Help Me Find The BEST Mic! Season 13 Finale

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you, hello and welcome.
My name is Tom.
This is the Enthusiasm Project,season 13, episode 10.
This is the end, my friend, theSeason 13 finale.

(00:45):
Finally, it's the finale.
So that means we got to lookback at every episode this
season, specifically to focus onmicrophones, and I can share
some.
I can do a little bit of NABrecap because that's what's
going on in my world right now,and we can also talk about
what's happening next after theseason finale and kind of look
back on what it's been like tojust do a full season of video

(01:07):
podcasts, a video version of thepodcast.
So that's a lot of stuff.
It should be a ton of fun.
I've been.
We get to finally go through allof the mics for this season and
you know, and then you can tellme which one you like the best
and then I will do somethingwith that information.
What I will do with thatinformation we will find out.
I'm very curious to see howthat goes.

(01:28):
But before we dive into any ofthat, it wouldn't be fair to the
mic I'm using right now not tohave the mic of the week segment
, not to give this microphoneits due.
So the microphone I'm usingright now.
I was very curious, verycurious.
I was very I don't knowcontemplative maybe is the word

(01:48):
on which microphone I should usefor the last episode, because
I'm a fortunate enough person tohave amassed a lot of
microphones over the years andI've been trying to use a
variety of different ones.
I'm kind of looking off to theside because my main list is
right over there, kind of on thewall, of everything that I've
used and I mentioned this before, but I didn't want to use ones
that are like discontinued onesthat you couldn't really find

(02:11):
anywhere.
So I was trying to do a varietyof microphones that are still
available.
The microphone that I'm usingthis week for this episode is
the Blue Sona, which kind ofdoesn't exist anymore.
It has been since rebranded asthe Yeti Studio because Logitech
purchased Blue, the brand andthen blew it away and I don't

(02:32):
know like they dissolved Blue.
I'm not really entirely surewhat their relationship is with
Blue products anymore, but theyjust rebranded this the Yeti
Studio.
I've had people tell me like ohno, the Yeti Studio is actually
a different mic from the BlueSona.
It it is not.
It's the same microphone with adifferent name, which is great.
It's a great microphone, butit's very strange the Blue name

(02:55):
like Blue, makes prettylegendary good microphones.
Like obviously the Blue Yeti is, you know, a very popular one
that's sort of controversial.
But then you have all of theones used for like music and
instruments and vocals and stuffthat are like really well
regarded and some of thosepopular ones around and they're
just like, nah, just get rid ofthat and we'll just rebrand

(03:16):
everything.
So this is sometimes you canfind it as the Blue Sona.
It's very it's harder to findunder that name now and now more
often you can find it as theYeti Studio.
The MSRP is still $349, thesame as it was when it was only
known as the Blue Sona.
Although I will say it is onsale a lot, I have not seen it

(03:36):
for that full retail price veryoften.
So it seems like it's often onsale sometimes for a lot less,
like up to $100 less.
And what's pretty cool aboutthis microphone?
And if you go back and watch myBlue Sona review, I compared
this to the SM7B.
This was one that, like Iremember just one random day I
went to B&H's website and I sawthis at the banner at the top

(03:56):
like new, you know, blue Sonamicrophone.
I was like wait what?
And I kind of looked it up andjust I instantly ordered it.
I have the white version.
It comes in black.
I have an SM7B windscreen on it.
But they actually do havedifferent colored windscreens.
It comes with a red and a blackone that are little magnetic
windscreens.
It's pretty cool and theyalways said like, oh, we'll make
more available.

(04:17):
But they kind of like I didn'treally find that.
But the SM7B ones, especiallythe ones I get from Reporter
Store, work well on here.
In my review I compared it headto head against the SM7B because
it is $50 cheaper and what kindof you know sets it apart is
that it does have a boosterinside.
So it's kind of like the SEDynacaster.

(04:38):
It's a dynamic microphone, it'snot a condenser microphone.
So it's dynamic just like theSM7B, but the booster is built
inside.
So right now, like on myRodecaster, I am using 25
decibels of gain to get a signal, a loud enough signal on this
microphone, versus like the 56 Iwould normally have to use with
something like the SM7B.
With the newer Rodecasters andstuff and newer interfaces that

(05:01):
have lots of clean gain, like 70plus decibels, that's not as
critical because they haveenough clean gain built in to
run pretty much anything.
But if you're wanting to use amicrophone with an older
interface or with something thatdoes not have at least 70
decibels of clean gain and youwould normally find yourself

(05:22):
probably needing a booster, likea Fethead or a Cloudlifter or a
Clark Technic or something.
That is where a microphone likethis you know it's already
cheaper than the SM7B and youdon't need to worry about a
booster because it's built in.
So it could potentiallyactually be quite a savings and
the sound is really really good.
If you go watch my review, I dida blind microphone test because

(05:42):
I know people can be biased,which is fine.
We talked about bias andpreferences in like episode two
of this season, episode two orthree or sorry, episode four it
was.
I can look over there and see.
So it's not that the bias isbad, but I know that people,
when I hold up the SM7B and thenI hold up a blue microphone,
people are, you know, going tolean towards the SM7B, which I

(06:10):
totally get.
So I did.
Blind, you can't see themicrophone, you can only hear it
, and it was shocking the numberof people that leaned towards
this over the SM7B, with noeffects and no processing.
So right now it is runningthrough the RODECaster Duo.
If I turn off the processing,this is what it sounds like
actually still sounds excellent,and that is probably to where.
Compared to the SM7B withoutprocessing I'm going to turn
that back on Compared to theSM7B without processing, this

(06:30):
microphone definitely has morecharacter straight out of the
box, which could be a good thingor a bad thing.
You know, the SM7B is so flatthat if you want to throw it on
a bunch of different voices, youcan EQ it and shape it to suit
those voices really well,whereas you know, a microphone
that has more of a distinctcharacter, sometimes there are
just voices that it doesn't workon.
So anyway, that is thismicrophone.

(06:50):
I quite enjoy this microphonethe Blue Sona or the Yeti Studio
, whatever you want to call it.
However you want to categorizeit, I think it's cool.
I also really love the designof it and now that I've had mine
for several years since therelease, it still works great.
I love it.
I was thinking of othermicrophones to throw in because
I was kind of running out.
There were a couple that Ididn't get to use.

(07:10):
I really wanted to use a podmic, because that's sort of like
I felt strange during thiswhole season without using a pod
mic.
And then I also wanted to usethe Procaster, the Rode
Procaster, but I did already.
I ended up using a lot of Shuremicrophones and that would have
added another one or two Rodemicrophones in addition to the
couple that are already in there, and I kind of wanted to just

(07:33):
branch out to other thingsbesides just Shure and Rode.
This really taught me that Ihave a lot of Shure and Rode
microphones Makes sense.
But yeah, and then there's otherthings.
Like I did the earthworks ethos, I didn't do the earthworks
icon, which does have a verydifferent sound ethos, but you
know I would.
If I had to choose betweenthose two, I would personally
prefer the ethos.
That's the one I did.
I did the Luit 440.

