Category: The Podcast Engineering Show

My guest is Andrew Gelina – host of Underserved (a podcast aimed at the tech industry) and CEO of the software consulting firm Syrinx.

We discussed so much:

• Shure SM7b (love/hate relationship)
• Shure SM58’s
• All his mics go through Cloudlifters, SM7B also goes through a dbx 286s
• Behringer Xenyx 1832 mostly just for mix minus to two dedicated Skype machines
• Zoom-Zoom setup (H6 as primary recorder of all vox on separate channels, H5 as a backup off the mixer/backup mode -12db as well)
• Copy 48K/24 bit WAVs off Zooms to a Dell Windows 10 PC (desktop, 4 monitors), import into Reaper
• WAVs rendered, converted to MP3, upload to Libsyn for distribution to everywhere, and use Libsyn for podcast website, too.
• Backblaze for backups, Microsoft OneDrive for syncing, and a Macbook Pro laptop for working on editing mobile and experimenting with video.
• Started with Audacity for an episode, then learned Reaper
• Normalize each track separately to -23 LUFS with SWS Extension (free)
• Auto Trim / Split Silence 250 ms -32db (Reaper built-in) on all tracks
• Andrew built a custom LUA script by Raymond Radet (https://www.extremraym.com/) to do a Truncate Silence like Audacity, similar to Overcast’s Smart Speed
• Each track has iZotope RX 7 voice denoise, breath control, de-ess, mouth click, plosive, adjusted as needed
• Sonible Smart EQ – learn each track’s voice separately.
• AWESOME Dugan-style automixer script (free) https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=173289
• Master channel: Ozone 8 to add a little air, Tri-Leveler 2 (free) to get to -16 LUFS, Limiter, Loudness meter
• Render to 48K/24 bit mono wav, watch peaks.
• Custom Python script watches /renders directory, converts WAVs to MP3 using ffmpeg (yes, LAME encoder, I know) and copies out to Andrew’s private www server for QA.
• Second pass of editing he works backwards using timestamped notes to avoid shifting things out from under himself.
• Multi-platform Reaper editing is interesting – use OneDrive to allow bouncing back and forth between Windows and Mac editing the same episode/files. Relative paths turned on, copy to /Media. VST paths set for both Win/Mac. Export complete configuration from Reaper (Win) to Reaper (Mac).
• Andrew’s Favorite PES episodes/guests: Mike Delgaudio, Dan Dugan, Dan Gonzalez
• His kids can now recite Barry lines when they hear them drop in the car!

Thanks for being a great guest, Andrew!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

What does a good mix between a hosts voice and the intro music sound like? Hear my voice at 3 different levels over the same music and decide which one you prefer! Do you like the voice louder over the music, or the voice buried within the music, or a happy medium?

*Comment below with which level of voice you liked best: Clip 1, 2 or 3!

Also enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from Aug. 30 – Sep. 11). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• Guests Moving Around During Recording
• The Green Apple Trick
• Warning Listeners About Extreme Volume Spikes?
• Speeding Up a Slow Talker
• Fixing Small Mixing Mistakes in the Mastering Step
• Signal to Noise Ratio
• Is the Blue Yeti a Good Mic for Podcasting?
• Optimal Height for Your Studio Monitors
• Kramer Master Tape Plugin
• A Guest With a Bad Mic Cable
• Using a Large Diaphragm Condenser Mic Without a Pop Filter
• Tweaking Your Standard Sound Each Episode

Announcement: The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020

Did you learn anything from this episode? Let me know by commenting below.

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

.

My guest is Sarah Wendel – editor and sound designer. She’s an editor for Astonishing Legends and has a background in film audio production. And previously nominated for an Emmy! 

We discussed tons including:

• Pro Tools Ultimate
• She was speaking through a Shure SM7b microphone
• Sometimes she records legal disclaimers herself
• Pro Tools First – has limited functionality
• Mbox Pro (allows 5.1 deliverables)
• Monitors: Dynaudio MkII’s – 8” woofers
• Audio-Technica Headphones
• She sometimes checks mixes on earbuds
• Argosy Halo sit/stand desk – https://argosyconsole.com/halo/halo-ge
• Building the room – one bay, designer Gary Hedden, the HVAC System is incredibly quiet. 
• Pro Tools episode templates
• Processing: EQ, roll off low frequencies,
• iZotope RX7: Noise reduction and dialogue cleanup
• Waves plugins: Compressor, De-esser, L2 at end
• Vox subgroup with peak limiter on it
• Stems – a component of audio segregated from all other audio
• Mixing in sound design elements
• Philosophy of compression
• Philosophy of editing
• Sarah’s favorite plugin? Mouth De-click 😉

