Category: The Podcast Engineering Show

My guest is Kate Astrakhan, Owner of Audio Adrenaline! Kate also hosts the Make Your Bed podcast. She has a ton of experience in radio and voiceovers – including that famous Greyhound commercial on which she sang, “Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us.”

We discuss many audio/podcasting topics including:

• Kate not using plugins
• Her Misophonia (see below, it’s related to sound)
• Her opinion on USB microphones
• Her love of Behringer equipment
• Super-detail editing
• Adobe Audition

She also brought up an amazing use of a de-esser, and hopefully she will share that secret with us in the comments, etc.

*Here’s a bit about Misophonia: also known as selective sound sensitivity syndrome, starts with a trigger. It’s often an oral sound — the noise someone makes when they eat, breathe, chew, yawn, or whistle. Sometimes a small repetitive motion is the cause — someone fidgets, jostles you, or wiggles their foot.

Thank you, Kate!

Luis Congdon admits that he’s not the most technical guy on the planet, but he’s been through several audio setups and he shared what he has learned through his production evolution.

He hosts the Lasting Love Connection podcast, and the Thriving Launch podcast.

His audio setup includes a Scarlett 2i2 audio interface and MXL microphones. He and his co-host record in the same room, so we talked about how he optimizes that sound.

These days he records into Logic Pro. Previously he tried recording with Ecamm recorder, Garage Band, and Adobe Audition, but he wasn’t satisfied with any of them.

He uses a Blue Yeti when he travels and he started the Podcasters Exchange Facebook group!

Thanks Luis!

I had a fun chat with Mary and Blake Larsen, hosts of ParentCast, The Living Reminders, and OutlanderCast. Mary is also a musician and Blake also makes donuts. They are delightful people; maybe you want to reach out to them and say hello.

Mary has an ear for details. Her previous experience as a TV show host gave her a deep insight into presentation, sound and listener experience. Now she uses those skills to craft great podcasts.

Blake is the audio engineer in the relationship. He built a custom studio in their basement. Over time they have have upgraded their equipment little by little. They didn’t start with great gear.

These days they use Heil microphones and an 8-channel Alesis mixer. They record in Garage Band and edit using Adobe Audition. Blake uses an iPad for playing sound clips while recording episodes.

They mainly use Skype for connecting with guests, and sometimes they use Skype to call their guests on the phone when they are only able to connect by phone.

For mixing and mastering in Audition, Blake started with one of the factory presets on his compressor but then he tweaked it to suit their taste.

Some challenges that Blake had were getting a good sound using EQ, and getting good mic levels while recording.

A couple tips:

When you’re adjusting your sound settings to establish good presets, (as well as to train your ears), it pays to listen to your recordings in various places on different speakers. Listen on your studio monitors, listen on your headphones, earbuds, in your car, on a Bluetooth speaker, etc. You will then have a much better idea what your sound REALLY sounds like to other people.

Record some dead air with all the mic’s on but no one speaking. This can come in handy later while editing when you need to put a little blank space in between an edit so it doesn’t sound like an edit. You just take a little dead air and insert it there and voila – it sounds natural.

What an awesome session. Thanks Mary and Blake!

Check out their shows: ParentCast, The Living Reminders, and OutlanderCast.

I’m Chris Curran, and I’m here to help improve the quality of everyone’s podcast audio! In general, podcasters and podcast producers tend to have weak (or non-existent) audio engineering skills.

The Podcast Engineering Show can help:

By listening to this show every week you will gain an unfair advantage in the world of podcast audio production. We talk to podcast engineers, producers and editors to learn how they’re producing podcasts – their equipment, their workflow, and advanced tips. Plus, we have lots of high energy fun 😉

Subscribe links for various platforms are HERE!

Your host: Chris Curran – founder of Podcast Engineering School and Fractal Recording.

FULL BIO HERE