(07:54):
I didn't do the 240, which alsosounds great, and I didn't do
the Ray, which basically soundsexactly the same as a 440, but
has some cool proximity features.
You know, we did like the NT1Signature Series.
So I didn't do the NT1 5thgeneration or, you know, like
NT1 4th generation.
So there was there's somemicrophones that because I did
the one, I sort of didn't doothers that I felt were sort of

(08:15):
similar.
So, anyway, that was my logicbehind choosing this microphone
and other microphones throughoutthis season.
So now, before we jump into thatgreat mic showdown, I do want
to talk about what's coming upnext after finishing the season.
And this was something I wasalmost thinking like, oh, this
should go at the end becausewe're talking about what's next.
But I do have a sort of a bigschedule change update thing and

(08:38):
I felt like maybe I don't wantto just kind of throw that at
you at the very, very end andthen be like goodbye, maybe it's
something we can talk about,sit with here and then go into
the rest of the episode.
So, first and foremost, thebiggest thing I want to do is
give a huge thank you toeverybody who listens to the
podcast, watches the podcast,supports the show.
I have been bombarded withreally kind, really positive

(09:00):
messages this season and it is,it's just been awesome.
And you know, if there's thosetimes where I have to skip a
week, for whatever reason,people ask like, hey, when's the
next episode, when's it coming?
And that means a lot to mebecause it's cool to know that
people really care and thatmakes it.
You know I like making podcasts, I like doing this podcast a

(09:21):
lot, so obviously it's somethingI want to keep doing, but that
kindness and that support meansit's not just something I want
to keep doing, but like thatthat makes it really special and
really meaningful and helpsalso keep it really, really fun
for me.
So, that being said, I'm goingto go in kind of a different
direction here.
So, when it comes to what isnext for the podcast, we've done

(09:43):
13 seasons, you know, edging upclose to 200 episodes.
At this point, if you don't knowthe journey, you know I'm
guessing if you're listening tothis you might actually know,
but if you don't, the first fewseasons I did were 21 episode
seasons.
So I just said 21 weeksstraight and I barely missed a
single week and I think I didthat the first five-ish seasons

(10:05):
and that was a lot, because itwas basically I started the show
and the reason I'm sharing thisis if you're someone who's also
into podcasting, starting apodcast you're checking this
show out.
Maybe you haven't heard all theold episodes or whatever.
I think this could be helpfulinfo.
You know, learn from myexperience if you can, or take
away whatever helpful nuggetsyou can.
I started the show and it wasjust make an episode every week,

(10:25):
cool.
There were all the reasons Iwanted to start a podcast, all
the stuff I wanted to share.
After 21 weeks I was kind oflike I think I got it out.
Like I think I got it out of mysystem.
And that first season is very,very personal.
It's very like stuff that hadbeen inside of my brain and
feelings and all these thingsthat had nowhere to go for many,

(10:47):
many years.
All of that got shared.
It's almost like starting aYouTube channel and suddenly
have an outlet for all thisstuff.
And so after 21 episodes, Ikind of was like I think I did
it.
I got it all out.
What do I want to do?
So I decided to take a break andthen come back for another
batch of episodes, which I justcalled season two and those.

(11:08):
I want it to be a little morefocused, like a little more.
You know, when I started theshow, nobody's listening, turns
out like, hey, there areactually some people who are
listening.
Okay, so let's focus on theaudience, let's focus on what
can make the show actuallyvaluable for somebody who's
listening.
And you know, maybe, maybe justbe a little more, a little more
focused, especially since Ikind of got like the initial
stuff out of my system that Ineeded to get out and now I can
shift gears a little bit.
And that was awesome.

(11:28):
And you know, it became likevery creator focused and stuff,
which I think is really, reallyfun.
And so I did.
I didn't know how many episodesto do, but I was like, well, I
did 21 last time.

(11:49):
No-transcript seasons were 21episode seasons and then it was
like 21 is a lot, because what Iwas noticing was happening, if
you look at you know, there's 52weeks in a year.
Basically, it's by the time youdo a season, take a couple
weeks off, do another season,that's a whole year.
So you're doing two seasons ayear and that's a lot.

(12:10):
And what I was noticing was,when I was starting the seasons,
being like, okay, I'm going tostart the show up again.
That means the next 21 weeks.
Like you know, I have a thingthat's kind of built into my
schedule and especially, a lotof the time I was also still
working my full time job as ateacher, also still doing the
YouTube channel and everything,and so eventually I was like,
okay, I need to to tone thatdown a little bit.

(12:31):
And so I decided you know whosays the reason it's 21 episodes
, because that's just where Iended season one.
It didn't.
It didn't mean any, it was arandom number that felt like a
decent number.
So I cut it down to 10 episodeseasons.
I was like, hey, you know, inthe modern era a lot of shows
are 8, 10, 12 episodes.
I'll just do 10 episode seasonsway more manageable, two and a
half months per season, and thatworks great.

(12:52):
So I share that.
Just for the sustainabilityfactor, which is something I
talk about a lot whenever I talkabout, you know, helping people
start podcasts is your postingschedule.
Is this something you're justgoing to do every week forever
until you die or until you getburnt out on it, or do you?
You know how do you want toapproach that?
For me, breaking into seasonsand then breaking that down into
shorter seasons really made theshow significantly more

(13:16):
sustainable, which also helpedkeep it a lot more fun.
So that was quite a lifesaverfor me and I've been doing that
ever since, and now you knowwe're wrapping up season 13.
So that the 10 episode thingreally, really, really did help
Now between seasons 12 and 13,.
There was the biggest gap I'veever taken.
Normally it's a couple of weeks.

(13:36):
Maybe I would push it like amonth if it was the end of the
year and it kind of includedlike maybe some Christmas, new
Year's kind of like push it amonth there, normally be like a
couple weeks and then a season.
The gap between seasons 12 and13 was like seven months or
something.
It was a lot and the reason forthat was because I did want to.

(13:57):
I was trying to figure out thevideo thing.
I wanted to do the show.
I felt like video was a thing Iwanted to explore.
I couldn't quite figure it outand you know, figuring out what
channel it goes on, what's theworkflow, all the things I
talked about way back in thefirst episode of the season,
figuring all that stuff out, andthat took a lot of time to kind
of do in a way that didn't justwork for one episode but could

(14:19):
be an actual workflow.
And now I do actually have avideo on my channel, if you
haven't seen it.
That is my video podcastworkflow, which kind of covers
how I do this and I do think atleast for a single person
podcast it is.
It's about as simple as you canget.
It's definitely, again, thingsthat help keep it fun and
sustainable.
So it took a long time todevelop that and I wanted to be

(14:39):
really comfortable with thatworkflow and that process before
diving into the video version,into season 13.
And then we've done the videoversion.
So there's a couple thingsabout that, which is now that
I've done a whole season of thevideo version.
Something I was really excitedabout was let me do the whole
season and see what I think Likeis video worth it?

(15:00):
Is it not?
I am of two minds.
I still think that if you donot want to do a video version
of a podcast, if you're an audioonly podcaster, I think that is
totally fine.
I do not think you have to orshould do a video version of
your podcast if you don't wantto.
It should be something you wantto do.
It should be something thatadds to your show, not just like

(15:21):
, hey, now it's more work andless fun, but I feel like I
should be doing it.
Yay, that kind of stuff isnever, is really never that fun.
So I like doing the videoversion.
I want to continue doing thevideo version and more episodes.
I just really enjoy it.
I, you know, as a videoproduction person, it feels kind
of cool to kind of crack thecode a little bit for video

(15:43):
podcasting.
I have gotten really goodfeedback on it.
I love being able, you know,even though I've never been
super strategic with the podcastand growth and all that stuff,
it is nice to be able to takeadvantage of everything YouTube
has to offer by, you know,having video versions out there.
And I will say just kind oflike the very broad look at
analytics that I take, I donotice that the viewership or

(16:07):
the listenership of the podcasthas basically doubled because of
YouTube.
So the amount of peoplelistening to the audio only
version actually did dip alittle bit because I think
people obviously moved over toYouTube instead, but that stayed
pretty consistent and then it'spretty much the same number of
people also listening on YouTube.
So it effectively doubled thelistenership of the show.
And that's because YouTube has,you know, it's incredibly

(16:30):
advanced algorithm andrecommendations and all those
things which you know reallydoes help if you want to grow a
show and for what it's worth.
I did notice that the episodesthat are actual video versions,
like this, where there's a videofile uploaded and playing do
get recommended and surfaced topeople more than the episodes
that are audio only, becauseit's still imported.

