Let's A Some Q's!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thank you, hello and welcome.

(00:34):
My name is Tom.
This is the Enthusiasm Project,season 13, episode 5.
And you're going to feel realalive today, because we are
halfway through the season my 10episode batches, and what that
means is this is a Q&A episode,so that's something I've been
doing for a very long time.
It's sort of in the middle ofthe season to a dedicated Q&A
episode, which is super funbecause I haven't done one yet

(00:56):
in the video format, whichactually made this so much
easier, because I can stay ontrack like way easier than I
could before, becauseeverything's just organized
visually, which will be very,very cool.
And if you're just listening tothe audio version, that means
you just hear something that's alittle more organized instead
of disorganized, which is alsogreat.
So that's what we're going todo today.

(01:17):
Thank you to everyone who sentin questions.
I asked for questions onInstagram, I asked for questions
on YouTube, and yeah, well,yeah, and on those I told people
they could email and stuff.
So we got a mix of everything.
We got some written things,we've got a video, we've got a
couple voice messages, a littlebit of everything, which is cool
.
I do want to remind you, though, that you do not have to wait

(01:38):
for a dedicated Q&A episode tosubmit a cue to be aid.
You can do that anytime, orcomment or response, or whatever
, anytime you want.
It's just kind of fun to have.
Like, here's just, this wholeepisode is just a Q&A episode.
So that is what's happeningtoday.
That's what we are doing today.
And before we get into that,though, I do want to make sure
that we talk about the mic ofthe week, which is what you're

(02:02):
listening to me on right now.
Of course I don't.
Yes, that is how that works.
It is the Rode NT1 SignatureSeries.
We talked about this last weekand I figured, you know what
this would be a good time to usethis one.
I haven't used it yet thisseason, so I need to incorporate
it.
You know I'm not really beingsuper scientific.
I had mentioned a while backthat I was going to use a
different mic on every episodeand then at the end we can vote

(02:24):
on, or you can vote on, whichone you think sounds the best,
and then that'll, I don't know,be interesting for me to know,
maybe interesting for all of usto know, and so this is the NT1
Signature Series, which I reallylove.
But we talked about this lastweek Can you use this on video
without it totally blocking yourface Because it is prone to
plosives?
And it also comes with a giantpop filter to prevent those

(02:48):
plosives.
That goes right in the right inyour way.
So if you are kind of on camerawith this it blocks you pretty
easily.
But I've got mine in the shockmount that it comes with.
I don't have that pop filter onand I just have it positioned a
little bit lower and a bit ofan angle.
So I'm still speaking directlyinto, like, the correct pickup
pattern of the microphone, but Idon't have to worry as much

(03:08):
about plosives.
I do have my headphones on so Ican monitor and just make sure
I'm not like drifting.
If I get too far off to theside it would start to sound
weird.
So I'm trying to stay right inthat sweet spot.
I got to be a little moreconscious of that, but otherwise
, you know it sounds great.
I love this microphone.

(03:30):
I have the blue one when Rodesent out, when Rode released the
Signature Series, which is, youknow, just sort of like an
updated basic XLR NT1, which hasa retail price of 160 bucks,
and it comes with the shockmount and the microphone, and I
can't remember if it comes withan XLR cable or not.
It's a very decent deal for theprice, for sure, super nice
condenser microphone.

(03:50):
But when they released thisversion, or when they released
it originally, they sent overthe black one and they announced
like, oh, these colors arecoming later, but they weren't
available at the time and so,like I tested out the black one,
I did a review on it.
Compared to some other ones,it's great, I liked it.
And then, as soon as the colorones were available, I
immediately ordered the blue oneand then gave away the black
one that they sent.
So because it was great, butyou know, the blue is it's blue.

(04:12):
There's also there's a lot ofthey're like green one, purple
one, I think it's a red one, allof the kind of cool colors.
They are a little more pastelthan like super vibrant, which
is sort of interesting becauseRode, like through watching this
, the cable I'm using is Rode,the mic is Rode, and they are
two different shades of blue,and so originally I was like, oh
man, I kind of wish the mic wasa little more vibrant, but I

(04:32):
realized the blue is verysimilar.
I'm looking over at one of myguitars over here.
It's very similar to Fender'sDaphne Blue, which I really love
, and the green is very similarto Fender's surf green, so kind
of these more retro style colorsand those are two of my
favorite colors.
So I'm like okay maybe I, youknow, maybe I judged those
colors too early or jumped toconclusions there a little too

(04:54):
much.
So that's the mic you'relistening to me on all day today
is the Rode NT1 SignatureSeries.
And yeah, it's a great, it'sone of my all-time favorite
microphones.
I absolutely, I love all of theNT1s.
I had the original.
I guess it was the fourthgeneration NT1.
Then they had the fifth genwhich included XLR sorry,
included USB functionality,although it's, it works great as

(05:17):
a USB mic.
But the mic itself is prettylimited because they didn't add
anything else like a headphonejack or indicator lights or
anything.
But it does do 32 bit float.
And then they have the fifthgen, which are, sorry, the
signature series, which is justthe fifth gen with no USB.
If you look in the XLR plug onthis you can see the part that
would be stamped out to put aUSB port, but it's just not

(05:38):
there.
It's like if you ever bought acar that has those like blank
spots on the dash.
We're like there would be abutton if you bought the higher
end model.
It's kind of like that, except,well, these come in cool colors
, so I like it more.
All right, that brings us to themeat of the episode.
Let's A some Qs.
We're going to start with video, then we're going to go to
audio and then we're going to goto all kinds of text and

(06:01):
hopefully we're not going tohave too many technical
difficulties.
So our first Q to be aid comesfrom Gil, who sent in a video.
This is a kind of a two partquestion, but it's a good
question.
I've had to think about thisone.
I had to think about this one alot before I can answer it, and

(06:22):
I hope I can.
Still, I don't know.
I hope I have a coherent answerfor it.
So let's hear from Gil.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Hey Tom, this is Gil.
I hope all is well.
I have two questions and thefirst one is and the first one
is simple, super simple.
I know you have ample amount ofgear, so do I.
I have drawers, closets,storage containers filled with
cameras, mics and whatever thecase is, and a lot of them.

(06:49):
I regret a lot of them are inthe landfill, you know.
A lot of them are donated tofriends and family members
because, you know, I thoughtthis one particular thing would
be the thing that will replaceall the things and it didn't do
a freaking thing.
You know, it didn't push theneedle forward for me, but what

(07:10):
is one piece of gear, software,whatever the case is that you
got and it didn't do anythingfor you, you regret buying it.
So I guess I should say what isone gear that you regret buying
?
My second question is a littleless gear focused.
My second question is whydoesn't YouTube allow video like

(07:35):
channel membership videos?
They don't allow you to havethe ability to shut your phone
off or close the screen andwatch or listen to the video.
So, like you just dropped amembership video, like you
always do, and they'rephenomenal, they're really cool,
you know, they're like earlyaccess.
I love that, and when I'mwatching the video I shut.

(07:56):
I'm like this morning I shut myphone, put in my pocket and
video stop and I'm like, oh, Ikeep forgetting that members
only videos, you can't enjoy theYouTube premium feature of.
You know, playing the video, Ithink they call like background
play.
You can't do that on membersonly videos.
Why is that?

(08:17):
Is that?
It's just so silly.
All right, um, but all in all,great season.
So far I have been enjoying it.
It's been great.
But all in all, great season.
So far I have been enjoying it,it's been great.
Can't wait for more episodes.
Have a nice one.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Peace.
So let's start with the secondpart to that question, because I
didn't know that that was evena thing.
I had no idea that backgroundplay or whatever didn't work
with members only videos.
And then I tested it.
I went to a channel that I'm amember of, clicked on a video,
turned off my phone and thevideo stopped, even though I
have YouTube Premium and I cando that with every other video.
I had no idea.
I don't.
I'm torn between thinking it'seither a like a bug, that just

(08:53):
sort of like an oversight thatno one realized, or the sad,
maybe more accurate answer is ithas probably something to do
with ad revenue and sinceYouTube Premium subsidizes ad
revenues, they added anotherfeature and even though
memberships but I was gonna sayeven though memberships go more
directly to the creator, butthat's not true, because YouTube
takes a huge chunk ofmemberships, but memberships

(09:14):
aren't necessarily directly.
I guess maybe this is it If youhave a YouTube membership, you
don't necessarily have YouTubePremium.
Background Play is a YouTubePremium feature and for some
reason they just haven't made ita members-only feature,
although it really should beNext time YouTube sends out one
of those surveys.
That's what I'm going to put onas recommendation.
The first question, though,about gear.

