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July 8, 2024 16 mins

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In this Brainstorming episode, Athra and I discuss keyworks and podcast names and we brainstorm her future podcast about being a death doula!

Together we go through some exercises and advice that can help any podcaster overcoming microphone or naming concerns.

Find Athra at athrabodhi@gmail.com

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Episode Transcript

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Steve (00:00):
Hey there, podcasting and bad-ass is it's your host
server, Steve, the podcast guyhere with another exciting
episode of podcasting andbad-ass this week, we are doing
a brainstorm episode with apotential future podcaster who
is so close to starting theirpodcasting journey.
This week it was with Who isplanning to create a very

(00:21):
unconventional podcast that Iwas very excited to talk with
her about as we covered one ofher biggest obstacles in getting
started, which has been findinga right microphone.
And after a tearing her hair outafter wasting money on a couple
of different mics that didn'tgive her the results that we
needed.
We sat down and we talked notonly about her podcasting
concept, but about thetechnology that required behind

(00:42):
it with microphones.
So enjoy this, especially all ofyou techies.
At the end of the episode, ifyou found this information
helpful, please leave a review,a five star review, wherever
you're listening would be greatand make sure you're following
us wherever you're listening.
So you can get these newepisodes.
Every single Monday.
Until then keep on podcasting.
Hey there, it's Sober Steve, thepodcast guy here with Aethra

(01:05):
today to talk about an excitingpodcast idea that she has been
planning and is actively workingtowards.
Welcome to the show, Aethra.

Athra (01:13):
Thank you, Steve.

Steve (01:15):
Yes.
So tell me about this podcast ofyours and where it came from.

Athra (01:20):
Oh, it is so exciting.
So let me just say, I am authorof the book Confusion,
Compassion, Confession.
a married woman's dilemma.
So in the book we have an 8515support group that meets once a
month to help women with theissues of their unconventional

(01:44):
marriages.
And once a week, one week permonth, we entertain letters that
people send in and the groupresponds.
So we've received some quiteexciting feedback.
And so we will be addressing theletters in the podcast, and we

(02:08):
have a regular guest who will bejoining us on the podcast to get
a male perspective.

Steve (02:15):
Excellent.
I love that.
Not only that you're talkingabout and going there because
one thing I love aboutpodcasting is how we can talk
about anything.
But that you're getting them atdifferent perspectives.
When talking about sex andunconventional marriages or
relationships or overcomingstruggles with intimacy what is
a hot take or something that youfeel very passionate about?

(02:36):
That's maybe a littlecontroversial.

Athra (02:39):
Women who are married to men who have sex with men.

Steve (02:43):
Yeah.

Athra (02:46):
And so that's one of those things that actually
inspired my book.
In 2018 when I was in the greenroom with a gentleman who is the
director of a non profit.
And he helps men who have sexwith men who are HIV positive
and who have AIDS.

(03:07):
And he encouraged me to write abook to address those issues,
because that's something that wedon't necessarily talk about in
the African American communityand how it is tied into the
church.
And so I made a promise that Iwould find a way to discuss that

(03:29):
in a book.

Steve (03:32):
I love that, you know, exactly as much as your podcast
is going to be able to shape andaffect a lot of people.
I'm sure that you also knowexactly the type of person
you're looking to speak to.
I mean, tell me more about whoyou think your ideal listener is
for your podcast.

Athra (03:46):
Well, our ideal listener will be, like I said, women,
late twenties, to about theirfifties, maybe, who, are
struggling with their faith andthe fact that they're in an

(04:08):
unconventional marriage, notlike they thought it would be.
And to really let's start havinga conversation so that we can
accept what is and at the sametime protect lives.

Steve (04:23):
Yeah, I love that.
And the purpose is just soimportant.
I can tell the way you talkabout it is very passionate.
So what will these episodes looklike, do you think, in terms of
the format?

Athra (04:35):
Well, of course, there will be audio.
There's an author, his name isPeyron Long, and he has written
a few books that actually dealwith the issue.
And he brings forth the churchas well.
And so I've invited him to be aregular guest on the show so

(04:57):
that we can get a maleperspective because at the end
of the day, every podcast isdesigned to help people improve
their quality of life.
And we need to make sure that Weaccept the is ness, and like the
guy told me in the green room,let's look at this honestly, and

(05:20):
let's accept and let's try toheal from it, because that's
where the issues are comingfrom.
People want to pretend like itdoesn't exist, but everyone
knows it exists.
And because we pretend like it'snot existing, people are hurting
from it.