(16:51):
Every episode is on YouTube,but the ones that don't have a
video component it's just thestatic image of the album art.
It's the audio file and that'swhat YouTube does automatically
when you import it from yourdirectory.
So if you have an audio onlypodcast hosted somewhere like
Buzzsprout, like I do, you canimport that to YouTube.
It'll automatically import newepisodes, audio only.

(17:14):
It'll create the whole thingfor you.
It'll be in the podcastdirectory, it'll be searchable,
but it doesn't seem like they'rereally recommending that too
much in terms of like how they,you know, recommend videos and
things to people.
At least that's what I'venoticed.
The 10 episodes or nine so farepisodes I've done that are full
video get a lot morerecommendations than the
previous.
You know 175 episodes thatdidn't have video components.

(17:36):
So that's kind of my findings.
Take that for what it's worthas you're making these decisions
.
As much as I like doing thevideo version, obviously a
component of it, even gettingthe workflow narrowed down as
much as I can, it still takes alot of time.
It does take more time than theaudio only version.

(17:56):
It does take time to perform.
It's very different to talk toa camera, to have to turn on a
studio, set everything up, frameeverything, put together the
visuals.
All that stuff takes a lot moretime than it was for me when I
would.
You know, I could just be.
All I needed to worry about wasdoes it sound good?
What am I talking about?

(18:16):
Here's my bullet points.
It was, you know, for me and thetype of show that I do, the
audio only version issignificantly easier to produce.
But I really liked the videoversion and I'm proud of it and
I want to keep doing the videoversion.
But it does make it difficult,which is why there are several
weeks throughout the season thatI had to miss, just because
there was not time was not timeto do it and and that's just

(18:38):
kind of, I wanted to make surethat I did it well.
I didn't want to just kind ofphone it in, I wanted to make
sure that every episode was agood episode, and so that did
kind of take some time.
You know, that's just kind of.
That's just kind of how it was.
So, from here then, what doesthat mean?
Going into, you know, season 14and beyond, I am going to do
something that is really reallyterrible for podcast growth.

(19:00):
I hope you'll be patient withme.
I hope you'll understand whereI'm coming from with this advise
you to do if you want to growyour audience, grow your podcast
.
But it is something that Iwould advise you to do, or at
least that I'm going to do, assomebody who wants to keep
podcasting and keep having funpodcasting, which is that I am,
for the first time since doingthe show, not going to be

(19:21):
sticking to any sort of schedule.
I've been very consistent andstructured with, like, my
YouTube channel and my uploadschedule there.
I've been pretty consistentwith the podcast.
When I'm in a season, it's like,you know, every Monday there's
the episode.
Every once in a while I have toskip one and I've sort of, you
know, become more comfortablewith that, just because it's

(19:42):
it's just sort of a fact of lifeand it's a thing that has to
happen sometimes.
But something I have noticed isthere is a part of me that when
I finish a season I kind offeel like, oh, like I did it.
You know, it's like running arace.
I'm glad I ran the race, veryexcited about that, but wow, I
can rest now and I get that.

(20:05):
But the counterpoint to that isthen, when it's time to start a
season, there is a little bit ofanxiety that builds up of like,
okay, you know, initially thatwas, oh, that means the next 21
weeks are going to be busy,there's going to be this extra
thing on my schedule, this othercommitment I need to follow
through on, this other thing tocheck up on and take care of,
and that's a lot.
And then, you know, cuttingthat down to 10 really helped,

(20:28):
but adding in the video versionespecially, it's to me it's just
not sustainable for what I needto do and what I need to focus
on, which is funny because eventhough I got rid of, like, my
full time teaching job so it's,you know, youtube's my full time

(20:49):
thing when I was working twofull time jobs or more than
two-time jobs it's like gettingrid of one of those.
I didn't want to just fill upthat time again.
Like I'm still working afull-time, more than full-time
job doing YouTube.
It's, you know, every singleday.
I can easily go many months, ifnot like a year or more,
without actually taking a realday off, and you know that.
Take that.
So throwing something else ontop of that, that's another

(21:09):
weekly thing that I have to do.
It can actually be a little bitstressful, and the last thing
that I want is for this not tobe fun or enjoyable.
I don't want to make episodesout of obligation and I don't
want to make episodes.
I don't want to make someonelisten, spend their time on an
episode that wasn't something Iwas actually excited about or
interested in.

(21:29):
I don't think that that's fair.
I don't think that that's good.
So I am, for the foreseeablefuture, just going to post
episodes when I post them.
What that looks like, I have noidea, so you know, and that
could mean there's months inbetween episodes.
That could mean there's twoepisodes in a week.
I really don't know what I havelearned, and what I did learn
when I took the really longbreak between seasons 12 and 13

(21:53):
was that there were a lot oftimes that I was like, oh, this
would be a great podcast episode, I want to do a podcast episode
about this.
But the thing that stopped mewas the feeling of if I make one
episode, that means I havestarted a new season and that
means I have to make nine otherones as well, and so then I just
ended up not making any, youknow, and some of those topics
were kind of timely or theybecame less relevant or whatever

(22:15):
.
So a lot, most of that stuffactually never made it into
episodes this season and lookingback I'm like, oh, that's like
that was a decent chunk ofepisodes through the span of six
or seven months, maybe even anentire season's worth of
episodes.
That could have been prettydecent.
That just never got madebecause they didn't fit into
like this arbitrary productionschedule that I had made for
myself, versus if I had beenlike oh, I really want to make

(22:36):
an episode right now.
You're gonna get something thatis like so interesting because
it's the thing I want to bedoing more than anything else in
that moment, and then maybethat means there's, you know,
five more weeks before anotherepisode or something, and I
think that I would rather dothat for now.
You know, the thing that's abummer and the thing I guess why
I'm like hesitant to share thator I feel guilty, is because

(22:58):
people have been so kind and sosupportive of the show and I
feel like most people would say,like we're on board for
whatever you just share wheneverwe're here.
But I also know that you knowthere's something really nice
about that consistency of hey.
Every Monday I get a newepisode of this podcast every.
You know it's anything TV shows, youtube channels.
It's really nice when you knowhey, this new episode here, new

(23:19):
video here, new season premierethere, like it's.
That kind of structure andbuilding it into your life is
really good.
From a very practicalstandpoint of trying to grow
anything online, being able tobe consistent for your audience
is a key thing.
It's definitely something Ithink anybody would recommend to
somebody.
Getting started out is like makesure you, like people know they
can listen to you, because oncethere's nothing for them to

(23:41):
listen to, they will find otherthings and they will forget
about you.
But having done this as long asI have and as many episodes as
I have, and also the fact thatthis is something that is a
genuine passion project for me,like it's not it's really not a
source of revenue or anything,it's just something I do because

(24:02):
I like to do it.
If I need to make some changesto protect the fun and the
enjoyment, then that's somethingthat I want to keep doing and
this is kind of the way for nowthat I think I can do that.
You know, you never know, maybeI'll do that for a while and be
like, hey, seasons are fun, orI'll have a whole run of
episodes that make sense to doas a season, or something like
that.
But for right now I want toessentially not have the

(24:24):
obligation of the weekly thing,where then it feels like I have
failed if I can't do it, youknow, because maybe I have to
travel out of town for aconference, maybe I'm sick,
maybe I have other projects Ineed to work on and there's just
not time for it, and now I feellike, oh, I don't have anything
this week.
I have messed up.
You know, do I?
Do I just make something justto make something, or no, I
should wait and make somethingreally good, which I'm glad that

(24:46):
that is.
The decision I made was to notjust make something for the sake
of having something readyAnytime that there was not an
episode for a week or whateverit's, because I wanted to wait
until there was an episode I wasreally proud of.
And that means I can look backat this whole season and be like
, yes, I really like everyepisode and that makes me very
happy and yeah, so that'sbasically.

