Category: The Podcast Engineering Show

My guest is Adron Buske, host and co-producer of the Nerd for a Living podcast, and co-founder and creative director at Armadian Creative.

We had a riveting conversation about his equipment and workflow, which he was nice enough to outline for us here:

GEAR

1. Mixer – Alesis Multi-Mix 8 – USB
2. Pyle 4 channel headphone amplifier
3. Backup – M-Audio MobilePre Amp (2 channel)
4. Mics
   • MXL 990 – main interview mic (large diaphragm condenser)
   • AudioTechnica AT875R condenser mic – narration mic
   • Sterling S50 condenser mic – secondary interview mic
   • MXL 2006 condenser mic – new interview mic in testing
   • Sennheiser boom mic – location recording with Rycote Softie windscreen
5. Zoom H4n recorder – on location recording
6. Monoprice Acoustic Isolation Shield – narration station
7. Boom Arms – NEEWER Microphone Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand
8. Pop Guards – Sterling Audio mesh filters, plus a cheap on-mic windscreen

COMPUTER & SOFTWARE

1. iMac – 27-inch, Late 2012 – 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 – 32 GB ram
2. Adobe Audition (Creative Cloud)
3. Tagr / ID3 Editor

PROCESS

1. Record interview via Skype with ECAMM Recorder plug-in
2. Make sure to get 15 seconds of room-tone before we start
3. Use ECAMM Movie Tools to split track and process into WAV
4. Modular editing process
5. Capture Noise Print from raw WAV file, and run Noise Reduction Process
   • Have to be careful with this, because it can cause some tinny, odd sounds if over-processed
6. Edit the episode, and export a “RAW INTERVIEW” without additional processing
7. Import the raw edit, and re-export to WAV with processing:
   • Hard limiter
   • Multiband compressor
   • DeHummer (if necessary after noise printer or to alter sound)
   • Automatic click remover
   • DeEsser (rarely necessary)
8. Record my intro/outro narration directly into Audition, using my “narration station” (AudioTechnica mic and isolation shield)
9. Edit narration and export to WAV with processing:
   • Noise Print Capture / Reduction Process
   • Hard limiter
   • Multiband compressor
   • DeHummer (if necessary after noise printer or to alter sound)
10. Import Interview and Narration WAVs into MASTER EDIT template
11. In Master Edit:
    • Piece together narration over music beds
    • Insert sponsor messages
    • Layer in “Theme Song”
    • Insert interview edit
    • Add Outro and music beds
    • Adjust audio levels
    • Usually 6 tracks, plus Master track
    • Occasionally use an FFT Filter to adjust tone on interview – frequency adjustment
12. Export Master to:
    • MP3 – 96K – CBR – MONO
    • OGG – VBR Quality 40%
13. Edit MP3 with ID3 Editor or Tagr to add info and graphic

Thanks for sharing so much with us, Adron!

FYI, here are the links to what I initially mentioned: Podfest in Orlando Feb.23-25,  The Podcasting Course in Lexington, KY, Apr.21-22,  and Podcast Engineering School in Denver, Apr.2-7.

I also did a “speed round’ on my own equipment and workflow! (which I’ve never done before on the show)

Then I spoke in detail about my new stuff, including:

• Why he tweaked his Neve Portico II channel strip settings
• New monitors: Neumann KH 120 A
• New software and plugins: (which PES students will get ridiculous discounts on)
  1. RX 5 Advanced (went through list of features)
  2. Ozone 7 Advanced (went through list of features)
  3. Neutron Advanced (Track Assistant, Dynamic EQ, etc)
  4. Sheps 73 (emulating the Neve 1073, 12k high shelving, Mid-Side mode)
  5. Abbey Road Plates
  6. Abbey Road J37 Tape
  7. VComp (emulating Neve 2254 hardware compressor) and VEQ4 (both part of the Gold bundle)
  8. Zynaptiq ZAP Bundle
     • Unfilter
     • Unveil
     • Unchirp
     • Pitchmap
  9. SPL De-esser Dual-band (Male 6k, Female 7k, HIgh band 11k)

Happy that you’re enjoying the show!

My guest is Zack Hanni, audio engineer and owner of Sounds Like Soma. He engineers/produces music so it was nice to talk with him about some of the production processes and tricks he uses. Fyi, he majored in Audio Production and minored in Entertainment Technology at Middle Tennessee State University.

