Must Listen: Dan Benjamin on Podcasting

Dan Benjamin owns and runs the 5By5 podcast network, which focuses mostly on technology .  His network has been around since 2009, and is his full time gig. When he talks about podcasting, you should listen.  I don’t know of anyone who has taken the time, effort and caring of a podcasting network in the way Dan has.

These shows are pulled from his 5By5 specials feed, where he posts things outside the purview of his regular shows.  If you podcast or are considering podcasting, you should give them a listen.  In both episodes Dan talks to Myke Hurley of the 70 Decibels network, which (spoiler alert) is being incorporated into the 5By5 network.   I will probably expand an comment on some of the topics he brings up in future posts.  There is too much interesting stuff not to.

CMD+SPACE Episode 11, with Guest Dan Benjamin

Specials 13: Radio Is Dead

Two Upgrades I Won’t Be Buying

Pro ToolsJust a few days ago, Avid announced an upgrade to their Pro Tools software, from version 10 to version 11.  The main selling point is that it works faster and more efficiently, and that you can bounce tracks offline (previously, you could only bounce tracks in real time).

A few months back, Propellerhead Software came out with the news that their flagship software, Reason, was being upgraded to version 7.  The most notable feature is that Reason will finally have MIDI output, something the users have been asking for since it was first released.

These aren’t upgrades that will knock your socks off, but if you are an independent user, the prices might.  First, Pro Tools.  From their website:

Availability & Pricing

Pro Tools 11 and Pro Tools HD 11 will be available in the online Avid Store and at Avid resellers worldwide later in Q2 2013. For more information, click here. Pricing will be as follows:

  • Pro Tools 11 software (full version)— $699 USD

  • Pro Tools 10 to 11 upgrade— $299 USD

  • Pro Tools 9 to 11 upgrade— $399 USD

  • Pro Tools Express to Pro Tools 11 cross grade— $499 USD

  • Pro Tools HD 10 to 11 upgrade— $599 USD

  • Pro Tools HD 9 to 11 upgrade— $999 USD

That… is not cheap.  The biggest features for this software are under the hood (they say they have rewritten the audio engine), and the minimum upgrade price is $299?  For my lowly copy of Pro Tools 9, I get to kick in an extra hundred dollars?  I think I will pass.

Lets look at Reason.  Reason became a lot more useful with the last version, when they incorporated Record – their aptly name multitracker – and allowed third-party instruments and effects to be added.  I felt a little put out as I bought Record and Reason together and the price was higher than the later integrated Reason 6.  When they put that upgrade out, they decided to try a pay-what-you-want upgrade price.

I’m guessing that model didn’t work out as well as they wanted.  From the Propellerheads website:

Pricing & availability

Reason 7 and Reason Essentials 2 begin limited public beta testing today and will be available for purchase worldwide in Q2 of 2013 at the following suggested retail pricing:

Reason 7 EUR €405 / USD $449
Reason Essentials 2 EUR €120 / USD $129
Reason 7 Upgrade (from any previous Reason version) EUR €129 / USD $129
Reason Essentials 2 upgrade from previous versions FREE
Balance (includes upgrade to Reason 7
for owners of previous versions of Reason) EUR €429 / USD $449

This isn’t nearly as bad as the Pro Tools upgrade price, but $129 feels steep for this upgrade.  Again, I’ll pass.

Of the two, I can’t decide which I find more egregious.  Is it the higher priced upgrade for an arguably more professional product, or the lower priced upgrade from a company that charges for any upgrade they can and are only offering small enhancements compared to previous releases?  Perhaps when the reviews are out and the products are in the users hands, we will be able to decide.

While I own copies of Pro Tools and Reason, I use Logic Pro for most of my DAW needs.  Thanks to the Apple way of selling software, the next version of Logic will likely be sold from their App store.  As the App Store doesn’t support upgrades, the next major upgrade will likely cost full price.  But full price for Logic is $199.  That’s half the upgrade price for Pro Tools, with just as much functionality.  Dan Benjamin of the 5 by 5 podcast network recently said the reason he went with Logic Pro rather than Pro Tools was that Logic had offline bounce (he said it on this podcast, which I think is must listen if you are a podcaster).  Pro Tools is finally coming around to this functionality. If you are willing to pay.