(25:08):
It is after this.
Uh, there will this, it willnot be.
I have no intention of thisbeing the last episode ever.
Uh, it's a season finale andthen there will be another
episode at some point in time.
I don't know, it could be nextweek, it could be not.
So I I wish I had morespecifics for you and I I
appreciate in advance, Iappreciate your support, because

(25:31):
it is that support and thatkindness that helps keep this
fun and exciting and issomething that makes me want to
keep doing it and to keep going.
So that is what is happeningnext in terms of this podcast
after season 13.
So now we can move on to themeat and or potatoes of this
episode, for this finale righthere, which is going to be, like

(25:55):
I mentioned before, like Iteased before, the mics of the
season segment.
So on screen I have a collageof a lot of the microphones I've
used this season.
Not every single one of them,but a lot of them.
Here's what we're going to do,and this is going to be a little
bit different.
We are going to listen to clipsfrom every one of the
microphones.
So there's the one I'm on rightnow the Blue Sona, the Yeti
Studio.

(26:15):
There are also nine othermicrophones.
For my own sanity, I did thinkabout setting up 10 total
microphones and trying to switchbetween them and then adjust
the sound, and that gave me alittle anxiety to think about
doing that.
So instead of doing that, Ifigured, hey, I already have
real world examples of each ofthese microphones being used.
So we're just going to gothrough all of the episodes and

(26:38):
I'll play a quick clip so thatway you can hear in real world
action each microphone, not justa random test, but you can also
you can hear how it was usedafter I had also EQ'd it in the
way I wanted it to use.
So normally in my YouTubevideos when I do a mic review, I
don't use any effects orprocessing.
I just use the microphonesstraight out of the box and so

(26:58):
you can hear what they soundlike, because I never know what
interface or mixer people mightbe running stuff into and I want
them to get you know the bestidea of just how the mic sounds
and then they can you know kindof factor in their equipment,
their workflow.
This is a little bit different.
I want you to hear eachmicrophone with effects and
processing, the way that I useit.
So all of these are being runthrough the Rodecaster Duo

(27:21):
different presets, differentadjustments and things but they
are how I use them and so Ipretty much would never really
use a microphone without somelevel of effects or processing
on it.
And I want you to be able tohear that on each one, because
it's not just like, well, whichmicrophone do you think sounds
best?
But it's like in this contextof a video podcast, at least

(27:42):
with me and my voice in thisenvironment, what do you think
sounds the best?
I'm very curious.
There is a link in thedescription to this episode to
just a Google form where you canvote for the one that you think
is best, and I am very curiousto see what people vote for,
because I don't.
I like them all.
Like, every time I use amicrophone, every time I use a
mic, I always feel like, oh, Ireally like this one, I really

(28:04):
like that one, oh, I should usethis one more, I should use that
one more.
So I'm very curious to see whatyou think and we're just going
to go through each episode.
There's no deadline to vote oranything.
It's definitely something Iwill cover whenever I do another
episode in the future.
But to make you not have to waita question mark amount of time
after you know it seems likethere's been enough time to

(28:25):
collect votes, I can also justdo like social media shares,
like an Instagram story and aYouTube community post, to kind
of say like, hey, here's thewinner of that one, which will
be really fun and then probablymakes sense to use that
microphone in the next episode.
You know, probably makes sense.
So unless it's all just evenwhat, if there's no winner, it's
just perfectly even for everyone of them.

(28:46):
You never know what's going tohappen with these things.
So I have every episode pulledup here in YouTube and we're
just gonna I kind of picked likebasically just random spots of
the episode.
So, especially if you're notwatching the video version, if
you're watching the videoversion you'll be able to see
when it's me right now talkingand when it's me in a past

(29:07):
episode.
If you're just listening, I willtry to be very clear.
You don't need to pay too muchattention to what I'm saying in
the clips, because it's probablygoing to be out of context and
irrelevant, but you do want topay attention to just the sound
quality, and then, obviously,I'm going to be coming back to
this microphone in between eachclip.
So let's start with the firstone.
This is the Season 13 Premiereand the microphone I was using

(29:30):
in that is the Shure SM7Brunning through the Rodecaster
Duo on a custom preset.
So this is me on the Blue Sona,and now you'll hear me on the
SM7B.
Maybe Getting consistent audioa little bit tricky.
Typically, this is also where Italk about what gear I'm using,

(29:51):
but for this episode I'm goingto go into so much detail about
the gear that I'm using to putthis show together, because I
think that will be reallyhelpful for people.
So that's me on the SM7B.
This is me on the Blue Sona.
Let's hear a little bit more ofthe SM7B.
We're just kind of focusing onmic of the week because that's
the thing that's probably goingto change the most.

(30:11):
Ideally, the rest of the gearshouldn't change, because I have
spent so long putting this alltogether.
And now I'm back on the BlueSona and I was right.
The other gear didn't change.
The only thing that changedevery week was the mic of the
week and the camera.
I did end up changing my camerato the EOS R, which has been
fantastic.
I've been really, really happyand excited about using the EOS
R.
So that's the Shure SM7B.

(30:32):
Let's jump to episode two, whereI then use the Shure SM4.
This is a condenser microphone.
It made sense to start apodcast using the SM7B, one of
Shure's oldest microphones, andthen I jumped to one of Shure's
newest if not their newestmicrophone, the SM4.
So this is me on the Blue Sona,or the Yeti Studio, and this is
now you'll hear me on the SM4.

(30:52):
So this is the mic of the weeksegment, with the chill
background beats included as anintro over here.
One thing I said last week andthis was an idea that somebody
else gave me is to use adifferent microphone in every
episode this season and then, atthe end or after the season's
over, I guess, have people voteon which one they think sound

(31:13):
the best, and that's what we'redoing right now.
You heard me on the SM4.
Now you're hearing me on theBlue Sona.
This is me on the Sona.
Let's go back to the SM4.
And that's just which one theylike the most, and so that's
something I'm going to do, andthis week the microphone I'm
using is the Shure SM4.
There you go, and now I'm backon the blue In my ears, at least
in my headphones right now.
These two are sounding reallysimilar, which is very funny

(31:35):
because they're totallydifferent brands condenser
versus dynamic but it might justbe the processing.
I just want to hear the SM4again a little bit, which is a
microphone I haven't used in awhile, and a reason for that for
me not using the 4, I actuallyreally like this microphone.
I like huh, yeah, they sound.
It's a good sounding microphone, but I'm impressed at how much

(31:55):
this dynamic microphone I'mcurrently using sounds like that
condenser microphone.
So that was the SM4.
The third episode, or the nextepisode, I used the Rode
Broadcaster, which is kind of.
I actually want to do a review,a dedicated review, on this
microphone and basically call itlike Rode's Forgotten Mic or
something like that.
I thought I had a name for itthe mic that Rode forgot, or

(32:16):
something like that, because Ithink it's often overlooked,
although it is quite popular andit is a condenser microphone.
So here's me on the Blue Sona,and now you'll hear me on the
Rode Broadcaster.
So here's me on the blue sonaand now you'll hear me on the
road broadcaster stuff and it'ssort of that thing where you
know one or two things here andthere doesn't really stand out
to me, but multiple of the samethings start to start to kind of

(32:38):
stand out to me and sort ofspark, like you know, some
thoughts and some discussionsand I don't really know what I'm
talking about in terms.
I don't know what was standingout to me there.
But that is me on thebroadcaster.
This is me on the Blue Sona.
Let's hear a little bit more ofthe broadcaster.
I there's a way.
It's kind of like there's a wayI think you can be a

(33:00):
professional and a way thatmaybe you don't want to be a
profession.
There we go, and now I'm backover here.
So that was the RodeBroadcaster.
Next microphone that we're gonnago for is the Earthworks Ethos,
so another condenser microphone.
Let's hear how the Ethos soundshere and then I'll share my

(33:23):
thoughts and my feedback realquick.
So this is me on the Blue Sonaand then you'll hear me on the
Ethos Microphone.
Like that is not at all gearedtowards professional use, but
that's the kind of thing I'llmake a video on and have people
say like, oh, you could neveruse this for like real, you know
, projects or whatever it's like.
You shouldn't.
That's not what it's for.

