Author: Chris Curran

Lots of local businesses might want to start a podcast but they just don’t know HOW to start a podcast, or WHERE TO GET ALL THE VARIOUS INFO (from someone they trust) about how to start a podcast. So they don’t ever start a podcast.

What if you could be their knight in shining armor?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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In the late 90s I used a Finalizer 96K hardware unit to master many music projects, and it was quite impressive back then. It was loaded with amazing presets which utilized multiband compression, limiting and EQ algorithms.

Now an improved version called Finalizer is available as a plugin!

Note: It’s made to master music, but I hope to test it someday on “finalizing” some podcast episodes.

From their website:

The Finalizer app compiles the best multiband compression, limiter and EQ algorithms that we have ever developed. They are ported 1:1 from our System 6000 platform, optimized for modern performance and bundled in a brand-new package along with a wealth of new features and an entirely new way of presenting audio visually. The distance between your mix and final master has never been shorter.

They also offer a Free Analyzer, a cloud-based service that allows you to harness the power of TC Electronic’s innovative displays and advanced measuring algorithms:

Brand new TC-developed Compress-O-Meter shows how dynamic and loud your track is compared to other tracks.

Spectr-O-Meter compares the spectral response of your whole track against the spectral response of other tracks for example in the same music genre.

Loudness Radar reveals the loudness envelope over the duration of your track. This is great for checking the different parts relative to each other or to other tracks.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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When transitioning between two ads, or between content and ads, or coming out of ads back into content – how tightly cut should those edits be?

Your answer to this question solely depends on the experience you want to provide for your listeners.

Tight cuts (leaving very little silence) maintain the energy and flow, but can also feel rushed and negatively impact the listeners comprehension of the ads.

Longer gaps of silence bring the energy down and sort of “cleanse your pallet” before going into the next section. Longer gaps can also cause the listener to feel bored and more annoyed by how long the ads are going on and on.

What are your ideas on this topic?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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A recent guest repositioned her headset mic halfway through the episode and that changed the sound drastically.

In post-production, in order to match her first half sound to her second half sound, I split her recording and put each half on its own track so I could process each separately to match their different levels and tones and sibilance reduction, etc.

It worked out well, though of course it added a substantial amount of time to my post-production.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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When using a USB microphone, it’s probably best to plug earbuds into the USB mic instead of plugging earbuds into the computer itself. This helps avoids any weird playback issues (especially on a PC).

On a recent session a guest had their earbuds plugged into their PC while speaking into an ATR2100-USB microphone, and midway through the session they stopped hearing everything. So we had to troubleshoot why they couldn’t hear anything, and ended up having them plug their earbuds into the ATR microphone, and then they could hear again.

Plus, it’s more straightforward for folks to set both their computer’s input and output device settings to the USB mic.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Let’s say you are going to record an episode with a remote guest who will be connecting on their Microsoft Surface device.

If they have a strong WiFi signal and are connecting using Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, etc., everything should function OK.

However, if they are connecting via Squadcast, Zencastr, Ringr, etc., (service that record participant’s audio locally without them knowing it) there is a chance that the local audio recording made by these services may encounter problems due to the Surface’s lack of processor speed, memory, or other factors.

Some people think that Surface’s ARE regular computers, but I don’t buy that. I’ve never owned one, but I’ve done several sessions with guests connecting from a Surface and there have been problems every time.

All I’m saying is, be aware and be careful when connecting with guests using a Surface, etc. And you may want to ask them if they are able to connect from a regular computer, so you can avoid any potential problems 😉

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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(Coming Spring 2020)

The LUNA Recording System from Universal Audio is a new kind of DAW. And it’s FREE for all existing Thunderbolt Apollo & Arrow interfaces (Mac only).

Here’s a video from NAMM 2020 with more details.

Details from their website:

• • • LUNA transforms Apollo interfaces into the most inspiring and fully‑integrated Mac‑based recording systems on the planet.
    • DEEP APOLLO INTEGRATION – A Fast, Natural Workflow
    • BUILT-IN NEVE® SUMMING – Instant Classic Console Sound
    • INTEGRATED MULTITRACK TAPE – Warmth and Punch on Demand
    • ALL-NEW LUNA INSTRUMENTS – Incredible Realism to Fuel Inspiration

Do you think this will be a revolutionary DAW?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Weekly or monthly cleaning works well, but every now and then (every year or two?) you have to literally disconnect all your gear, dust everything, vacuum everywhere, and then put Humpty Dumpty (your studio) back together again.