(09:35):
I had to make some notes onthis because I was trying to
think of, like what is one pieceof gear and it's like I don't
really have.
Like I mean, there's definitelystuff where I'm like what is
one piece of gear and it's likeI don't really have.
Like I mean there's, there'sdefinitely stuff from like I
shouldn't have bought this,should have bought another
version of that.
When it comes to like regrets,like straight up regrets, like I
wish I hadn't bought this, it'susually, in my case, like when

(09:57):
I buy really cheap junk.
You know, sometimes you needsomething and you you could
spend one or $200 on like thereal version, or you could spend
$28, $15 on like a no nameAmazon brand version.
And then you get that one andit just doesn't work.
Or, more often than not, itseems like oh yeah, this is
gonna work, to be okay, and thenit just breaks.

(10:17):
You know, like I've had so manythings like that, like boom
arms, adapters, cables, like allthat kind of stuff that just
breaks, you know, and then youend up replacing it, replacing
it.
By the time you replace it acouple times.
You could have just bought thehigher quality one that would
have worked better from thebeginning.
So when it comes to regret,like I've kind of learned, there
are some times when justgetting the like lowest version

(10:39):
of something totally works andis fine, but there are a lot of
times when, like, looking at thedollar price of something is
not always the best way toassess its value.
So that's kind of when it comesto regrets.
But speaking to your point, gil, of like I bought this, I
should have had it, don't haveit anymore.

(11:00):
Something I've definitelylearned is there is no like one
piece of magic gear.
Sometimes there can be stuffthat feels like that Like.
For me, the one that alwayspops into my mind is the
Rodecaster, because it solves somany problems.
I'm trying to piece togetherpodcasts and multiple mics and
recorders and multiple sets ofheadphones and suddenly there's
this thing that just does iteasily.

(11:22):
Like that was a magic piece ofgear, even like the original
ATEM Mini, you know, at the time.
Now there's so many switchersI've been doing all kinds of
videos on switchers lately butthe original ATEM Mini like it's
not that it was the firstmulti-input video switcher, but
it was the first like affordable, super simple one, I think at

(11:42):
the time the next leastexpensive switcher.
Well, black magic made a couplethat were in the like two to
three thousand dollar pricerange and then roland had some
in like the five to six thousanddollar price range.
And then black magic came outthe ATEM mini.
For three hundred dollars youcould plug in four hdmi inputs,
switch between them, like that.
That was a magic piece of gearyou, you know like.

(12:03):
So sometimes there are thosethings that solve problems, but
it's pretty rare and it's reallyhard to decipher now because
you know, as every new product,as products are updated probably
more often than they needed tobe.
I was just thinking about thisthis morning as I was fighting
with Mac OS.
Wish I hadn't updated toSequoia because it is just bug

(12:27):
city and it sucks Like.
I do not like Sequoia, itdoesn't work, it doesn't work
reliably, it gives me all kindsof issues, not a fan of it.
And I was thinking, like youknow, if Apple didn't force
themselves to release a brandnew version of their main
operating system every year,probably wouldn't have these
problems.
And I remember back like man, Isound like I sound like old man

(12:48):
yelling at clouds, but 20 yearsago, when you know new software
updates would come out.
It was more like when they wereready and when they needed to
be, versus like we have torelease a new thing every year,
so it's probably gonna have somebugs, it's gonna.
It has to look visuallydifferent, so that means all
your workflow is gonna get, youknow, completely messed up.

(13:09):
And I don't know, usually Idon't upgrade right away, but
for some of the Final Cut Pronew features you had to upgrade
and yeah anyway.
So why did I go on that weirdtangent?
I don't remember why I went onthat with that weird tangent.
That's funny.
There's no piece of magic gear,I know is the thing.
I went on that weird tangent.
That's funny.

(13:29):
There's no piece of magic gear,I know is the thing I was
talking about, or it's prettyrare.
But like I guess it was feelingthe need to upgrade or as things
need to be updated constantly,and then there's new hype about
it.
You know, not just withtechnology like phones and stuff
, but you know how many new 2.4gigahertz wireless systems which

(13:50):
are super cool, but it's likeyou know what's really the
difference?
The differences get prettyminute at this point when you're
on the second, third, fourthgenerations of these systems
from different companies, it'slike you know, but every time a
new one comes out it has to behyped up as the next best thing
and then as the consumer, you'resometimes just looking at all
this stuff like I don't know,it's that, is that good Like?

(14:10):
Why should I have that?
Why should I not have that?
So the thing I do say a lot,even as someone who really likes
gear and I guess that's one ofit too like if you're a gearhead
which I am, gil, I think youare too.
I'm sure lots of other peoplelistening and watching are as
well If that's just somethingyou like, then, like you do
sometimes just get the bug totry new things, to check new
things out.
Sometimes it works, sometimes itdoesn't, and that's okay and
that's just kind of par for thecourse.

(14:31):
It's like I'm not a phone guy.
I get a new phone, you know,three to four years, usually
Because it seems fine to me.
But I know there are people whowant to get that new phone
every single year and that'sbecause they actually like, have
fun with that and they enjoy itand they're into it.
So there's nothing wrong withthat, even though I could look
at it and say, oh, you don'tneed to do that.
So if you're just someone who'sjust into gear, you want to try
all the new stuff, see how itworks.

(14:52):
You know part of the maybe partof the price you have to pay
for that is that a lot of timesit doesn't end up working out.
But you know that's just sortof the obsession.
The real practical piece ofadvice that I tend to say there
is always start with what youhave and then upgrade as your
needs become apparent.
Because you can look at mysetup, you can look at Gil's

(15:14):
setup, anybody's setup, andthink, oh, I need to just go to
B&H or whatever and just throwall of their gear into my
shopping cart and then I'll behappy.
And it's like that you couldcopy and paste all everything
I'm using into your setup rightnow.
And it might not work out foryou because you know I have
spent time dialing it in for meand there's still pain points,

(15:35):
there's still stuff that I needto figure out for me, so it
might not necessarily work foryou as well.
So really figuring out whatyour needs are instead of going
like everybody has this piece ofgear, everybody uses this setup
, everybody does this.
That's what I should do figureout what you need to do and then
look at you know what, whatworks best, uh, to solve that
problem.
You know, like you don't need aRodecaster Pro if you only ever

(15:55):
have one microphone only.
Like there are so many otheroptions, uh, that you that would
maybe even be better.
Or maybe you know a RodecasterDuo instead of a Rodecaster Pro
or something like that.
You know, there's all that kindof stuff You'd maybe you don't
need, like a Rodecaster video Ifyou only ever have one camera
input and you use Ecam or OBS todo all your graphics, you could
just probably use a cam linkfor $100.

(16:16):
Like, really figure out whatyou need specifically, not
necessarily don't be dictated bywhat other people, what other
people need.
And then the other regrets,like other, since I can't think
of anything specific.
The note that I made to myselfis when things have not worked
out for me.
It's usually when I'm trying toshoehorn stuff into my workflow
because I feel like I should,not because I really need to,

(16:37):
which sometimes happens withgear.
A gear example would be likethe two things I thought of are
actually the Rodecaster video,which I love and is great.
But like putting this podcasttogether, which I've talked
about before, originally my planwas to just it's all on
Rodecaster video connected SSDand I'm done and I really wanted
to do that because it's slick,it's simple.
But as I was putting togetheryou know the stuff I want to do

(16:59):
and start bringing in keynotepresentations and mixing stuff
together, I'm like you know,this is this would be easier to
do with Ecamm, even though Icould do it with the Rodecaster
Ecamm just sitting right here.
Just do it with Ecamm.
Like don't try, like you know,and it's sort of I was trying to
wedge something in that clearlywhat I was like going against
the current when I didn't needto do.

(17:21):
Another example would be theMackie DLZ Creator, the big one.
When they released that, youknow it's pretty cool, it's very
different.
I definitely wanted toincorporate that.
You can see that there's aperiod of time where it's like
kind of moving around thebackground of my videos a lot,
as I'm like trying to figure outwhere it goes, how to use it,
how to utilize it, and thatthing for me, even though it's a
really great device, was justlike way too big and unwieldy.

(17:42):
Like it's a big mixer.
It just never clicked with meand I was like, okay, maybe I
just don't like the Mackie stuff.
Mackie came out with the CreatorXS, the small version, which
internally is exactly the samesame processing, same interface,
same everything.
It's just in a smaller way,more like manageable form factor

(18:02):
, and I love that thing.
So it was like oh, it's notMackie, it's this big thing.
I just don't like using it.
I gave mine away because itjust didn't.
It just was something I wasnever, ever going to actually
reach for, even though it kindof felt like I should, because
it was a high end device, it's apremium device, it, you know,
it's a high quality thing.
It just did not work for me.
So that stuff definitely doeshappen a lot.