What you do with your software is totally up to you.  Maybe you have a need this fulfills.  Perhaps you have to keep up with the latest versions for work.  Software and workflow is deeply personal for being a commodity we all share.

I know that in my world, I won’t be handing over my money any time soon.

Must Listen: Ivy and Work

I’m putting together a few posts about NPR’s Bryant Park Project, whose closing was almost five years ago.  I’m fascinated by their decision to shut it down, and where it fit in NPR’s landscape, as well as if it was mishandled.

Listening back, I’m finding interesting little gems every so often.  This is from one of the later months of the show, posted May 9, 2008.  A great story featuring one of my favorite bands growing up.

The Lesson in Operation Ivy’s ‘Knowledge’

Also, if Robert Ashley says he is back, then he is back.  His great show, A Life Well Wasted, has been dormant for nearly three years.  Fans have been clamoring for a new show, and they finally have one.  If you think you won’t like a podcast about games, and the people who play one, I challenge you to listen to this.  Creative, inventive, ALWW is a work of art.

Here is his latest episode, Work.

Mark Ramsey’s Idea Festival for Radio

If you love podcasting or radio, or both, you should be reading Mark Ramsey.  Hands down, there isn’t a guy I know of working harder to turn radio into a content provider and “save” the medium more than him.  I could wax on, but go to his blog and read a few posts.  You will see what I mean.

Ramsey just announced a new radio idea festival, the invite only Hivio.  Here is how he describes it:

No suits. No group heads. No panels. No hotel conference rooms.

It’s intimate – between 25 and 50 people.

You can’t pay to come. It’s Free.

You may not be able to come at all. It’s by invitation only.

One day – June 20 in San Diego at a secret location – a gritty warehouse space filled with delightfully uncomfortable fold-out chairs.

Presentations and in-depth Q&A with media, agency, brand, technology, and content authorities who are not the same old radio faces.

Live and captured on video for public distribution.

Kind of sounds like Reservoir Dogs, and I am not interested in being Mr. Pink.  But if there is a guy who I would trust to pull it off, it’s Ramsey.

He posted a bit of research he had done that tells us why he is doing this:

So how to explain the results of a survey I conducted last week – 1,000 random US respondents ages 18 and up. The question: Agree or Disagree – “Radio brands create unique and compelling content”

The results?

That’s more than 3-to-1 in the wrong direction. And the younger you are, the worse the numbers.

I’d say ouch, but tell me you aren’t surprised.  Flip though the dial and tell me who is making “content” and even more to the point, content worth seeking out.  To narrow it down, try restricting yourself to the commercial end of things.  Depending on your market, you might not have come up with anything.  I can think of a few places (not here in Denver), but generally, content is restricted to public radio.

And don’t think for a moment radio can’t be considered content.  Just because filling time and shortened music playlists are the norm these days, with longer commercial breaks and the shows themselves sounding more and more like long form commercials, radio can still be a content delivery system.  And it can support other content channels, like a blog, podcasts, and sin of sins, online video.

A few questions I want to ask about that research:

- It can take time for something new to catch on in radio.  In the startup world, or the internet world, you pivot, shift and iterate as you find that things don’t work.  Does that mean you have to establish a show, and then start being creative?  Do you establish a show to be that creative voice?

- Are Program Directors or station owners willing to try to create unique and compelling content?

You would think the answer to the second question would be yes, but I don’t know how often the case.  Radio stations are like snowflakes (oh no, here he goes), and each one will have a different tolerance for change.  Actually, that might not be the case as much in the Clear Channel multi-station ownership model.  Still, who is going to be brave enough, and willing to take the risk?

For the sake of the medium, I hope more PDs will say they will.

And if not, there’s always podcasts.

Must Listen – Joe Frank: Old Man

Must Listen is a place for me to put things I heard that I really enjoyed.  The title says it all.

