Episode 7 - Creating a Good Recording Environment

In this episode, Jon takes a practical approach to podcast technology, focusing on the essentials for clear recording and strong visibility. He recommends affordable solutions like using an iPhone as a webcam and the Samson Q2U microphone for high-quality audio. Jon also emphasizes the importance of setting up a good recording environment, such as a soft room with sound-absorbing materials, to enhance sound quality. Additionally, he touches on the benefits of working with an audio editor and offers his team's services for post-production. Throughout the episode, Jon encourages listeners to engage in conversation and ask questions to learn more about podcasting.

Takeaways

• Prioritize clear recording and visibility when selecting your podcasting technology.
• Affordable solutions, like using an iPhone for a webcam and the Samson Q2U microphone, can deliver professional results.
• A good recording environment should include sound-absorbing materials for optimal audio quality.
• An audio editor can significantly improve your podcast's post-production.
• Jon’s team offers audio editing services for podcasters.
• Engage with the community, ask questions, and participate in conversations to enhance your podcasting experience.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction and Reminder
02:01 - Technology in Podcasting
04:25 - Affordable Options for Podcasting
09:18 - Creating a Good Recording Environment
11:19 - The Role of an Audio Editor
14:06 - Post-Production Work
16:21 - Technology as a Barrier of Entry
19:10 - Engaging in Conversation

Resources

• Download the Wayfare Podcast Strategy Workbook
• Need help with your podcast? CLICK HERE
• Need help starting your podcast? CLICK HERE

Versions

• Check out our video version of the podcast.
• Check out our audio version of the podcast.

Acknowledgments
A big thank you to:

• Kath - Creating the podcast artwork (You can find more of her work here)
• Anna - Wayfare's Admin Assist.
• Matt - Graphics creation for the show
• Dan - Post-production work

For any additional questions, please reach out through this link.

Thank you for listening!

Transcript

Jon (00:00.999)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Wayfair podcast. For this episode, we are talking about technology and I'm looking forward to this particular episode just because tech's fun to talk about. My approach to tech is a little bit not as intense as some people like to communicate technology. I like to be a little bit more practical about it.

But we'll, we'll get into that in a little bit. the, before I, before I jump into the information though, I just want to send out a quick reminder that, don't forget to share the show, share it with a friend, share it with a peer that you think would benefit from this, share it with your team. If this is a, bigger operation for you guys, don't forget to rate and review the show. can rate this on, Apple podcasts and Spotify. You can give it a thumbs up on YouTube.

If you're on any of those platforms too, you can click the subscribe button, the follow button, any, any form of that, stuff is going to be super helpful for the show for multiple reasons. but don't need to dwell on that too much. And if this is your first episode, checking us out, thank you. Welcome. we are going over the strategy workbook that my team provides.

our clients through consultation. It's part of their bundle. If they sign on to work with us, I also give it away to whoever is just interested, like, Hey, do you have something? Do you have some kind of homework I can check out? It's a free, it's free material, but I like to make sure I provide it so we can really think through, very, being very mindful about how we approach their podcast just for multiple reasons. And I talk about that in other episodes. So, you know, feel free to check out those other episodes if you're interested.

But yeah, so for this episode, we're talking about technology and, technology is, is a, is an interesting topic because a lot of people have a lot of different opinions on a lot of different forms of tech that they think are important for them for whatever reason, because it's either the most expensive one, therefore it's the best one. it's the cheapest one. So don't get that because it's, you know, if it's cheap, it's bad.

Jon (02:29.989)
Both of those things can be true. Like, you know, they're priced very accordingly for whatever reason, whether it's for name brand, whether it's for the parts they use, whatever, whatever it may be. And my, my approach is that if you can get technology that can clearly record what you're doing. So, you know, for me, I'm using my.

I'm looking right at my iPhone right now for my webcam. I'm using this short MV seven for my microphone and both components can record clearly. I would say you can also use your webcam, your built in webcam if you want. it may not be the like, you know, most HD version of it, but like, you know, your, your face is clearly discerned. the point is getting visibility of who you, what your face is.