(18:24):
It's a high quality thing.
It just did not work for me.
So that stuff definitely doeshappen a lot, maybe more than I
would like it to All right.
Thanks again, gil, for thatvideo question and for sending
that in.
If you wanna send in videoquestions or comments for any
episode, all Gil did there wasjust share a file on Google.
Just email tom atenthusiasmprojectcom.
Share the file and we're goodto go.
Now we're gonna move to twoaudio messages that have been

(18:46):
sent in.
The first one is actually fromsomeone who we heard from last
week HoopNuke which is thereason I'm using this NT1
Signature Series, because that'swhat he was talking about there
and HoopNuke is back which is areally fun name to say, by the
way is back with a questionabout industry standards.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Hello Tom, I have a question about industry
standards and about the blindrecommendations that a lot of
people get from these industrystandards, quote unquote.
So a lot of beginners getrecommended the SM7B or the RE20
on internet forums or on otherYouTube videos and they go out
and they spend four or five $600on these microphones.
They get home, they plug themin into their older interface

(19:25):
and it sounds terrible.
There's a lot of hiss.
These microphones while theyare directional, they don't just
remove room reverb and ambientnoise and these people end up
thinking, well, gee, I spent allthis money on a microphone and
it still sounds bad.
Clearly I'm the problem here,instead of like just realizing,
hey, dude, you got a badrecommendation, it's not your
fault.

(19:45):
There's a lot of factors that gointo audio, but what are your
thoughts about these?
You know recommendations thatwe make based on something being
the industry standard.
Also, what do you think aboutcompanies like ElectroVoice that
charge insane prices for theirmicrophones, in my opinion,
because they were the industrystandard like 30 years ago?
Like, yeah, the RE20 is a greatmicrophone, but it's 600 where

(20:07):
I live and for that money I canget two or three of these
dynacasters that I'm talking toyou on, and this microphone is
probably a better fit for mostpeople.
It has a booster inside of itso you can use it with any
interface.
It has all these crazy eqoptions in the back so you can
dial it in for your voice.
It just it looks nice.
So what are your thoughts onthis?
I'm very curious to hear aboutthem.

(20:27):
And have fun, tom, it's all.
It's all about the fun.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Thank you for that.
It is all about the fun.
This is a great questionBecause what you talked about
with the SM7B which I reachedaround and got my SM7B during
the question that was exactly myexperience, which I know I've
talked about before.
But when I initially set uplike my first podcast setups
which wasn't even for me doingthe podcast, it was for other
people doing it, it was for aschool district I worked with

(20:53):
what we had we use like videoshotgun microphones because
those are only mics and it wasyeah, and eventually we got a
grant we could upgrade our gear.
So I got four SM7Bs, nice boomarms this is pre-roadcaster so I
got a big Yamaha mixer and anice recorder and stuff and I
was so excited to have the SM7Bbecause it is that industry
standard and that's what Iwanted to use and part of my you

(21:13):
know teaching program is likelet's let students use industry
standard equipment and the audioquality immediately took a
nosedive when we got the SM7Bsbecause of all that stuff, even
though we had new gear, I wasunaware keep in mind, it's 2014,
so it wasn't as maybe commonknowledge as it is now.
I was unaware of, like the gainneeds and the signal processing

(21:34):
needs of the SM7B.
I thought I was going toconnect it and suddenly we were
going to sound as good as all ofthe shows, all the podcasts and
stuff that I'd heard themicrophone on, and absolutely
that's not what happened, and Ididn't know why for a long time.
So it actually made me think,wow, this microphone kind of
sucks and people are wrong aboutit.
I was anti SM7B for, like I was2014.

(21:55):
I got my own one in 2021.
So for that number of years itwas seven years I was like this
microphone is not good.
And then eventually I got my ownSM7B, which the only reason I
got it was because, as I wasdoing mic reviews and
comparisons, it's the number onething people want to know how
does that mic sound compared tothe SM7B?
So I was like I have to haveone.

(22:16):
I don't even want it, I'm justgoing to get it.
I remember the day I got it.
I like opened it up, I pluggedit and I know I've said this
before, but I literally didlaugh out loud to myself because
at that point I had the propergear for running it, I had
enough gain, I had enough signal, I had good processing and the
mic just sounded so good and Iliterally was like, oh geez.

(22:38):
And then, of course, the more Iuse the microphone, I was like,
wow, yeah, the way you can EQit is great.
The lack of handling noise isamazing.
And now to this day, the SM7Bis one of my favorite
microphones because I understandit more.
And that took a long timebecause it wasn't super clear
and I was.
It's not the microphone that weshould have got in that setup
Like it wasn't the right mic,but it seemed like it's the

(23:01):
industry standard.
That's what we got to use.
So for sure, like for sure.
That is a thing that sometimesrun people like, runs people
astray.
Is just getting the industrystandard, getting what they see
on stuff, a big thing like, whenit comes to those industry
standards things we've beentalking about, professionals and
professional experience andstuff If those are intended for

(23:22):
pro settings, the infrastructurethat's in place to manage pro
gear, industry standard gear isvery different and that doesn't
just apply to microphones, thatapplies to anything I mean.
Think of even like a camera.
Right, if you're like I wantthe best image quality possible,
I'm going to get you know, anArri, alexa or something for my
YouTube videos.
You can do that.
The workflow is going to be anightmare compared to something

(23:46):
like a Sony mirrorless camera ora Canon mirrorless camera or
whatever that, like you, caneasily operate as one person.
It's got good autofocus, likeall that stuff.
You know you're going to getthis better thing, this industry
standard, you know professionallevel thing, but it's not
necessarily going to be thething that fits in your workflow
and you might not have theinfrastructure to support it.
When you put an SM7B in aprofessional recording studio or

(24:09):
broadcast studio, the amount ofgear that they usually have
that's running all of theirstuff through like almost
anything, will sound good whenyou plug it in there and they
need, you know, the durabilityand the reliability and stuff
more than just the sound qualityand that's something that's
often overlooked.
You know it's not unlike.

(24:29):
This is a very strange analogy,but when I switched to playing
goalie in hockey, the thing thatyou know it's very expensive,
like none of the gear, if youlearn how to be a player in
hockey, like you get all yourpads and stuff.
None of that translates over togoalie.
Goalie is all completelydifferent gear and it's all very
expensive, and so I was likewanting to play goalie and I

(24:51):
looked on like a used websiteand I found some leg pads like
the big goalie leg pads thatwere decent and they were used
and they were like $200 for thepair and I was like wow that's a
great deal.
And then I found, you know, theglove and the blocker, found a
used one for a hundred buckslike for $300, I can get all my
pads.
That's not bad at all.
I'm totally going to buy these,not realizing well, I'm glad I

(25:11):
did all that because it's myfavorite, you know, it's like
one of my favorite things to do.
So no regrets there.
But I thought like it'sbasically like I bought the SF7B
, I'm good to go.
I didn't realize that I alsoneeded different knee pads,
different pants, differentundergarments, different skates,
different, totally differenthelmet that's more expensive

(25:32):
than any of that stuff differentchest protect like that was
just the tip of the iceberg,right?
So it's like you get your SM7Bawesome.
You know the number of peoplewho send me messages.
They just want to get an XLR toUSB cable to plug the SM7B into
their computer directly.
It's like that's not going towork.
You're not going to get a goodsound out of that you need, you
know.
So that infrastructure isimportant and a lot of people

(25:53):
don't recognize that and it does.
It does, you know, mean that alot of people are getting things
that probably aren't what'sbest for them.
The Dynacaster you were talkingon sounded amazing.
You know something like Shurehas addressed this with things
like the MV7 and MV7 Plus.
Like you know where you get aUSB XLR combo mic.
You know so many people wouldbe better off with probably just

(26:14):
a USB microphone or even acondenser microphone where you
can plug that into any interfacethat has phantom power and it's
going to give you enough gain.
So you don't have to worryabout boosters.
You don't have to worry aboutclean gain, hiss, noise, all
that.
It's quite a bit better nowbecause in the past few years
any pretty much every interface,every mixer that's been
released has at least 70decibels of gain.