Unfictional is a show from KCRW.  As they say:

UnFictional is a program of storytellers and documentaries that cover the ground between the sophisticated and the profane. Audiences will hear captivating stories of real life told by writers and performers with a talent for tales that will suck you in. The program also features documentaries created by the most talented producers from around the country. UnFictional is one part of the Independent Producer Project, an initiative to cultivate and support the work of independent radio producers and other writers and artists. The idea is to create a clearinghouse of creativity both online and on the air.

 

After seeing a blog post from Ira Glass about Joe Frank (I seen heard Ira mention Joe Frank before), I had to listen to some of his work.  This was the first thing I listened to, and I think it’s amazing.

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/uf/uf121109joe_frank_old_man

Tutorial: Combining Audio Devices in Macs

This is going to be for the Mac users, so if you are a PC user, sorry.  This functionality is exclusive to Macs (as far as I know, but I will investigate).

Lets say you started out your podcasting career needing only one or two inputs.  You were podcasting by yourself or a friend, or just needed enough inputs to for you to talk to someone on Skype.  Now you have grown a bit, or have a sudden need for more inputs, and you don’t want to just give up on your old device.

Mac OS X has a nifty setting that lets you combine multiple audio devices into one virtual audio device.  You tell your computer which audio devices you want to combine, and it makes a new single source that your computer sees, will all the inputs and outputs of both.

On this computer, I’m running OS X 10.6.8 as it’s a four year old computer and it works well for what I do.  In the newer versions of OS X, the steps are the same.

First, I have two devices connected to my computer.  One is a Firewire mixer and one is a USB interface, but the connections themselves don’t matter.  This is something you could do with several USB Microphones, or any combination of devices.

Mackie Onyx 1220i and Alesis io2

Mackie Onyx 1220i and Alesis io2

Next we need to open the Audio Midi Setup utility.  You can find it in your Applications folder under Utilities > Audio Midi Setup.  It is not the same as the Sound settings under System Preferences.

Audio MIDI Setup Initial Screen Cap

When you open Audio Midi Setup, you should see all your audio devices.  If you don’t, go to your toolbar and click Window > Show Audio Window.  You can see the two devices I’m going to combine, the Mackie Onyx mixer, and the Alesis io2.

Next, click the plus button in the lower left of the window.  You’ve just created an aggregate device.

Audio MIDI Setup Device Made

On the right of the window is all the devices you can add.  You may notice that every devices listed on the left isn’t available.  Some of those devices on the left are virtual devices that aren’t available because the software that uses them isn’t running.  But Soundflower, a virtual audio device is available.

I’m just going to select the two devices I want to combine.  I could add more if I needed them, but I’m keeping it simple.

Audio MIDI Setup Selected

The aggregate device settings is going to ask you to select the Clock Source.  One of your devices has to act as a master clock to keep all the devices synced up.  I selected the Mackie mixer to be the clock, and the io2 will follow that.  The ‘resample’ box is checked, because the syncing of the two devices is happening inside the computer, rather than via external means, such as a word clock sync (if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry, it’s mostly stuff that happens in recording studios and higher level recording setups).

If you click on the individual devices within the aggregate device, you can set the sample rate and bit depth, as well as other options.

Audio MIDI Setup Selection

Make sure the settings of the two devices match.  The Mackie has more available sample rates than the Alesis, so I select it’s sample rate and bit depth first, then make the Alesis match that.

So now I have  a single 18 input, 4 output device for my DAW to use. Double clicking on the name of the device will allow you to rename it to something easier to remember.  I named mine Mackie and Alesis.

And now I can select it from my list of devices.

Logic Pro Select Device

A few things to keep in mind about aggregate devices:

- Since these devices are combined in the computer, all of the audio has to be processed by your computer.  You can’t hear an audio input from one device on the other without latency or having to mix the sources in software.

- You can’t force a sample rate and bit depth on a device that the hardware isn’t capable of.  The Mackie mixer may be able to use am 88,200 Hz sample rate, but the Alesis simple can’t, and just because I combined the two devices, I can’t force it to.

