The Podcast Engineering Show | Professional Podcast Production - Recording, Mixing, Editing, Mastering

I am interviewed by my guest host is Arik Levy - Law Enforcement Officer, Host of Firearms Nation Podcast, Creator of Shooter's Summit and the Firearms Nation YouTube channel. Arik really wanted to know all the details about my recent major revamp of my studio. We discussed my new setup, my previous setup, my podcast production background, software, hardware, workflow and more. Some of the elements of my new setup: RE20 microphone (same one I've been using for about 1-1/2 yrs.) Neve Portico II channel strip Sound Devices MixPre-6 iMac Pro Neumann KH 120 A near-field monitors Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack and Loopback iZotope RX 6 Advanced and Ozone 8 Sonarworks speaker and headphone calibration software TwistedWave audio editor Reaper Plugins: Sheps Omni Channel Strip, SSL G Channel strip, etc. VoIP Recording services: Squadcast, Zencastr, Ringr, etc. Thanks for hanging out with me again, Arik! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks.

My guest is Ben Brown, host and producer of the Municipal Equation podcast and the Tourette’s Podcast. We covered a lot including: Cathedral Pipes Durham - mic activator Steinberg UR-44 audio interface Mackie monitors ATH-M40x headphones Goldwave audio editor Publishing stereo MP3s at 112kbps resolution FX chains RE20 mic Libsyn AT8035 shotgun mic Zoom H5 Reaper compressor with 4:1 ratio, fast attack, pretty fast release Baxter EQ (more cutting than boosting) Waves NS-1 for noise reduction (it’s a one fader plugin) Stereo mic: AT 2022 Thanks for being a great guest, Ben! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

My guest is Aaron Dowd - Podcaster Success Lead at SimpleCast and host of The Podcast Dude.  Great conversation covering lots!: Shure Beta 87a microphone Scarlett solo - audio interface Logic Pro DAW RX Dialogue De-noiser and De-clip Loudness meter plugin aiming for -16LUFS Bussing all voices to a single channel and adding effects to that channel, which effects all the voices simultaneously -- dialogue de-noiser (light setting), some EQ, de-esser, an RMS Compressor, and adaptive limiter.  Editing in Logic Pro HD 600 headphones Using the Forecast app to convert to MP3 and add chapters. During production he marks where chapters will be, usually when the host asks a question, etc. Link to a tutorial on using Forecast and podcast chapters: https://medium.com/simplecast/forecast-by-marco-arment-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-why-podcasters-should-take-a-look-ba446ffa8a35 Thanks for hanging out with us, Aaron! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions o

I recap my experience at NAB last week, including our Mic Test Drive Booth and lots more including: BIG thanks to my booth brothers: Michael Helms, Josh Wade, and Landen Hardy! Our 10 mics, Mackie 1642VLZ4, MixPre-6 borrowed from Sound Devices, and a BP40 borrowed from Steve Savanyu at Audio-Technica. Sennheiser’s upcoming wireless clip on mic, and the Neumann U67 at their booth! My birthday gift - a Neewer mini microphone! Watch Bandrew Scott's video on this mic here. The Venue was HUGE - Las Vegas Convention Center. Booth traffic was OK. And I was interviewed twice - one audio and one video. I also mentioned my drive out there - TO Vegas via New Mexico and Arizona, FROM Vegas via Utah and Colorado. And it was great to hang out with: Rob Walch - Libsyn Todd Cochrane, Mike Dell, MacKenzie - Blubrry Jennifer Crawford and Vernon Ross - Podbean Rob Greenlee - Voxnest Eric Larsen - Tascam Sean and Ira - Samson Podfest guys - Chris Krimitsos, John Dennis Podcast Movement guys - Jared Easley, Dan Franks Allan T

My guest is Ashley Lehmann - audio engineer and audiobook editor. She also records classical music on location. She's also a musician, singer, and songwriter. And at the end of this session you'll hear a song by her band, All Night Drivers! We discussed: Ashley's audiobook production workflow Soundgirls and Weathervane Music - two nonprofits that are helping with audio education ProTools 12.6 Waves Limiter, Maximizer, DeEsser, and Q1-Q10 EQ Izotope RX6 and Ozone 8 Shure SM57 Onyx Blackjack - 2 input interface iMac Adobe Audition AKG K240 headphones Live recording with a pair of Rode NT5’s - setup high in the room Thanks for being a great guest, Ashley! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

My guest is Paul Kafasis, CEO of Rogue Amoeba! We talked about A LOT this session - these show notes don't do our conversation justice. *PC users: We are going to talk a lot about Rogue Amoeba's software which is only available for Mac currently, although some of the functionality we talk about may be available for PC at some point. You're welcome to hang with us or skip this session. Here are the Rogue Amoeba software we discussed: Audio Hijack (flexible and powerful recorder) Loopback (route any audio anywhere) Piezo (simple recorder) Fission (audio editor) - editing, metadata, chapters, and lossless editing on lossy files! Chapters - set different art and URL or each chapter. Farrago (soundboard) - note: it's not currently able to be controlled by any midi controllers yet. SoundSource (simple sound control) Paul also answered some questions from Twitter fans: Loopback lacks an essential professional working environment feature: a straight forward backup utility for all defined/saved virtual devices. Cu

