Elevate Your Podcast: The Best Tools for Captivating Your Audience

Larry Roberts  00:00

I think quality of the content and quality of the recording needs to be at the forefront of our thought process. So you can either have a podcast that sounds like this with a rich voice and a very clear tone. Or you can be back here and you can try to do your podcast from way off in the distance. And you have all this echo going on. Sounds like you're in a phone booth. Maybe. So.

Marc Ronick  00:22

You said phone booth.

Larry Roberts  00:23

Hey, what's happening everybody? Welcome back to another episode of podcast PhD with myself, Larry Roberts, and my co host today, Marc Ronick. I say today, it's not today. It's every day that we do the podcast. It makes it sound like Marc as a guest. This was Marc's idea he does let me tag along if we're gonna be honest here. So I appreciate the opportunity. Bart, what's going on, man?

Marc Ronick  00:51

What's up, Larry? Yeah, I think that we're so used to doing podcasts and helping other people do podcasts that we're always in the mind of okay, we're ones the host ones, the guest. I don't think we're used to doing the co host thing as much lately. I mean, I did it for like 10 years, but it's been a little while a little rusty. So I feel yet.

Larry Roberts  01:08

Yeah, I'm right there, man. My first podcast, honestly, was a co hosted podcast. And I remember we had no idea we, you know, today we're gonna be talking about tools. And to kind of put that in perspective. My very first podcast, I bought the absolute worst mic that you could possibly buy for recording a podcast. Blue is the company that makes it it's called the snowball. Yeah, my co host and I we sat, I'm still in the same house, my studio that I have now is built into my house. But at the time I didn't, I hadn't built out a studio by any means. And we were sitting in my game room, just on the other side of the wall here. And we sat on the Ottoman of my wife's favorite chair. And we gently cut that snowball because it's literally a ball. It's about the size of a softball, and it's white. And we took it off its little crappy little tripod. And we gently caressed it and held it in our hands. And we'd speak ever so gently into the microphone, and enunciate every word. And try not to breathe into the mic, so we'd get breath noises. And then after we were finished, we would pass the mic to the other person ever so gently, and then they would cup it, and then they would speak into it, and then pass it back. And we did this for like an hour and a half. And it was the worst podcast you'd ever heard in your life. But it was a hell of an experience and a very fun story to share.

Marc Ronick  02:23

Do you happen to have that recording still?

Larry Roberts  02:26

Honestly, it was so bad because he was the thing that was? So short answer no. Long answer was, I had been introduced to podcasting go figure because I listened to an episode of Joe Rogan. What is surprise? Yeah, weird, right. But I listened to it. And he had two comedians on that particular episode. It was Joey Diaz and Tony Hinchcliffe. And if you know anything about comedy, neither one of those guys are even remotely clean. They're about it isn't as rough as it gets. At least Joey Diaz has toned it back a little bit these days. But back then he was still super raw. Just super it and I was like, Okay, this is what podcasting is I can say these things and not get in trouble. This is amazing. So we set out to start a podcast, it was definitely going to be blue or near the comedy world means there's going to be some foul language and some dirty jokes, that sort of thing. And as we continue to sit there and pass that snowball back and forth, brother we were we were very, very blue. We were very, very, very, very, very blue. And when we listen back to it, not just was the audio quality, terrible, but the content was so terrible. That even my friend who was an open mic er here in the DFW area. He's like, Dude, that's just too bad. We can't We can't have people with service. We can't put this out there. We said horrible, horrible things. We can't release this. So no, I don't have that episode. I deleted that one. I do have several episodes of that podcast. So once we once we dialed it in. So those still exists or not published anywhere. But I did manage. You might be able to stumble across it somewhere out there. Maybe find some cover art. There's probably some cover art out there. But I don't think there's any episodes that are on the internet anymore because I had to purge that. Yeah. My