Depending on your needs, it may make more sense for you to buy a larger capacity audio interface rather than use an aggregate device, but if you decide you just need to add something else to your existing rig, aggregate devices make it simple.

 

Have you used aggregate devices?  Have tips about using them?  Questions about what is posted here, or is there something I missed ?  The comments are open.

 

 

Redefining Pod Geek

When Pod Geek started, my first thought was to run it like a business.  I would have a schedule for posting certain things, offer advice and tutorials, and talk about the craft of podcasting.  But that was where things ended.  What I didn’t have was what every business needs, something to offer.

That’s one thing every business needs, something of value to offer people in exchange for money, and I didn’t have that.  And for Pod Geek, right now, I still don’t.  I think I have something of value to offer people, but I don’t have a specific offer.  I don’t have something to sell, and that is what a business should have.  So this, as of right now, is not a business.  Actually, it never really was, but it’s taken this long for me to look at it and realize it, or to publicly state it.

So now that the pressure is off, what it Pod Geek?  It doesn’t have to be a business, but it does have to be something.  It can’t just take up space on the internet and time to write it.  It can’t be something that drives me nuts for not working on it.  It needs direction, and a definition, something that leads to something.  I like having a guiding principle.  I like having something that points me in a direction.  And I think I stumbled across it today:

Pod Geek is a love letter to podcasting.

What does that mean, exactly?  I don’t know, at least, not completely.  But I know that it does make sense.  Podcasting is something that I care about quite a bit, sometimes too much.  I want other people to care about it to, and to make it better.  And there are people out there that already are.

So this is where I can talk about that, and maybe convince you that this podcasting thing is as important as I think it is, and important enough to do well.  I want to talk to the people who are doing it well.  I want to point you to things that are done well, and I want you to point me to things that are good.  I want to show you a few things I do to make my podcasts sound better, and I want the same back from you.  I want to tell you what I love about the medium, and the people doing the work, and I want you to do the same.

I don’t entirely know what a love letter to podcasting is going to look like, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

Guerilla Podcasting: How To Put Your Voice Out There, Fast

To podcast, you have to set up a website, get your RSS feed in order, set up a podcasting plugin (if you are using WordPress, which I recommend you do), get your artwork together, submit your first episode to itunes, wait for approval, blah, blah, blah.

Or you go to a free service or some paid podcast hosting, and you set up everything there, and blah blah blah.

That’s a lot of work to get started, and if you look at the iTunes directory, you will see a ton of podcasts that began with gusto, then podfaded about five episodes in.  Often times, podcasters go into the form blind, not knowing there is a lot more to podcasting than talking on a mic.

I would usually tell people to be a guest on a podcast to see if they liked it.  And I like the idea of finding out if you are comfortable talking on a mic (or ever will be) before jumping into things.  But that doesn’t tell you what producing your own show is like.

Recently, I’ve started a little project called Tapeleg’s Take, a brief hockey “podcast” that talks about one topic for about three minutes.  It’s short, focused, and designed to hep me become comfortable talking on a mic solo, as well as getting more material out there.  But you won’t find it on iTunes (yet) and you won’t find it on a website.  And I would recommend to any new podcaster to try this method of podcasting before jumping into a full fledged podcast. I call it Guerilla Podcasting.

How to Guerilla Podcast:

Dropbox Logo

1) Set up a free Dropbox account.  Dropbox is an online storage system that gives you two gigabytes of space for free. You can share files and entire folders with people, either privately or publicly.  Install the Dropbox application on your computer.  Did I mention it’s free?

2) Got a twitter account?  If so, great.  If not, get one.

3) Record your podcast episode.  I would tell you to keep it short, but hey, it’s your show, so do what you like.

4) Turn it into an mp3.  There are tons of ways to save .mp3 files, so I’m going to let you do that on your own.  Chances are, your recording and editing software can do it for you.  If not, get Audacity and go through their instructions for the LAME encoder (no, really, that’s what it’s called).

5) This is where the magic happens.  Put your podcast episode in your Dropbox’s Public folder.  Then, right click on the file and get the URL of your file.  On a Mac, it looks like this:

Public File Link

6) Paste that link into twitter, and tell everyone.