My guest is Niel Guilarte, founder of Wildstyle Media working on high-end video production, film, podcast production, and audio for gaming. He is also the Director & Editor of The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary! We discussed a lot, including: Rode Procaster microphone Focusrite Clarett 8 Pre audio interface Logic Pro X software Waves plugins iZotope RX Focusrite plugins Softube Machina - plugins Behringer X-touch controller Producing episodes for The Horse Radio Network Tascam portable recorder - DR-701-B w/ SMPTE timecode, Final Cut Pro for video editing Motion 5 for graphics After FX Thanks for such a fun conversation, Niel! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

A couple quick announcements...

My guest is Tim Cumings - Producer of the Cooking in the Dark podcast! We discussed: GoldWave Ferrite noise suppressor Presonus Audiobox iTwo audio interface into a PC Sennheiser HD202 headphones Audio-Technica BPHS1 broadcast headset CAD GXL-3000 condenser microphone Plantronics audio 995 USB multimedia headset with noise cancelling microphone Mackie 802 vlz3 mixer PLEXTALK Pocket- Portable Daisy-MP3 Player and Voice Recorder Triton Audio Fethead Microphone Preamp VOX  Pop Stop Microphone Filter RODE PSA1 Swivel Mount Studio Microphone Boom Arm Studio: Spare room / computer/guest room Auphonic Thanks for hanging out with me, Tim! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

My guest is Brandon Gonzales - host of Podcasting on a Plane. He's also an Air Traffic Controller! Some of what we discussed: Kaotica Eyeball Apogee MiC - $200 small diaphragm condenser iRig Pre-HD Side tone CAD E100s mic for home studio use Apple Mac Mini Zoom H6 to record as well as using it as a USB audio interface Logic Pro (Brandon recently "upgraded" from Garageband) AKG K702 Headphones Blue Everblue Bluebox - in ear monitor The Auphonic Mobile App. Brandon said, "It Records 24/48 WAV, -16 LUFS, and your file goes straight to Auphonic server from your phone for processing if you wish. Georg is a damn genius!" ATR-2100 mic And here's the picture of the Kaotica Eyeball hanging in Brandon's car! (as we discussed) Thanks for being a great guest, Brandon! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts,

My guest is Sam Matla - host of The EDM Prodcast and Electronic Music Producer at EDMProd. Here's some of what we discussed: Ableton Live Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Headphones Blue Bluebird - Large Diaphragm Cardioid Condenser Microphone CAD pop filter Focusrite 2i2 iZotope Ozone for mastering Volume automation if there’s louder or softer parts Podtrac for analytics Zencastr Macbook pro 2015 Compression EQ Saved chain for Sam’s track Music tracks and transitions Splitting tracks for different topics for shownotes times Mix to MP3 128kbps Soundcloud - that’s where his community is/was. That’s changing now; they're mostly on Spotify now ;) NOTE: Here are the three exceptional albums Sam mentioned when I asked him what his favorite music was: BT - This Binary Universe Koan Sound & Asa - Sanctuary EP Mat Zo - Damage Control Thanks for sharing so much, Sam! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a

My returning guest is Arik Levy - Law Enforcement Officer, Producer and Host of Firearms Nation Podcast, Creator of Shooter's Summit and the Firearms Nation YouTube channel. Since his last appearance on the show, Arik has upgraded his production gear and workflow significantly. I was happy to chat with him about all the gory details. A small portion of what we discussed: Rode Broadcaster Using his dbx 286s again Sound Devices MixPre6 Switching from Logic Pro X to Adobe Audition The difference that replacing an XLR cable can make… iZotope plugins: Nectar 2 (Arik uses the gate), Neutron, Ozone, RX 6 Zencastr Using video and Skype for his Shooter's Summit Thanks for hanging with us again, Arik! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

My guest is Noah Chelliah - host of The Ask Noah Show, and President at Altispeed. From his studio he sends his show audio to the FM station from which it's broadcast. He also records locally and publishes the podcast version later. When he’s on the road, he hosts his show remotely by sending uncompressed audio back to his studio which then is sent to the FM station. Also fyi, he built his broadcast studio with 100% Linux.  Some of what we discussed: Axia Broadcast Console - preamp and processing YellowTec M!ka Arm Telos HX Telephone Hybrid Tieline Via Remote IP Codec (for on location) Lexicon Alpha Interface Marantz PMD580 AES3 Recorder OBS software RE20 PR40 Sony 7506 headphones Thanks for so many insights, Noah! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn

My guest is Simon Barber - cohost and producer of Sodajerker On Songwriting, as well as musician, songwriter, academic and researcher. We discussed: Recording interviews on location, as well as the necessary post-production Apogee Duet audio interface ESI Record M. Multitrack Auphonic Amadeus Pro Audio Hijack Rode NT USB microphone (cardioid condenser w/ pop shield) Zoom H6 Shure SM 58's iZotope RX 6 Shure SM 57 with the A81WS windshield (as mentioned in our previous session with Allan Tepper) Thanks for sharing so much great information, Simon! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