And if all you have to use for your microphone is, there's a piece of tech out there called a Samson Q2U and it doesn't look super flashy. doesn't look like the Joe Rogan thing. It doesn't look like, you know, this piece of tech. but it, but it records clearly. and some people hear all that and respond like, well, can I use my computer?

A microphone. would say, I mean, could, should you, I would say no, because it's not super intelligible. And some people are like, well, you know, have AirPods. Can I use those? know, these things I'm using for reference. And I would say, well, you could, but it's not clear. but the goal really is to, can you get what you need to use to get your podcast up and running? And that's really the big thing. Like, you know, if you're again, a big.

bigger operation and you have the budget for it. Like of course, definitely go for something that's, you know, very high end and professional because you're not just like getting really good microphones because they're good and clear. You're also like, you know, there's a psychology behind it too. Like it looks professional. It looks presentable. if you have guests coming into the studio, you're going to be wowed by it. there is a very big psychology component to it, but if you're on a budget and you have any form of budget, whether it's.

Jon (04:54.407)
200 bucks, whether it's 60 bucks, whether it's 150 bucks. Cool. Again, like the same sin Q2U that I mentioned earlier. and I'll try to remember to put in the description and show notes below, below this video, but the same sin Q2U I think is like, you know, 60, 80 bucks, depending on if it's on sale or maybe it is like just straight out of the gate, like 60 bucks. can't remember, but I mean, if it works and it records great, like

You know, after that, just make sure you have a pretty decent monthly budget to use online recording tools, which I'll get into that in a minute. but like, you know, that's, that's why I've been doing this whole thing, you know, using my iPhone as a camera, using my, sure. And B seven that's a USB C cabled microphone plugging into the computer. Like the goal is to show that like, can get really good quality if you are mindful about your.

tech and you're mindful about your environment. that's another thing. If you've been watching this series and the video of it, you'll notice I've been in two different environments. Now I've been in this room and then my actual formal recording studio. And the goal for that is just to prove again that you, if you're in a good environment and you have a setup, like it's going to sound great. And that's, know, great. That's great. true though, like, you know, it's.

Money and gear is half of it. The other half is your environment. Are you in a good clear environment? So again, going off of it, of that cheap microphone, sorry, I just moved the camera. but again, going, going off of the example, if you have, know, your, a computer web camera built the built -in camera and you have a Samson queue to you and your

Still struggling with the audio quality. The question then is, like, well, are you in a good environment? I like to share with, I like to share with clients that there are two types of environments on an extreme scale. There is the, you could record in a garage. And I think I've said this in another episode too. I can't quite recall off the top of my head. You could record in a garage or you could record in your closet.

Jon (07:18.711)
And one, one side of it is very echoey, a lot of reverb is the technical term for it. You know, you hear a lot of echoes, you hear a lot of bouncing, you hear your voice bouncing all over the walls. and that is something that the microphone will pick up more than likely. there are some microphones out there that have like in like internal software components that can like reduce that this microphone in particular has that. And I don't think I have it on. don't recall.

that's been the big thing. I'm not recalling a lot right now. and the other angle of it is being in a closet, you know, a lot of soft material, a lot of soft cloth, you know, coats, sweaters, and a lot of those things absorb a lot of that reverb, a lot of that echo sound. And it. One, one room is correct. And the other one is not in this example. And the room that's correct is the closet. Now do you need a record in your closet again?

I believe I said this in another episode. You could, I know some people who do that for sure that that is what they do. but you mean you could be in a good room. That's like, you know, does have harder floors. does have a pretty like exposed wall. The windows are can be exposed, like observe your environment and you know, maybe put in a shack carpet. Shack carpeting is very good for sound absorption.

