The Podcast Engineering Show

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PES 155: Andrew Gelina Nov 07, 2019

Show notes

My guest is Andrew Gelina - host of Underserved (a podcast aimed at the tech industry) and CEO of the software consulting firm Syrinx.

We discussed so much:

Shure SM7b (love/hate relationship)
Shure SM58's
All mics go through Cloudlifters, SM7B also goes through a dbx 286s
Behringer Xenyx 1832 mostly just for mix minus to two dedicated Skype machines
Zoom-Zoom setup (H6 as primary recorder of all vox on separate channels, H5 as a backup off the mixer/backup mode -12db as well)
Copy 48K/24 bit WAVs off Zooms to a Dell Windows 10 PC (desktop, 4 monitors), import into Reaper
WAVs rendered, converted to MP3, upload to Libsyn for distribution to everywhere, and use Libsyn for podcast website too.
Backblaze for backups, Microsoft OneDrive for syncing, and a Macbook Pro laptop for working on editing mobile and experimenting with video.
Started with Audacity for an episode, then learned Reaper
Normalize each track separately to -23 LUFS with SWS Extension (free)
Auto Trim / Split Silence 250 ms -32db (Reaper built-in) on all tracks
Custom LUA script I had built by Raymond Radet (https://www.extremraym.com/) to do a Truncate Silence like Audacity, similar to Overcast's Smart Speed
Each track has iZotope RX 7 voice denoise, breath control, de-ess, mouth click, plosive, adjusted as needed (paid)
Sonible Smart EQ – learn each track's voice separately. (paid)
AWESOME Dugan-style automixer script (free) https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=173289
Master channel: Ozone 8 to add a little air, Tri-Leveler 2 (free) to get to -16 LUFS, Limiter, Loudness meter
Render to 48K/24 bit mono wav, watch peaks.
Custom Python script watches /renders directory, converts WAVs to MP3 using ffmpeg (yes, LAME encoder, I know) and copies out to my private www server for QA.
Second pass of editing I work backwards using timestamped notes to avoid shifting things out from under myself.
Libsyn – I think they update tags IN the mp3 FROM their data, not the other way around. I checked in VLC. Other Audacity holdover.
I would love to help you make Reaper your home – no Sound Forge or separate RX 7 needed!
Multi-platform Reaper editing is interesting – use OneDrive to allow bouncing back and forth between Windows and Mac editing the same episode/files. Relative paths turned on, copy to /Media. VST paths set for both Win/Mac. Export complete configuration from Reaper (Win) to Reaper (Mac).
Andrew's Favorite PES episodes/guests: Mike Delgaudio, Dan Dugan, Dan Gonzalez
My kids can now recite Barry lines when they hear them drop in the car

Thanks for being a great guest, Andrew!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 154: The Best Mix of Host vs. Intro Music?, and Chris's Goody Bag Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

What does a good mix between a hosts voice and the intro music sound like? Hear my voice at 3 different levels over the same music and decide which one you prefer! Do you like the voice louder over the music, or the voice buried within the music, or a happy medium?

*Comment here with which level of voice you liked best: Clip 1, 2 or 3!

Also enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody's (from Aug. 30 - Sep. 11). Here's the link to view all those blog posts. And don't forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Announcement: The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020

Did you learn anything from this episode? Let me know by commenting below.

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know :)

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 153: Sarah Wendel Oct 24, 2019

Show notes

My guest is Sarah Wendel - editor and sound designer. She's an editor for Astonishing Legends and has a background in film audio production. And previously nominated for an Emmy!

We discussed tons including:

Pro Tools Ultimate
She was speaking through a Shure SM7b microphone
Sometimes she records legal disclaimers herself
Pro Tools First - has limited functionality
Mbox Pro (allows 5.1 deliverables)
Monitors: Dynaudio MkII's - 8" woofers
Audio-Technica Headphones
She sometimes checks mixes on earbuds
Argosy Halo sit/stand desk - https://argosyconsole.com/halo/halo-ge
Building the room - one bay, designer Gary Hedden, the HVAC System is incredibly quiet.
Pro Tools episode templates
Processing: EQ, roll off low frequencies,
iZotope RX7: Noise reduction and dialogue cleanup
Waves plugins: Compressor, De-esser, L2 at end
Vox subgroup with peak limiter on it
Stems - a component of audio segregated from all other audio
Mixing in sound design elements
Philosophy of compression
Philosophy of editing
Sarah's favorite plugin? Mouth De-click ;)

Thanks for being a great guest, Sarah!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 152: Chris's Goody Bag Oct 17, 2019

Show notes

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody's (from Aug. 18 - Aug. 29). Here's the link to view all those blog posts. And don't forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Thanks to Focusrite for sponsoring this episode! If you haven't checked out the new Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen. series of interfaces yet, you can see them here.

Announcements:

The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020
Upcoming episodes: Sarah Wendel and Andrew Gelina!

Big Thanks to Jim Harold, creator and host of The Paranormal Podcast and more, for purchasing his custom settings for the Scheps Omni Channel plugin from Waves. This is a service I offer to help people dial in the best sound for themselves.

And thank you everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know :)

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 151: Andrew Chadwick Oct 10, 2019

Show notes

My guest is Andrew Chadwick, long time radio engineer, and audio mixer and editor for Pod Save America!