We discussed several topics in great depth:

(…listen to the audio for the FULL experience…..the shownotes for this show are just the tip of the iceberg 😉

1. Impedance (Hi-Z and Lo-Z, mic’s and instruments)
2. EQ (addressing some common issues)
3. Compression (Multiband, including release times, auto-release and alternatives to compression)
4. Introducing distortion to add some high frequency presence
5. Zack’s typical vocal processing chain:
   • EQ w/ hi pass filter at 80-150 Hz
   • Light Compression
   • Via a Send to a return track:
     1. EQ
     2. Heavy and harsh Compression
     3. Overdrive
     4. Limiter
6. Presonus FaderPort (has a single motorized fader)
7. Izotope Nectar (chorus, pitching, and a lot more)

Thanks for sharing so many insights with us, Zack!

My guest (for his 2nd appearance) is Max Flight, host of Airplane Geeks Podcast, co-host and producer of The UAV Digest and the #PaxEx Podcast.

Max continues to amp up his production quality, equipment and workflow so I wanted to speak with him about his new toys and plugins. (check out his first appearance here)

We covered:

• How Max and I eliminated some slight distortion from his signal just before recording this session
• Aston Microphones “Spirit” (A 20% coupon helped. Max likes it, though it’s obviously different than his Heil PR40 in many ways. Certainly requires different EQ – mostly a 3 or 4db bump around 4K, to his ear)
• Warm Audio WA12 mic pre (Max saw it at a Guitar Center, “Look honey, it’s orange!” and Googled the reviews, so he bought it at a really good price)
• Waves DeBreath plugin
• Spitfish de-esser (one of his guests on Airplane Geeks had a huge sibilance problem)

Thanks again, Max! FYI, follow Max on Twitter @MaxFlight

My guest is Garth Humphreys, host and producer of Audio Pizza, iBlindTech and Aussie Mac Zone. Garth lives in Australia and we had a fun session.

We discussed his equipment and workflow, including:

• Rode NT-1
• Amadeus Pro
• Audio Hijack Pro
• FX Chains on individual tracks as well as the main mix bus
• Auphonic to append and prepend music, intro, etc.
• Editing tips

We also covered 3 handy functions in Reaper (they are also possible in most other DAW’s):

• Allows for 3 states of ripple editing (we cover all 3)
• SWS/BR: Normalize loudness of selected tracks to -23 LUFS
• Item: Auto trim/split items (remove silence)

One more interesting tidbit:

When Garth sent me his local recording he sent it in FLAC format (Free Lossless Audio Codec). Digital audio compressed by FLAC’s algorithm can typically be reduced to 50–60% of its original size and decompress to an identical copy of the original audio data. It’s handy for sharing large audio files as long as the receiving person has the ability to decompress the file back into a WAV file, for instance. (many software programs can do this)

Thanks for all the great info you shared, Garth! And for having a fun time with me on the show 😉

First I mention and explain what I’m using to record this episode – a Shure SM7B right into my Mackie mixer – no processing before recording, which is different than my normal setup at home. With regards to peaking/distorting, setting my recording level when the mic is “raw to tape” is much more difficult than when I’m using a compressor before recording.

4 Topics I Discuss:

1. The Wisdom of Audio Processing

• Silk mode on my Neve Portico II – RED/BLUE – Tweaking my EQ & Compression on my new RE20
• Dbx 286s “Enhancer” section – LF Detail, HF Detail
• Using a multiband compressor on a voice – compressing the low end as well as boosting the level of that low end

2. Debrief Last Week’s Episode Production

• Too much compression, especially with a reverby room
• Ralph & Carol Lynn were very close to their mic’s
• Using gates to tape
• Auphonic Multitrack crossgate function

3. Matching/Balancing the Sound of Voices Within Episodes

• The Real Brian – had to remove lots of low end to match
• Skype and phone calls

4. Upgrading Your Equipment Over the Holidays

• Not in terms of good deals, but strategy
• For deals and info visit Podcast Gear Group on Facebook

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando, Florida from Feb. 23-25, 2017
• The Podcasting Course in Lexington, Kentucky from April 21-22, 2017
• Podcast Gear Group (Facebook group led by the incomparable Marc Johanssen)

Enjoy a wonderful Holiday season! Be with you again on Jan. 5th 😉

And be sure to send me pics of your new gear!!!

