Being a podcaster or a podcast producer can be lonely business. Long nights in your pitch black walk-in closet, the basement, or the forgotten spare bedroom can take its toll on anyone brave enough to enter to wild world of podcasting. The reason so many podcasts fade out after 7-8 episodes (which is so lovingly called "podfading") is because the work can often outweigh the reward, especially when you're just starting out.
4. How Community Will Take Your Podcast, Your Business, and Your Life to the Next Level
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
Release Date: 01/30/2020
Summer Break and the Future of Clean Cut Audio
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
I wanted the opportunity to let you all know that I'm taking a break from the podcast for a while! I plan on coming back in a few months with a greater sense of purpose, focus, and a stronger grasp of how I can best educate those who are looking to make their podcasts sounds better! If you're looking to stay connected and updated, you can keep up with what's going on in the Discord server or on Patreon! Thank you all so much, and I'll still be seeing you most weeks over on the YouTube channel. Links: My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio...
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28. Explaining and Listening to the 4 Topologies of Compressors (VCA, FET, Opto, and Vari-Mu)
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
It's very important to know that every compressor is different and it will make your audio sound differently depending on how it processes the gain reduction. There is a time and place for every different style of compressor, and in this episode we listen to 4 different styles of compression at 3 different amounts of compression applied to my voice. Links: Compressors sampled in this episode: VCA: FET: Optical: Vari-Mu: My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Microphone: ...
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27. Compression for Color, Tone, and Depth
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
Compression is a topic I've covered extensively (but also not nearly enough) on my YouTube channel. Even with all the hours of teaching I've done on the topic, I've barely touched on the other incredible effects and benefits of learning proper compression techniques. While a perfectly dialed in compressor will certainly help level out your dynamic range and save your listeners ears from being blown out by sudden changes in loudness, it will also impart a beautiful tone and character to your voice that can otherwise sound bland and lifeless. Not even mentioning the sonic...
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26. What My Dog Taught Me About Love, Audio, and Community
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
Death has a crazy way of putting a lot of things into perspective. With the recent passing on my dog and best friend Levi, I've been thinking a lot about what audio and podcasting REALLY means to me. It got me thinking of the Alexander Supertramp quote "Happiness is only real when shared". We as podcasters tend to hole ourselves in a spare bedroom, walk in closet, or any location that is completely separated from the sounds and sights of the rest of the world. It can get lonely, and that loneliness and isolation can really get in the way of progress. This week I'm revising the...
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25. How to Become an Amazing Podcast Engineer (without a degree in audio production)
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
Something I've been seeing recently in Facebook groups and forums is people claiming they can't be great at audio because they don't have a degree or formal education in audio engineering. If that's you, let me offer some personal insight. I'm one of those chumps who spent 4 years and a TON of money on a degree in audio engineering, and I've lived to regret it. The REAL learning happened after college when I was working with some very experienced and prolific audio engineers who, guess what, never had ANY formal education in audio engineering. The thing that really took my...
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24. Noise Reduction in the Recording and in Post Production
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
Many folks think noise reduction is something that can only be done in post production, but I'm here to tell you that's a bald-faced lie. The best noise reduction is accomplished WHILE recording your podcast! "The best offense is a great defense" type of vibes. There are SO many things we can do to make sure that noise (see also: unwanted sound) is never captured in the first place! In this episode you'll learn a little bit about soundproofing and why it's unattainable for more people, microphone techniques that will almost eliminate noise (with listening examples of course!), some...
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23. Ear Training and Critical Listening Exercises to Better Hear and Mix Podcast Audio
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
When new podcasters or audio engineers are reaching out to their peers for help with their production, it's not uncommon to hear the super frustrating and unhelpful response of "just trust your ears". Unfortunately when you're so new to audio, that means nothing. It's a lazy cop out that relieves the person being asked for help from actually teaching anything. It would be like a new fighter pilot asking his superior how to fly a supersonic jet and getting the response "just trust your gut". Sure the stakes are much lower in audio production, but there still needs to be some foundational...
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22. Local Recordings: The Only Way to Capture Great Podcast Audio
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
I vow to never stop talking about local recordings until every podcast on Earth at least KNOWS it's an option. Whether or not they choose to sound good is up to them. A local recording eliminates all the fail points and fidelity degrading processes by writing all your 0's and 1's directly to your computer without any consideration of WiFi strength, bandwidth availability, or whatever noises your cohost is making on the other end. If you're using a platform like Zoom or Skype to record your podcast, keep doing what you're doing, just consider adding a local recording via your DAW of...
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22. Local Recordings: The Only Way to Capture Great Podcast Audio
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
I vow to never stop talking about local recordings until every podcast on Earth at least KNOWS it's an option. Whether or not they choose to sound good is up to them. A local recording eliminates all the fail points and fidelity degrading processes by writing all your 0's and 1's directly to your computer without any consideration of WiFi strength, bandwidth availability, or whatever noises your cohost is making on the other end. If you're using a platform like Zoom or Skype to record your podcast, keep doing what you're doing, just consider adding a local recording via your DAW of...
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21. Mixing Your Podcast on Headphones or Studio Monitors: The Pros and Cons of Each
Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio
When it comes to mixing audio, you'd be hard pressed to find a more lively debate than the one between headphones and studio monitors. There are a LOT of pros and cons to each, and in this episode we explore many of the arguments for each side along with some brief lessons on HRTF (head related transfer function) and the psychoacoustics of how we localize audio in a 3D world. Links: Gear Suggestions: My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Microphone: Headphones: ...
info_outlineLuckily, there's an antidote to podfading and burnout, and it's called human interaction, err, community! I've been self-employed for just under a year now, and there have been entire WEEKS where I haven't left my house and interacted with another soul. It's so easy to get bogged down by the routine we find ourselves in when we don't shake it up a bit. When we join a community, preferably in person, we often come away from the evening reinvigorated, ready to take on the world and we're willing to do ANYTHING to make our podcasts be #1 on the charts. Over time, that feeling may fade and we tumble back into the routines and we face burnout around every corner. I HIGHLY encourage you all to find a local meetup of fellow podcasters, artists, creatives, and storytellers so that you stay inspired and don't let your passions and your projects fall by the wayside.
The other massive benefit of community is you can grow EXPONENTIALLY faster than if you were trying to learn in isolation. Everyone's ideas and values are slightly different, and it's massively beneficial to experience as many different methods as possible so you can better form your own processes and morals and establish what works best for you. If you're alone all day, as I'm known to be, it's very easy to get struck in patterns that are most likely not optimal or good for the human spirit.
If you're not in an area that lends itself to many meetups or gatherings of highly creative people, there are some valuable Facebook groups and forums out there, but not many. Be careful with those. But that leads me to this massive idea. What if WE create our own community that's dedicated to exploring values and ideas around capturing and producing better audio for podcasts?! That's something I'd be super interested in exploring with you all. Please reach out to [email protected] and let me know if you're down to get some ideas flowing with me and other listeners of the podcast.
Links:
Closing Track:
Harmony by Joakim Karud
My Signal Chain
Hardware:
Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble
Microphone: Shure SM7b
Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm
XLR Cable: Handmade...
Software:
IzoTope RX6 De-Mouth Click
FabFilter ProQ3
Waves LinMB
Waves Vocal Rider
IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise
Waves L2 Limiter
Waves WLM Meter
Waves Durrough Meter
*most of these links are affiliate links*