Marc Ronick  04:11

very first podcast was all about fantasy football. Okay, and I also had co hosts but we all did it even back then we all did it remotely. And the way that we did it remotely was we were using Skype, right like you and I use Riverside FM to do these things because you're in Dallas and I'm in North Carolina. So yeah, so we would use Skype which that was a well we can bleep it out. If we don't want to do it. That was a shitshow using Skype. Skype was just never dependable and look also talk about the connection back then. We didn't have high speed internet like we do today. It was very different than than today. So it was a struggle. I don't have it anymore. I wish I did although I just connected with my old co host and he at first told me He didn't have any copies anymore. And actually, just recently, he sent me a picture of a hard drive and said, Guess what I found? So he's got a bunch of those old episodes that I'm waiting for him to send my way. Yeah, I can't wait to hear it because I can't wait to pick it apart and hear it for the train wreck. It probably was. But yeah, I mean, that's where I learned, you know, this again, this is like 16 years ago. That's where I learned how to do my editing in Audacity, which quite frankly, still use Audacity once in a while today for some flair fix editing. Yeah, I have no problem with anybody using that using Audacity, we had to use Skype, we had to use third party software to connect everything to get it was a whole thing, by guessing has come a long way. But yeah, I think my lesson to everybody today, as far as this part of the conversation is save your work. Even if you're not going to keep it published out there. Make sure you're saving it somewhere, save those old episodes, because I have regrets. Now, I wish I could go back and hear a lot of those old recordings. Thankfully, it sounds like my co host has some now he was smart enough to save them. So yes, save your content, because it will take you a long way. As matter of fact, I saw not too long ago, Pat Flynn, who you know of, yeah, Pat Flynn, he posted something from like his first year of being in business. It was a video talking to his community, talking about the fact that he has this small little nook in his apartment, where he podcasts from, it's just amazing to be able to share that not only for yourself with yourself, but with your community to show them how far you've come. It's a pretty cool thing. So hold on to that stuff.

Larry Roberts  06:40

I have been talking to my previous co host. And we may be doing a reunion show one episode reunion show nothing, nothing long term. But we're talking about bringing it back. And we've been talking about that now for about six months. So hopefully we can find some time maybe later this year, or maybe in 2023 will bring back the tip. So we'll see how that works out. Yeah, a little subtle hint there to the day. Have you out. We came out here today to talk about tools. Yes, we did. And you dropped what is their Audacity? Man, Audacity is a great little free tool, a free editor that I think is great for especially beginner podcasters. And I'll tell you, I know some editors out there that use it still exclusive. Yep,

Marc Ronick  07:18

I have one of the editors that works for me at ironic media still uses it to this day, he was a guy that actually I ended up hiring for my old podcast, he was using it, then he's using it today. And I agree with you, it is great for beginners, it can be at least when you first open it up as a beginner, it can feel overwhelming, because there's a lot of bells and whistles on the dashboard of the screen. Once you just learned just a couple of the basic parts of that tool, then that's all you really need to worry about. It's not as intimidating as it looks. It's pretty straightforward. And yeah, if you're a beginner looking to do the more traditional style editing, that's a way to go. Larry, do you have I'll admit, I don't have a ton of experience yet with descript. That is a platform that I think could also be a huge benefit for a beginning podcaster because the editing style is completely different than the traditional style like Audacity. Yeah. And

Larry Roberts  08:18

then before we jump into the various for some reason we got off on to editing tools here in what is that? Yeah, people listening right now may not even understand what audacity is being used for. So when we record our podcast, we inevitably are going to need to edit those podcasts, whether it's for breath noises, or comes in US and other grammatical grunts. Or maybe somebody calls and you don't have your ringer off, like what happened in episode one of our show here. We left it in intentionally, but you may want to take that out. So in order to do that, you're going to take your audio files and take them and put them in a what is called a DAW or a DA W, which is a digital audio workstation that allows you to bring in the content, whether it's a WAV file or an mp3, it's your recording of your podcast, audio only, you bring that audio in in a variety of tracks, you may have a track for your intro music, you may have a track for your speaking parts, you may have a track for your guests audio, and then you may have a track for your outro as well. So you bring those in. And that's where you combine it all and create your final output, which is going to be your episode. So that's just kind of a high level overview of what you're doing in these tools that we're talking about whether it's Audacity or whether it's descript. And Marc to your question. I'm not overly familiar with the script. I've seen it. And I've played with it a little bit. But it's not a tool that I personally use when I do my own edits, which typically I have a team member do that for me. But I like I like Hindenburg. I'm a Hindenburg guy. So I love that one too.