My guests are Ralph Rivera and his wife Carol Lynn! They are podcasters, as well as developers of The Podcaster’s Toolbox, and lovely people.

We recorded this episode using their brand new custom mobile podcasting rig! They are going to be travelling a lot over the next year so they put together a top quality mobile rig which they can take anywhere to record.

It houses many pieces of equipment, as well as all the cables and power cords already connected and ready to record. Just pop off the covers of the road case, plug in one power cord, plug in the mic’s, and start recording!

Equipment inside:

• Four dbx 286s
• Zoom F8 multitrack recorder
• Eight channel headphone amp
• Two big drawers to hold the mic’s
• Four Heil PR-40’s
• And just in case, a Behringer Multicom Pro-XL MDX4600

We also talked about their workflow and post-production process.

Thanks for inviting me over and showing me your awesome mobile rig, Ralph and Carol Lynn!

My guest is The Real Brian, host of The Real Brian Show, and Arrow Squad!

BTW– I laughed so much listening to his recent episode where he spoke with the legendary JP Sears.

In this episode we discussed:

• Signal chain – PR 40 mic, Mackie 1202 mixer, Behringer MDX 4600, Roland R-05, Zoom H5
• Mixing to AIFF file
• Stereo vs Mono final MP3s
• Audacity
• Plugins – AU, peak limiter, noise reducer
• Levelator

Thanks for sharing so much with us, The Real Brian!

My guest is Greg Heist, producer and cohost of The Future Stir, and Chief Innovation Officer at Gongos.

FYI, the website for The Future Stir uses a really cool WordPress theme called Soundbyte Podcast/Audio Template. Take a look at their site here.

Greg and I discussed:

• Focusrite Mixcontrol
• Drawner S73 plugin on master bus
• Feeding Stems into Auphonic Multitrack
• 2nd generation Focusrite 18i20 audio interface
• SM7B
• Cloudlifter CL-1
• Zoom H5
• Recording in Adobe Audition at 32 bit 48kHz!
• Fuhrmann power strip
• Behringer 1800 microphones (3 for $39!)
• Blue Encore 100 mic
• Focusrite RED plugins

Thanks for a wonderful session, Greg!

My guest is Jonathan Messinger, producer and host of The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian, and founder of Typedrawer Media producing interactive story podcasts for kids.

I loved learning exactly how Jonathan creates the robot voices for the various characters on his show.

We also discussed:

• Jonathan uses a PR30 (not a PR40 like many many others)
• Background music levels and ducking
• Panning
• Hindenburg Journalist Pro
• Pre-loaded session templates
• Where to find music: CreativeCommons.org, FreeSound.org, AudioJungle.net, SoundSnap.com
• “Robot voice” plugins: Waves SoundShifter, and Sound Toys “Little Alter Boy”
• Pyle-Pro PDMIC58 Microphone

Thanks for sharing so much with us, Jonathan!

My guest is Brian Adoff, owner of Riveting FM, and producer of Drink Drank Drunk as well as the upcoming show, Unlocked…

We talked about SO much, including:

• SM7B’s
• Lipsmacks
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Using two Audition templates
• WAV files with 3 channels instead of 2!
• FX chains
• Bussing 3-4 voices to a vocal track w/ loudness meter
• Adding a tiny bit of reverb
• Waves Silver bundle
• Cloudlifter
• dbx 286s
• Zoom H4
• Field shotgun mic: AT 875-R condenser

Thanks for being a great guest, Brian!

My guest is Scott Weingart, producer and host of The EMCrit Podcast, as well as a physician (MD, FCCM) and Editor-in-Chief of EMCrit.

Scott is not your average podcast producer and we really learned a lot from him about his equipment, workflow and processing.

Also, I got to tell a cool story about a sweet monitoring trick I learned from the immortal audio engineer Andy Wallace from his sessions with (also immortal) singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley at Soundtrack in NYC in 1994.

Additionally, I spell out one elaborate method of taming nasty “P’s” popping after they’ve been recorded.

Here’s some of what Scott and I discussed:

• Shure 87A microphone
• Sound Devices USB interface
• The usefulness of a dog clicker!
• Noise reduction within Adobe Audition
• Hi-Pass filter
• Tube-model compressor
• Hard limiting
• Loudness Radar
• LKFS

Thanks a ton for hanging with us, Scott!