Put on some throw pillows on a couch if there's a couch in there and if not your chair if a chair is in there Cover your exposed windows with you know, if you have to a very thick blanket and if not, or if you have the money for it put like a very Thick curtain on it and you can open and close it when you're about to record I guess my point is is like there's a lot of options that you can do to you know If you have a cheaper microphone, but you have a decent room after that it becomes

more of a

Jon (09:18.375)
sound absorption room set up, and then a little bit of post production. And, I guess kind of with all that being said, we can go through your, we can go through your, page 17. A lot of this, like for me, you know, I'm going to be able to check off everything because I'm using all this stuff, you know, a microphone and cable again, I got a microphone and cable shirt, MV seven with a USB -C cable. Cool. Check. microphone stand again.

got a microphone stand on here. those are very helpful to hold your microphone up and propped up. just keep stability, keeps, the absorption from, know, using it, shock absorption, headphones. I'm using headphones. you can use these as references depending on the software you use. can recognize it. And, if you don't have those, you know, achieve.

headphone set up like some older Apple AirPods that are like wired, or if you actually have a set of headphones of any kind, great. some microphones like this one, the Samsung Q2U I believe has one, but there's a little, headphone jack in the back of it. You can see right here if you're on the video, platform watching this and same thing goes for the Samsung microphone. If not, you should be able to plug it right into your computer and it should be able to recognize it again, depending on the software that you're using.

Recording software and video streaming program. I'm using Riverside FM. They're not sponsoring this yet. That'd cool if they did, but they're not sponsoring it. That's what I use. That's what I recommend to clients who are doing over the air remote recording. I'm using it as my particular recording software. Again, I could use a higher in my studio in my office as well equipped to do that.

Jon (11:19.483)
I'm just trying to be practicals to give you proof that you can do this too. Is again, the whole reason why I'm doing it this way. yeah. And so that's kind of a, just quick, you know, do you have those things? Great. if you have any questions on like, this work? Does that work? What do you recommend? I've been thinking about doing an affiliate, like a Amazon affiliate link. So you can kind of like go quote unquote into my studio and find some stuff that matches your budget. I've been toying with it. If you see it in the description of the video or show notes or

If you see him in the description showing us whatever that means I did it. And if you don't, then that means I did not. But if I did not feel free to reach out and I'd be happy to point you in the right direction. Regardless. let me think of what else. So yeah, that's the brief overview. The next two things and the last things on here are audio editor and recording location. So let's start with the recording location. Again, I kind of already briefed, briefly talked about this, but just,

Pick a pick a soft room, pick a room that has a lot of like plush cushiony things. The goal is to absorb the reverb. That's why you, when you look at, stereotypical recording studios, like on Google images or you see.

video podcast videos that they look like in a very nice isolated room. Like that is what they're doing. They're just using really high end, acoustic treatment to absorb all that reverb and noise. Cause they want to minimize as much distractions as possible for the listener. not a lot of people can afford that stuff. Not a lot of people can understand what that means. Not seeing anyone's, lacking in knowledge, but you know, it's just a whole different world of information and takes time to learn it.

So what you can do, until you get to a point where you can't afford that, or you're interested in pursuing that, idea, just pick a soft room and pick a room with a lot of blankets, a lot of cool, pillows and it'll make your room even feel cozy too. That'll put you in a nice headstay for a calm recording experience. So that's my recommendation on that. And then the audio editor, I part of this is going to be a plug and part of this.

Jon (13:37.245)
it's just going to be as a matter of fact, some people, some people out there, offer services to do audio editing. My team, that is our nine to five. That is what we do to help out. most podcasters out there, do consulting and publication and show notes and social media clips and video editing and just the whole pre -production through post production, production between that is what we do. So we do offer audio editing and,

If you go with us or not, the thing to expect is knowing if you have the money to afford an audio editor, if you're bootstrapping this on your own, if you're just some random person that's finding this, it's on a shoot stream budget, which is totally A -OK. It makes sense. You can expect roughly.

