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471- Double-ender recordings may do it better for podcast interviews

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of double- enders from the viewpoint of the recent article in thepodcasthost.com titled “What are the benefits of double-ender recording?”

Now, in this podcast series, we have explained what a double-ender recording is (i.e., similar to how it is defined in the article:  “where both participants record their own sides of a remote conversation; these are then synced together in post-production — it can make you sound like you’re in the same room as your guest, even if you’re recording on different continents.”

In addition to describing the double-ender, Matthew Boudreau goes on to state the benefits of a double-ender for recording interviews at a distance.  He also elaborates on these points:

  • “Best Method: Hand Recorder”;
  • Professional tip on “syncing”;
  • Good methods using Smartphone Recording;
  • Professional tip on “microphone choice”;
  • “In a pinch: computer recording”
  • Conclusion with implementing double-ender recording

For this podcaster, I have been using the double-ender since 2006 starting with a handy program called Power-Gramo (which was withdrawn several years ago). However, this program was integrated beautifully with Skype and allowed my audio recording to be on one track and my guest’s recording to be on another track. I would get them both and then proceed to synch the audio very easily, then levelate it and perform EQ, and then finalize a quality mp3 audio recording.

As you will hear in this audio episode, for my podcasts with guests, I have used multiple mics and multiple systems for recording double enders — from Zoom H1, H2, H4n portable recorders, as well as interfaces with Shure SM7 and SM58 microphones — to today’s use of a Samson Go-mic with a backup recording using a Zoom H4n in the other side.

The only problem I have encountered during a heatwave is the ambient noise that can arise with my co-host having his air conditioner running at bull-blast in the same room with his recording equipment. This then forces me to do noise reduction, which then can alter his audio quality. Another example is when his mic was too close to his computer and received lots of internal noise in his background. But other than those, a near-quiet environment usually will allow double-enders to sound as if the recording was in a studio with each person sitting next to each other and the result is good audio.

So, I would suggest that you, as an aspiring podcaster who wishes to publish guest interviews, should review this article and decide on which model would work best for you and your guests in creating a final mp3 audio to provide value for your customers as they listen to your interview resulting from a double-ender.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and thepodcasthost.com. All rights reserved.

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470- Framework for podcasting from Ben Krueger

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent framework for podcasting which Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com described in his post and email called “5-Step Framework for Podcasting Success.”

Ben’s framework for podcast success involves the following five simple steps that can be summarized by a single word or two each:

  1. Envision – Outline the podcast concept using 8 Podcast Principles
  2. Decide – Choose style, frequency, title, branding, and call to action
  3. Record – Get your equipment set up and create your episodes
  4. Setup & Launch – Build your foundation and put it out there
  5. Systemize & Grow – Streamline ongoing tasks and growth

Now, although this may seem trite and oversimplified, these steps involve multiple tasks and multiple skills that are required to produce a good, solid foundation for the planning, preparation, production, editing and publishing of your show — and then monitoring and adjusting your show for growth.

However, I find these simple steps to be a good overview of the flowchart that you, as an aspiring podcaster, may want to adopt in creating your show and episodes, and then growing your show. However, please be advised that this post with free suggestions and advice is the prelude for Ben asking you to set up a time and conference where he can be your podcast advisor and get you going on your way to successful growth (of course, for a fee).

Now, I have known Ben since 2014, when I met him at the initial Podcast Movement conference in Dallas, Texas, where we were next to each other in the exhibit hall most of the time — and where I first interviewed him. Since that time, I have seen him deliver what we refer to as an “ethical bribe” — that is, a free deliverable (usually advice, or a pdf document, or some tangible recording of a podcast audio file or a video file, or a blog post, etc.) so that you can know that he is a subject matter expert that has been a solution provider. And in this way, he can become a trusted advisor for you (leading him to reach for the platform of a thought leader in podcasting and profitable media content creation).