Marc Ronick  09:50

Yeah, I've only dabbled with Hindenburg too, again, because I have found the tools that I'm just comfortable in so why bother like I'm fine with it. And I'm also not doing as much editing anymore either. That said Yeah, as far as the script goes, just to give those people that don't know about it descript the way that you edit is it pulls a transcription of the episode, when you drop in your file, it listens to it, it pulls out all the words. And there you are, you have the transcript to your show. And then you can edit things out by just like as if it were, say a word document, you find the area that you want to cut out, you highlight it, you hit delete, and it's gone from the actual audio recording. So it is a time saver. And it is probably easier for somebody who has no experience doing actual audio editing in whatever those platforms Audacity or elsewhere. Yeah, it's gonna give you that flexibility and ease to go in there and cut out the stuff that you don't want anymore in that episode before you go and publish it.

Larry Roberts  10:50

And then you end up you don't have to mess with a WAV file. You don't have to look at the audio WAV or anything like that be intimidated by visuals that you've never seen before. You can go in there and do it simply from a tax perspective. And correct me if I'm wrong, Marc but can't you do like a search for specific words or specific phrases and it will find it just like in a Word document?

Marc Ronick  11:09

Exactly. You can do those searches and it as functions where you can ask it to find all of the quote unquote, filler words. So like you alluded to earlier, things like um, and cars and even words like Like, those kinds of things, you can tell it what words you want out those filler words, and it has them by default as well. And it's just literally you say get rid of all the filler words, it finds them and boom, it's gone. It's pretty amazing.

Larry Roberts  11:37

That's cool, man. That's cool. It's something I definitely need to dig into a little bit deeper. It sounds like it's a great tool for beginners. Now, the difference there between Hindenburg or descript, or audacity, as we had mentioned before, is audacity is totally free.

Marc Ronick  11:51

Yeah. Good call. I'm glad that you mentioned that. Audacity is free. I think descript you can have I think they might give you a couple of hours for free or what have you. But again, if you're doing a weekly podcast, that's probably not enough, you'll probably end up having to pay for it. And it's really one of the only free editing tools I can think of off the top of my head. Yeah, I

Larry Roberts  12:10

don't know of another one. Is there an Apple version out there that not? I'm not a Mac guy. So I can't speak to Apple's side of things. But is there a free editor GarageBand or something?

Marc Ronick  12:19

Yep. GarageBand. And again, when I was podcasting myself for a long time, especially in the earlier years, I used both audacity and GarageBand. I used audacity for what I call the fine tune editing. And then for GarageBand. That's how I would assemble the episode, like the DAW system that you're talking about. That's where I would grab the individual tracks, and I would line them up and piece it all together to create that final product. And yes, that's free. If you've got Apple, it comes with the device that you purchase from them. So yeah, yeah, I

Larry Roberts  12:50

tried the whole apple thing. I think it was last year, I bought a MacBook Pro, I mean, just a cat daddy MacBook Pro. And I kept it for like two months, and then sold it at like 50 percentile. So somebody got a brand new MacBook Pro, for literally like half off. That was a very expensive test.

Marc Ronick  13:05

Yeah, I converted over to Mac probably about a decade ago, and I've been really happy with it for my podcasting experience. And I get it because when you get super used to one operating system, it's really challenging to have to adapt to a new one.

Larry Roberts  13:22

Yeah, patience is not my virtue. So yeah.