(33:43):
It is a $30 to $40 wirelessmicrophone and back over here on
the blue, the Ethos.
What I have said about the Ethosis that, to my ears and I don't
want to push your voting oryour opinions too much, because
there's no right or wrong here Ididn't put in like gotcha, it's
just hey, which mic do you like?
The thing that I have alwaysfelt with the Ethos, it is that

(34:08):
it is the least fatiguingmicrophone to listen to for a
long period of time.
Most microphones can soundreally good for short periods of
time, but if you're listeningto hour, hour and a half two
hour long podcast or something,listen to an audio book the
Ethos really nice.
So let's hear a little bit morefrom the Ethos now.
I'm a professional person.
I would like to be professionalat what I do.
I would like to, you know, beconsidered a professional

(34:29):
content creator.
But I actually had a revelation, believe it or not, at a hockey
game last week where I wasthinking about this, and that's
why I wanted to add thisaddendum here.
All right, and then I'm backover here.
This microphone sounds good too, and mic.
Comparisons are always tricky.
This is something I've talkedabout before.
Your ears can get fatigued, Ithink, anytime.

(34:53):
Well, I've proven it.
I've used all of thesemicrophones for a whole episode
and I think every episode soundsgreat.
When you start going back andforth, your ears start adapting
and getting used to and lookingfor different things in
different microphones and so,going back and forth, suddenly
it's like things that didn'tbother you are now bothering you
.
So, as we're going through this, do your best to kind of I
don't know if you can maintainan unbiased ear, which I think

(35:14):
might be, like physiologicallyvery difficult to do.
I would recommend doing that.
But yeah, just something tokind of, just something to kind
of point out there as we gothrough this.
The next microphone we're goingto listen to is the Rode NT1
Signature Series, one of myfavorite microphone.
I mean, I own all these becausethey're my favorite microphones
.
This one's blue.

(35:34):
So yeah, it gets a little bias,I'll admit it.
But here's me on the Sona andthen you'll hear me on the Rode
NT1 Signature Series.
That's a headphones andsuddenly there's this thing that
just does it easily, like thatwas a magic piece of gear, even
like the original ATEM Mini, youknow at the time.
Now there's so many switchersI've been doing all kinds of

(35:55):
videos on switchers lately butthe original ATEM Mini, like
there we go.
And now I'm back over here onthe Sona from the Rode NT1
Signature Series.
Now the Signature Series doesbasically have the exact same
sound as the Rode NT1 SignatureSeries.
Now the Signature Series doesbasically have the exact same
sound as the Rode NT1 5thgeneration.
The difference with the 5th genis that it has USB also, so
it's a combo microphone, usb,xlr combo mic and it's a little

(36:18):
more expensive.
So if you just want kind of thestripped down version, you get
the Signature Series.
And I think it's kind ofamazing too because it comes
with the shock mount and a popfilter and don't 100% quote me
on this, it's been a while sinceI took mine out of the box.
I believe it also comes with anXLR cable.
It's one of the few XLR micsthat comes with an XLR cable for
like $170.
So it's a great deal.

(36:39):
Let's listen to a little bitmore of the NT1 Signature Series
.
As I was fighting with macOS,um, I really wish I hadn't
updated to sequoia, because itis just bug city and, uh, it
sucks, like I do not likesequoia, it doesn't work.
Um, that's, that's.
Yeah, I.
I still agree with myself there, but that's a funny part to

(36:59):
kind of tune into.
Uh, on that one all right up.
Next we are going into the landof lewitt with the l 440 Pure,
which again doesn't have thesame sensory like capabilities
as the newer Luit Ray, but theRay and the 440 do have the
exact same capsule, so theoverall sound is the same

(37:22):
between them.
So here's me on the Sona, andthen you're going to hear me on
a condenser microphone which isthe Luit 440.
So here's me on the Sona, andthen you're going to hear me on
a condenser microphone which isthe Lewitt 440.
I don't think it would havebeen as special to do it here
and so it was awesome.
Like, despite all theexhaustion, everything that was
amazing, it was the coolestthing.
And Heather and I you knowHeather was like outside the
glass taking photos and I couldsee her.
When we're in the third period,I really love that microphone.

(37:45):
The difference there is the 240.
So the 440 is a little moreexpensive.
It's $250-ish, we'll say.
There's also the LCT 240, whichis about $100.
Exact same physical design,just a different capsule in
there.
If I were doing 21 episodes, Idefinitely would have included
the 240.

(38:06):
The difference with the 240 isthat it's a little brighter and
a little like emphasizes thehigh ends a little bit more.
Actually, I forgot what I waslooking at.
It is behind me on the wallover here.
I have a white version, but italso comes in black as well.
So the 240 just sounds a littlebit thinner and a little bit
brighter than the 440.

(38:27):
Both think are phenomenalmicrophones.
I do personally prefer thesound of the 440, but the price
and value of the 240 is likereally hard to beat.
So sometimes that's the one Iactually end up recommending
more.
Let's hear a little bit morefrom the Lewitt 440.
Waiting for like a ref to saylike actually there's five
minutes left or you know, a goalwent in that no one noted, like
some something like a gotchamoment, and it never happened

(38:49):
because we actually did thething and that was just super,
super cool, all right.
And then I'm back over here onthe Blue Sona or the Yeti Studio
.
Next microphone is I'm wearingthe same shirt that I'm wearing
right now, so this is going toget a little confusing to look
at.
The next one is the Shure Super55, the Elvis mic, but the
super cardioid version, not theregular version, and I mentioned

(39:12):
this in that in that episode.
Shure makes still makes twoDynacaster microphones that look
like this the Super 55, whichis the one I'm using and that
has blue kind of windscreen,blue foam in there, and the
traditional 55SH, which has thegray foam in there, and I have a
video that compares the two.
I very, very much prefer thesound of the Super 55.

(39:33):
I found the 55SH to be veryboxy and I just kind of
genuinely didn't like the soundof it.
And the Super 55 is a littlemore expensive but just like
sounds great as is.
So here is me on the Blue Sona,the Yeti Studio, and then let's
listen to me on the Shure Super55.
I think some of them actuallycould do video as well, but it

(39:56):
was like I don't know what youwould do with the video.
It was like 360p, standarddefinition, four by three
resolution, like there's nothingyou can really do with the
video, especially pre-YouTube.
Where are you even going toupload that, I don't know.
So that's a great soundingmicrophone.
It's also it might be thecoolest looking microphone ever.
You know I have a lot ofmicrophones that I love the

(40:17):
style of that.
I love the design of the Super55, it is maybe the coolest
looking microphone, at least tome, that there is.
So let's listen to a littlemore of the Super 55.
I really wanted like a realcamera, a camera with a lens, so
I saved up a bunch of money.
I remember sitting in my littlelike college apartment and then

(40:37):
like pacing back and forth withthe order confirmation page on
B and now I'm back over here onthe Blue Sona.
So there's Super 55.
Gosh, I love that mic and Iloved using it for that episode
because, especially using kindof a different boom arm and some
different mounting, it had beena while since I used it for a
podcast and I was like, wow,this is way easier to use with
some of the gear that I have nowthat I didn't have when I first

(40:59):
got the microphone, so kind ofwanted to use it even more.
Up next we're going to look atthe SE Dynacaster.
So definitely something that'sa bit different compared to a
lot of the Shure and Rode mics.
Throughout this season thatI've used the Dynacaster given
to me by Bronson from AudioHotline.
Actually a very interesting micto compare to this one here,