I sincerely recommend that you subscribe to his emails, his newsletters and see what he suggests — for there are many gems in what he says from his experience and his knowledge that he has had in the past 8 years in the podosphere. And we hope that you will find value in his offers, offerings, deliverables — and yes, in his ethical bribes that will always encourage you to partner with him as your advisor to make your podcast shows better and more successful.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and cashflowpodcasting.com from Ben Krueger. All rights reserved.

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469- Suggestions for being a better podcast host

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a discussion on the topic of being a better podcast host — a theme that was described in a post by Craig Hewitt at Castos.com.

Now, although this theme is as old as podcasting itself for the past 16 years, another article appears in the area that tries to give a fresher look at the art of interviewing a guest when you, the podcaster, are the host. And this article is the one discussed here, by Craig Hewitt, with several pointers.

In this post, Craig delivers the following points in his writing:  “our favorite tips and tricks you can use to improve your craft, appeal to listeners, and let your guests shine…

  • Do your homework;
  • Minimize the awkward robot talk;
  • Let your guest shine;
  • Create a list of open-ended questions for your guest;
  • Suggestions of what you can do for your guest before they go live on your show;
  • Work in sponsors on your show with ease and humility;
  • Ask for feedback;
  • Don’t forget to thank your listeners.”

As Craig mentions, it is the skill set of each podcaster that can determine the talent for becoming a better interviewer and host: “Every podcaster wants to believe they’re a great host, but it takes a truly wise podcaster to know when those hosting skills need polishing.”

Now, for this podcaster, my 15 years of experience in the podosphere as both a host and interviewer, as well as an interviewee, have increased the skill set needed to prepare, plan and execute better interviews over time that can make you a good podcast host.

Although these suggestions may sound trite and oversimplified, they are still some great reminders that you should print out and have on your studio desk near your microphone when you are ready to plan and prepare your own podcast episode as an interviewer and host.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Craig Hewitt and Castos.com. All rights reserved.

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468- The ups and downs and disillusionment in podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss this phenomenon called the “trough of disillusionment” (as was described in an article in the blog of pacific.content.com recently.

This notion deals with the curve on a graph that depicts the excitement and enthusiasm that a podcaster may have when conceiving, creating and publishing a podcast at first — but then the passion runs into the “wall of reality” for a stiff bucket of cold water in the face when the expectations do not always turn out as planned or desired.

As you can see in the post at pacific-content.com, the graph goes into several points of ups-and-downs:

  • The technology trigger;
  • the peak of inflated expectations;
  • the trough of disillusionment;
  • the scope of enlightenment; and finally,
  • the plateau of productivity.

As is described in the post, this curve on the graph depicted in the post is called ““Gartner’s hype curve” by renaissancechambara is licensed under CC BY 2.0.”

The main premise of the article is that there are some strategies that you can follow to realize that the disillusionment may not be as bad as you imagine it to be. In fact, the “slope of enlightenment” is suggested by the author to help the podcaster get out of the slump and trough and then be able to “bounce back” to a productive state where the enthusiasm and passion of the podcast may be resurrected — and in some cases, be even stronger than before. Mainly experienced by the aspiring or new podcasters, this trough of disillusionment can be overcome and lead you to the promised land called the Plateau of Productivity:  “Once you reach The Plateau of Productivity, you can actually start working on Episodes Two through 100 with a smooth path forward.”

For this podcaster, the trough of disillusionment has rarely occurred, mainly because I tried to set my expectations at a reasonable or conservative level. So if the wild exaggerations of highly successful expectations would not result, it did not bother me — for my passion and my enthusiasm still kept going. Just like the saying that we have in the computer industry:  “garbage in – garbage out” can have wild over-expectations of dreams that lead to depressive feelings once the reality of the world sets in. And if you, as a podcaster, do your realistic planning up front and with good personal productivity and organizational tools, I feel that you can minimize the feelings that accompany a potential curve as described in the post.