Marc Ronick  13:26

You and me both my friend, you and me both. So let's talk a little bit about some hardware. I see we both are using the same microphone and leave based on yours is cut off a little bit there on my screen. Yep. Yeah, I think we're using the same one. The Shure SM seven B. That's a Pro Tool. In my opinion, you mentioned we're going to be talking about these different levels. Absolutely a Pro Tool, absolutely something if you're just starting out, you don't need it's a $400 microphone, it's been that way for as long as I've known. I've had this specific Shure SM seven B for about 10 years. That mean I have not replaced it. It's been something I can rely on. So to me that $400 investment I made back then was well worth it. Now looking back, and you don't know if you're going to be podcasting for 16 years, right. So maybe don't make that investment right away. What would you suggest Larry to a beginner, as far as a microphone goes,

Larry Roberts  14:19

not a snowball would? Yeah, my first suggestion, but it's kind of interesting if you if you if you look at the progression of my mics, I started off with a snowball realize that that just was not the right mic to be using. And then I will call it upgraded to an Audio Technica ATR 2100. Yep. And that's actually not a terrible mic for podcasting. And it's really great for the beginner podcaster because it's a USB mic. You don't need any sort of interface in order to power the mic. So you can take that USB, plug it directly into your laptop or your desktop machine and you're ready to rock. It's that simple. I was literally just on Amazon this morning. The ATR right now is going for $78 on Amazon and there's a knockoff of the Audio Technica ATR that's called a SAM Sun S A M su in Samsung Q to you. That's really the exact same mic with the exact same functionality sounds great F and it was even 20 bucks less this morning. It was $58 right now on Amazon so you can get some really good sounding mics without dropping a whole lot of coin on that mic. Now I transitioned from the Audio Technica, up to the Heil PR 40 It was a huge Cliff Ravenscraft fan. And Cliff he traditionally use the Heil PR 40 And I invested in his podcasting kit back in the day, I think he would call himself what was the Podcast Answer, man? And yeah, well, I bought the Podcast Answer man's podcasting kit, and it was a high LPR 40 with an interface and everything now I say it has an interface because the high LPR 40 is an XLR microphone, so meaning it has that traditional about the size of a nickel connection on the end of the microphone with the three prongs that you typically see on audio setups. So that's an XLR microphone. And with an XLR mic, you have to have something that provides it with phantom power. And that's typically an interface. So now we're transitioning from a simple USB plug directly into my machine to now I'm upgrading to microphones, now I have to have an interface. Now I'm opening up the door to all this other equipment that I'm going to need in order to continue to do my podcast. So that's why we caution you when you're deciding how you're going to start out. Now from the high LPR 40. I ended up with this mic right here that I'm using today. As you said, Marc, it's a Shure SM7b. And not only is it an XLR mic, but it's also a very power hungry XLR mic. So I have my sure SM seven be going into an interface and also going into a cloud lifter, which gives it a little bit more power. Because again, this is a very power hungry microphone. So now I've not only introduced an interface, I've also introduced a power boost in the line as well. So now I've introduced more investment on my part, these are all things that you need to consider when you're starting your podcasting journey, just how much of an investment you want to make right out of the gate with your equipment.

Marc Ronick  17:16

And I do want to point out that the Samsung cue to you and I believe the ATR 2100, they actually have both capabilities of the USB and XLR, which is another reason why I recommend it to people because it does give you that flexibility, should you upgrade your equipment and move into something which I'm sure we'll get into a bit the road caster Pro or Pro to this way, you don't have to get an entirely different mic when you've been using it as a USB. Well, now you can just plug it right in as an XLR to that board. So that's another great reason to consider one of those two microphones. And by the way, they sound great, too. I mean, they really do a nice job. And that actually leads me to Larry, how important is it to have a microphone, because there are some podcasters out there that are getting started that may not want to make an investment even though it's maybe under 100 bucks, they're just not ready to make the investment yet. Is that a good idea? Or can they get away with doing it's a recording with their computer mic or their phones? Mike? What What are your thoughts?

Larry Roberts  18:24

Can you get away with it? Sure, you can get away with it. But I think quality of the content and quality of the recording needs to be at the forefront of our thought process. So you can either have a podcast that sounds like this with a rich voice and a very clear tone. Or you can be back here and you can try to do your podcast from way off in the distance. And you have all this echo going on. It sounds like you're in a phone booth. Maybe.

Marc Ronick  18:49

You said phone booth.