My guest is Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man! I actually got my start in podcasting by watching his tutorial videos 😉 He began podcasting in 2005, and since then he has trained many, many people how to start and produce their podcast.

We discussed Cliff’s hardware setup and workflow, including:

• Noise reduction
• Mackie VLZ4
• MDX-4600
• Roland R-05
• iJingle Pro – app to play sound clips
• Using the audio from a Snapchat video on an audio podcast
• Adobe Audition (single track editor, broadcast preset of multiband compressor)

Thanks for a great chat, Cliff!

My guest is Cody Boyce – podcaster, podcast producer, and founder of Podcast Masters.

Commander Cody is also a cohost on the Rogue Squadron podcast.

Some of what we discussed (which Cody uses):

• Soundflower -to- OBS -to- Twitch
• AKG C1000S dynamic microphone
• EQ – hard filter at around 120 Hz on every voice (which he adjusts to taste)
• Logic Pro
• How Cody uses Shure 57’s
• Motu Traveler
• WNS – Waves Noise Supressor
• WLM – Waves Loudness Meter
• Side-chaining – Waves C1

We covered a lot in this episode – enjoy listening!

Thanks for being a great guest, Cody!

My guest is Bryan Orr, independent narrative audio producer and host/producer of the Dialed In podcast. An all-around cool guy who’s actually involved in other shows and his own business as well.

Fun times discussing Bryan’s equipment, processing, and narrative-style production philosophy and workflow.

Listen for all the details. (fyi, my written show notes here are always just the tip of the iceberg)

Some of what Bryan and I discussed:

• A cool EQ trick for pushing music to the background
• AT 8035 shotgun microphone, usually with a Rode shock-mount pistol grip.
• Zoom H5
• EV RE20 through a cloud lifter
• Roland R-05
• Reaper (like me!)
• ReaDelay plugin to create stereo bounce delays, etc.
• Vocal Rider

Thanks for being a great guest, Bryan!

My guest is Ray Ortega, host of The Podcasters’ Studio, and Podcasters’ Roundtable.

Ray has been an incredibly helpful force in the world of podcasting since 2007. Enjoy listening to this episode full of tips, equipment and workflow details straight from one of the podcasting masters!

Oh, and here’s the link to the Vocal Rider plugin we mentioned.

Thanks for hanging on the show with us, Ray!

My guest is Joshua Rivers – Owner of Podcast Guy Media and host the Creative Studio Podcast.

It was fun hanging with Josh. BTW- he (and his children!) are fans of Barry, too! YEAH OH YEAH

Josh’s equipment and workflow include:

• PR40, AT2100USB
• Behringer Q802USB
• Sennheiser HD 280 PRO Headphones
• Adobe Audition
• iFree Skype Recorder
• Multiband compressor
• Hard Limiter

We also discussed the production workflow which Josh is using for the narrative style episodes that he is producing now on season 4 of the Creative Studio Podcast. Give it a listen 😉

Thank you for having so much fun with us, Josh!

Have you ever recorded a podcast with 16 participants in one room?!! Liza Miller has.

My guest is Liza Miller, host and producer of the Motorcycles & Misfits podcast. She used to do live sound in clubs, many moons ago, and now she is having a blast with so many friends doing Motorcycles & Misfits. 

Btw, she found a pretty solid, inexpensive purchase: 3 Behringer XM1800S microphones for $40! When you have 12 mic’s open in a room you have to keep costs down 😉

Special note: After the outro music, she gives me a microphone challenge – she uses 2 different inexpensive mic’s and asks me which one I like better. Listen to the very end to hear if I chose the $30 mic or the $13 mic!

We also discussed:

• Behringer XM8500 microphone
• Shock mount mic clips
• Mackie 1642 VLZ Pro
• Alesis 3630 dual channel compressor
• Power conditioner
• Behringer U-control audio interface
• Adobe Audition
• HA-400 headphones
• Soundbooth program
• tascam DR-11G (recorder for backups and remote recordings)

Thank you for having so much fun with us, Liza!

My guest is Alan Mead, dentist and host of The Dental Hacks Podcast. Don’t let the whole dentist thing mislead you – he has a bad ass audio setup and he records multitrack the same way I do! 

Alan uses:

• Rode Broadcaster microphone
• Focusrite Saffire Pro 40
• Four windows laptops
• Four dbx 286s’s
• iMac running Adobe Audition
• Backing up original track files

Thanks for being a tremendous guest, Alan!