We discussed so much - here's a few things we covered:

Extreme time pressure when producing audio
Receive files, make edits, mix and assemble the show
Submitting audio for QC
Tight turnaround: Start recording at 1 PM Central, finish recording around 2:30 PM Central, post at 4 PM Central
Manually ducking everyone when they're not speaking
Adobe Audition
Different sessions for each segment of the show
Limiting
Audition's Tube compressor plugin
Mix to 32 bit 44.1kHz WAV file, then create the MP3
AM Radio experience

Thanks for being a great guest, Andrew!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 150: Chris's Goody Bag Oct 03, 2019

Show notes

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody's (from Aug. 2 - Aug. 13). Here's the link to view all those blog posts. And don't forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Thanks to Focusrite for sponsoring this episode! If you haven't checked out the new Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen. series of interfaces yet, you can see them here.

NOTE: I did not do any post processing on any of the audio in this episode, in order for you to hear the difference between the two microphones as well as the Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen.

Sounds a lot different from a normal episode, right? That's because of the lack of compression and EQ, etc.

Announcements:

The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020
Upcoming episodes: Andrew Chadwick and Sarah Wendel!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know :)

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 149: Tom Kelly Sep 26, 2019

Show notes

My guest is Tom Kelly - audio engineer, podcast producer and editor at Clean Cut Audio. Check out his own shows - Reminiscent, Podcast Me Anything, and Podcarnage.

We discussed almost a million things, including:

Shure SM7b
Apogee Ensemble
Pro Tools 12
Double enders
AKG Perception 420
Macbook Pro (maxed out)
Waves WLM meter on Master Buss to determine LUFS level.
Noise Shaping 1, 2, or 3 dither - when downsampling from 24 bit to 16 bit.
MP3 - 128kbps stereo,
Keyboard shortcuts
Kensington SlimBlade trackball
Strip silence, threshold of -29 db
RX6 voice de-noise
RX6 de-reverb
Waves de-esser
FabFilter Pro-Q 3
Waves Vocal Rider
Waves API 2500
All vocals sent to stereo aux
LinMB
Maxim (only catching clips/peaks, not actually doing any dynamic work)
Dither noise-shaping 3
WAV files: 16 bit / 44.1 kHz
MP3s: 128kbps stereo
Yamaha HS7s
ATH-M50 headphones
Squadcast
Klipsch earbuds

Thanks for being a great guest, Tom!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 148: Chris's Goody Bag Sep 19, 2019

Show notes

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody's (from July 19 - July 31). Here's the link to view all those blog posts. And don't forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Announcements:

The start date for the next PES will be January 14, 2020
Join the Podcaster's Lounge livestreams every Wednesday 9-11 PM Eastern / 6-8 PM Pacific via YouTube, Twitch, or Facebook!
Whoever is your best friend who podcasts, please share this show with them today. Tell them, "Hey - you should check out The Podcast Engineering Show."
The newly formed International Podcast Association wants to hear your voice! Please take a short survey here: https://internationalpodcastassociation.org/survey
Upcoming episodes: Tom Kelly, Andrew Chadwick, and Sarah Wendel!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know :)

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 147: Scott Somerville Sep 12, 2019

Show notes

My guest is Scott Somerville, audio engineer and podcast producer!

Here's some of what we discussed in terms of Scott's equipment, software, workflow, etc.:

Wondery studio: Mac mini, UA Apollo 8 interface, Cloudlifter, RE20's, Pro Tools. Plays theme song, adds a segment, edits it, mixes it, Art19 for hosting, etc.
Headphones: Sony MDR7506
Speakers: Genelec 1029 (powered) with 4" woofers
Home - SM57, UA Apollo (2 inputs)
Mobile - Macbook pro, Presonus interface, various mics
Plugins: Waves SSL E and G channel strips, Waves F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ (adaptable in itself, vocal cleaner preset), Waves WLM+ to monitor levels
iZotope RX: de-click, etc.
Lots of automation
He chimes in on the "Ask Eliza Anything" podcast

Thanks for being a great guest, Scott!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

PES 146: Chris's Goody Bag Sep 05, 2019

Show notes

Enjoy my brief overview of recent Daily Goody's (from July 5 - July 17). Here's the link to view all those blog posts. And don't forget that you can sign up to receive the Daily Goody in your email every day or once per week. Sign up here.

Announcements:

The newly formed International Podcast Association wants to hear your voice! Please take a short survey here: https://internationalpodcastassociation.org/survey
The next semester of PES starts September 10, 2019 -- and the next semester after that will start in January 2020!
Join our Podcaster's Lounge livestreams every Wednesday 9-11 PM Eastern / 6-8 PM Pacific via YouTube, Twitch, or Facebook!
Upcoming episodes: Scott Somerville, Tom Kelly, and Andrew Chadwick!

Big Thanks to everyone who comments on the website Daily Goody posts!

I appreciate you listening, and if you have any questions please let me know :)

If you know anyone who would like to learn more about the technical production of podcasts, please share this show with them.

Punarmilāma!

DID YOU KNOW........We exist for the purpose of helping you, so please comment below with any questions or remarks. We appreciate you listening.

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