For myself, setting REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS and doing the hard work to get a podcast created and published is the key. For once you have done this, you can then monitor and adjust the episodes so that you can get positive results (not the wild expectations). Key examples of the trough described in the article were all the podcast shows that were started in 2014 to 2019 that imitated the old podcast shows that interviewed entrpreneurs — they had the false expectations of realizing the financial results of 6- and 7-figure revenues, as was done by a key podcaster that had fame at the time. But imitation without the realistic expectations could only lead to a state where the financial goals were not accomplished.

So, we hope that you, as an aspiring podcaster, can set realistic goals and not be caught up in the wild expectations of success (either by time or financial results) when you launch your podcast show. We wish you the best in having great planning skills, with realistic expectations and hard work to produce great content — but most of all, the PATIENCE to see your show grow and later become successful as you monitor and adjust the content to deliver VALUE to your listeners (and not just create imagined value for yourself that expects miracles in results).

Thank you for your attention.

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and pacific-content.com. All rights reserved.

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467- Podcaster Gary Leland and the Hall of Fame

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent post in medium.com of an article about podcaster Gary Leland, and it was written by Tracy Hazzard. The title of the article deals with five things you can do to get into the Podcaster Hall of Fame and it is “Podcast legend Gary Leland tell-all: becoming the center of influence, over and over again.”

As you will hear in this audio episode, we relate this article to the early adopter of podcasting, Gary Leland (whom we have interviewed back in 2014 at the very beginning of this show), who was also known as the Podcast Pickle, and who brought us such well-known resources like the older Podertainment magazine and his Podcast Repairman program, along with many others, such as the Crypto Podcaster.

After my introduction of Gary Leland from my past 15 years of knowing him and dealing with him as both an interviewee and podcaster and speaker in past events, I show how his views of being a successful podcaster, expert and entrepreneur in podcastng are filled with various lessons learned for new and aspiring podcasters.

One joke we had between the two of us is about the first time we met as speakers on the same program in person at the very first Podcamp event in San Antonio, Texas in 2007.  Gary was also the creator of the personality called The Podcast Pickle, which he brought to the conferences and events.

Gary Leland and the Podcast Pickle at Podcast Movement 2014

He claimed to be the oldest podcaster — until I spoke to him during the break and mentioned that I was actually six years older than he was. For me, that was a great way to relate to Gary and begin a mutual and beneficial and respectful associate in the podosphere.

We hope you enjoy this episode of a Hall-of-Fame podcaster, Gary Leland (who, by the way, was the one that had the idea to start the podcaster hall of fame within the boundaries of the Podcast Movement conferences since 2014). His skills in monetization strategies and product development have always been great at becoming a millionaire for him. And we wish him well in the future, as well.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and GaryLeland.com and medium.com and Tracy Hazzard. All rights reserved.

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466- Signs when it is time to sunset your podcast show

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent post from amplifimedia.com titled “How to Know when to pull the plug on your podcast” by Steven Goldstein.

In this post, Steven discusses several main reasons for sunsetting a podcast show: “Tastes change, story arcs get old, and new shows come along that are more appealing…most shows are not meant to last forever and don’t.”

And Steven mentions the fact that careful monitoring of your show is a key factor to know when the success will be turning into a possible failure in the near future. 

So that means that you, yourself, will have to monitor the success and growth of your show to indicate possible downward trends that will cease making your show a success. In fact, when you look at the numbers and the odds of your own show being one of the top podcasts in the podosphere, it can be a bit intimidating:  “According to Edison Research, people in the U.S. listen to six podcasts each week. Yikes. 1.4 million podcasts with 35 million episodes… and they choose six! The tyranny of choice is brutal.”

So how can you tell that it may be time to begin thinking about withdrawing your show and “sunsetting” it? Well, Steven delivers these six signs, with accompanying paragraphs of detail:

  • We’ll just “wing it” — no real plan;
  • “More B than A”;
  • Creative bankruptcy or “story fatigue”;
  • Freshness dating;
  • No marketing;
  • Soft time spent listening.