Larry Roberts  18:51

I did say phone booth. I'm old you guys might even know what the heck a phone booth is to be honest with you. So you end up with a very tinny sounding recording. And we want to have as good audio quality as possible. So what I recommend using a phone No What I recommend using your built in mic in your laptop, most definitely not. But in a pinch. You can do that. Sure.

Marc Ronick  19:16

Yeah, I'm with you. Of course you can get away with it. Like I don't want you to not do your podcast because you don't have a microphone. waiting for that to go away.

Larry Roberts  19:25

You see how good a mic is. If a mic can pick up on all of these noises. You know you got a high quality mic up here. Oh my God, what's going on man? What's happening over there.

Marc Ronick  19:38

So basically we moved into a new home and this home is going to be eventually turned into an air b&b. So we're getting it ready. And this is an electrician that's in here getting things ready for the hot tub which by the way, I did not want the hot tub but my wife insisted that it has to have a Hot Tub. So here we are. Because as you know, Larry, the wife wins,

Larry Roberts  20:04

happy wife happy life for all. I think it's a good add on for an Airbnb, I mean, you can up the price point a little bit if you got that hot tub there.

Marc Ronick  20:11

That's what she tells me. So that's, that's what I'm going with. So back to the microphones, what I wanted to say is, yeah, I don't want it to stop you from podcasting. And if you are looking to make an impact right out of the gate, if you are looking to differentiate your podcast from say, the teenager who's trying to do when in his basement of his parents house, doing it with a microphone is going to make that distinction, it instantly sounds more professional, and it's easier on the ear of the audience, the audience isn't going to say necessarily, the average listener isn't going to say, you know, oh, they're not using the microphone, this is terrible. But they're going to notice, they're going to hear that difference. And if the listening experience is not pleasurable, they're more than likely going to bounce out and find something that is, so that's why I always encourage, get one of those microphones again, like you said, it's not going to cost you more than 60 to 80 bucks, you will sound wonderful, just with that one tool alone.

Larry Roberts  21:17

So microphones it is man, we got a great microphones I want you to go with there. You know, one of the questions I get asked a lot and when it comes to equipment is I don't need headphones. So why do we need headphones, Marc?

Marc Ronick  21:27

Yeah. And also the question I get is what kind to get? And sure, my first answer to that second question is whatever kind feels and sounds good to you. Because I can't tell you what you like about the things that you hear only you can really address that. I mean, we could kind of talk that through a little bit. But ultimately, it's what's easy on your ears, what feels right, and literally physically what feels right on your head, and what sounds good in your ear. So that's the first thing I say. And then as far as why do you need them? Well, for one, it's going to prevent things like feedback. If you are coming through a speaker and you're using one of these microphones, we've talked about the fact that I've got this drilling going on, that's going to be picked up even more, I say, gotta do some sort of earphones for that, or ear buds. Now I use ear buds. And I gotta tell you, there is a disadvantage to it, in my opinion, because when you talk about the like, over the head, headphones, those are keeping the sound within your ears. When I have the earbuds, I like my volume a little bit louder, it's going to start bleeding through sometimes into the microphone and pick up a lot of feedback that way. So those are two areas. And then the last area, it's for you to be able to hear how you sound in the microphone. Your example, Larry, when you were showing the how it might sound if you're using your computer mic by standing far away from your microphone, you can notice that if by accident, you start straying from your microphone, you'll hear it right away how you sound. So you're instantly No, I gotta lean back in a little bit more to the microphone. It's a great indicator to keep your audio consistent from start to finish. Yeah, 100%.