Thanks for being a great guest, Sarah!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from Aug. 18 – Aug. 29). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Thanks to Focusrite for sponsoring this episode! If you haven’t checked out the new Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen. series of interfaces yet, you can see them here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• J37 Tape from Waves
• What Is a Double-Ender?
• “I Don’t Want to Learn ANY Audio Engineering”
• Avoiding Plosives, Removing Plosives
• Ripple Delete
• Archiving Production Files
• Contracts With Production Clients
• As a Student of PES You Are Going to Be Overwhelmed, in a Good Way
• Envelope of Sound
• ATR2100-USB Microphone
• My Streaming Setup From Podcast Movement
• Gullfoss (Intelligent EQ from Soundtheory)

Announcements:

• The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020
• Upcoming episodes: Sarah Wendel and Andrew Gelina!

Big Thanks to Jim Harold, creator and host of The Paranormal Podcast and more, for purchasing his custom settings for the Scheps Omni Channel plugin from Waves. This is a service I offer to help people dial in the best sound for themselves.

And thank you everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

.

My guest is Andrew Chadwick, long time radio engineer, and audio mixer and editor for Pod Save America!

We discussed so much – here’s a few things we covered:

• Extreme time pressure when producing audio
• Receive files, make edits, mix and assemble the show
• Submitting audio for QC
• Tight turnaround: Start recording at 1 PM Central, finish recording around 2:30 PM Central, post at 4 PM Central
• Manually ducking everyone when they’re not speaking
• Adobe Audition
• Different sessions for each segment of the show
• Limiting
• Audition’s Tube compressor plugin
• Mix to 32 bit 44.1kHz WAV file, then create the MP3
• AM Radio experience

Thanks for being a great guest, Andrew!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from Aug. 2 – Aug. 13). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Thanks to Focusrite for sponsoring this episode! If you haven’t checked out the new Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen. series of interfaces yet, you can see them here.

NOTE: I did not do any post processing on any of the audio in this episode, in order for you to hear the difference between the two microphones as well as the Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen.

Sounds a lot different from a normal episode, right? That’s because of the lack of compression and EQ, etc.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• Food and Drink in Your Studio
• Hindenburg Journalist Pro
• Zoom.us for Recording Remote Podcast Guests
• How to Avoid Being Unpleasantly Surprised by the Quality of a Recording Session
• Setting the Attack Time of Compressors
• Edits That Are Too Tight
• Using Auphonic as Your Mastering Step
• Podcast Editor’s Club on Facebook
• Which Album(s) Have You Listened to the Most Times in Your Entire Life?
• The Brand New Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (3rd Gen)
• Bringing Gear on the Road

Announcements:

• The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020
• Upcoming episodes: Andrew Chadwick and Sarah Wendel!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

.

My guest is Tom Kelly – audio engineer, podcast producer and editor at Clean Cut Audio. Check out his own shows – Reminiscent, Podcast Me Anything, and Podcarnage.

We discussed almost a million things, including:

• Shure SM7b
• Apogee Ensemble
• Pro Tools 12
• Double enders
• AKG Perception 420
• Macbook Pro (maxed out)
• Waves WLM meter on Master Buss to determine LUFS level.
• Noise Shaping 1, 2, or 3 dither – when downsampling from 24 bit to 16 bit.
  MP3 – 128kbps stereo,
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Kensington SlimBlade trackball
• Strip silence, threshold of -29 db
• RX6 voice de-noise
• RX6 de-reverb
• Waves de-esser
• FabFilter Pro-Q 3
• Waves Vocal Rider
• Waves API 2500
• All vocals sent to stereo aux
• LinMB
• Maxim (only catching clips/peaks, not actually doing any dynamic work)
• Dither noise-shaping 3
• WAV files: 16 bit / 44.1 kHz
• MP3s: 128kbps stereo
• Yamaha HS7s
• ATH-M50 headphones
• Squadcast
• Klipsch earbuds

Thanks for being a great guest, Tom!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from July 19 – July 31). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• On-boarding New Clients
• A Related Audio Thought About Video Production
• Phantom Power
• Dust in Your Studio
• Saturation Knob from Softube (Free Plugin)
• The Positioning of Your Guests Headset Microphone
• Your Headphone Volume When Recording
• Vocal Rider from Waves
• Editing Out Distracting Noises
• The Vintage Tape Module in iZotope Ozone 8
• Podcast Editors: Choose Your Hours
• PES Graduates
• Frequency

Announcements:

• The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020
• Whoever is your best friend who podcasts, please share this show with them today. Tell them, “Hey – you should check out The Podcast Engineering Show.”
• Upcoming episodes: Tom Kelly, Andrew Chadwick, and Sarah Wendel!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

.