(41:20):
because they're super similar.
Their prices are really similar.
They're both dynamicmicrophones with built-in
boosters.
So the Dynacaster and the Sonathe Yeti Studio probably more
direct competitors than any ofthe other mics that I have.
I just didn't have theDynacaster back when I got the
Sona and did my review on that,otherwise I would have compared

(41:40):
them there.
So now I haven't heard thesound clip from this in a while.
So now I am actually prettycurious to hear the difference
in sound between this, the YetiStudio, and the DynaCaster.
Let's hear it In my workflow.
The camera that I've hadmounted on my desk since I redid
everything has been the Sony a7IV, which is great, and
sometimes I swap out otherlenses I have, you know, like my

(42:02):
Tamron 20-40.
And then back over here on theSona the Yeti studio.
That was the first episode Idid using the EOS R, which, yeah
, the camera just looks so good.
We're not talking about camerasright now, but in this setting
the EOS R is just looking sogood.
So, yeah, let's listen to alittle more from the Dynacaster

(42:23):
24 1.4 over here here when I'mdoing podcasts and streams, just
because it does, I think, lookthe best in this setup and, you
know, gives me the best amountof background blur and back over
here.
So last microphone to go for ohyeah, the where I'm wearing the
same shirt again.
Uh, I have like five shirts.
Not even a bunch of them arethe same shirt.
Sometimes when I find a shirtlike these very cheap Amazon

(42:46):
shirts, I just buy multiple ofthem because they're like $12,
$15.
And then it's like oh, I knowthey fit and they like look good
on camera.
So just have a few of them andnever have to worry about it.
The last one is the Shure SM58.
I'm so glad I included this onebecause it is in a world of

(43:07):
tons of variety of microphonesit is something that can kind of
be overlooked, especially whenit comes to being used as a
broadcast style microphone, notjust a handheld live event
microphone.
But it's so affordable with its$99 price tag and it does sound
really good, I believe.
You know don't 100% quote me onthis, but the capsule inside
there is super duper similar tothe SM7B.

(43:29):
So let's then listen to theSM58.
You're hearing me on the bluesonar.
Right now let's switch over tothe SM58.
That is like the golden era andthe golden age and all that,
and people were still like, nah,this sucks at the time.
So you know that idea of thingsbeing the internet comes with.
You know, the ability forpeople to just share whatever

(43:50):
thoughts they happen to have.
And I was using I do remember Iwas using the SM7B preset.
There.
I am using the genericcondenser setting on this
microphone, even though it's adynamic mic, and I kind of
tweaked some of the settings alittle bit.
I've kind of gone in and turnedsome things off.
So this is a version of thecondenser setting.
And then let's go back to the58, which was on the
Rodecaster's SF7B preset andthey're there forever and that

(44:14):
gives them, that gives them aweight.
You know that thought is notjust something you had once,
it's something that happensevery single time somebody sees
it, every single time somebodyhears it or encounters it.
Alrighty, there we go.
That is all of the microphones.
That's everything we use thisseason, everything I use this
season, everything you listen to.
You can click in thedescription there is a link to

(44:34):
just a Google poll, a Googleform, where you can choose which
microphone you prefer.
So fill that out.
You don't need to like log inor give your email or do
anything.
You should just be able to justopen it up, vote, submit and be
done.
And I'm very curious to see whateverybody preferred.
I'm not going to vote in it, Iwant to see what everyone else
prefers.
I'll wait, you know, a week ortwo after this episode comes out

(44:55):
to kind of let votes come in,and then I'll share either well,
probably through a YouTubecommunity post and on social
media posts, if that is before Iwant to do another episode of
the podcast.
Either way, in the next week ortwo, I'll be sure to share the
results somehow so you can knowwhat won, which one won, and
then we'll see where we can gofrom there.

(45:16):
I don't know what that's goingto lead to.
It's not very scientific oranything.
It's not like I'm going tothrow away every microphone that
didn't win, but I am verycurious If there's an
overwhelming victor in this.
That is something that wouldlive in my brain as like when I
need to use a microphone for apodcast and I'm, you know, kind

(45:38):
of without thinking, what do Iuse, grab that one.
So it would actually be a veryhelpful thing, especially
sometimes if I do things like goon other people's live streams
or other people's podcasts.
Sometimes it is really helpful.
Like I'm not entirely sure whatthey're using, what's going to
go well with them.
So if there's something thateveryone just kind of prefers
here, that might be the go to touse with other people as well.

(45:58):
So, thank you.
That was not my idea to do themic comparison mic test.
So, thank you.
I can't remember exactly.
I think a couple people had theidea Was it Patrick?
Was it Patrick Boberg?
A couple of people had the ideato do different mic every
episode and then we all vote atthe end.
So I think that's awesome.
It's really fun.
I'm glad that I was able tokeep that up the whole season

(46:21):
and use different microphones.
So definitely vote, click thelink in the description, vote
for it and let me know.
Let me know which one, whichmicrophone, you prefer.
All right, let's move in.
Talk about some channelcheck-ins where we can see what
I've been up to, what we've beendoing.

(46:42):
Or because we were listening tovideo clips and I was like
where's my intro song?
Then it was very loud.
Hey, it could be the seasonfinale.
It doesn't mean I'm not gonnahave any technical problems NAB.
So that is a thing thathappened within the past week.
So since last time I recorded apodcast, I have gone and

(47:02):
returned from NAB 2025 in LasVegas, which was a pretty
incredible experience.
It was very different than lastyear In that last year I went
with Heather and then we alsobasically teamed up with Bronson
from Audio Hotline.
So it's kind of the three of usMost the most of us, the three
of us spent most of our timetogether.
Heather did not go because shehad some work to do, so she was

(47:24):
planning to go and she ended upstaying home kind of at the last
minute.
And same thing with Bronson.
He well, he and his wife justhad a child and he was planning
to go, but their baby's reallyyoung and he just kind of last
minute things, life happens,kind of needed to, you know,
believe it or not, prioritizefamily and child over a
broadcasting convention.
So he was very missed.

(47:46):
So it was sort of a strangething where I ended up with a
lot more sort of time navigatingit on my own in a way that I
didn't last year, with all, withall the that was, I sound like
Mike Tyson for a second, withalso the experience of having
gone before, so knowing a littlebit more of what to expect and

(48:06):
how it works and stuff, I didmanage to film a video that I
edited and put out as my mostrecent video at the time of this
recording, which is calledRecord Great Audio Anywhere, and
I thought that would be reallyfun.
I, you know, I always want todo like a recap video and last
year I was able to do an NABrecap video which ended up
taking like a very heartfelt andemotional turn, like a personal

(48:29):
turn, which is super cool.
That is just not something youcan.
You know that's not something Iplanned on.
Something just happened as Iwas making the video, probably
due to like last minute planchanges and a few other things.
That was not like, you know,it's not like I was going to try
to repeat that anyway, but thatwas definitely like I was in a
different headspace this year.
So, you know, in doing a recapvideo, a thing that everyone

(48:52):
asked was like hey, what did yousee that stood out?
What stood out the most to you,what stood out the most to you?
And I'm like it all kind ofblended together Because you
know, it's all awesome, there'sreally cool stuff there.
But it's not like any companyunveiled like the equivalent of
an iPhone, where it's like thisis something that's going to
change the world.
It's like, oh cool, it's a newversion of the thing you make.
Like you know, it's really neat.