(26:36):
And if you have an interface ora mixer that has at least 70
decibels of gain, that means youprobably don't need a booster
with pretty much any mic,including the SM7B.
But prior to that, you know,just even when the original
Rodecaster came out, a lot ofthem had, you know, maybe 40 to
55 decibels of gain and thatwasn't usually enough for the
SM7B.
So then you had to get abooster and you know that's that

(26:57):
adds on an additional cost toevery microphone that you're
plugging into it.
So if you know, if you'regetting, you're getting four
mics that need boosters.
For something like the originalRodecaster now you need four
boosters.
It's it can increase the priceand the complexity a lot.
Now you're introducing morecables, you're introducing more
adapters, more components all ofthose things are, you know,
potential points of failureversus just one simple setup.

(27:20):
So, and the number of options?
Now, you know, 10 years agoactually it was 11 years ago
when I did that first podcastsetup there weren't as many
options Like there just weren'tas many options as there are now
.
So, no matter what your budgetis, what your needs are, there's
something that probably suitsyou pretty well.
At least that's what I think,and I think it's.

(27:43):
Yeah, that's my opinion on that.
The RE-20 is a funny one,because I have a lot of respect
for the RE-20 and the other mics, like the other RE-320 and all
the different names and stuff.
They have an awesome legacy.
I do think they sound amazing.
I do not like how they sound onmy voice personally and I do

(28:04):
not like how susceptible theyare to handling noise.
They are quite expensive,although see the thing that
comes with price, which istricky, and this is something I
do run into on YouTube.
A lot is, you know.
I'll say something like oh, theyou know, the Rodecaster Duo is
$499 MSRP.
And people someone will saylike, hey, in my country that is

(28:25):
$800.
Like it is way more expensivethan that because stuff changes
all over the place and globaleconomics are a little bit
unstable.
You might say so I always justgo by the MSRP, but it doesn't
necessarily mean that's whatit's going.
The price it's going to bewhere you're at.
Sometimes people will be like,hey, yeah, the PodMic is
supposed to be cheaper than theSM7B, but where I'm at it's way

(28:47):
more expensive or something youknow, something crazy like that.
So that does play into it.
Like where you're at and what'savailable to you.
There's just too many variablesfor me to always say that super
clearly in every video like whatthe situations are, but yeah,
the, every video like what the,what the situations are, um, but

(29:08):
yeah, the re20.
That was what we said.
Uh, there was a question awhile ago of like what's what's
a.
Well, this is in my youtube q athat I did recently, where it
was like what's a microphonethat you, that you think you
should use, but you just don'tlike, you just never use it.
And mine was the re20, which Igave away because I it's a great
mic, I I loved it.
I had so much respect for itand I was just like I'm never

(29:28):
going to choose to use thismicrophone because I just I
don't personally like it thatmuch.
So you got to work with whatworks for you.
So thanks, hoop Nook for thatquestion and for that fun name
to say.
Up next, we have a questionactually from one of my friends.
Our next actually from one ofmy friends.

(29:52):
Our next question comes fromnitro who, speaking of hockey.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
See, this is all tied together nitro is the captain
of my hockey team that I'm onand uh is also thinking about
starting a podcast.
So take it away, nitro.
Hey, this is nitro.
I am curious if you havesuggestions or recommendations
for somebody who wants to starta podcast but also feels like
they should be putting the videoof them recording the podcast

(30:16):
on YouTube.
So like a video podcast as well, like what very basic gear to
be able to do that, and anyrecommendations you might have,
you know, just having likelaptop, iphone, ipad, stuff like
that, uh, iphone, ipad stufflike that, looking forward, uh

(30:38):
to hearing your ideas.
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Bye, all right, thank you, nitro.
This is a great questionbecause it's so.
It's so common, um, and thereare a few points that you
brought up specifically that Iwanted to touch on, the first
one being feels like they shouldbe posting a video podcast to
YouTube.
In your case, I think.
I know specifically, I thinkvideo is good because, like,
we've talked about it in person,but I think that is a good
point.

(31:02):
If someone feels like I want tostart a podcast, I guess I
should do a video podcastAnytime.
You think like I should do this, I should do that, really pay
attention to that, should.
I saw something the other daywhere someone was like I need to
stop shooting all over myself.
Like, it's true, when you feellike you should do something,
really examine that and makesure that you're the one making

(31:23):
that decision and not just thefeelings of like, well, this is
how it's supposed to be or whatI'm supposed to do.
I think there are a lot ofpeople who maybe make video
podcasts.
That would probably be a lothappier and even more successful
, whatever that means, if theyjust did an audio-only version.
So don't feel like you need todo a video version and remember
that YouTube does accept audioRSS feeds.

(31:44):
So when you have your audiopodcast hosted somewhere else,
you can actually bring that intoYouTube and they will just put
up your podcast cover artworkwhile the episode plays.
So you can totally even get apodcast on YouTube without a
video component, which is prettycool.
Now, if you want to takeadvantage of YouTube and the
video side of things, like I'mdoing right now, that is a
little bit different.

(32:04):
Actually, you can see on thechannel that this episode is on
Prior to the video season.
This season, you see, all theother episodes are just audio
podcasts that are on YouTube.
So you can see how that worksand what that looks like right
here on this channel.
But yeah, if you want to dovideo, you know, obviously
that's probably going to.
It's going to help get intoYouTube's recommended a little

(32:26):
bit more than a non-video thing.
I think it's going to help getinto search results probably a
little bit more, all that kindof stuff.
But let's talk about, you knowthe basics, the beginner gear.
Someone with a laptop, with aphone For microphones, I would
recommend, you know, just adecent USB microphone If you

(32:46):
really don't know where to beginand you don't want to watch any
of the reviews on my channel.
Just go to go to Amazon, go toB&H, search for USB microphone,
sort by you know, average review, find something that seems to
get really good reviews and giveit a try.
And especially if you'reordering from somewhere that has
a decent return policy, thenyou know that if you get
something that doesn't work foryou you can return it.

(33:08):
And there's some very decentmicrophones, especially from
like Fafine, that are in the $40to $60 price range that can be
more than capable.
My favorite USB microphone, asyou might know, is the
Sennheiser Profile.
The microphone itself is about$100, sometimes a little bit
more, sometimes a little bitless, depending on, again, where
you go.
I really love the Profilebecause it's really really

(33:29):
simple.
It sounds good, there's nohandling noise, it's super
reliable and it has all physicalcontrols on it.
So you don't need a softwareapplication to run your
microphone.
You don't have to install.
You can run it through audiosoftware and then you can
process it and you can EQ it andget all complicated.
But some USB microphones theydon't have any physical controls
and so to really use them youneed to then open up an app and

(33:51):
do all that.
Some people love that workflow.
Some people, especially ifthey're just starting out, find
that to be a little bit toointimidating.
So the fact that this is justplug and play even with mobile
devices tablets, phones, allthat is you can plug USB-C into
it you're good to go.
I don't 100% quote me on this,but I believe if you have an
iPhone that does not have USB-Cbasically iPhone 14 or older, I

(34:16):
think you can get a lightning toUSB-C adapter and then you can
connect a microphone like this.
I feel like I've done thatbecause that's what I have, but
it's like I can't tell if that'slike a false memory or not.
So don't quote me 100% on that,but that could be an option.
If you want to do videopodcasting, which be as simple
as possible, you know you canrun the USB microphone into your

(34:37):
computer and just record withany software QuickTime,
garageband, audacity, anythingthat records audio.
You can record in there OBS,whatever.
You could also connect themicrophone directly to your
phone, your tablet, whatever youwant to film with, and then
that way you don't have to syncit up in editing, because if you
record your audio separatelyand your video separately and

(34:59):
then you have to match them upand sync them in editing.
It's very easy to do, but youknow it's one extra step.
If you want to avoid that, youmight be able to get by
especially with a microphonelike the profile just running
this into your phone and thenyou can adjust all your settings
right there and then you justhave one file that has great
audio and great video andrecording on a phone.
Totally nothing wrong with that.
If that's what you want to startwith your video version, you

(35:20):
know you can just set up thephone.
People can see you.
It's up to you like how indepth you if you just want to do
one long clip, if you want toedit that afterwards, if you
want to have stuff that you'reprepared to like hold up.
You know you don't necessarilyneed fancy graphics and keynotes
.
You could just make literallysigns that hold.
It could be very DIY and fun,honestly, which in a world of AI

(35:42):
, that kind of stuff mightactually stand out a little bit
more than it used to in a goodway.
So that's that's something youcould do right there.
The biggest thing recording on aphone is just managing your
managing your phone storage andyour battery life, making sure
your phone doesn't die in themiddle of recording, especially
if you have something pluggedinto it that's not only draining

(36:03):
power but could potentiallyblock the phone from being
charged while it's being usedand then managing, like you know
, you have several episodes andI have hours long footage clips
on there that can eat up yourphone storage pretty quickly.
So getting that stuff off ofyour phone afterwards and all
that is is pretty key, butthat's what I would recommend
you know like absolute basics.

