Equipment for Podcast Guests!

0:04

[Applause]

0:06

if there's one thing we've learned about

0:07

business in life is that people are the

0:09

X Factor they constantly surprise us

0:12

both in amazing ways and not so much

0:15

we're B Andia and welcome to n on this

0:18

business bites podcast this show is all

0:21

about real life things we all deal with

0:23

every day how they relate to business

0:26

and how to make some sense out of our

0:28

daily chaos welcome to the

0:31

[Music]

0:40

show and welcome back to another episode

0:43

of non this business bites well I don't

0:46

know if you heard cni's rant a week or

0:50

so ago about podcast guests and you know

0:54

what we maybe we went off a little bit

0:56

you know we were we went off a little

0:58

strong but you know what it in our mind

1:01

it needed to be said it taking taking by

1:03

the the the comments that we probably

1:05

got is I will bet that we weren't that

1:08

far off from a lot of people because I

1:10

know a lot of podcasters and they all

1:12

say the same thing today we want to talk

1:17

about the technology we want to talk as

1:20

a podcast guest what we can do to be

1:24

able to make sure that we have the right

1:29

technology

1:30

in play and it doesn't have to cost us a

1:34

fortune but to be able to make sure that

1:37

we present ourselves in the best light

1:41

and the best sound possible to be that

1:44

great guest on a show so seea let's know

1:49

on this oh look peoples you you heard it

1:53

from me all the time if you're going to

1:55

be a guest a lot understand there's a

1:58

very big difference but between being a

2:00

guest on a live stream and a podcast and

2:03

a zoom call yes okay I see too many

2:08

people treating live streams and

2:10

podcasts like a zoom call and to

2:14

me it makes and it diminishes the

2:18

content greatly because yes it's a

2:21

conversation but it's still meant to

2:24

edify

2:25

entertain right uh

2:28

engage so

2:30

Zoom calls to me are usually

2:32

meetings we have an action item we're

2:34

doing something we're doing a task

2:36

collaborating on something a live stream

2:39

podcast is usually meant to entertain in

2:43

a conversational way that's going to be

2:46

interesting interesting is a key word

2:48

here but here's the fun part if you're

2:51

in doing a collaboration over zoom and

2:53

you're doing work you don't care what

2:55

you guys look like and you care you

2:56

don't care what you sound like because

2:57

that's not the priority you're working

2:59

on I don't know some TPS reports that

3:01

you guys got to fill out okay but if

3:03

you're doing a live streaming podcast

3:05

guess what your priority should be how

3:07

you look at how you

3:09

sound that that's my thesis for today I

3:12

I'll never

3:13

forget I had just started a podcast

3:18

about five six years ago it was it was

3:21

it and i' landed a

3:25

fairly prominent guest who was a

3:27

worldwide speaker and he said yeah I'd

3:30

love to be on your show you know I you

3:32

know i' love what you're doing love to

3:33

be on your show you know do it so he

3:35

booked booked the meeting and I said

3:37

great wonderful I get a call from him

3:40

three weeks before and said um I'm going

3:43

to be in

3:45

Portugal I said okay he says it says you

3:48

know I'll readjust the time so we

3:49

readjust the time for the

3:51

recording but what he didn't tell me was

3:55

he was going to be on his cell

3:57

phone in a museum that was built into a

4:03

cave it was the most

4:05

echoey

4:07

staticky

4:09

podcast what I should have done and this

4:12

is on me this is on me I should have

4:14

said look why do we reschedule this for

4:17

when you're back when you're in your

4:19

studio because this guy's you know this

4:21

guy has a studio that was like a cockpit

4:23

he I think he had four different cameras

4:25

two different mics you know it was it

4:28

was perfectly sound I great we're going

4:29

to have a perfect great interview and

4:32

I'm on the middle of a cell phone in

4:34

Portugal in the middle of this Museum

4:36

that's built into a cave and you know

4:39

the echo on this thing was

4:42

abysmal and it killed me and I went I

4:46

can't ask him to re redo it but you can

4:50

here's the thing as a as a host you're

4:52

saying says look you're not going to

4:54

sound your

4:56

best you're not going to sound your best

4:58

you're going to come off as not as good

