237: Max Flight and Your Mid-summer Podcast Re-evaluation
08/09/22 • 81 min
1 Listener
Returning all-star guest Max Flight helps me cover 17 ways to re-evaluate your podcast this summer, and we also discuss Max's latest podcast production workflow, equipment, software and more.
Max has been producing aviation podcasts since 2008:
- Airplane Geeks (now over 700 episodes!)
- The UAV Digest (looking at unmanned aircraft or drones)
- Check out his main site — http://thirtythousandfeet.com/
- He was previously on episodes 20 and 39 of this show
- Check out his equipment, software, services and more below...
- Update your goals
- Change the format
- Start using chapters
- Personal focus on eliminating verbal crutches. (A short duration of intense focus will provide years of good results)
- Change and/or add equipment
- Sell old equipment
- Treat yourself to that mic you've always wanted
- Sound absorption and diffusers
- Add a new segment
- Cover new yet pertinent subject matter topics
- Publish in video format as well
- Publish better shownotes
- Revamp your marketing
- Evaluate the shows overall effectiveness
- Hire a VA
- Bring on a cohost
- Decide to end your show???
- Perhaps decide you want to become a professional podcast engineer/producer and earn a great living producing podcasts for clients - from home?!
Big changes since PES 20 and PES 39 mostly involve a simplification of the signal path:
- Skype and cohost multi-enders replaced by Riverside.fm
- Behringer mixer (still going strong since 2009!) replaced with MixPre
- The MixPre handles all mic pre-amplification
- Sound clips and pre-recorded segments played through Riverside, replacing an iOS soundboard
- Backup recording is handled by the MixPre
Current equipment:
- Sound Devices MixPre-6
- Also use a MixPre-3 Gen 2 for field recordings
- Zoom H5 for field recordings, too
- Heil PR40
- Sennheiser MD46 interview mic
- Dell XPS 16 and MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2018 model, 2.9GHz i9 32 GB laptops
- Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones
- Yamaha HS5 monitors
Software:
- Riverside.fm (was Skype then Squadcast)
- Hindenburg Journalist Pro
- Audacity (yep!)
- iZotope RX 8 Advanced
- ID3 Editor for tagging
Services:
- Media hosting: Blubrry and Libsyn
- Website hosting: Bluehost and SiteGround
Notes from Max:
- I'm retired and traveling more which makes weekly podcast production a bit more difficult.
- Biggest current problem: At the home studio I mix/master with my Yamaha monitors, which I love. I can't master properly with the Audio Technica headphones when traveling.
- If you ever have questions please reach out!
- You can sign up to receive Daily Goody’s in your email a few times per week or a weekly roundup. Sign up here.
- The start date for the next PES semester is Sep. 13, 2022! (fyi, the course is delivered once per quarter)
- If you’d like to share this show with any of your podcaster friends, feel free to send them a message saying, “Btw, here’s a show about podcast audio production you may find helpful” with this link: https://podcastengineeringschool.com/subscribe/)
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help with anything, ~Chris
Returning all-star guest Max Flight helps me cover 17 ways to re-evaluate your podcast this summer, and we also discuss Max's latest podcast production workflow, equipment, software and more.
Max has been producing aviation podcasts since 2008:
- Airplane Geeks (now over 700 episodes!)
- The UAV Digest (looking at unmanned aircraft or drones)
- Check out his main site — http://thirtythousandfeet.com/
- He was previously on episodes 20 and 39 of this show
- Check out his equipment, software, services and more below...
- Update your goals
- Change the format
- Start using chapters
- Personal focus on eliminating verbal crutches. (A short duration of intense focus will provide years of good results)
- Change and/or add equipment
- Sell old equipment
- Treat yourself to that mic you've always wanted
- Sound absorption and diffusers
- Add a new segment
- Cover new yet pertinent subject matter topics
- Publish in video format as well
- Publish better shownotes
- Revamp your marketing
- Evaluate the shows overall effectiveness
- Hire a VA
- Bring on a cohost
- Decide to end your show???
- Perhaps decide you want to become a professional podcast engineer/producer and earn a great living producing podcasts for clients - from home?!