Steve (05:38):
Yeah, I feel that deeply.
I mean, people see it in myname, but I work a program that
involves feeling that we're onlyas sick as our secrets and to
live honestly and openly.
And so oftentimes when it comesto sex and relationships,
there's so many rules about whatthings should be like.
I love that you're going to workon shattering them and be having
open, honest conversations.

(05:59):
Now do you have a name alreadyin mind?

Athra (06:01):
Actually, it is going to be the Aethra Bodhi show.

Steve (06:06):
So you already have a great, online audience that you
engage with regularly throughsocial media elsewhere?

Athra (06:12):
Well, between the other author and I, we do, and we're
still building it.
I'm going to be honest, AethraBodhi is my pseudonym.
So I'm coming forward.
With the pseudonym and mergingit with my followers, people who
listen to me, I do a messageonce a week on Facebook live

(06:37):
through the enlightened livingministries, we are really
wanting people to heal becausesometimes conventional religion
has.
Left us void, questioned, andwe're trying to lead people back
to a more peaceful place intheir lives.

(06:59):
Wow, Steve, here's somethingelse that attracted me to you,
sober Steve, because I had to gothrough a 12 step program, and I
went through a 12 step programas a family member.
I have family members whostruggle with addiction.

(07:19):
And when they were in theirrehab programs, of course,
family members are invited tojoin them.
And I ended up having to go toAl Anon because I realized that
I needed some work on me.
And when you say people are onlyas sick as their secrets, that's
one of those things that isdiscussed for people who are

(07:44):
recovering because they have toaddress their secrets.
It is through my life experienceworking as a paralegal, working
as a public education teacher,that I've realized what causes
marriages to break down are thesecrets.
That people can't share.

(08:06):
So when they are struggling andthey really want to heal, they
are afraid of exposing who theyare for fear of rejection.
And we want to normalize thesethings like let's just have some
honest conversations becauseeven in the book When we are in

(08:29):
the 8515 support group and wediscuss Sexuality one of the
things we point out is thisMoses knew when the Hebrews left
Egypt that they needed to builda civilization that could
compete with everyone else.

(08:50):
So that is probably the reasonwhy Moses said men should not
lie with men.
The way that men lie with women,we know it had to exist.
Otherwise, it would need it tobe talked about.
Oh, that's one of the thingsthat we talked about in the
book.
Now, are we trying to build acivilization where we need to

(09:14):
build an army to compete withother great empires?
not in 2024.
So now maybe we need to look atthings a little bit differently
and start healing ourselves.

Steve (09:27):
That's what I'm doing over here.
Just helping with populationcontrol.
No, just kidding.
But no, I do love it.
And I love like how openlytalking about it because so much
like of my religious trauma inmy past was related to my
sexuality.
And so I love that.
Like now I found my way backthrough God and have a church,
but it's because I found onethat's like open and accepting

(09:47):
it.
But it took a long road to getthere.
So it's nice being able to, tohave them not conflict with each
other anymore.
Now, one thing I would recommendas we're getting into getting
your podcast ready and to launchbefore we get into the technical
side, which I know is somethingyou're excited to get into in
terms of hardware and.
Things like that is with yourname.

(10:09):
I love having your name in thepodcast name.
I would definitely recommendconsidering at least in the
title of the way that you typeit out having a title extension
afterwards of what it is aboutso that people can find you who
don't already know you becausethe number one thing when people
search for podcasts is going tobe things that are in the title
of the podcast.

(10:30):
And so if your name of your showis just your name, then the only
way that people will find yourshow is if they're typing in
your name.
But if the name of your show isthe a through a Bodhi show.
Conversations with women aboutunconventional sexual
relationships or marriages orhowever you want to include your
key words cause you know whoyou're talking to, just let them

(10:52):
know afterwards who you'retalking to.
Just put who you're talking toafterwards in the name, I would
highly recommend that and you'llbe set to grow pretty quickly.
And so getting into the idea ofthe hardware difficulties, tell
me about your microphoneheadaches.