5:01

as you can be and my job is enable you

5:03

to shine let's

5:05

reschedule yep and that's my fault

5:08

that's my fault for not having the guts

5:10

to be able to stand up and say hey but

5:13

we need to think of when we're on a

5:17

podcast this is not a oneandone type

5:20

thing podcasts and live streams live

5:23

forever yep they live

5:26

forever and people are going to go back

5:28

and look at the library some of my most

5:30

popular podcast episodes are four and

5:33

five years old yep that people just go

5:36

back and listen to them over and over

5:38

and over again and they're four and five

5:40

years old they have no video attached to

5:42

them they're Audio Only but the content

5:45

of them are so good and the guests are

5:46

so good that people just go back and

5:49

they look for them

5:51

great but they come down to the fact

5:55

that those guests were prepared and had

5:59

a proper

6:01

location to be able to do the podcast so

6:04

they sounded good they didn't sound tiny

6:07

they didn't sound echoey they you know

6:10

were actually had a live mic they

6:12

actually had earphones in and they were

6:15

in a quiet place and they weren't on

6:18

Wi-Fi they were actually hardwired or if

6:20

they were on Wi-Fi they were right next

6:22

to the router so they could have steady

6:25

stream and it's th it's those simple

6:28

little things it's those simple little

6:31

things you know what I have been on a

6:33

podcast where I've I've inter people

6:35

interviewed people with on their

6:38

iPhone with a set of you know just

6:41

standard

6:43

earbuds and have had great Audio Only

6:46

interviews that that is that is the

6:50

critical component here guys you don't

6:52

have to spend a lot of money to look and

6:54

sound good you do not you could use your

6:57

phone if your phone is newer okay

7:00

uh it doesn't take you could even put

7:03

your phone if you have to use your phone

7:06

uh on like a bookshelf or whatever and

7:08

just leaning it up against and so you

7:10

could get in a proper position and just

7:12

do what you need to do put your earbuds

7:14

in and by the way I get this question

7:17

all the time Ben well I've got a

7:19

microphone why do I need an earbud I'm

7:21

using my laptop

7:22

speaker so do you want to answer that

7:25

question or shall I you can but it

7:27

sounds to echo echo echo echo echo

7:31

echo yeah you may not hear your own Echo

7:34

but we can hear it and it makes it

7:36

unlistenable it makes you unlistenable

7:40

so guys you can get and I I actually

7:42

still have it this is I stole from Avis

7:46

I don't know how why I ever I don't even

7:48

use Avis so I don't even know how I got

7:50

it I I I loathe to think I might have

7:52

stole out of someone else's ear um but

7:55

no yeah a cheapy thing here's the thing

7:57

you guys when we ask you for those ear

7:59

earbuds whatever it's not because we

8:01

want you to buy a can like this now

8:03

granted if you're editing obviously this

8:05

is really good for all that but you just

8:07

need to hear there you go you just need

8:10

enough to hear you don't need to hear in

8:12

Stereo stereo stereo okay we don't need

8:14

that but what we're saying is is this

8:16

little thing here prevents us and your

8:19

microphone from picking up that audio

8:21

and that's what's happening it's

8:23

catching everyone else's uh audio so I

8:27

there's some people just don't

8:28

understand that I'm trying to be patient

8:30

here and give Grace that's why we don't

8:32

need to hear our own voices in your

8:34

micro microphone so and speaking of

8:37

which depending on how old your laptop

8:40

is some of the mics are pretty damn good

8:43

they're getting better yeah but it's not

8:45

radio quality so if you want the if you

8:48

want the radio quality sound and how you

8:50

doing today then you might want to

8:52

invest into it um but you don't need to

8:54

invest into a lot the cheapy ones you

8:56

can get for under 50 bucks they actually

8:58

work pretty deep decently now I have an

9:00

Audio Technica mic right here okay this

9:03

Audio Technica mic is

9:07

$69 it's a

9:10

$69

9:12

microphone and does a phenomenal

9:15

job you know sure I've also got A500 or

9:18

$600 sure

9:20

mic but the mic that I use every single

9:23

day is this

9:26

at: 2005

9:31

practical it plugs right into my headset

9:34

and it's and it's it just sit there it's

9:37