(49:13):
It's really fun to see how alot of stuff where it's super
cool, I honestly like did nothave enough time to check stuff
out, but it wasn't like oh mygosh, I had to go check out the
whatever thing.
So, you know, it's definitelylike overwhelming because
there's so much stuff.
Originally my plan was to do arecap video, but then it's like

(49:34):
you know, the thing about doinga recap video is if you're
really into it, it's fun for thesake of fun.
But if you're doing it againbecause you feel like you have
to, then it's like it can be alot of work and it's something
that people are really onlyinterested in for a couple of
days.
And then you know, like howmany people even go to NAB?
It's 60, something thousand,which sounds like a lot, but,
like you know, and then there'sI don't know how many people

(49:56):
want to go that can't go.
But all in all, like the in theworld of YouTube it's kind of a
niche thing and especially onceit's, you know, a couple weeks
past, who's really going to goback and want to look at like
it's not until a lot of timepasses, like 10-15 years go by,
and people are like what was thebig deal way back in 2025?

(50:18):
And it's like it has like aretro nostalgia factor.
So if you're not into doing arecap thing or nothing really
stood out.
You know the way I was planning.
It's like I don't want to forcethat to happen, but it's such a
cool venue and it's such a coolsituation to find yourself in
that it was like I'd love to beable to make a video that you
know, which I did last year aswell.

(50:38):
I did a handheld mic comparisonvideo.
It's like I'd love to dosomething like that, where I'm
using this backdrop as a chanceto test something out, and I was
like you know, something that'sreally hard to do is just to
record good quality audio.
In bad locations, like if I'min my environment here, where
it's quiet and things are set up, I can record great sounding
audio with pretty much anything.
But you know, when you're atevents, when you're outside,

(50:59):
when you're in crazy situations,how do you record good audio,
what's some hardware you can use, what you can use, what are
some software tools you can use?
And I thought NAB as a backdropfor that would be really good.

(51:20):
So that was my most recentvideo is all about that, which
is pretty fun.
I wanted to make somethingvaluable at NAB and so I went
through and I kind of like Istarted with my wireless SM7B,
which I made sure to bring, andthat was something I had rigged
together for last year's.
So you know, I'm using that.
It sounds great, it's it's, youknow, but that's a very
expensive rig.
All in all, with the microphoneand the wireless system and the
booster and everything, it'sabout 1200 bucks Um, cause
wireless UHF, xlr wirelesssystems are not cheap Um, and so

(51:41):
it's like okay, yeah, thatshould sound good.
And then so I went the otherdirection and I used the tiny
mic which is what is in thethumbnail here that I have up on
screen, the little tiny micthat Bronson gave me last year
at NAB, but it's like a $7, $8,$6 microphone on Amazon.
It's just a little lavaliermicrophone, like a lapel mic,
but it's in a casing that lookslike.
Basically it looks like an SM58.
And last year it sounded reallygood.

(52:03):
And it sounded really good andso I wanted to bring that this
year and you can just like plugit.
You can plug it directly intoyour camera, directly on your
phone, but I was just pluggingit into the DJI wireless
transmitter to make it wireless.
But I had my.
I had a little telescopingfinger pointer thing that I
found and it was literally theday before I was going.
I was just kind of fiddlingaround with the microphone and
the fan, just tinkering with it,and I realized the microphone

(52:24):
is like the perfect scale to fitin the pointer hand thing.
If you watch the video you'llknow what I'm talking about is
very goofy and I was like oh mygod, you know, last year I had
the wireless SM7B, which wasridiculous, and now here's a
different ridiculous thing tobring and it's like it's funny
too because the entire setup,wireless DJI transmitter aside,

(52:45):
is like $16.
So, as I did the part of thevideo with the shore microphone,
and it was like, let me go thecomplete opposite route and use
some really inexpensive gear andit sounds phenomenal, like it
really, really sounds good.
Yeah, it's, it's especially forthe price.
It's got to be the best value,and then I also mix in some
other stuff.
So then I did like theSennheiser MD-46.

(53:08):
And then I even did like mySony microphone on top of my
camera.
And you know, to kind of hearwhat like the Sony microphone,
which is like a $350 microphonemounted on top of my camera,
doesn't sound as good as thevery cheap tiny microphone
directly in front of me becauseof the positioning.
So it doesn't even matter thatit is a better microphone, that
it's a more expensive microphone, it doesn't sound nearly as

(53:30):
good as a cheap one in a betterposition.
So we talked about positioninga little bit.
And then I also talked aboutsoftware options.
So using things like voiceisolation and Final Cut or
whatever video editingapplication you're using that
has some kind of noise reduction, voice isolation.
And then I dove into AdobeEnhanced Speech, which can also
be like when things get reallyextreme can also be a lifesaver,

(53:51):
and then even talked about sortof the finer points with those
two.
When you use those softwareisolation things sometimes it
can make your voice sound tooisolated.
If you push it too far it canactually start cutting off bits
of your words and it almostsounds like and it sounds like
when you hear those things oflike what English sounds like to
non-native speakers, but it'sjust people speaking in the

(54:15):
cadence of English but there'sno actual words being spoken.
That's kind of what it cansound like.
And then so you want to use alight touch.
But even if you get it, whereeverything's coming out crystal
clear but your voice is just tooisolated, sometimes that can
sound weird, especially like yousee me on video at NAB, a big
convention hall, people all overthe place, and then it's like

(54:37):
why do I sound like I'm in asound booth?
It just doesn't, it doesn'twork.
So finding the balance betweenmaking the voice stand out but
also making it feel natural tothe environment is very
important.
So those are all the kinds ofthings I was talking about there
.
I wasn't really pushing like aspecific piece of gear that you
need or anything, but justdifferent techniques, different
types of equipment you can useto get good sound in really

(54:57):
terrible environments, of whichthat was one of them.
And then I was also able tojust record snippets for things
that I think I will use infuture videos.
You know, kind of like built upa little library of different
tests and different things thatI feel like in the coming months
I might go like, oh, I reallywant to make sure I have that
you know UHF range test or someB roll of this thing over here

(55:19):
or whatever.
So I try to make sure to grabthat stuff.
And I got to say like theresults of the video were very
surprising, with the tiny micbeing so good.
And it's funny because I, whenI first had the setup, I was
walking around a corner and Ijust bumped into Curtis Judd,
who is, you know, like a legendin the YouTube audio space, and
so he has a quick interview withthe tiny mic there, which I

(55:40):
wasn't planning to do.
I was, like so starstruck tomeet Curtis in person because
he's I've watched his channelsince, like the time I started
as a digital media teacher.
I used his channel a lot as aresource for figuring out like
how to record and teach audio tomy students at the time,
especially with the equipmentthat was big back in like the

(56:01):
2012-2013 era, and so it wasvery, very cool to finally meet
Curtis in person.
You know we've talked online abit but never in person, and he
is I'm sure he's tired ofhearing it, but he is incredibly
tall, like I don't know.
Close to seven feet right, sixseven something.
Like he's really tall.
I'm five foot 10.
And it's like it looks like I'mlike crouching down on my knees

(56:22):
or something, but it's just no,I'm full standing.
He is just that much tallerthan me.
So it's great that I had alittle microphone on the thing.
But it's funny because webumped into each other.
We were talking a little bit.
He was like hey, can I likefilm a thing where you, you know
, talk about what's in your bagor something like that.
And I was like you want to filmsomething with me?
Oh, I felt so honored.
Then, once he did that, I waslike you know, I got to take
advantage of this and I have torecord something with him.

(56:44):
And the idea of usingridiculous tiny microphone setup
on somebody who is so legendaryand so pro in a good way, I
would regret it if I didn't doit.
So I had Curtis give some micpositioning tips with the tiny
microphone and it's just so fun.
It was such a fun part of thevideo.
That was actually the firstthing I filmed for that video

(57:06):
and I was like, now that I havethis, I definitely want to make,
give this little clip a homebecause it's too good.
And from the practical side ofthings too, you know, I'm happy
to share this with you it's hardto figure out what to film, and
that was sort of a thing thathappened last year, I remember
was like the first day I'm sortof grabbing random footage.
And the second day I was like,yeah, I want to do like handheld

(57:26):
mic things and you know, and doa recap video and all that, and
especially without having, likeHeather and without having
Bronson, there it was, I feltlike I was, especially the first
day, like overwhelmed, tryingto just get my bearings, trying
to see everything, trying tojust enjoy time with people and
have conversations with peopleand then also try to like.