I estimate people, I give people kind of like a, not a worst case scenario, but like expect a higher cost just so you're surprised if it doesn't take as long to work on, but about two hours of post -production work for every 30 minutes of a raw recording that people can run into. That's if you do, that's if you are talking and working with someone who does an hourly rate. my team doesn't do hourly rates anymore.

but we have flat rates just to account for everything and just to give people who are prospecting a peace of mind that that is their budget per episode. But some people do hourly rates and that's kind of their estimate. Some people do it quicker. Some people kind of like edit on the fly as they go through the episode. So they might take a little bit quicker of a time and some people take longer just cause they're a little bit more particular in how they edit their...

Podcasting, you know, every, every which way is great, but I feel like the average is about 30 minutes, 30 minutes of raw audio or raw video is about two hours of work. And that's just the average. curious to see what other people say, but that's been my experience. And, yeah, I mean, if you want to work with us, great, reach out. That's a shameless plug. but that's pretty much it. Again, feel free to reach out. I.

Jon (15:53.861)
I really want to emphasize that like the, the barrier of entry for podcasters is usually just trying to get over the hurdle of. I want to do a podcast, but I have no idea where to start. That's the first barrier I've, I usually run into and that's why this workbook exists. And that's why this video exists. or show if you're listening to audio.

and then the second one is the tech, like what tech do I need? What stuff do I need? I mean, at the end of the day, like this page is going to tell you that, but don't feel pressured to buy like a hundreds of dollars microphone and don't feel pressured to get like all the cables and the audio interface and the

three or $400 web camera or the whole like light box system. Like there are ways to like hack it to make it work for you. and once we kind of get up and running and you kind of see like what you do actually need or like, I noticed like the video feed is like a little bit more blurry. What can I do to upgrade that? Cool. That's how you get the next coolest thing piece at piece by piece, one at a time. and that's why I'm doing

this video this way is because I just want to be like, Hey, I got my phone. I'm utilizing the communication between my Mac and my phone to give me a web camera wirelessly. This is, this is a wirelessly done feed. I'd like to put a little bit more money into a nicer microphone. So I'm getting a nicer one, but again, the setup for it is very streamlined. I

Don't want to do the whole like crazy video feed set up and plug it into this and feed it through that. It's like webcam, riverside .fm cable, microphone, and then reference the, the headphone thing. didn't really touch on too much, but like really that's just mostly reference to make sure that what you're hearing is nice and clear, which means that that is what the audience is going to hear. And I do run into some people being like, there's like a lot of distortion on this. How do I fix that? It's like, did you use headphones to reference it?

Jon (18:11.531)
And I get a Nope. I'm like, you should do that before you hit record, just to be sure. And Riverside does have a, I'm not going to click the button because I might stop this feed, but it does have like a test recording feature on there just to make sure you can hear it. Like you hit it, talk for a little bit, stop it. And I'll be like, does this sound good? Click play. Nope. Cool. I'll just some stuff before I actually do hit record. But yeah, I think that's pretty much it for this one. I,

Technology is such a big conversation. like feel free to reach out and email me if you do have questions. if you are interested in any of, recommendations, if you're interested in audio editing, if you're interested, if you're interested in just talking, feel free to reach out. and with that being said, feel free to make a comment in the YouTube comment section below. I really enjoy watching people, creating discussions, creating,

you know, treat the YouTube comment section not as a comment, but as a,

Reddit feed, I guess. I don't know. That might not be as good. I don't know. yeah, let's create conversations is my point. and like subscribe rate, share all that fun stuff. again, if you're checking this out for the first time and this actually sounds compelling to you and you want to download the PDF, there's a link in the description below. So you can just go right in and download it.

Think that's it. Yeah, there should only be.

Jon (19:51.335)
two, three more videos after this one. I mean, you're going to see them all at once. That's, that's how I'm to be releasing this show, but I'm thinking about what I need to do still. But yeah, thanks again. Talk to you, talk to you in the next episode and bye.