My guest is Scott Somerville, audio engineer and podcast producer!

Here’s some of what we discussed in terms of Scott’s equipment, software, workflow, etc.:

• Wondery studio: Mac mini, UA Apollo 8 interface, Cloudlifter, RE20’s, Pro Tools. Plays theme song, adds a segment, edits it, mixes it, Art19 for hosting, etc.
• Headphones: Sony MDR7506
• Speakers: Genelec 1029 (powered) with 4” woofers
• Home – SM57, UA Apollo (2 inputs)
• Mobile – Macbook pro, Presonus interface, various mics
• Plugins: Waves SSL E and G channel strips, Waves F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ (adaptable in itself, vocal cleaner preset), Waves WLM+ to monitor levels
• iZotope RX: de-click, etc.
• Lots of automation
• He chimes in on the “Ask Eliza Anything” podcast

Thanks for being a great guest, Scott!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from July 5 – July 17). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• Friday Audio Poll – July 5, 2019
• Multiband Exciter
• Developing Your Pitch to Potential Podcasting Editing Clients
• Monday Giggle – July 8, 2019
• What is Phase?
• Electro-Voice RE320
• Setup Time
• Friday Audio Trivia – July 12, 2019
• MixChecker Pro from Audified
• Calendly Integrates with Zoom
• Echo Cancellation in Zencastr
• Checking Balances at Low Volumes
• Editing Using Faster Playback Speed

Announcements:

• The next semester of PES starts September 10, 2019 — and the next semester after that will start in January 2020!
• Upcoming episodes: Scott Somerville, Tom Kelly, and Andrew Chadwick!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

.

My guest is Barry Gary from The Louisville Cycling Podcast! He hosts and produces the show, and he is a graduate of Podcast Engineering School.

We discussed a lot, including:

• Zoom L-12 digital mixer
• Using Zencastr, Zoom and exploring Squadcast
• Heil PR-40
• Shure SM7b
• Cloudlifter
• He also has an RE-320, Rode Procaster, Shure SM-58’s, and some Sennheiser broadcast headsets that I can use in noisy locations
• dbx 286s
• Reaper
• iZotope RX 7
• Mac Pro desktop machine
• Waves plugins
• For my remote recording he uses either a Zoom FN8 or H5
• Using plugins in Reaper (EQ, gate, compressors, etc)
• Mix down to WAV
• Detailed edit in Twistedwave
• Assemble all episode audio Audition including music, intro, ads, conclusions, etc.
• Final mixdown to a stereo WAV at 48K, as well as stereo MP3

Thanks for being a great guest, Barry!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from June 21 – July 3). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• Friday Audio Trivia! June 21, 2019
• Chapters in Episodes
• Sharing DAW Files With Clients?
• Aging and Hearing High Frequencies
• Handheld Microphones
• Moving Your Microphone While Recording
• Friday Audio Trivia! June 28, 2019
• Saturn Plugin from FabFilter
• Cleanfeed
• What Is Mic Technique and Why Is It so Important?
• Removing a Headsets Close-Mic Breath Noises With RX 7 De-wind
• Editing Celebrities Audio

Announcements:

• The next semester of PES starts September 10, 2019.
• Upcoming episodes: Barry Gary, Scott Somerville, and Tom Kelly!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

.

My guest is Zachariah Moreno, Co-Founder & CEO at SquadCast.fm! He’s also cohost of Between 2 Mics podcast.

We discussed tons including:

• New SquadCast V2 features
• ATR2100-USB
• Blue Yeti
• Focusrite 2i2 interface
• Pixelbook – Chrome OS, touch screen,
• Squadcast – WAV. files 16/44.1
• Adobe Audition or Pro Tools
• Headliner, Wavve, Buffer
• Simplecast V2
• How are you guys able to be so quickly responsive if and when there are issues?!

Thanks for being a great guest, Zach!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from June 7 – June 19). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• Friday Audio Trivia! June 7, 2019
• Opinions Wanted Regarding Removing Imperfections
• Backup Hard Drives
• This is The Golden Age for Securing New Podcast Production Clients
• Audio Quality Affects the Credibility of the Person Speaking?
• Sony MDR7506 Headphones
• Recent Rare Recording in my Studio
• Friday Audio Trivia! June 14, 2019
• Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain Plugin
• Wideband Audio, Also Known as Wideband Voice or HD Voice
• When Someone Doesn’t Project Their Voice Enough
• Recent Experience Recording a Shure MV5 Desktop Microphone
• Using 6, 12 or 18 dB per Octave Filters

Announcements:

• The next semester of PES starts September 10, 2019.
• Upcoming episodes: Zach Moreno, Barry Gary, Scott Somerville, and Tom Kelly!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

.

My guest is Travis Vengroff – producer, editor, and sound designer of audio dramas including Liberty, The White Vault, Vast Horizon, and the creator of Dark Dice – all under the umbrella of Fool and Scholar Productions. 

And they were just announced as an honoree for the Webby Awards for Music and Sound Design in Podcasting! 

Some of what we discussed:

• Power regulator
• Focusrite 6i6
• Rode NTK mic, tube, external power supply
• Asus computer
• MixCraft software to record. 
• Reaper for mixing 
• H4n
• H5n
• Mixcraft to edit

And here’s a briefly overview of Travis’ post-production workflow:

1. All files are compiled onto a timeline in Mixcraft and EQ them to ensure a uniform quality.
2. I’ll do a dialogue cut using the multiple takes given to me (each actor records remotely) with a basic ambient layer or two for context. 
3. From there I’ll make a second pass, adding ambiance and sound effects while fine-tuning all vocal tracks.  If it’s a stock audio track I’ve already recorded it goes in now. If it’s something that needs to be recorded, I’ll mark the timestamp. Processing takes place while I edit each sound.
4. I make an additional pass to record general sound effects, and a few more passes while recording motion sounds, footsteps, and similar noises that people unconsciously make.
5. The writer listens to the project for the first time and I make changes based on their suggestions.
6. I’ll do a final pass making fine tuning, then export everything as STEM tracks with pre-labels for SFX, CHAR (character), and AMB (ambiance), before zipping and sending to the mixing engineer. S/he will make a few passes, I’ll get them a revision list, and we repeat the process until we get the final mastered track. The writer hears the second to last mix and offers feedback.

Thanks for sharing so much great info, Travis!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from May 24 through June 5). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• AMBEO Smart Headset Can Capture “3D” Audio
• How to Add Clarity to a Dull Sounding Recording?
• How Long Does It Take You to Edit?
• Tagging Your Final MP3/M4A Files With Metadata
• Cultivating Your Podcasting Clients
• Write Down Your Current Podcast Production Process in Detail
• Friday Audio Trivia! (May 31, 2019)
• RØDE PodMic
• My Recent On-Location Recording Setup
• My Reaper Kept Crashing After an Update…
• Ringr for Recording Guests Online
• Using an Omni-Directional Mic for News Reporter Type Interviews

Announcements (made by our new announcer guy….hehe):

• The new Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen is really nice.
• The next semester of PES starts September 10, 2019.
• Upcoming episodes: Travis Vengroff, Zach Moreno, Barry Gary, and Scott Somerville!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

.

Great conversation with Adam Gordon Bell, host of CoRecursive where he and guests discuss Software Engineering. He’s on twitter @adamgordonbell

We covered a lot:

• Pyle Pro PD
• Shure A81WS
• Rode boom arm
• MixPre-6
• Macbook Pro
• Zencastr
• Adobe Audition – 2 templates
• Mixing to FLAC
• Auphonic
• RX 6 — de-reverb, vocal isolate,

Thanks for being an awesome guest, Adam!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody‘s (from May 10 through May 22). Here’s the link to view all those blog posts. And don’t forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Here are the Daily Goody posts that we discussed in this episode:

• The Envelope of Sound
• JBL LSR305 Monitors
• Backpack Studio App
• Zencastr
• Attack and Release Times for Compression
• Cloudlifter
• The Art of Fading Music
• Mouthclicks
• Mastering Using Plugins on Your Master Buss
• Listening to The Podcast Engineering Show
• Diffraction
• Behringer Ultravoice XM1800S Handheld Supercardioid Dynamic Microphone (Set of 3)
• Scheps Omni Channel Plugin from Waves

A few announcements:

• The next semester of PES starts September 10, 2019.
• Upcoming episodes: Adam Gordon Bell, Travis Vengroff, Zach Moreno, Barry Gary, and Scott Somerville!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know 🙂

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

.

Dig this wonderful chat I had with Dan Radin, Founder and CEO of Auxbus! Dan has a ton of pro audio experience including being a Neumann Product Manager, Alesis Product Manager, and working with many other companies including InMusic and Harmon.

*NOTE: Podcraft recently became Auxbus 😉

We discussed many interesting topics. Enjoy listening.

Here’s some of the podcasting equipment Dan currently uses:

• AT875R short shotgun mic
• Blue boom arm
• Presonus Audiobox USB96 interface
• Mac computer
• HD280 Pro headphones

Thanks for being such a great guest, Dan!

Comment below with any questions or comments.

.