(57:46):
You know, it's like I reallywas the thing of like I'm just
filming random footage.
I have no idea how this isgoing to come together to do
anything.
And like I, you know I I neededto make something, and so it
was kind of like I was sort ofgetting up in my head a little
bit because I didn't have mylike, especially with Heather

(58:10):
who, you know, knows me betterthan anyone I didn't have that
sort of buffer, so it was justhearing a lot of other people's
YouTube strategy and a lot ofother YouTube approaches and
I'll be honest, after hearingyou know hours and hours of that
by the end of the day and youknow hearing how much money
people are making and howthey're handling brand deals I
was feeling just kind of like Iam really bad at what I do.

(58:31):
I'm terrible.
I should just be at the kidstable.
I'm absolutely not.
I'm nowhere near the level ofanyone.
I was just feeling kind ofreally bad about myself and
overwhelmed and just like ugh,and I was just physically tired.
So that day, you know, I hadplanned to spend more time with
a bunch of people, like going todinner and stuff, but I was
like I need to go dropeverything off at the hotel and,

(58:54):
like you know, be a person fora minute.
And then I was like you know,I'm feeling really bad about
what I do and I know I'm good atwhat I do.
Something comes togethertomorrow, which was going to be
my last day, the second day,which is my last day, the full
day at the exhibit hall.
I want to go in with a plan,like a real plan, and so I was

(59:17):
like you know, I'm going tooutline a concept like really
outline and that was the videothat I ended up making was like
okay, I want it to start here,like here's the you know, here's
the three points, here's thepurpose, here's where I'm going
to put that interview withCurtis, here's the different
microphones I'm going to beusing.
I need to film this segmenthere.
I need to use this microphonefor that, this segment here,
this microphone for that.
I need to record a voiceover.

(59:38):
I need to record these parts athome.
I color coded everything so thatway it was like, you know, I
could look at, I could see allthe different things I needed to
film with the wireless SM7B soI could do that audio setup, go
to different places, filmeverything I need to film with
it, switch to the next one, filmall that stuff, switch to the
next one and kind of know when Igot through the checklist that
I was done with the video.
I even had points like I wantedto make sure to go to Adobe and

(01:00:01):
get an interview with someonewhere they could talk about
enhanced speech, since that wassomething I was going to be
using in the video.
Just it was.
It was honestly the sameapproach that used to take when
putting together news packageswhen I worked at the TV station,
like 20 plus years ago.
Just sort of simple, you knownews packages where it's.
You have B-roll, you have youknow stand up reporter talking

(01:00:25):
to camera.
You have in studio pieces, youhave voiceovers and just sort of
mixing that all togetherinterview clips and everything.
I was like I'm just gonna takethat strategy because it's so
effective, it's been around fordecades.
Why don't I just like reallylean into that and try to make a
YouTube video based on that?
And it worked really well.
And the next day I was able togo in, which I sort of felt bad,
you know, because again lots ofpeople are like, hey, we can go

(01:00:46):
to breakfast, we can do this.
And I was like I'm going thereas soon as it opens, I need to
film all this stuff.
You know I wanted to have itdone before lunch break, midday,
because I also knew my brainwas going to turn to mush.
And then I did know that, sincethat was gonna be my last day
there, I wanted to be able tokind of spend more time with
everyone, which I did end upgetting to spend a lot more time
with Curtis, who I found I wasat the Blackmagic booth looking

(01:01:09):
for the, because they announceda new ATEM Extreme and I wanted
to see that and so I kind offound it at like a table.
Here they have like booths andthings set up in their area.
It's like the biggest.
It's probably one of thebiggest displays there and I saw
a display.
I was looking at that and thenbehind the display is where
Curtis was.

(01:01:29):
Curtis and one of my friends,matt, who I also met through my
YouTube channel.
We got to meet in person forthe first time.
First I saw Matt and then I sawCurtis and they were looking at
just the wiring and like thedifferent ports on the vest.
So it's like you know, all thedisplay stuff is in front and
they are in the back looking atthe cabling and everything and I
was like this makes so muchsense where I would find you.

(01:01:51):
So then we ended up being ableto just kind of roam around
together for a while, which issuper cool.
It was really nice.
It was like a very fun, relaxedkind of down to earth thing
that I very much enjoyed and Iwish I could have spent more
time with more people like Ianother day would have been
great to have there, but had tocome home, had to, you know, get

(01:02:12):
back to life and everything.
So that was kind of my nabexperience trying to put
something together, trying tofigure out my own, which I felt
really good about.
I needed, after I was feeling,after that first day, I needed
something where it was like no,you are good, you are competent,
you are capable and you can dothings in a way that you know,
know is your own, and that wasgood.
I really needed that because Idon't know how terrible it would

(01:02:34):
have felt if that didn't happen, and so I'm glad I got to do
that and the video was superduper fun and I hope it's very
helpful to for people as well,even if they're not.
They don't care at all aboutNAB and it's just that, is just
the backdrop, that's notnecessarily the main concept of
the video.
So that was my NAB.
This is the rundown of my NABexperience.
It was very, very fun to seeeverybody Definitely a thing

(01:02:56):
that should be on the calendarevery year, for sure.
So that kind of brings the endthere.
I'm not gonna do a gear segmentthis week, because we talked
about all the differentmicrophones and stuff.
So I feel like it might be gearoverload.
So that is actually going to bethe end of the episode stuff.
So I feel like it might be gearoverload.
So that is actually going to bethe end of the episode, the end
of the season.
That's where we're going towrap things up.
So a couple quick reminders.
If you want to vote in the bestmic of the season, be sure to

(01:03:20):
do that.
You know, sometime in the nextweek or so, after I post this
episode, let me know whichmicrophone you preferred the
most.
If you want to leave messagesat any time, you can always
leave comments, especially inbetween seasons.
I should have even more time toreply in person not in person,
but well, you know reply tocomments individually on the
podcast episodes.

(01:03:40):
Sometimes I've been taking themand putting them in the podcast
episode instead of typing outreplies.
Comments there on YouTube,really, really, you know, are
fun.
If you want to send voicemails,if you want to email Tom at Tom
at enthusiasmprojectcom, or youcan go to Hi, my name is Tomcom
and leave a voice message forthe show.
I can just save everything thatcomes in until the next episode

(01:04:00):
, whenever that is and I caninclude that there.
So never feel like you can'tsend anything, you can't be a
part of the show, just becausethere's not an active.
You know, definitely episodenext week kind of thing.
And you know, I really do wantto thank everybody for their
support for the entire durationof this podcast and also this
season, as I tried something newwith the video version, and I

(01:04:22):
do want to thank in advanceeverybody for their support in
helping me adjust differentscheduling and stuff to help
keep this sustainable and funand make the best episodes that
I possibly can.
So I very much appreciate that.
I wish I could just freeze timeand have all the time in the
world to, you know, makeeverything I want, so that you
know every week forever there'sjust a new episode ready to go.

(01:04:43):
But we are mortal, believe itor not, and have to work within
those confines.
So I'm excited to see you whenI see you in the next episode,
and the cool part about that iswhenever there is another
episode, you can know that atthe time I'm recording those
episodes, there's literallynothing else.
I would rather be doing in theworld than making that specific

(01:05:05):
episode, and I think that's howit should be and I am incredibly
excited for that and I'mgrateful for your support and
your kindness and your patienceand just everything.
So thanks for a wonderfulseason.
Thank you for all the help andgetting me getting the show up
and running and just for beingawesome in general.
So appreciate you.
Hope you have a safe, happy,healthy, fun rest of your day

(01:05:25):
and I'll see you next time.

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