Author: Chris Curran

If you’re not sure what plugins are: What Are Audio Plugins? (Audio Processing)

A plugin chain is a series of audio plugins that your audio flows through.

Most times when you’re producing audio you’re going to want to process the audio using several processors which typically include compressors, EQ, expanders, de-essers, etc.

In your DAW you can add multiple plugins to individual channels and order the plugins as you please.

You can also save these plugin chains so that next episode you can apply the same exact plugin chain with all the same exact settings dialed in 😉

Do you save and re-use plugin chains?

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

Audio plugins are small self-contained audio processors which you can use inside your audio software.

Most DAWs have built-in audio processors. In addition, 3rd party plugins can be purchased, installed and used within most DAWs.

The fundamental types of audio plugins for podcast production include compressors, limiters, EQs, channel strips, expanders, gates, de-essers, saturation, reverb, delays and other effects.

There are also other types of plugins including diagnostic tools, virtual instruments, sound synthesis and others.

RESOURCE: Here’s a big list of plugins that I use and recommend: Podcast Audio Plugins – The Big List

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

If you’re not sure what compression is: What is Compression? (Audio Processing)

Compressors are audio processors that are vital to producing professional audio and they come in all shapes and sizes with widely varying features and controls. Some compressors have only one adjustable parameter (“one-knob compressors”) and others have many adjustable parameters.

Here are the fundamental controls of a compressor: (note, this is not an exhaustive list)

• Threshold – the level at which the compressor engages and disengages.
• Ratio – how aggressively or subtly the audio is compressed when it’s above the threshold.
• Attack – how quickly the compressor engages after the level goes above the threshold.
• Release – how quickly the compressor disengages after the level goes back below the threshold.
• Mix – the blend of the compressed signal with the original (uncompressed) signal.
• Sidechain – an external audio source that triggers the compressor to engage.
• Gain reduction meter – this is not a parameter but an ultra-handy meter so you can see how much compression is actually happening at any moment.

Experimenting with these controls yourself will give you lots more insight into each of these fundamental parameters of compressors. Spend 30 minutes twisting knobs and practicing – I dare you!

Sound great!

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

When producing audio it’s almost always necessary to use some type of audio compression.

The process of Compression reduces the dynamic range of audio. Dynamic range is the difference in loudness between the quietest parts of the audio signal and the loudest parts of the audio signal. Meaning, it’s the difference in loudness between a podcast participant mumbling quietly under their breath and then screaming or laughing really loud.

Raw recordings with no compression applied are usually much too dynamic and deliver a horrible listening experience; listeners are forced to “ride the volume knob” which means to manually turn down loud parts and manually turn up quiet parts. NOTE: Listeners will do this for about 30 seconds before turning off that podcast and never listening again.

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

This is pretty cool – check out this article with lots of pics: Unplugged Kingsize Megaphones Help Nature Explorers To Listen To The Forests.

An installation of three gigantic wooden megaphones built by a team of Estonian Academy of Arts interior architecture students will be opened for all forest dwellers for resting, contemplation and above all – listening to the sounds of nature and forests around them.

“Sound is the medicine of the future.” – Edgar Cayce

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

Plugin Doctor is a diagnostic tool, therefor not needed by 99.999% of podcasters. I haven’t used this plugin yet but it has a reputation for being incredibly handy for analyzing exactly how individual plugins are affecting the audio that passes through them.

From their website: Plugindoctor fills a longstanding gap in the market: a cross-platform and cross-bitformat plugin analyzer for VST and AU plugins. Whether you are a plugin developer yourself who wants to thoroughly test the audio quality of your latest and greatest product, or a power user who wants to understand in more detail what exactly a specific plugin is doing to your precious audio material, Plugindoctor will help you find out!

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

I recently discovered the Morbid podcast and I really like it.

As a podcast producer, one detail of their show caught my ear and made me SO HAPPY —> The ads in their episodes are reduced in volume slightly compared to the main audio!

In many podcasts the ads are actually LOUDER than the hosts voices, which is very annoying and ruins the vibe.

But in Morbid the ads are nicely lower in volume; you can still hear the ad but it’s not nearly as annoying as most podcasts.

Big Thanks to Morbid for taking their listeners into consideration!

Of course there’s always a chance that they’re doing this by accident, but I’ve heard it in 10+ episodes so I’m thinking it must be intentional.

Tell me your thoughts on this below!

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

An old friend just asked me for tips for pitching himself to be a guest on other podcasts.

I responded…

*But first – do you have any additional advice to add?? Comment below.

Tips for Pitching Yourself To Be a Guest on Other Podcasts:

OK, here are a few ideas for when you initially approach them…

• If you can listen to a bit of their show before approaching them, that’s optimal. Then you can open communication with them by complimenting their show with one or two specific compliments. Maybe say something like, “The episode you did with Joe Guest two months ago was particularly excellent.” And/or, “Your audio quality is great compared to other podcasts.” Etc.
• Offer yourself as a guest and list 4-5 relevant topics that you could discuss with them that may be valuable to their listeners.
• Mention that you will be happy to share and promote the episode with all of your audiences.
• State that you already have a good audio setup. (And if you don’t yet have a good audio setup, get one!)
• Also, having a flexible schedule with lots of availability would be great to mention, if that’s true.

If you are a good fit for their show and provide all this info, your chances of getting booked are very high.

Also, another key is to reach out to as many shows as possible. Don’t just try for 2-3 shows; go for like 20-30 shows at least, if there are that many shows in your specific genre.

Hope this helps!

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”

If a podcast participant uses a curse word and you’d like to remove it, there are several ways to accomplish this:

1. Delete the word entirely. (Unfortunately the resulting audio usually sounds very weird, unnatural and/or distracting to the listeners.)
2. Replace the word with another piece of audio, usually a 1 kHz tone or another sound effect like a horn, etc. (Note that the 1kHz tone is the familiar “bleep” sound that you’ve heard throughout your life on radio and TV, etc.)
3. Highlight the word and reverse it, so the word sh*t would then sound like tish. (This is a very effective method.)

What other methods are there to save the listener from hearing curse words?

Also, this post brings to mind the classic Barry clip, “Profanities left, profanities right!“

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

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.”