This is also a good opportunity to:

• • • Tidy/replace/upgrade cables
    • Upgrade gear
    • Adjust/optimize the placement of your gear
    • And of course take new pictures of your clean, optimized studio!

So the question is: When’s the last time you cleaned and dusted your studio?

I did last week and IT FEELS GREAT!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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SSL has just released these two interfaces – the SSL 2 and SSL 2+. They both have two input channels with XLR combo input jacks.

SSL is one of the most revered pro audio companies in the world, and I’m happy to see them make a small interface that’s affordable for podcasters.

Note: I haven’t tried these yet 😉

As per their website, these interfaces come with:

• • • Matchless SSL sonics and superior build quality
    • Legacy 4K button for instant analog mojo
    • Bundled SSL Native and third-party software

The SSL 2 costs around $230.

The SSL 2+ costs around $280.

If you want to know how they differ, check out the specs here.

Do you want one?!?!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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The first thing I do when preparing my computer to record audio (after restarting of course!) is verify/change my computer’s audio input/output settings. Every. Single. Time. This is where you choose what device you want to use for the input of audio and the output of audio. You can see in the image that my input device is set to “MixPre-6.”

Because there’s nothing worse than “thinking” you’re recording your good microphone when unbeknownst to you – it’s your computer’s onboard mic (yuck) that is being recorded! Good luck trying to make that sound good in post 😉

So make it a ritual – every time you restart, and every time you’re going to record audio, check your computer’s audio input/output settings.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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What is Chris’s specialty area of audio engineering?

1. Tracking bands
2. Live sound
3. Mixing
4. Overdubbing
5. Mastering
6. Other

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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I believe each of us should have a good balance between quality and quantity of episodes that we produce for clients (and for ourselves).

On the one hand: If you strive to produce world-class audio quality for every single episode, it will definitely take much longer to produce episodes.

On the other hand: If you strive to produce as many episodes as is humanly possible, you’ll definitely have to settle for less-than-great audio quality.

Striking a balance between audio quality and production time is key to your overall success.

Are you balanced in this area? Or do you lean heavily toward one side or the other?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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The Abbey Road Studio 3 plugin brings the acoustic environment of the legendary Abbey Road Studio 3 control room to your headphones, so you can have better reference for your mixes and productions wherever you are.

Check out the tutorial videos and example audio here.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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If someone has a bazillion umms and you remove them all, the remaining audio can sometimes have a very different vibe/flow than the original vibe/flow. When a person uses lots of umms their pacing tends to be very slow, so if you remove all the umms the pacing picks up. But, the tone and flow of their actual words can still feel slow, and this could cause the listener to feel like something is incongruent.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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When a person has poor mic technique (continually drifting closer and further from the microphone), their recording ends up being extremely dynamic and the color/tone of the sound varies drastically.

When the person is close to the mic, the sound is fine, but when they drift off-mic the tone has much less presence/clarity as well as more room noise/reverb.

Of course if you do nothing about this, you end up giving the listeners a bad listening experience.

So, one strategy to help reduce the effects of bad microphone technique:

1. First, level it generally (using a compressor with a longer release time, and/or an automatic vocal rider plugin)
2. Then use a multiband compressor to try to even out the major tone differences.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Did you know that Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen Interfaces can help you record other audio sources from within your computer (e.g., the audio output from a web browser, etc.)?

From their website:

On the supported Scarlett 3rd gens (see note below) we have included a new feature, Loopback. Focusrite Control’s Loopback feature lets you record other audio sources from within your computer (e.g., the audio output from a web browser). Loopback uses the Scarlett’s ‘virtual’ inputs, which have no physical connectors on the hardware interface itself but may be selected in the DAW as signal sources for recording in the same way as any other.

Thus, by selecting the Loopback output as the recording source on a mono or stereo DAW track, you can record from another software application into your DAW. Note that your computer will assign DAW 1 and DAW 2 as the default sound output channels.

Here’s Focusrite’s article describing exactly how to use this feature:

NOTE: Scarlett Solo and 2i2 3rd Gen don’t have a dedicated Loopback feature. This is available when working with the larger devices in the range, Scarlett 4i4, 8i6, 18i8 and 18i20 3rd Gen.

Have you used this feature yet?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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