Note: This is not a standard TPES episode - this is me sharing lots of cool info. Here's what we covered: End of year purchases: iMac Pro MixPre6 Pistol grip for my AT8035 shotgun mic Ralph M. Rivera purchased Bose QuietComfort 35 II headphones - bluetooth sounds great - very comfortable and light - can use them to talk on the phone too - $350 Configuration of the iMac Pro: 3.0GHz 10-core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz 64GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory 2TB SSD Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB of HBM2 memory My plans for the iMacPro: Have one production space instead of a recording table and a mixing desk. Live streaming with video and several participants. Green screen. Webinars and screen captures. Move all plugins from current production computer to the new one. Sennheiser MKH416 would be nice. PES 2017 reflections: First 2 semesters of PES went extremely well. PM17 was good but working a booth made it a blur. As always, some clients came and went. 2018 plans: Podcast Movement - not sure i

This is the first ever mostly non-technical session of this show because we cover many important topics for podcasters and podcast producers including productivity, time management, experimenting with new gear, as well as business aspects. My returning guest is Dave Jackson, podcast coach, owner of School of Podcasting, and host of many shows including Podcast Rodeo Show. Also, here's the link to Dave's first appearance (session #11) where we discuss his equipment and workflow, etc. Some of what we discussed: What time of day/night we get the most work done Multitasking while working on audio Getting work done vs experimenting with new gear/stuff Family considerations Working ON your business vs producing the actual audio The latest you've ever stayed up producing an episode What do you drink during recordings? Organizing folders, backups, Dropbox, Backblaze, restarting your machine Line levelers and surge protectors Dave's video setup Update on my Mac research and plans… Thanks for so many insights, Dave!

My guest is Bandrew Scott - creator of Podcastage, a YouTube channel that provides gear reviews and tests to help you improve your podcast and YouTube audio/video. He also hosts The Bandrew Says Podcast. Enjoy listening; we discussed: Arturia AudioFuse Mac mini Logic Pro X Final Cut Pro Zoom LiveTrak L-12 Waves plugins iZotope RX 6 Shure SM7B Mogami cables Cloudlifter CL-1 dbx 286s *This session was mixed and edited by PES graduate Christopher Whittaker! Great job Christopher! And check out Bandrew's "tiny mic" video which we discussed in this session! Thanks for being a great guest, Bandrew! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS

My guest is Danny Ozment - audio engineer, editor, mixing and mastering engineer, podcaster and podcast producer. He is the owner of Emerald City Productions and the host of Recording A Capella. Danny produces lots of podcasts and music projects. He and I went deep into lots of gear, software and workflow. Enjoy listening! Hardware we discussed: Millennia TD-1 preamp UA Apollo interfaces (Twin and 16) PhantomFocus System monitors (with two 12" subwoofers) Macbook Pro Shure SM7B Software we discussed: Pro Tools iZotope RX 6 HOFA-Plugins Fabfilter de-esser Pro Tools stock plugins Waves de-esser Wave Arts "Trackplug" Danny's mastering  chain: Slate buss compressor Slate tape emulation Ozone multiband dynamics Waves L1 limiter Other topics: Using two compressors in series and what setting to use on each Landr mastering website GIK Acoustics Thank you Danny for so much valuable knowledge and information! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any question

My returning guest is Garth Humphreys, host and producer of Audio Pizza, Aussie Mac Zone and iBlindTech. Garth and I go deep and get technical - and of course we make it practical and relevant to your podcast production, too ;) Before Garth and I got rolling, I first explained how I recently rescued some bad sounding audio using various steps: Putting it through Auphonic first (noise reduction, low end filter, leveler), then processing the resulting Flac file in iZotope RX 6 (phase, de-reverb, and de-click), then more processing in Reaper including EQ'ing and de-essing. Then we discussed: Garth's new Yamaha HS7 6.5" Powered Studio Monitors Compression: Going through all the parameters, what they mean and how they work. LUFS: Understanding how it's calculated and what it’s measuring. FLAC file format: Benefits of using it for recording and archiving. Phase trick: A cool way to hear what a plugin is actually doing to your audio. It also works for checking impact of MP3 encoding. Then I told the entire story

My guest is Allan Tepper - Pro Audio/Video Specialist, Tech Journalist, Broadcaster, author and consultant. We discussed: Audient iD14 audio interface Shure 545SD-LC Cardioid Dynamic microphone Shure A81WS Gray Large Foam Windscreen for SM81 and SM57 Pyle-Pro PDMIC78 microphone Hindenburg Journalist Pro, and how it levels each clip automatically IK Multimedia iRig Pre HD Auphonic mobile app to record 48kHz .WAV files Zoom H5 for field recording Skype recorders MixPre-3 with perhaps the cleanest mic preamps Rode Broadcaster Thanks for being a great guest, Allan! DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. Thanks for listening! Want to Start a Business or Have a Career as a Podcast Producer/Engineer? Listen and Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Android, RSS