Athra (11:09):
Well, there's way too much feedback noise for me and
we've worked with a fewtechnical people.
So we're going to try some othermicrophones.
What are some?
Recommendations that you have.

Steve (11:25):
All right.
First, we can definitely dropbrand names.
I have no affiliates that arepaying me to talk about them
nicely or badly yet.
So until that happens, I'll talkabout what I love from my
experience, honestly, because Imade the mistake when I started
off as spending way too muchmoney on crap that I never ended
up needing to use because itwasn't good enough, or it was
like, I didn't have theaccessories to make use of it to

(11:47):
its maximum potential.
So, what have you tried thatdidn't work?

Athra (11:54):
It is simply the microphones.
When we listened back on variousdevices, there was way too much
feedback.
So, we need a microphone that isgoing to give us as much of a
crisp sound as we can get.
We are beginning budget, andI've read a beginner budget

(12:18):
ranges up to what 5, 000 I'mlike, that's not a beginner
budget.
So I've been researching, butyou know, it's not yielding what
I want.
So I'm happy that I have thisconversation with you.

Steve (12:30):
Excellent.
And I have found success usingmicrophones at different levels
of performance and I eventuallysettled on one that works for me
most of the time when I'm athome and then I have my one for
when I'm on the road travelingand doing remote things.
To get started though, I startedoff with a relatively
affordable, for me at the time,having a microphone that was in

(12:51):
the 50 to 60 range wasaffordable for me.
And today, even four yearslater, I've done my research and
the Samsung Q2U is what a lot ofpeople consider kind of the
great entry level mic in thatprice range.
Because with the microphone, Ilike the Samsung Q2U because it
is both an XLR and a USBmicrophone.

(13:13):
So if you're recording it onyour computer, you can, or if
you have some sort of fancierrecording device that has more
of the traditional microphonecables, you can still use it for
that.
So it's versatile in that youdon't, it can work with whatever
you're using pretty much.
So it makes that easy.
From there you can do thingslike add, a little pop filter on

(13:34):
top of a microphone like that orany microphone instantly makes
it sound better because even asI'm talking right now without
the pop microphone, certainthings might sound differently
than if I hold on.
Put it back on and it just, itmakes some of the sounds of the

(13:54):
harshness around my voice soundbetter.
And these filters that you canput over your microphone, I got
like a three pack for$8 onAmazon.
They're very cheap and you canadd it on.
So it instantly takes, if yourmic is 50 to$60, instantly will
sound like it's like an 80 or$90mic.
If you're using a hundreddollars mic, it'll instantly
sound like it's$150.

(14:15):
Mic it.
It's the kind of way to cheatthe system is to add the filters
and things over it.
That make it easier for you aswell as making sure that you're
recording in the rightenvironment.
Not everyone needs to go crazyand glue styrofoam or like the
rubber foam all over the, like Ihave on my office when they get
started, but it is important tomake sure that you're somewhere

(14:38):
where it, the sound ismaintained or muffled in some
way, shape, or form.

Athra (14:43):
Okay,

Steve (14:44):
how did all of lander feel?

Athra (14:46):
Great.
I'm feeling relieved.

Steve (14:50):
Yeah.
What, what, what made yourelieved about hearing all of
that?

Athra (14:53):
Well, you, you gave me number one, you recommended a
microphone that a lot of peopleuse as beginners.
Number two, you've already toldme when you get ready to
upgrade, try this.
And then you told me about thefilters

Steve (15:11):
I'll link over to the Amazon links of all of these in
the show notes when the episodecomes out.

Athra (15:16):
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So I am relieved.
You just do not understand.
I feel better.
I can exhale.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.

Steve (15:27):
Yeah, no problem.
Well, I will make sure to sharewhen you do your first
announcement on social media tomy account to announce that it's
live so everyone can check youout.
And if they wanted to email youin the meantime to connect right
away about this amazing projectyou're working on, how would
they do that?

Athra (15:42):
And with my name, athrobody at gmail.
com.
And if there's anyone out therethat has a question, going
through something, their owndilemma, email us because your
letter may very well beselected.

Steve (15:59):
Excellent.
Sounds good.
Well, thank you so much.
It's a pleasure getting to knowyou and your future show better.

Athra (16:04):
Okay.
Thank you so much.
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