One key example is the outdated podcast show theme of interviewing entrepreneurs (which was popular from 2007 to 2017). Not only did I, myself, have a top-rated show since 2007 called “The Struggling Entrepreneur” (which has since podfaded, due to an end of interest and a change in topics of interest), but also the old show called “Entrepreneur on fire” also had a run of financial success with lots of copy-cats trying to imitate the fiscal success of the show by using the cookie-cutter approach that the original show had (not very creative).

So tastes do change, as well as the show titles and the audiences.

For this podcaster, I have seen many changes over the past 15 years that I have spent as a podcaster, content creator, screencaster, video consumer and listener of podcasts. And for me, the one that seems to be the most common is that of “story fatigue.” It is obvious that a short run of what is popular at the time with a quick run to the top of the charts also can signify the vulnerability of a quick drop of popularity and then a quick demise. A case in point of this type of popularity is that of the social media platform “blab” that was very popular half a decade ago, but lost its influence when the platform was terminated and left a lot of podcasters high and dry (because they had assumed that this would still be around and some of them actually counted on this platform for building their business and podcast shows for success — little did they know that this platform would be crashing down big-time).

Also, I have seen success in re-creating podfaded shows with a new name and a slightly different spin of themes (which can support any new changes in the direction or attractions by listeners). Not only have I, myself, done this, but the conferences for podcasting are full of examples of these resurrections that re-appear like a phoenix from the ashes of weariness and tiredness of listeners seeking new and exciting themes.

For you, as a podcaster, monitoring your downloads, your subscriptions and your feedback is vital. Also, seeing the reactions and the results of your presentations and promotions at podcasting conferences and virtual events will be critical in getting good feedback. In fact, one area you may try to get some good data is to receive feedback about your show from International Podcast Day presentations (every 30th of September) — and you can then see how your show will be received and can grow worldwide.

So, I wish you the best in constantly examining, monitoring and fine-tuning your show for success — and that way, perhaps you can avoid the six reasons for your to “sunset” your podcast show.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Steven Goldstein. All rights reserved.

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464- Portcaster – Small portable podcast studio

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the announcement of what is called “the world’s most portable podcast studio” — aka the PortCaster. This is based on the post from indiegogo.com, and it appeared in the podnews.net newsletter recently.

The description of this podcasting device is:  “It’s designed for content creators, who record or live-stream to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and other platforms. It makes it easy to add music, sound effects and guests to your podcast or stream. About the size of a passport, this product is very portable, so it’s great for any type of recording, especially when traveling. It’s Made in USA and for a limited time it’s very affordable!”

After checking out the image photos in the indiegogo.com post, I was surprised at the versatility and the reach in podcasting and streaming by the detail and the image of some of the controls of such a device.

As is stated in the post, a key aspect of this device is to improve the sound quality. But it also has another purpose for your focus of your podcast:  “And that lets you focus on what matters — your content, your guests and your audience.”  And you can do this by the following:

  • livestreaming — i.e., gaming, vlogging and videography;
  • storytelling — i.e., podcasting, voiceover, broadcasting;
  • web meetings– i.e., lessons, seminars, conferences; and
  • worship service — i.e., streaming, recording, teaching.

With rechargeable batteries and the recording medium of an HC-SD card for capturing the content, this system allows your guests to be recorded over the phone. As you can see, the controls for the features look appealing to many podcasters who want this type of power and control while traveling on the road in a device as small “as a passport.”

Details are also given for recording local guests who may be next to you or in the same room or studio.

And the details of all these features are explained in a few sentences in the post that outlines the important aspects of the system. And at the post, you can see images and photos that point out all the ports and connectors and connections of this device, with a simple description of the key ones stressed.  In addition, comparison tables with other systems and detailed specifications are also delivered in the post, for your own comparison. Testimonials from musicians and other content creators, along with discounted prices for early adopters are shown. And finally, the timeline for availability in early 2021 is shown.