(36:24):
If you're somebody who findsyourself really into tech like
you know, gil, and I I mentionedI'm speaking for you, gil, but
I think I know you well enoughto know you're a gearhead like
myself, if that's your thing.
If you're somebody who's intogear, you're into tech, you're
into that kind of stuff youcould still start out with a USB
mic, but that might be someonewho is more interested in like

(36:44):
the whole shebang of you.
Know, let me get a mic, let meget a mixer, let me get a camera
and a lens and some lights,like, let me set up a thing
because that's part of the fun,not because you feel like you
should, but because that'sactually like oh, that would be
like really fun to do If you'renot into that and you just feel
like you should be doing thosethings, if you're shooting all
over yourself, then that's goingto be an uphill battle the

(37:05):
whole way and you're probablynot going to want to keep
podcasting for very long.
So that's my answer to that.
Thanks so much, nitro.
Now we're going to jump intojust some text questions and
some.
Now we're going to jump intojust some text questions and
some.
We're going to jump into theones from YouTube first and
these.
I don't know how I feel likeI'm spending so much time on
every question, but I guess itdoesn't matter, right, that's

(37:27):
what's fun about it.
First question from YouTubecomes from Level Up with Mike
Newman, and this is actuallyfrom the Objective vs Subjected
episode.
Mike just said this is myfavorite the objective versus
subjective episode.
Mike just said this is myfavorite mic in my toolbox,
which is the Earthworks Ethos.
If Leonardo da Vinci were alivetoday, he would have designed
this microphone Absolutemasterpiece.
I have the matte black, but Iwant the chrome one now.

(37:48):
That's not a question, it'sjust a cool comment that I want
to put up, because Mike wastalking about the Ethos, which I
absolutely love, and againwe're going to be voting on
microphones, mic-er-phones.
I always like it when peopleinto microphones are named Mike,
because it's fun, All right.
Next, youtube this is from KaneVisuals says what is the best
method to get more podcastdownloads.

(38:10):
I know some is mostly quality ofcontent, but there has to be
more.
This is a great question that Iincluded, even though I don't
really have an answer to.
Has to be more.
This is a great question that Iincluded, even though I don't
really have an answer to, but Ithink it's an important thing.
Because I think it's animportant question to talk about
?
Because I'm actually working ona video that's going to come
out this week called PodcastMisconceptions, and one of them
does.
A couple of misconceptionsinclude growth, and one of them

(38:32):
is like the idea that if youbuild it, they will come.
If I put out this podcast,people are going to immediately
start listening to it.
You do that and you find outthat's not necessarily what
happens.
I use myself as an example ofsomeone who's pretty terrible at
promoting things and even afterdoing this show for over six
years, I'm pretty I'm stillpretty blown away by the number
of people that listen.
But like it's, you know, onaverage I would say between now,

(38:58):
between audio and video, in thefirst week of publishing
episode I get maybe 500 listens,which is like phenomenal to me
in the world of podcasting.
But you know, some people wouldnever stop crying themselves to
sleep if that were the numbersthat they got, and it's been six
years to get to that point.
Some are a little more, someare a little less, but that's
that's about.

(39:19):
When I take my Buzzsproutnumbers and I take my YouTube
numbers and I do a little bit ofmath with my English degree,
that's about the number thatthat it kind of averages out to
be.
So you know there, and that,just also for reference, puts
this in like the top, what is it?
It's something like the top 5or 10% of all podcasts.

(39:40):
Worldwide Podcast numbers arevery different because you
either have like the top onesthat get, you know, hundreds of
thousands or millions.
You know like they are the mainones and that's like the 0.001%
and then if you're getting likea couple thousand, you're in
that like 1%, and then if you'regetting into the hundreds,
you're in the high 90s, low tomid 90s, percent of podcasts.

(40:01):
Yeah, forget what it is.
The numbers might have changedexactly.
But if your podcast gets morethan 25 downloads in the first
seven days, you're in the top50% worldwide.
So it's very different thanYouTube where you might see you
know totally different numbersand that's something to keep in
mind.
So keep keeping expectationsrealistic.
But if you want to grow yourpodcast, which is the thing that

(40:22):
most people want to do, that'swhy you're sharing it online in
the first place.
You know you can do everythingfrom being like super aggressive
, which is definitely not mystyle.
It's not something I would do.
I wouldn't take out likesponsored ads or do anything
like that.
Word of mouth is the best, soencouraging people who, like
your show, listen to show, toshare it with a friend, like
tell friends about it.
Most of my favorite podcaststhat I've discovered over the

(40:42):
course of my life are ones thatpeople told me about, like there
are a couple of them are ones Idiscovered on my own, but a lot
of them was like hey, have youheard this?
If you're this, check this out.
And that's how then I theybecame my favorite podcast.
I told lots of people about it.
That's a really good way.
Word of mouth recommendationgoes a long way.
Not being spammy is important,like if you have a social media

(41:04):
account, that every post is justa link to your new episode and
there's nothing else happeningthere.
That is not going to help yougrow your show but say you're on
, you know whatever social mediaplatform Blue Sky Threads we
won't talk about the other one,whatever.
Whatever you're on, you knowwhatever social media platform
blue sky threads we won't talkabout the other one.
Whatever you're, whateveryou're on, if you're engaging in
the thing that you talk about,as we said in my English program
, if you're engaging in thediscourse of your pedagogy, um,

(41:28):
if you're actively like, if youknow, for example, if I'm
talking about audio videoproduction a lot, sharing all
that kind of stuff, and then Ishare a podcast episode when
it's available, it doesn't feelcrazy spammy and especially if I
can then contextualize that andbe like hey, this week's a Q&A
episode.
It's the first time I've done avideo one.
It's really fun to figure thisout Some cool questions, check
this out.
That's better than just like alink and then leaving like post

(41:49):
and ghost, as they say.
So being active in your field,in your niche, is very important
.
And then when you share stuff,giving it a bit of context, it
doesn't mean if you give toomuch, which, by the way, sort of
funny.
I got some questions for thisepisode from Instagram and I had
to do that twice actually,because the first time I posted
it I did a whole story.
That was like here's thepodcast artwork, here's some

(42:09):
explanations doing a Q&A episode.
If you want to do text, submita thing here.
If you want to do you text,submit a thing here.
If you want to do you knowaudio, here's how you do audio.
If you want to do video, here'show you do video.
I got two replies and I waslike I think I put too much into
this.
I think it's too much.
And then I reposted anotherthing that was literally just a
picture of a microphone and itsaid podcast Q&A and it was just

(42:31):
the Instagram thing to likesend questions.
Way more responses.
So I was like, wow, okay, whenit comes to asking for things
via Instagram stories beingsimple, so all that to say you
don't need to write a novelevery time you share a link to
an episode or whatever, butgiving it a little context,
making it interesting, isdefinitely important, depending
on your podcast host, likeBuzzsprout lets you create these
like visual sound bites so youcan create a clip of an episode

(42:53):
and it makes a little thing.
That's like custom colors, it'sgot your artwork, it's a little
like a little what's it calledLike the audio meters bouncing
up and down the waveforms that'swhat it is, and you can easily
share that and it's kind of cool.
You can find a littlehighlighted part of your show
that you want to share and thenit'd be a direct link to the

(43:13):
episode.
Stuff like that really reallydoes help.
Including, you know, if youhave other social media stuff,
just putting the link whereveryou can in a way that doesn't
feel spammy, because I'm notgreat at marketing or promoting
things, but I also never want tobe spammy, so that's always
been my philosophy there.
Our next question, also fromYouTube, comes from Ryan Runs,
who is an awesome guy and agreat channel.
This is on the objectivityversus subjectivity episode, the

(43:37):
bias episode, it says, maybe myfavorite episode.
Yet Objectivity is mostly amyth and chasing it has ruined
many of video for me, my ownincluded.
So trying to be objective turnsout to be a little frustrating.
Like you said, transparencytrumps all If you're honest with
yourself, honest with youraudience, I'll take that over a
tech spec video full of stuff Ican Google any day.

(43:57):
Plus, you've built trustregardless of agreement, which
is more constructive than thealternative Person who disagrees
is biased.
Problem solved.
Thank you, tom.
Again good stuff, again not aquestion, but I just thought
good discussion point, goodfeedback on the idea of bias,
and I really like the way Ryanpoints it out there, where
acknowledging your bias and yourpreferences can in a way make

(44:19):
you more credible because you'rebeing transparent, you're being
open, you're not trying topretend that you're something
you're not and you know.
Once you put that out there,then you kind of can build trust
in a bigger way.
Next question this is a genuinequestion from Internet Doggo
what episode of the EnthusiasmProject is your favorite?
This is something I hadn'treally thought of.

(44:40):
Like you know, there's 180,almost 170 something episodes,
six years worth of episodes.
Which one's the favorite?
I don't know, I'd have to likerank them all.
The one that always pops upwhen I think of like my favorite
one is the secret series, whichis a series of episodes it's
like three or four episodeswhere it was when I was quitting

(45:03):
my job, basically like before Icould like fully announce it.
I, you know, I was gonna get mynotice and quit the job and do
the whole thing, and Heather waslike you should do podcast
episodes about this, and I I'mglad she did because I wasn't
going to, and so we, like you,should do podcast episodes about
this.
And I'm glad she did because Iwasn't going to, and so we start
.
She helped kind of guide methrough it.
So it's her is like co host,but sort of like navigating it

(45:26):
with me all the way from likeliterally, I think I'm going to
put in my notice.
I put in my notice.
Here's what's happening to.
You know.
Now it's been a couple monthsafter I left and I've been doing
YouTube full time.
What's it like?
So it kind of covers that wholething.
There's actually a playlist onthis channel called the Secret
Series.
You can hear those episodes.
I really like that because it'sit kind of, you know, I don't

(45:50):
think it's uncommon to sort ofsee things online where it's
like someone saying, hey, I quitmy job, I'm doing this full
time, I'm going to give this atry, that sort of thing.
But the nuts and bolts, thepracticality behind it, what it
feels like and the time span youknow like those episodes were
released over a period of monthsbecause it took time to do all
that.
Now you can listen to them allin a day, of course, but I think

(46:12):
it's a realistic look at whatthat transition could be like
for somebody.
It's different for everybody,but at least you know we touch
on finances, we touch on healthinsurance, savings, all of the.
You know the nuts and bolts,things that oftentimes I think
are big stumbling blocks forpeople who want to do that full
time.
You just can't even wrap yourhead around it, which is how I

(46:34):
felt it.
Really.
I think it does help a lotthere.
Let's see here.
This is a question from TrueBearing Academy.
Hi, tom, can you describe howthe abilities of the Rodecaster
video and Ecamm Live overlap,but also how they can work
together?
I'd love to see you do a videodescribing use cases where one
might be better than the other,as well as a combined workflow.
Thanks, this is something Iactually do.

(46:55):
I think I do want to make avideo about.
I'm not totally committing tothat, but I think this would be
a good video.
And I kind of touched on thisearlier where I was like I want
to use the roadcaster for thepodcast, but ECAM.
So right now everything you'reseeing is from the roadcaster,
but the graphics and the scenesand everything are just through
ECAM.
So they are working together.
There is a lot of overlap.
If you just want basic scenes,if you want, you know, simple

(47:18):
side-by-side stuff, theRodecaster has you covered.
You don't really need Ecamm.
So the Rodecaster is great.
If you the Rodecaster can workas a computerless setup because
you can stream directly from it,you can put a little monitor
there.
Obviously, something like Ecammis Mac only.
If you want to stream through acomputer, you can use the
Rodecaster with a PC and thatway you know you can stream

(47:40):
through there.
So the Rodecaster like,especially for things like
events and whatnot, it's just sosolid.
But Ecamm just does a lot more.
It has the whole processingpower of a computer.
And I don't know how old Ecammis six, seven years at this
point, maybe even significantly,actually might be significantly
older than I think.
Ecamm has been around a while,so it has a lot of features,

(48:01):
versus the Rodecaster video,which does have a decent feature
set, but it's been around forsix months.
Like you know, they're addingto it and growing it in a way
that keeps things reliable.
So Ecamm, like you, can do alot more and you can make it
look more visual.
But a big thing there, aquestion I get so much is like
whenever I talk about a switcherwhere it's a roadcast or
something else is, people golike can I just do this with

(48:22):
ecam and a stream deck?
Yes, except they don't give youany input sources, like how are
you going to connect thesethings?
And sometimes people forgetlike oh yeah, the roadcaster
video will let you connect toXLR four HDMI sources, usb
sources as well, depending onwhich ones they are.
And how do you get those thingsinto a computer in the first

(48:45):
place?
How do you mix all thosesignals together that you can't
do with just Ecamm and a StreamDeck, because how are you going
to get your inputs in there?
So there's a lot of overlap.
I think that's probably worthexplaining in a video, because
it's also the like.
The best example I saw online awhile ago was somebody said
like the internet is a placewhere, if you say you like

(49:07):
waffles, people ask why you hatepancakes, and I think that's
really true.
Where it's like oh man, theRodecaster video is great, and
then a lot of people are like soyou're just done with the Ecamm
.
Then no, ecamm is great, I likethem both and I use them both,
and I use them differently anduse them together and use them
separately, like they servedifferent purposes and they
serve similar purposes, andsometimes it just comes down to
things you like using more thanother things, like yeah.

(49:29):
So I feel like that's probablya worthwhile video topic to
explore.
Let's jump into our last commentfrom YouTube, and this is a.
This is one that I am reallyglad is here.
This is from Heather Majors.
You know I always think peoplenamed Heather are cool.
This was on.
Actually, this isn't even aquestion for the q&a, but it's
something I did want tohighlight.
This is on a video I didrecently called make your voice

(49:51):
sound better and podcast threequick steps, and the whole point
of this video was that I wantedto give like for someone who we
talked about.
You get the SM7B and it mightnot sound amazing for someone
who decides, hey, I think myaudio could sound better.
They've never worked on EQingor processing or anything before
and it seems overwhelming.

(50:11):
I wanted to give, like here's,three things you can do in any
application, so it doesn'tmatter if it's GarageBand all
the way up to you know, logicPro, pro Tools, whatever
Audacity for free.
You can do it in video editingapplications, like anything that
has any kind of audioprocessing capabilities would
likely let you do this stuff.
It's just three simple thingsthat are going to help things

(50:33):
sound better.
So it's you know.
Quick examples of what they areand why.
Pretty basic stuff, like youknow, a little compression here
and there and maybe adding ahigh pass filter, like simple,
simple things.
But if you've never done thembefore, why would you ever think
of doing them?
And Heather said, this video isthe best for people like me who
just use the basic out of thebox settings because we have no
idea where to start.
Because we have no idea whereto start, I learned more than I

(50:56):
can apply in these nine minutesthan I have in months of
searching.
Tom, you're the best forknowing this segment what this
segment of your audience needs,for knowing that this segment of
your audience needed this andthat was I just wanted to throw
that in there because it tied sowell with that like
professional discussion we'vebeen having, you know, like, and
this is sort of where it's like, I'm not, you know, obviously

(51:23):
I'm not anti professional.
What I am anti are thesituations where people will.
Someone will say, hey, I gotthis microphone, how do I
process it?
Or, you know, I think I'm goingto add a little compression on
it, and then someone's going toshow up and say I'm actually,
which.
By the way, anytime you sayactually in a comment, just
check yourself and make surethat you're not being an um,
actually person, because it'spretty much never good.
There are times they actually,you know, like someone asked the

(51:45):
other day, if I clean my FinalCut library, will it, you know,
delete my project?
I mean, no, it just gets rid ofthe render files, it doesn't
actually delete any of yourmedia.
That's a good time.
But if you say, actually, theSM7B doesn't need, you know, all
, whatever, all that stuff,check yourself, because you're

(52:05):
probably the problem in thatcase.
But that's the situation.
So someone like Heather herewho's like hey, I just want the
kind of basic, out of the boxstuff.
I'm not looking to be an audioprofessional, I just want to
sound a little bit better and Iwant to do that simply, and I'm
not looking to really go beyondthat.
That's all you need.
Like we said last week, a trueprofessional is someone who can

(52:29):
recognize that, even though theymight have all kinds of
industry experience and all thatstuff and they can distill a
few things and be like, yeah,just do ABC and you're good.
What seems to happen a lot,especially online, is that's
when people feel the need tosort of flex their muscles a
little bit and or their egos,and, you know, say, okay, here's
what you need to do, andthey're going to start

(52:49):
recommending you need thisadvanced equipment, you need to
build this crazy signal chain,you need to throw in all these
different layers of EQ.
You should always be doing this.
You should always messing withthese frequencies, changing this
here, and it's like I just wantto make a podcast.
You know and I the number oftimes I've tried following
advice like that.
And then I'm, you know, andthen I go listen to something
someone recorded with a $40Amazon microphone.

(53:11):
I'm like, why does that soundbetter than mine?
It's because I got so freakingin the weeds with trying to do
things the professional way thatI like lost track of, like I
just want something that soundsgood.
So I just really appreciatedthis Because it's it's exactly
what I was talking about andexactly why I think it's

(53:32):
important to distill simple bitsof knowledge and info, because
that can often be incrediblyhelpful.
And now someone like Heatherher problem is either solved
like she's got the audiosounding the way she wants, she
understands it better and she'sgood, she never needs to think
about it again or that thatcould be the thing if she wants
to, or someone like her wants togo into.

(53:53):
You know, being more advanced,now you have kind of the basics
and you know a couple otherquestions to ask.
Like it can spark the curiosityto keep going, and that's
really kind of the whole point.
Last few questions are fromInstagram, so first one is from.
Tim Cantrell says which 32-bitfloat onboard storage lavalier

(54:14):
system would you recommend for atravel podcast?
The first thing I reallythought of was what I talked
about recently and that's theRode Interview Pro, because you
got just your awesome soundingmicrophones no handling noise,
built-in 32-bit float recording,but they are not lavaliers.
So that is what I wouldrecommend and what I would use
because they're great.

(54:34):
But you said lav system, so I'massuming you specifically do
want a lavalier microphone,especially if it's a travel
podcast.
You might be needing hands free, maybe, I don't know.
So we're gonna go with.
We're gonna go with that,simplicity sake sake.
The thing that popped into myhead right away was the zoom f2,
which is an awesome little32-bit float recorder.

(54:55):
There's nothing you can mess upwith it.
It comes with a very decentlavalier microphone.
It's relatively affordable, soyou grab a couple of them and
then you basically it's what Iuse for like a lot of my hockey
mic'd up videos, because I canliterally put it in my like big
poofy goalie pants press record.
There's even a switch you canflip to lock the record button,
so if buttons get switched,nothing happens.

(55:16):
It's 32 bit float, so I don'thave to think about levels or
anything and I don't have tothink about it again until I
turn it off at the end of thegame.
So that's a simple one.
If you're looking for one of thesystems that's also a wireless
system, like the Rhodes or theDJI or whatever.

(55:37):
I would go with the RhodesSpecifically, even though it's
not my favorite system to use.
The DJI is my favorite systemto use because it yeah, but the
Rhodes, the biggest downside tome is the design.
It's the biggest, chunkiest ofthe systems with their big
square transmitters andreceivers.
But if you're using it withlavalier, then that doesn't
matter.
And the wireless pro does comewith two lavaliers that are
quite decent, and then you'regoing to put the transmitters

(56:00):
probably just in your pocket orclip them to a belt or whatever.
So the size of those doesn'tmatter.
And the Rode does offer thebest sound.
So, whether that's through thelavalier or the built-in
microphones, the way theyprocess it, the I don't know the
Rode Wireless Pros do have thebest sound of the wireless
systems that I've used andthat's the one I'd recommend
there.
So anything from the InterviewPro to something similar like

(56:23):
the Zoom F2, to the RodeWireless Pro all these product
names.
Next question from Real.
Miguel Nunez says doesBlackmagic app on iPhones work
with the Rodecaster video?
The answer is yes, I do have avideo.
I have a video about theBlackmagic camera app, which is
very cool.
It really opens up some cooloptions with your camera on your

(56:43):
phone, and it also is a goodway to get clean HDMI out.
Apple at least when you'retalking about iPhones Apple did
recently release Final CutCamera, which is sort of similar
and lets you use your phone asmore of a camera source for
video that you want to editlater.
I don't know if that does cleanHDMI out, though the Blackmagic
Camera app does give your phoneclean HDMI out, which is really

(57:04):
really cool.
So I have a video on the cameraapp.
I also have a video on mychannel on my main channel
called Use your iPhone with anATEM Mini, and it's the same
thing, even though I'm talkingabout the ATEM instead of the
camera app.
So yeah, sorry, atem instead ofthe RODECaster video.
So, yes, it does work and it'sgreat.
Next question from ElementalEducator Love my MV7 Plus USB-C

(57:27):
for the features, but is the XLRthrough Rodecaster better?
So you have an MV7 Plus fromShure and you're using it
through USB and it's workinggreat, but you're wondering,
since it's a combo mic, if Iplug that XLR into my Rodecaster
, would I get better quality?
And the answer is I don't know.
I really love using theRodecaster because I am pretty

(57:51):
partial to the presets.
I'm using the NT1 preset rightnow.
I think it sounds great, Ithink it's easy to dial in sound
right there.
But the Shure Motive Mix appthat comes with the MV7 Plus is
also really good.
So, like I think the answercomes down to in that situation,
if you, if you're getting sound, if you're happy with your

(58:12):
sound through the USB side ofthe microphone, then you're good
.
Like, if it sounds good, thenit's good.
If it works, it works.
If you're unhappy with it, ifthere's something where, like I
just feel like I can't quitedial in the sound that I want,
can't quite do that, then theRodecaster would probably help
fix that a bit.
Although I really do feel likewith the MV7 Plus specifically
and the software that comes withit specifically, you can

(58:36):
probably dial in somethingthat's equally or even better
than you would dial in on theRodecaster.
But the Rodecaster offers aversatility of like any mic mix
and match, all that kind ofstuff.
So you can't go wrong eitherway.
But if USB is working and it'ssounding good, you're probably
not going to be like totallyblown away by the Rodecaster.
If you've already got yourRodecaster, then give it a try

(58:56):
and just do some comparisons andsee what you like more.
If you're thinking like, do Ineed to buy a Rodecaster to
replace this, I think the answeris definitely no.
Next question you can actuallysee this.
It was a little photo question.
This is actually from a formerstudent of mine, from Tony
Martinez, and the question waswhat do you miss most about
teaching?
And that's a great question andI the thing that I think of.

(59:17):
It kind of goes into a fewthings, and Tony's a good
example of this.
You know, obviously the mostrewarding thing is seeing
students like grow, because theprogram that I taught in, the
programs that I taught in weremulti years.
I would have the same studentsfor three to four years and when
you see someone come in inninth or 10th grade, sometimes
they don't even know why they'rethere.

(59:38):
They're very unsure ofthemselves and you see them sort
of discover the skill is talent, this interest, and by the time
they they graduate they're justtotally different people.
And you know, especially whenit comes to something like
digital media and technology,that's not a traditional core
academic subject you could findstudents a lot of my best
students were students who werelike had really bad grades in

(59:59):
their other classes because theyjust didn't, their brains
didn't work that way, that like.
But then they get into the andso they were sometimes told that
they were failures and and badstudents and bad influences.
And suddenly they would getinto the and so they were
sometimes told that they werefailures and bad students and
bad influences, and suddenlythey would get into my program.
They would discover this wholedifferent world, this whole
different side of themselves,and they would be super leaders.
It wasn't Tony's case.
He was good at everything allthe time, but that is a thing

(01:00:23):
that happened a lot, and some ofthe strongest leaders I had
were students who in you know,other classes would be like the
trouble kids, and some of thestrongest leaders I had were
students who, in other classes,would be like the trouble kids,
and so I really do miss that.
That was always like sorewarding, but on the day to day
, like, my favorite thing aboutteaching was teaching, which I

(01:00:44):
know sounds weird, but one ofthe reasons I wanted to leave
and got tired of it was becauseyou spend so little of your time
teaching.
It feels like you are a salmonswimming upstream to try to get
to the point where you can justteach your subject.
And so when I had that, when itwas like, oh, like the number
of times I go in like so excitedabout whatever like lesson we
were going to cover, whateverproject we were going to do,
whatever like I was like everyday there was something super

(01:01:05):
exciting and then it was sort oflike guarding everything to not
interfere with that was thetrick.
But you know, getting to gettingto actually teach and show
something, especially in avisual way, where it's not just
like a lecture in front of aclassroom, but you know, we
could set up a workshop, wecould set up a demo, I could
like really show, you know, showwhat I'm talking about, make it
really visual, make it reallyinteractive.

(01:01:25):
That was always really, reallyfun.
And then, when I had thosetimes, something I loved was
like when we'd be in the middleof like a work, like I'd have,
like you know, I'd have assignedprojects, maybe students would
have like two or three weeks towork on a project, and we're
kind of right in the middlewhere everyone's working on
stuff and I could walk throughsort of like the classroom and
the studio space and it's likethere'd be students filming a

(01:01:47):
scene for a movie.
Over here, students working ona stop motion, over here,
someone working on a digitalanimation.
You know, students doingstoryboards and drafting Like
it's just sort of like thiswhole like smorgasbord of
digital media productionhappening in the class called
digital media production, and Ilove that, where it was like
everybody was sort of doingtheir thing and it was such a

(01:02:10):
hodgepodge of different stuffand people start, especially by
the time they've been in theprogram for a couple of years,
they start specializing.
So you know, like here's thethe students are gonna be
working on 3d animations, here'sthe people that are going to be
doing you know, crazy visualart kind of stuff here, whatever
it is, and I just then get towalk through and kind of like
guide, coach, offer, you know,help, feedback, whatever.

(01:02:30):
That was cool.
And that's when you would alsohave things where you know
students would be like, hey, weneed to do this, how do we do it
?
And sometimes I'd be, I wouldbe like I don't know.
Like you know, they need acertain camera shot or a certain
lighting thing, and it's likelet's think like we could set up
a thing over here and we couldmove the camera this way and
whatever.
And like you know, it was sofun to like problem solve.
I miss all that stuff so muchbecause that was really cool.

(01:02:53):
Unfortunately, teaching is avery small part of the job of
being a teacher, so I guessthat's it.
I love teaching.
I got to a point where I didn'tlike being a teacher.
Next question is fromHanzomat1963.
Oh, you've got a RodeBroadcaster.
Please make a review.
That's because on Instagram,when I did the repost, it was
just a picture of the RodeBroadcaster that I used in a

(01:03:14):
previous episode and then I putthe Instagram question thing
there and I just wanted to pointthat out.
Yes, I have the Broadcaster,it's great and I definitely do
want to make a review on it.
I am proud to say that I haveevery microphone I own I have a
dedicated review on or, yeah, Ihave a review on every mic,
except those two, the ones thatBronson from Audio Hotline gave
me, which is the Dynacaster weheard Hoop Nook talk on earlier,

(01:03:35):
and the Broadcaster.
So I want to make reviews onboth of those because they're
great.
And actually just yesterday Igot a delivery I just showed up
unannounced from Doc Rock, who'syou know, big part of the Ecamm
community, one of my goodfriends.
He sent the original Neat KingBee microphone, which isn't
available anymore, but it'spretty cool.
I don't know if I'll do adedicated review on that, since

(01:03:57):
it's like not available and Iwould just be sort of, you know,
making people feel bad aboutsomething they can't get, but I
seems like a pretty cool mic.
I haven't had a chance to tryit out yet, though.
Next question is from NicholasR says Is it possible to create
a unique podcast in 2025 andgain an audience?
Yes, 1000% this.
Going back to the video Imentioned I was working on for

(01:04:19):
this week about podcastmisconceptions.
Misconception number one that Italked about is podcasting is
too saturated, because there are.
I looked it up there are about4.2 million podcasts worldwide
now, which feels like a lot, butwhen I, you know talk about I
started listening to podcasts,specifically in like 2008, 2009.

(01:04:40):
And they had already beenaround for a number of years
prior to that, so podcasting islike over 20 years old.
At this point at least, it'sbeen around for a while 2009,.
When I would tell people like,yeah, I was listening to a
podcast, they'd be like what?
It's something about your iPod,what, and you know, even you
know 2014, when I startedproducing them.
Like, the reason I startedproducing the podcast for the

(01:05:00):
school district is because theywere doing a weekly radio show
and the radio station went outof business or got bought out,
so they needed something else.
And I was like, oh, podcastingit's like, it's like a radio
show that goes on your phone.
It's an internet radio show andit doesn't have to be live.
You know, trying like everytime I can remember whether I'm
talking about well, I take thatback around.
That time was when you'd havestuff like serial would become

(01:05:24):
really popular.
There were certain podcaststhat were becoming more popular
and more mainstream reallypopular.
There were certain podcaststhat were becoming more popular
and more mainstream.
So people listening to them wasa little more common.
You'd find people who listenedto podcasts, but it was still a
little bit niche and especiallyif you're making one trying to
do your own thing, even thoughit felt like there was a lot
less competition because therewas, people weren't expecting to

(01:05:48):
listen to random people'spodcasts as much.
Now it's like a joke.
Like, everybody has a podcast.
My dog has a podcast.
Like you know, every everybodyyou encounter like has a podcast
, and that can make it feel verysaturated, but the benefit to
that is people actuallyunderstand what it is you know,
and that is really cool, becausewhen you tell someone, hey, I
have a podcast, they're notgoing to be like, wait, what is

(01:06:11):
that?
How do I do that?
I don't think I want a new appon my phone, I don't want to get
anything.
It's more like oh yeah, what'syour podcast?
They can look it up on whateverthey listen to podcasts on.
So, even though it feels moresaturated, I think it's actually
absolutely possible to create anew, unique podcast in 2025.
And the fact that peopleunderstand what podcasts are
like even my parents are awareof what podcasts are.
I don't know if they listen toany, but they at least know what

(01:06:32):
they are.
That speaks volumes and meansthat you know you've overcome a
huge barrier of just what isthis that you're talking about?
So, yes, absolutely, and therest is up to you.
You know the rest is it's yourconcept, your presentation,
you're sharing it, yourpersonality, your presentation,
you're sharing it, yourpersonality, all that stuff.
And even though stuff does feelvery, very saturated, keep in

(01:06:56):
mind that you know now thatsomething has been around it's
just like YouTube, now thatsomething's been around long
enough.
You actually have the.
You have the chance for thingsto come and go.
So when something is new, it'slike it's it's still the
original generation of stuff.
But now podcasting has beenaround long enough for you know
series to come and go, careersto start and end without even

(01:07:17):
like not that the career endedout of failure, but like
literally people can retire outof it, like it just comes to a
natural close.
And when that happens, thenthat means there's more space,
you know, room for new things topop up and new perspectives and
all that kind of stuff.
So, yes, definitely possible.
Last question comes from PaulWait, paul Robert Berman.

(01:07:38):
It says beginner's guide torecording audio, which is is a
question.
I don't have a beginner's guideto recording audio, but what I
wanted to include this, eventhough I don't have specific
recommendations, just because,like, the University of YouTube
is so great, and we talked aboutthe question from Heather a
while ago where or the commentfrom her a while ago where it
was like, hey, this beginner'sthing is really cool.

(01:07:58):
Um, I think it's very importantthat if you to understand where
you're at when you're lookingfor resources.
So if you're looking for abeginner's guide.
Make sure that what you find isa beginner's guide.
And sometimes things will sayaudio guide for beginners and
they jump in and it's all.
It sounds like the retroencabulator video where it's

(01:08:19):
just so much jargon you don'tknow what they're talking about.
It's like that's not, that'snot for beginners.
Make sure that what you find isbeginners, and what I mean by
that is you're like okay, I wantto learn how to do audio.
You're going to go to somechannel that is like crazy
technical in depth, and now yourhead's just going to feel like
it's exploding because you wantto learn basic math and now
you're in a calculus class.

(01:08:39):
Like that is not the road tosuccess.
It's okay to do the absolutebasics and then sometimes if you
, even if you feel like you knowsomething, like, oh, I think
I'm already pretty solid in thatarea Sometimes rewatching you
know beginner material, for thatcan still help you fill in some
blanks and then also that willlike help you figure out exactly
where you're at.
So I guess my advice there youknow I don't have necessarily

(01:09:03):
specific channels to recommend,because there are there are
great ones out there there, butI don't want I almost don't want
to make people feel like thisis who you should listen to,
because sometimes the channelsare a little too technical or
sometimes they are maybe alittle too opinionated or and
feel like they're going to makeyou think you have to do
something.
You search around, find sometutorials from people that you

(01:09:26):
jive with, that you just reallylike their style.
Really cool thing, though,about audio is, while the
technology has really changed alot lately, especially with
mixers and what's accessible,the fundamentals and like the
processes and you know, thebasics of what you're doing
haven't really changed much.
So even if you find tutorialsand videos from five, 10 years
ago, they're still going to belike really, really helpful if

(01:09:48):
you can apply what they'retalking about to your current
setup.
So, yeah, that's what Irecommend there.
That is our last question, sothank you very much to everyone
who sent in questions.
I appreciate that a lot.
Definitely couldn't have done aQ&A episode without you.
If you have other questions, ifyou want to reply, if you're
watching the video version, youcan leave a comment.
If you want, you can send anemail to Tom at

(01:10:13):
enthusiasmprojectcom.
You can go to hi, my name isTomcom and leave a voice message
if you want, and you can also,just if you're listening to the
audio version, click the littlefan mail button right in the
show notes and send a messagedirectly to the show, just like
a text message.
And there we go.
Q&a episode in the bag, baby.
Thanks for listening, thanksfor sending your messages.
Hope you have a safe, happy,healthy, fun rest of your week
and I'll see you next time.

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