That’s it.  You just put a podcast episode on the web.  You are a podcaster.

No, this isn’t the perfectly SEO/SEF/LATEEDA (which means la-tee-da) way to go about things.  If you like it, you can start a podcast site or add a regular podcast to your blog.  But starting out, this is a fast and easy way to get your audio out in the world, without doing all the extra work to set up a regular podcast.  And hopefully, you liked this so much, you will become a mighty force of podcasting soon enough.

Good luck!

Different Advice on Starting

One of the scarier parts of podcasting is getting started. There are a ton of questions people want answered before they even begin to record their first show. Most of them have to do with technical info, but that can be found anywhere. When people ask me questions, I tend towards the artistic answers, but I usually have one big piece of advice:

Be a guest on someone else’s show before you start a podcast of your own. This way, if you don’t like it, you can bail before starting your own, or investing in something you really weren’t cut out for in the first place.

I’m beginning to seriously reconsider that advice.

The hard part of being a podcaster isn’t talking. Talking on mic is harder than it seems like it should be, but that difficulty can be overcome with practice and patience (and yes, a little effort). Bantering with another person, as a guest or a co-host isn’t difficult. Editing audio isn’t hard to do, if you work at it and read a few blog posts.

The hard part is all that other stuff. It’s the scheduling. It’s coming up with topics. It’s finding hosts. It’s writing a post to go along with your show. It’s keeping all the things in order that you need to do.

It’s being your own producer.

And you just can’t get a sense of everything that entails until you are knee deep in it. You don’t know how much work it really is until you wish you had someone else to do it for you. What does a producer do? Everything that you don’t want to.

The dream job is to talk on the mic for a few hours a day. And no podcaster gets to do that. They have to work hard, they have to hustle, they have to do all the dirty work.

So I wonder if I steered a few people wrong along the way, telling them to be guests on another podcast. I may have inadvertently given them a false sense of how much work goes into producing your own podcast.

I think I have another idea on how to give someone else a better flavor of podcasitng. Stay tuned…

You Have to Hustle

There’s this great Steve Martin bit from Saturday Night Live, where he tells you how to be a millionaire, and never pay taxes. “First.. get a million dollars.

And how do you create a successful and famous podcast?  Start by being successful and famous.

And here is why.  Before even a single real episode of WNYC’s new podcast, Here’s The Thing, was posted, a few reviews went up:

 

Here's the Thing Reviews

That’s right, five star reviews for a show that hadn’t even started.  Part of why it got such favorable reviews so early is that it comes from WNYC, which is a solid content provider, and the host is Alec Baldwin.  So being famous and popular to begin with is quite a boost.

Bleak? Outrageous? Maybe.  But the reality is that, as a person with something to say and not a lot of visibility in the media landscape, you will have to work a little harder to get noticed.  You may not have the star appeal that an Alec Baldwin has, but at some point, neither did he.  The Back to Work podcast from the 5by5 Network has a recurring theme that basically goes, ‘That’s fine for Merlin, but…” (referring to co-host Merlin Mann, and the things he does in his life and business).  And we can look at this and say, that’s fine for Baldwin, or that’s great for a public radio station, but what about me?

To separate yourself from the rest of the pack, you have to hustle.  And in podcasting, that can mean several things:

- self-promotion.

- good audio quality.

- getting better.

And all of that adds up to hard work.  Yes, work.  But that work will not go unrecognized.

While it seems insane that Kevin Smith can just say he is going to do something and it will get the instant gratification that we all seem to lack and desire, there is a reason it happens for him. And when you think about it, Kevin Smith wasn’t born into thousands of downloads and movie projects.  He did something to get there, and that something was hard work.

Seeing Alec Baldwin launch a new podcast that has listeners salivating before it even hits the internet tends to skew what we think of as a success, because we look at his podcast as an overnight success.  But overnight successes are often years in the making.  Alec Baldwin was the same person before he became ALEC BALDWIN.

I wish him the greatest of success in his show.  And hope he move quick, because we should all be nipping at his heels.