Big changes since PES 20 and PES 39 mostly involve a simplification of the signal path:
- Skype and cohost multi-enders replaced by Riverside.fm
- Behringer mixer (still going strong since 2009!) replaced with MixPre
- The MixPre handles all mic pre-amplification
- Sound clips and pre-recorded segments played through Riverside, replacing an iOS soundboard
- Backup recording is handled by the MixPre
Current equipment:
- Sound Devices MixPre-6
- Also use a MixPre-3 Gen 2 for field recordings
- Zoom H5 for field recordings, too
- Heil PR40
- Sennheiser MD46 interview mic
- Dell XPS 16 and MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2018 model, 2.9GHz i9 32 GB laptops
- Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones
- Yamaha HS5 monitors
Software:
- Riverside.fm (was Skype then Squadcast)
- Hindenburg Journalist Pro
- Audacity (yep!)
- iZotope RX 8 Advanced
- ID3 Editor for tagging
Services:
- Media hosting: Blubrry and Libsyn
- Website hosting: Bluehost and SiteGround
Notes from Max:
- I'm retired and traveling more which makes weekly podcast production a bit more difficult.
- Biggest current problem: At the home studio I mix/master with my Yamaha monitors, which I love. I can't master properly with the Audio Technica headphones when traveling.
- If you ever have questions please reach out!
- You can sign up to receive Daily Goody’s in your email a few times per week or a weekly roundup. Sign up here.
- The start date for the next PES semester is Sep. 13, 2022! (fyi, the course is delivered once per quarter)
- If you’d like to share this show with any of your podcaster friends, feel free to send them a message saying, “Btw, here’s a show about podcast audio production you may find helpful” with this link: https://podcastengineeringschool.com/subscribe/)
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help with anything, ~Chris
Previous Episode
236: Nine Tips for Podcast Audio Production
I overview 9 podcast production tips and techniques from recent Daily Goody posts Oct. 25 - Dec. 10, 2021 (see list below). You can sign up to receive Daily Goody’s in your email every day or a weekly roundup. Sign up here.
Daily Goody posts that I discussed in this episode:- What is Mastering in Podcast Production?
- Musicians Can Fund Their Music Careers by Earning $50-150 Per Hour Producing Podcasts From Home
- Name One Song That Sounds Amazing/Perfect to You
- AKG K 240 MK II Stereo Studio Headphones
- Background Noise Is Exacerbated by Compression
- SplitEQ from Eventide
- 3 Different Categories of “Noise” to Avoid When Recording Podcasts
- One Participant Using a Condenser Mic, the Other Using a Dynamic Mic
- Do You Feel Hurried or Chill When You Edit Your Podcast?
- Podcast Services Mastermind Workshop ($199) - A one day immersive and collaborative in-person event designed to build & grow your service based business! Full explanation of the program HERE.
- If you ever have questions please reach out!
- The start date for the next PES semester is Sep. 13, 2022! (fyi, the course is delivered once per quarter)
- If you’d like to share this show with any of your podcaster friends, feel free to send them a message saying, “Btw, here’s a show about podcast audio production you may find helpful” with this link: https://podcastengineeringschool.com/subscribe/)
- My smaller course that I mentioned: Getting New Clients at Higher Rates
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help with anything, ~Chris
Next Episode
238: How To Handle Loudness Properly in All Stages of Your Podcast Production Workflow
NOTE: In this episode I’m using a Sennheiser e835 microphone into my Portico 2 channel strip and using these plugins in post: KIT BB N105, Shadow Hills Class A Mastering Compressor, Saturn 2, and Aquamarine 4.
Here's the summary of what I discuss on How To Handle Loudness Properly in All Stages of Your Podcast Production Workflow:- Record all raw tracks at a healthy level (not too low or too hot)
- Set all raw tracks to the same LUFS before bringing them into your DAW. (I do this at the end of my cleanup phase after I remove background noise, plosives, hums, and other blemishes)
- Use Compression and/or MaxxVolume/Vocal Rider to compress/tame the loud parts as well as boost the lower volume parts. (NOTE: This step will effectively amplify any background noise, so be sure to absolutely minimize the background noise before pressing record!)
- Adjust the overall level of each participant so they all sound good compared to each other. (as part of your mixing phase, where you can also use other processing like EQ, saturation, etc.)
- After rendering the final episode audio, process this file so it adheres to the “unofficial” loudness standards of podcasting: -19 LUFS for mono episodes, or -16 LUFS for stereo episodes.
- If you ever have questions please reach out!
- You can sign up to receive Daily Goody’s in your email a few times per week or a weekly roundup. Sign up here.
- The start date for the next PES semester is January 10, 2023! (fyi, the course is delivered once per quarter)
- If you’d like to share this show with any of your podcaster friends, feel free to send them a message saying, “Btw, here’s a show about podcast audio production you may find helpful” with this link: https://podcastengineeringschool.com/subscribe/)
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help with anything, ~Chris
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