it's comfortable with my voice you know

9:39

it it actually works with my

9:42

voice I love it I have the: 2100

9:45

this is my go-to is has been infallible

9:48

I've had this baby since: 2017

9:50

never never not knock on uh Audio

9:53

Technica at all I just happen to have a

9:56

Shore now just because I like the sound

9:58

of the shores too but yeah

10:01

guys there are brands that are popular I

10:04

will say one thing I don't like the blue

10:06

yeti I'm just gonna say it I don't like

10:09

the blue yeti sorry Blue Yeti don't like

10:11

it don't want it and I hate it when I

10:14

see clients using it I I don't

10:16

understand some people sound great with

10:19

the blue yeti and others I swear to God

10:22

I would just want to shoot myself like

10:23

seriously it's really it's really simple

10:26

most people don't know how to use a blue

10:28

Betty they have it too far from their

10:30

too far from their voice they don't have

10:33

a wind screen on it they are not what

10:35

you want to do is there's a there's a a

10:37

mode on it it's got a heart on it that's

10:39

the that's the mode you want to be on

10:42

you want the mode that's got the heart

10:43

on it I can't remember what it is but

10:44

it's it's a heart mode okay and you also

10:47

want to put attach it to a boom mic so

10:49

it can be so it can be near it can be

10:51

near you you also don't want to talk

10:53

directly into it you want to talk across

10:56

it some mics you want to talk directly

10:59

into it some mics you want to talk

11:01

across some Tes you want to talk to the

11:03

side it depends on how the mic is built

11:06

and you need to you know you need to

11:08

look at your individual mic and

11:10

experiment with it and see how do I best

11:14

come across I need to be sitting here

11:18

going let's see it's looking from from

11:20

my chin to the mic is about that far

11:23

that's about the dist that's about the

11:24

distance that it is you know some people

11:26

want to be right up next to it and you

11:29

can tell the difference when I'm right

11:30

here and when I'm right here you can

11:33

tell the difference in terms of the

11:34

sound so therefore it enables you to be

11:37

able to sit there going am I clear or

11:39

not and what you can do is you can ask

11:41

your host how am I coming in am I coming

11:45

in

11:46

clear the same thing goes with video the

11:49

same thing comes with video are you well

11:52

lit you know if you have a window right

11:55

in front of you that's open guess what

11:59

if it's on the side it's fine if it's

12:01

right in front of you you're going to go

12:03

completely you know gray you know you're

12:06

just going to go you're just going to go

12:07

blackface and that's the way it is it's

12:10

just the fact that you're going to hide

12:11

behind the the camera it's just not

12:13

going to be able to pick pick up the the

12:15

light on your face the best the uh sorry

12:18

if the if the uh if the light's behind

12:20

you you want to have the light on your

12:22

face but if the light's behind you all

12:24

you're going to do is your your face is

12:26

going to be in Shadow so you need to

12:28

take a look and say where is the light

12:29

source I've got two LED lights one on

12:32

either side of me and I got a great big

12:34

par can in front of me guess what I

12:37

bought these over

12:39

years and as as I've gotten better and

12:42

as I've become more sophisticated as my

12:44

videos have become more sophisticated

12:46

I've upgraded my equipment when I

12:48

started this 11 years ago I had a $40

12:52

microphone and a set of $10 earbuds and

12:55

that was

12:57

it so we need to sit there and say we

13:00

don't need to spend a fortune but we

13:02

need to put ourselves in a position

13:03

where we can be heard we can be seen and

13:07

we and we don't sound all tin and echoey

13:10

no and look you don't have to be

13:12

technically Savvy either let me be very

13:14

clear on this too because I see people

13:17

like oh I just spent $5,000 worth of

13:18

equipment I don't know how to plug it in

13:20

I'm like why the hell would you do this

13:22

why would you do

13:24

that I get it people like their gadgets

13:27

they also want to look good and sound

13:28

good and all that stuff but

13:30

understand just because you can buy a

13:32

Lamborghini doesn't mean you know how to

13:34

drive a Lamborghini okay they've got

13:37

like touch troll like changing it's