The most important aspect for many podcasters will lie in the price tags of $299.00 USD and $399.00 USD dollars.

The final part of the post goes into a brief explanation of some risks and challenges of this project and its availability.

Well, for this podcaster, the device seems to be priced quite competitively and contains a value-rich set of features that are highlighted by the sales promotional images contained in the post.

In fact, it reminds me of the days when the Zoom H2 device came out back in 2006-2007 with its feature-rich set of values for the portability of a small device that can fit into a shirt pocket and carry a great punch with a 32-GB HCSD card to run on AC power or batteries. Such was the technology boom for portability in podcasting then.

But for myself, I will wait until the final availability at the beginning of 2021, and for the reviews to come back from professional reviewers with objective descriptions such as Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting.

In the meantime, this seems to be a device that can appear to be “too good to be true” until the activities in the field of portable podcasting will test its utility and value for the portable podcasters that can use the livestreaming, storytelling and web meetings. Until then, I am surely glad that companies are exploiting new technologies to give us price-performance devices that can help podcasters in the future — especially the new and aspiring podcasters.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and indiegogo.com. All rights reserved.

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485- Understanding compression in Podcasting with Audacity

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we reflect on a recent episode of the buzzsprout.com/blog that is titled: “How to use the compressor in Audacity.”

Now, for some of the newer or aspiring podcasters, this is quite a brief lesson in what compression is, and how it is done with Audacity — and some suggested settings for better audio with that program.

The author of this blog post delivers this as a tutorial (and at the end of the post, there is a list of links with more audio tutorials, for your benefit).

This post has quite a few details, and it is a good reference for those podcasters that want to know about the compressor in Audacity.

Some of those sections covered are:

  • What is compression and how to apply it (a 6:00 minute video);
  • When should you use audio compression?
  • Applying the Audacity compressor effect;
    • the graph
    • the settings
    • the threshold
    • the noise floor
    • the ratio
    • the attack time and release time; and
    • make-up gain;
    • compression based on peaks; and
    • limiter effect.
  • Avoiding over-compressing; and finally,
  • Previewing the compressor settings for audio.

Now, a lot of podcasters may feel that they do not need to deal with compressor settings, but this brief tutorial is great for a general understanding of some elements that can help your audio episodes become better quality. And you don’t have to be a genius or tech whiz to understand them. This tutorial in buzzsprout.com/blog does give VALUE in an understanding of better audio quality possibilities with Audacity.

We hope that you go through the tutorial and video, so that you can understand better the compressor in Audacity, and then you can decide for yourself if you want to use that effect for improving your audio episode quality.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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463- BONUS- Addressing the Aspiration Gap in Podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss how podcasters can address what is called by Todd Henry in his book, Louder than Words, the ASPIRATION GAP. This theme is critical for Podcasters and Entrepreneurs who want to go beyond their own Peter Principle of stagnation and possible irrelevance as a master content creator and small business owner.

For us, the theme of constant learning (either from experience, education or training or perpetual acquisition and further development of skills) is lifelong.

In his book (and also his bookcast from 2016), Todd explains the four aspects of addressing the Aspiration Gap:

  • DISCOVERY – taking action and obtaining the basic skills or entering the environment of small business;
  • EMULATION – developing a proficiency with your craft and expression to gain mastery (usually by emulating others and their success);
  • DIVERGENCE – taking small risks with acquired skills with your launch pad of your mastery, so you can “carve out your own place which is unique”;
  • CRISIS – the phase where you feel stuck or stagnant, and where you have to decide whether you will settle into safety and comfort, or you can intentionally return to DISCOVERY to obtain new skills of mastery (although uncomfortable because you have to learn NEWER SKILLS).

As Todd states, you have to go through these phases multiple times if you wish to grow — not only to get to the next level, but to go BEYOND THE NEXT LEVEL in your mastery.