Larry Roberts  23:12

You nailed it. And there's so many different types of good news. You got your earbuds in there. Right now I'm leveraging some studio monitors. And we were talking about this before we even started recording today, these monitors that I have in my ears now because I didn't want to go with the over the ear cans for the for the podcast. So I will put the monitors but these monitors, I'm not going to take them out to show you what they are. These things go deep in your ear. I mean, look how deep that goes in there. But it also blocks out all the sound around me. But even these and I spent quite a bit of money on these, oh, I want to say these are two or 300 Our studio monitors. And they really don't sound that great to me. They're they're very tinny, they're very hollow, there's no bass, and they're not a lot of fun to listen to. But you need to have something to hear what's going on. And I was trying to go for that more inconspicuous look this morning. So I was using my studio mon right. But typically, what take this other one out here by can without ripping my glasses off. That's the pain about them too, is that they're not real easy to get on and off. But typically, you're gonna see me rocking my over the ear cans here. This is this is actually my favorite set of headphones, right? And it serves the same purpose. I love the whole over the ear thing because again, just like the studio monitors do, they block out all that other sound. And I hear exactly what I sound like. But with these right now, I really hear exactly what I sound like because these have bass to them. So my studio monitors that I was using before I can hear my voice, but it's definitely not an accurate representation of how I truly sound. So going back to what you were saying before Marc, it's really what works best for you and how you can best monitor how you sound. That's what they're for. 

Marc Ronick  24:52

All right well, we need to know we got to tell the audience what specific earbuds and headphones we're using here. Those white ones that you're talking to About in the monitors. So I'm using the Apple earbuds, the wired Apple earbuds, just something that I'm just used to using. It's comfortable for me. And I'm happy using it. So what are those big white headphones you're using and then tell us about the monitors that used to the big

Larry Roberts  25:16

white ones here. I literally have these in just about every color they come in, they cut about six or seven different colors from orange to purple to blue to white to black. And I think there was some some seasonal colors as well that they introduced. So it's the a a at the Audio Technica, I don't even know Marc. It's the Audio Technica APXm 50s. That's what I'm using right here. I've got them in wireless, I've got them wired, I love them. They run about 100 a half. So I've been collecting them for a few years. It wasn't like I just went out and dumped a wad of cash on all these different headphones. But you know, you got to match the outfit, bro.

Marc Ronick  25:49

Yeah, they have red to match the Red Hat. They do not have red. Ironically enough, you didn't need a signature Larry Roberts addition of those and make them in red.

Larry Roberts  25:59

I don't disagree at all. Yeah. Now these ear monitors that I have there. sures. Okay. And it's it's not quite the entry level. Sure. And it's the same manufacturer that makes the mic there. The Shore studio monitors the 425 scaccia. That's the model numbers four to five. And again, I think they were around 299 is I think what I spent on them, but they're great for hiding your headphones and being inconspicuous on video. But they don't sound the best. So sorry. Sure you make great mics. But your studio monitors, they could use a little boost.

Marc Ronick  26:32

Yeah, I mean, I forget which pair I might have had like one level down from the one you just described. And even on the box, it's advertised, as you know, with extra bass. And I put that in the in my years and there was no bass of the well, that's where yeah, if that's an extra, I want to hear the other ones because what was in it in the first place, it really does not do well for me. And I like hearing how I actually sound and how the person on the other end sounds if we're doing something like this. So I want that base. I want it to feel like I'm listening to the podcast as we're doing it. So that's why I avoid them.

Larry Roberts  27:08

Very cool. We kind of run the gamut here on some of the basics of equipment. We talked about microphones and headphones and DAWs. I think that's a good starting point for a lot of folks, don't you? Yeah, absolutely.

Marc Ronick  27:19

I think so too, because I teased it and we should just mention the road caster pro because we both use them. I think you have the original I got the road caster Pro two, is that right? I'm a gen one kind of guy. Yeah, both great options. And as a matter of fact, if you are at that point where you do want to upgrade and get something like the road caster Pro which is basically a mixer, it's something that allows you to run all sorts of components into one spot and record it all together. So for example, I have my computer plugged into it, I have an iPad plugged into it, my microphone, it basically marries everything together for you. It's a great tool and when I was gonna say is if you're looking to get into that, you could probably get that first generation for a lot less money than it was when it came out when it came out. It was like $600 Now that there's a gen two out they've reduced the price of gen one so you might be able to find them used you might be able to find them new at a much better cost the full price of the road caster Pro to last I checked was actually around $700 It's one I will tell you i i did upgrade I probably would not have upgraded if I wasn't in this business. The original is enough for me I just wanted to get this so that I could be able to speak to it in case people have questions about it. So and I'm still learning it as you know when we were setting up earlier to record this podcast so yeah, I'm still learning it and I would say really it is for the more advanced this is for the people that know they are in this for the long haul. They are not one of those statistics that you've mentioned, where you know, they started podcast and pod faded and they're gone. Now these are people that are committed. That's the kind of person that I would recommend something like this too. And of course, if you've got multiple people in the room that you're recording with, where you and I were doing this live, then we could plug in extra microphones, etc. It makes it much easier. And so with that, Larry, do you have any recommendations if somebody maybe needs something like this, but doesn't want to spend the money on a road caster Pro to Yeah, I