13:40

there's no automatic in those supercars

13:42

okay you got to actually known how to

13:43

drive right so just because you buy a

13:46

high-end thing doesn't mean it's

13:48

necessarily the best thing for you okay

13:50

I think USB mics are fine they really

13:53

are people's it's it's ultimately think

13:56

about this if you want to buy an

13:59

expensive microphone right so I've got

14:01

this drawer and I'm talking to it then

14:03

then learn mic control that's a

14:06

different thing that's when you have to

14:07

learn how to like not breathe in so heav

14:11

or like oh my God if I hear more Pops I

14:14

have to edit that out I just want to

14:15

shoot myself oh the other

14:18

thing oh my God I hate the mouth noises

14:21

so look maybe you don't need to be that

14:22

close to the microphone so unless you're

14:24

into the whole ASMR lip smacking sound

14:27

which okay that's your own kink uh

14:29

typically you can go further away from

14:30

the microphone right um the other thing

14:33

too is uh lighting is your best friend

14:38

okay I get it there are some there are

14:40

some cameras on laptops that are

14:42

improving greatly so I'm not going to n

14:44

uh like hit on that too hard but but if

14:47

you're using an older laptop and you

14:50

also don't clean your webcam like window

14:52

often you're going to

14:54

look worse than the Star Trek hazy

14:57

filter that they used to put on for the

14:59

women when they were all pretty you

15:00

would just look like one big blur like

15:03

you look like that 80s like glass that

15:06

you know back in the day that you can't

15:07

see through um but okay so on the

15:12

contact of lighting one ring light will

15:15

do you good guys I get it and here's the

15:18

other thing even if you're traveling for

15:21

example and you're in a hotel you could

15:22

literally use the lamps around you to

15:24

achieve the lighting effects you need so

15:27

for those that are really on a budget or

15:28

you're just not sure I've actually said

15:30

this many times hey do you have a lamp

15:32

in the other room you can just pull over

15:33

for a moment then let us move it around

15:35

and let's adjust it and you'd be

15:37

surprised light is light now granted

15:39

mostly it's yellowy lighting or it's

15:42

that weird harsh like the spiral light

15:44

that we all have to do now a lamp shade

15:47

you guys again like I've done this to

15:50

even my own Lins when I think it's too

15:52

like bright like I'll I'll put like um

15:55

what do you call that paper towel over

15:56

it yeah just to soften the lighting up

15:59

right it I get it don't leave it there

16:02

too long especially if your light bulb

16:04

gets hot then you're going to set the

16:05

house on fire so don't do that too long

16:06

but it's good for the duration of an

16:07

hour trust me it'll be fine you know but

16:10

anyway so yeah lighting uh the sound of

16:13

your voice with microphones uh hearing

16:16

uh so make sure you get an earbud ear

16:18

plug uh and camera you can get all that

16:21

for under 100 bucks I kid you not 100

16:23

bucks just to get a decent setup and

16:25

then as you progress as you start making

16:28

I guess you monetize your either people

16:31

pay you or you're getting business as a

16:32

result right or you're selling books

16:34

then maybe invest in a little bit more

16:36

as you go so that's that's my I I know

16:39

we went hella Along on this but it's

16:41

just so important part two to understand

16:44

the hardware is just as important as the

16:46

words you use because ain't no one

16:48

listen to you if they can't hear

16:51

you and that's the words to this so I'm

16:55

Ben I'm seea and we'll see you soon

17:03

hey hey hey thanks for listening to

17:05

another episode of not on this business

17:08

fights if you liked what you heard we

17:10

most humbly ask that you like share and

17:13

hit that subscribe button if you want to

17:16

communicate more effectively within your

17:18

organization contact Ben atyou brandmark

17:22

dcom or me at brilliant beam media.com

17:26

we can help you build your community

17:28

brand awareness and personality through

17:30

digital content and podcasting we cannot

17:34

wait to hear from you so see you next

17:36

week for another episode of not on this

17:39

business

17:47

fights

Share Episode

Shownotes

Transcripts

Follow

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube