And so they ramble and ramble and ramble. But then I'm like, wait, is that true? Because 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. 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.
Speaker 3But 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 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 going to 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 non example. I can't think of any because they probably don't get a lot of listenership.
Speaker 1Yeah, 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 going to talk about?
Speaker 1Okay, 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 show is just the ones I think of. Or there are 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 2And 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 going to talk about this story, then we're going to talk about this story, then we're going to 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 1Do 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 2I started doing that like two months ago, and I don't know why I didn't do that sooner. So much better.
Speaker 1It'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.
Speaker 2So, I started writing private notes at some point.
Speaker 1I did this with Kevin and Travis. This is 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 3I don't 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 2The 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 3Whoa.
Speaker 2I 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 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 1It also takes a lot of the pressure off. If you know two thirds of this isn't going to 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 going to land. And sometimes at the end of those we say to each other OK, that's not going to work, and it gets cut. And other times we're like I didn't think you were going to land that plane, but you did. We're using it.
Speaker 1So 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 acts. The length of the episode is how long you need to be recording.
Speaker 3Yeah, i do think. I mean she's saying a 30 minute episode and 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 going to burn your editor out or you're going to 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 2And 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 unscripted 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 you're just like, and next up, we have. 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 1Yeah, 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. Okay, i just mis-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 says something incorrectly. we run back and say that same thing again. So have we ever gone back and done a true pickup?
Speaker 2I 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 3I hate it when you guys do that.
RØDE's Biggest Product Announcement
Speaker 2I 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 going to work. 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 Rode creates some really cool stuff, and so they've come out with all new things that I think are going to be really exciting for creators and podcasters.
Speaker 3Rode is like all in on podcast?
Speaker 1They really are. I think they started streaming. I feel like they started off with mostly stuff for podcasting and then I think streamers started realizing this is really high quality stuff and start picking up, and now they've added some streaming stuff in here too. Yeah.
Speaker 2So 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 1So you see 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 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And 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 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 2Exactly 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, i also added a gain assist to control audio levels.
Speaker 1One 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 roadcaster pro. It's got like four buttons. 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 2So 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 1Depends 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 going to work for my computer.
Speaker 3Yeah, 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 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. But newer cameras have like USB C, like the newer camera album 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 2It's good to know. I didn't know that. Now, the other thing that they announced that I was very excited about is the roadcaster duo, which is just a compact version of the roadcaster pro two, 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 roadcaster pro is, i mean, it's huge. We were just talking about this like a couple of 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, as taking up like a third of my desk.
Speaker 3Yeah, 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 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 roadcaster 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 a smaller footprint.
Speaker 2Yeah, and it has six smart pads instead of eight, so I mean it still has, just like, all the functionality.
Speaker 3I could have gone with zero pads.
Speaker 1We really don't do that. You're the only one who uses them, kevin, and you love those smart pads, but only like for annoying jokes.
Speaker 3You never use them in reality. I guess if you use a clip show or something, I used them last episode. 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.
Speaker 1If you drop like, then the sensor pad is nice How long you had the sensor pad built in A little while.
Speaker 2This whole time.
Speaker 3Every time I get really worked up about something, spot. if I did, then I can Make sure our show stays clean, all right.
Speaker 1So I think the reason the original roadcaster 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 podcasters recording over the internet using Riverside Squadcast, zoom, something like that.
Speaker 2That's a really good point. I think that if people are looking at it as like maybe a more affordable option than the roadcaster pro two, they have it listed for preorder at $499. So I mean it's very, very expensive, especially when compared to, like, maybe the vocaster two or something like that. But I mean it's pretty. It looks really nice.
Speaker 3Yeah, 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. B&H is one of their premier partners and they will bundle that together with some other stuff. So if you find yourself needing like headphones and a microphone and a roadcaster duo, you might be able to get a package at a lower price. But buying just the roadcaster duo alone it's probably going to be always at MSRP, no matter where you find it.
Speaker 1The 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 had two since they launched and both still work perfectly And they both then 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 3Yeah, one of the nice things about this mic you're going to 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 going to be around 99. So for $30 more, what are you going to get?
Speaker 3Well, 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 into your boom arm, and that's about $30. And so you're kind of net, even if you're going to put this thing on a boom arm. 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 to look better, if you're going to put it on a boom arm can't go wrong either way. just kind of comes down to you know your budget constraints and how you're setting it up.
Speaker 2Yeah, and they are made really well. It's funny that you mentioned 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 PodMic to hand around to the students because I was like they can drop it, it'll be fine.
Speaker 3That's the one that they can beat up.
Speaker 2It is the one.
Speaker 1Yeah, you're not taking some super expensive, ultra fragile mic. No, PodMic. you know those kids are going to drop it and it's still going to go.
Speaker 2Yeah, 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 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 PodMic 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 1Yeah, the NT1 just doesn't have as much space on the back of the mic As the PodMic 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 PodMic they're like you know, we have plenty of space, so no stress. I like the idea that the NT1 I just went looking at the PodMic though I'm like, yeah, this is probably an easier way to set it all up.
Speaker 2I really like the all-black 2. It looks really good. I think it looks so much better than the previous version.
Speaker 1It's always cool to see Road 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 Road, and we're excited to see what else comes out. Maybe we'll get our hands on some of these.
Speaker 2All right. So some little I don't know what to call these news bites or Small segments, like just little things happening in the pod snacks app a teasers.
Speaker 2So stupid. Hbo max, which is now renamed to just max. During the relaunch or rebrand, they played a trailer for the podcast smart list. They're doing a documentary Stile series. It's like a short series called on the road And it's a smart list 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 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 either of you ever listened to smart list more than just like little clips?
Speaker 1Yeah, I made it through plenty of episodes.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's a podcast. I jump around, i just look for guests I'm interested in.
Speaker 1Yeah, i'm probably like single digit level of minutes that I've ever listened to of it, like I've heard little clips but never a full upset, for sure.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's not a bad show. 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 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 their celebrities, and so it got featured a lot and now it just stays on top of those charts. There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 2I mean, they're kind of like beloved celebrities, though Like in in a weird way in that, like you know, a rest of development is just kind of like cult classic.
Speaker 3It's broad appeal for sure. I ask people all the time what podcasts do you listen to? and I've heard plenty of people mentioned smart lists, but I've never heard anybody say it's my favorite podcast see, and I've heard people say it's their favorite podcast see, i haven't, so who knows?
Speaker 1This is one that Megan highlighted in the bus brought newsletter today. I thought this was interesting. So be real just did an integration with Spotify and so 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 listening to.
Speaker 2Okay, i don't know what be real is. Is it like an app?
Speaker 1Kevin, do you know be real is? Yeah, i know what be real is. Well, it's the next type of social media.
Speaker 3No, it's not. It's been around forever. It's not gonna get any more popular. I.
Speaker 1Love 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 3Well, be real has already moved. I said I know with some stuff and this is one of the things I know about be 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 2So is it like Instagram?
Speaker 1Yeah, 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 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.
Speaker 3Right, it's a different time every day. You just get a notification at a random time and Everyone gets 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 2Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 1It'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 you, i have group chats that everyone's wall. You just get someone's like selfie photo. It 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. Well, that's a little bit of like snapchat culture.
Spotify Opens Gimlet To Other Platforms
Speaker 3Snapchat culture is all about snapchat culture. That's all about just shooting random pictures yourself. I've never if you get too good in them. It's actually like a bad thing. It's like oh, why are you trying to make yourself look so good?
Speaker 2the other quick story we have here is Spotify drops exclusivity for gimlet shows and. It's so weird because give it like some of their shows were exclusive, some of them weren't exclusive, so I was actually confused because I thought all gimlet shows, let me try to explain what this article is about.
Speaker 3Okay, spotify has to have a press release every 24 hours and if they don't, somebody gets fired. So it was like hour 2345 minutes in, and they're like Push something out. And so they're like For the gimlet shows and they're like most of them aren't exclusive anyway, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2I mean 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 was getting like so much press and people were talking about it, because I was just like so.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1Well, i hope everyone appreciated this quick bites, quick hits appetizer segment. We'll be sure to do it again because it went great.
Sound-Off
Speaker 2So great. 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 1Sarah 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. 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 bus 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 Quit 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 you know that's available to them. So thank you for sharing that with Sarah. We're excited to hear other ways that you implement it in your business.
Speaker 3All right. Crystal Prophet wrote in and 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 2I do this a lot to 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 going to do my best. But it's a 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 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 3Yeah, 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 good Yeah.
Speaker 2And then we also have some booster grams.
Speaker 3Yeah, so booster grams. We've got a bunch this week. I'll run through them all pretty quickly. 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.
Speaker 1Mere mortals wrote in and said Why is not a misogynistic clothing story?
Speaker 3I don't know, Hey, hey hey, let me get through the booster grams. Don't step on top of the booster grams. Mere mortals wrote in. This is Karen saying Are you going to add the ability to name sound bites 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.
Speaker 2I agree.
Speaker 3Pod roles 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 Mere mortals podcast jealous. Can I get hooked up with some pod role? Yes, you can. I think we've already settled that through email and more. It's from Alby 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 1Sound off for next week. I would like to know if you could go back to when you were just a brand new podcaster.
Speaker 3That is such a. It's almost a cliche at this point. It's a good question. No, it's not. What's the conspiracy theory that you actually believe is true?
Speaker 1That's my question. You know you're trying to steal my question and say all my questions are bad.
Speaker 3That's a good one, so use that. What is a podcast conspiracy theory that you think is actually true? That would be interesting. Let's do that. Lock it in Jordan. Is that it? Are you going to say it Or 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.
Speaker 1This is not my question. This is your question, that you interrupted my question, which is okay, but that's the question. It's a Kevin question.
Speaker 3If 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. 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 1Yes, and on the less side the better, shorter the better.
Speaker 3But 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 2All right To send in your response. visit pod inboxcom. slash buzzfraut senda boost to Graham or tweet the answer at buzzcast podcast. And, as always, thanks for listening and keep podcasting.
Speaker 3Yeah, so I've been, uh, i've been swimming because you know, all my my children swim and so and 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 it I was never somewhere in high school, never, you know, just swam mostly for survival and a little bit fun.
Speaker 1So mostly survive on the water.
Speaker 2You can't afford it. It's like for survival.
Speaker 1Have you ever been in a need to survive situation where you, if you didn't swim, you would die?
Speaker 3Uh, yeah, one time, only one time. I was, um, i was in the Bahamas and I was out of it. 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 going to swim around it and then I was going to come back.
Speaker 3What I didn't know is, when I got to the backside 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 saw 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 backside 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. I was 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.
Speaker 4Spoiler alert.
Speaker 3Yeah, you're fine, and she went back to the beach.
Speaker 2That's why I don't go in open water. It's like nope.
Speaker 1I 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 rafts 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 it's starting to get pulled by a rip current. And I went oh, none of them know how to swim. So I go, i'm going to 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 3The crest is the top, the crest is the top and the trough, i don't know The bottom.
Speaker 1When 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 going to 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 again, similar to Kevin, spoiler alert made it. But don't get caught in a rip current. It is surprising, why do you?
Speaker 2guys not wear like life vests, like life saving devices? Oh my gosh, jordan, you want to talk?
Speaker 1about something that really put you in danger.
Speaker 2Wear a life vest to the beach in.
Speaker 1Florida. That's dangerous. Why?
Speaker 2Because you'll get beat up. Yeah, i would beat that guy up.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's like when you guys go out for a hike.
Speaker 3And what are the mountains near your house called? Are they the Rockies? still The?
Speaker 2Rockies. Saw two Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, do you wear a survival suit?
Speaker 2Would I wear a suit? for what?