For podcasters, this is the constant learning curve; for the entrepreneur, this is the perpetual learning of marketing and selling skills as well as getting feedback and acting upon that feedback to improve your situation.

So, if you want to become a master, you need to listen to Todd when he quotes a professional drummer when the latter said “what is a master but a master student?”

Thus, if you want to become a master entrepreneur with the mastery of success, you have to address the Aspiration Gap and become perpetually better. For the podcaster, this Gap is critical because the rate of improvement and change of technology will force the content creator to improve and become the eternal “master student.”

As difficult as this may appear, and as stressful and hard as it can be for the professional, you have to decide if you wish to address this aspiration gap — because we all want to be better in our craft or our business.

And we wish you all the success in becoming a master of all 4 phases of the Aspiration Gap and reaching success.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Todd Henry. All rights reserved.

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462- Principles for world-class level promotion of Podcasts

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent post by Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com titled “8 Podcasting principles to make your show world class” by Marc Guberti.

In this post, the theme of being “world class” is proposed. Now, as arrogant and nebulous as this sounds, a world-class podcast is very subjective at this time, because who is determining what a world-class podcast should be and how is this class defined?

In fact, this post has no visible details, but merely a series of links to the sections of the content, among which are the following:

Here are the key links from the episode:

Cashflow Podcasting

The Podcast Principles

 

Marc’s Links

5 Day Podcast Launch Mini Course

From $0 To $100K+ With Content Marketing

Schedule a free strategy call

 

Marc’s books

YouTube Decoded

Podcast Domination

Content Marketing Secrets

The Wealthy Author

Now, for this podcaster, I was totally annoyed by the series of pop-ups by Marc with the questions of “Do you want to grow….?” and such questions that left a very bitter taste in my mouth. I felt that such a very RUDE and ANNOYING pop-up storm would likely ruin my thoughts about his content — and it did from the start.
I tried to look at the “Podcast Principles” section, and I found that I could not “connect” with the web pages that should have delivered content. Instead, I saw that this was a key “sales job” that kept hitting the reader over the head time and time again. And after this, it was a struggle for me to finish the reading of this post.

So I had to go to the next sections of the post, which were:

  • Coming up with the right idea;
  • Podcast launch checklist; and
  • Launching your podcast.

And the image of Marc with his “Breakthrough success” baseball-type cap is featured at the end, as the article and post becomes nothing more than a glorified sales-page throughout for his five-day launch mini-course.

The final section of info dealing with the topic “From $0 to $100K with your content” as depicted in his “content marketing plaza” page is nothing more than a long squeeze-page with the 8 principles:

  • Content creation hacks
  • Content marketing hacks
  • Social media marketing hacks
  • Product creation hacks
  • Funnel hacks
  • Relationship creating hacks
  • Conversion hacks, and
  • Outsourcing hacks

Now, for this podcaster, I only saw the titles of min-courses in the squeeze page that I just described. And, of course, you cannot see the quality of the content from his post, because each of these “hacks” requires the reader to purchase the mini-courses from the squeeze page. And with the $197.00 USD price tag for this “training,” this was the biggest turn-off for someone who wanted to see the VALUE of what was being promoted and how it could help me (the podcaster) , rather than just be given a sign-up-sales-page from the very first reading. Unfortunately, the reasons and the sentence or two descriptors were cliches that did not fulfill my expectations.

And so I closed the links and chose to place this into the category of “sales” pages without showing the value of the product. To me, having been involved with sales for over 33 years, this was something I would not ever recommend to another podcaster, let alone investigate any more on my own.

However, if you wish to investigate this more on your own to see if you can find any value in this promotion, then I do wish you well. In fact, the only reason that I looked at this “ad” was because of the name of Ben Krueger. But I venture to say that, for myself, I can never reclaim the five minutes of investigation time from looking into these links.

In any matter, I would like to thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger and Marc Guberti. All rights reserved.