Larry Roberts  29:26

mean I'm a huge fan of some brand new product that just came out recently. It's called the VO caster vo CST or it's the VO caster and if made by focus, right, it's a great little interface gives you some of the functionality that you get in the road caster but at a much lower price point and there's a vo caster one that works for the solo podcaster still allows you to connect a phone and have guests on there with you as well. Or if you're in an environment like we would love to be side by side doing this live there's a vo caster two which has two microphone inputs and gives have that flexibility as well, so much lower price point than the road caster. But I gotta tell you Marc, the rodecaster, it changed my life, it made it so simple because I had built up my equipment and I still got a ton of it in the closet over here. Like I had my interface, I had a mechanical noise gate, I had a mechanical compressor. So I had all of this equipment that was stacked on top of each other sitting here on my desktop. And it was so difficult to wire it all together and get it all to work. So I'm not an audio engineer, I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. And it was super intimidating as a podcaster to try to bring all those components in. And something like a vo caster or something like a road caster. Man, it just makes your life so much simpler. So I highly recommend that you're looking to doing something like that if you move forward with an XLR type microphone with an XLR interface.

Marc Ronick  30:50

Yeah, I do too. And maybe if you are at, say the beginning phases of your podcast, the only time that I would recommend something like a mixer, is what I was mentioning earlier, if you've got multiple people in studio with you in the same room with you, you're gonna likely need a device like that, in order to really make this happen. You can't plug in multiple microphones into your computer and expect it to know that there are multiple microphones in it, it just doesn't work like that there is sometimes software for that. And as matter of fact, I will make sure we have it in the show notes road has come out with a digital version of the road caster Pro, it's actual software that will help you manage the multiple microphones etc. And you can actually get it for a monthly subscription fee if you wanted to as well. So if which we hope you never do if you were to pod vade I guess that would be a way to save a little money, you could cancel it at any point but or maybe let's say if you're going to upgrade to hardware, then you could cancel that monthly subscription. So yeah, I think you want to make sure you have that option. If you really have multiple components going on within your podcasts, that would be the only time as a beginner you have to consider something like that

Larry Roberts  32:07

100%. So I think we're in good spots there. We got microphones, we have interfaces, we have headphones, all the basics that you need to go ahead, hit that record button and get started.

Marc Ronick  32:16

And there are plenty more tools that I'm sure we will visit down the road, things that you can do to help promote your podcast, for example. So there are lots of different tools that we will dig into and share with you along the way. Stick around because we will make sure that you get as much information as possible. All right, Larry, this is a great stopping point. I think we have plenty more tools that we'll dig into here at podcast, Ph. D. And by the way, speaking to tools, our website is from pod page.com. That is a simple way to create your podcasts website easily. We'll put a link in the show notes to that as well. All you got to do is give them your RSS feed, plug it in and it will populate your entire website for you create individual dedicated episode pages. It gives you spots for blogs for video, all sorts of bells and whistles on there is a wonderful service. And it allows you to continue to podcast so that you don't have to also now be a web developer on top of that. So again, our website podcast Ph D dot Pro, please check us out there. And you can find all sorts of great podcasts and nuggets and information from our website. We hope to see you there and until then, Larry. Yeah, I'll see you on the next episode.

Larry Roberts  33:35

Thanks Marc. We'll talk to you next time.