Speaker 3For going for a hike.
Speaker 2For going for a hike. I mean, yeah, you bring survival stuff, you don't just like go for a hike in the woods? Yes, you do No, you don't, Yeah, you do. Oh my gosh. No you have to always be prepared. You need fire making, you need warps, you need water, you need food.
Speaker 3I don't believe this. You put all that stuff in your little pack before you go out for a hike.
Speaker 2You take 1000%. I got lost on a mountain once. I really did. I almost got stuck there overnight. You bring your stuff. It can be really dangerous. I just don't understand why you guys don't wear a life vest going out in the ocean. You're just like, yeah, I'm just going to swim.
Speaker 3Well, i guess in Florida, yeah, in Florida, i guess we just live on the edge a little more.
Speaker 1Yeah, I would be embarrassed to take all that stuff with me if it was only for a couple miles.
Speaker 2I mean it's not huge. I mean you just bring a couple things. Maybe you bring a flint or a box of matches and you bring one of those little heat blankets and you bring a bottle of water. It's not that much stuff, you can fit it in a small backpack.
Speaker 1The astronaut blankets. Yeah, it's like a big sheet of aluminum foil.
Speaker 2Yeah, i mean, i don't know, maybe it's a Pacific Northwest thing, but you bring that stuff. You make sure that your life is preserved. If you get in a sticky situation You don't just swim out in the ocean and say hope I don't die.
Speaker 1This is why somebody from 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.
Speaker 2I think we're finally getting down to it. You guys were giving me a hard time for thinking Florida was kind of crazy, but you guys just don't care about your well-being.
Speaker 3Well, i mean not off the beach. The beach is not that bad. If you go out on a boat, you definitely have all your survival stuff, but off the beach you don't. Anyway, alvin and I, we started swimming, so I joined a team. I think Alvin's swimming independently, right, try me in here whenever you want Alvin Solo swim. I'm a huge swimmer, so 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.
Speaker 1They give you any like Werther's original, like candies. They are super nice. I hope they might listen to the show.
Speaker 3I hope they do, if they do. hi Joyce, hi Teresa, thanks for all your help. In the pool 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 2You 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 going to join a team You just like go for it. I jump in.
Speaker 3I ask a lot of questions And 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 1Kevin is probably being pretty modest about his swimming abilities, though, because Kevin's kids are all excellent, excellent swimmers.
Speaker 3I've watched a lot of swimming. That's like. It's like watching a lot of anything.
Speaker 1I'm 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 D, one 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.
Speaker 3No, I'm comparing myself to Joyce and Teresa, who are much better than I am, Way materially better on every measure. Joyce a D one college swimmer She might have been She's not now but she's way better than I am. What's your swim story, Elvin?
Speaker 1How you been doing Not good at all. Swimming is just confusing because there's so much more technique than there is just raw power. So running, 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, 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 spin move at the end, the flip turn, the spin move.
Speaker 3I don't even attempt the flip turn because in my mind I'm going to break my neck, Like somehow I'm going to get my neck caught up on the edge of the pool and snap myself and just be laying there in the water And Joyce doesn't have to save me. I don't, even I don't want them to have to deal with that.
Speaker 1I'm not good at it. I dragged my hand on the bottom of the pool somehow in my last spin move. The last one was at the pool, so I'm not good. I hope to get better. I hope to improve someday.
Speaker 3I hope to be swimming there right alongside Kevin, joyce and Teresa. Yeah, but you know, what this is telling me is that when we have our buzz of polluters conference, we're going to have to have a swim event. We're going to have to have like relays or something.
Speaker 1We've also been playing pickleball. We have a pickleball championship.
Speaker 3Yeah, we're going to have pickleball courts and a lap pool. It's going to be fun.
Speaker 1I'm worse at pickleball than I am swimming, and I'm not good at swimming.
Speaker 2Are we also going to have like that thing where you put the egg on the spoon, you try to walk fast? That could be part of it.
Speaker 3The buzz of polluters. Olympics are coming together.
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