The podcasting gods sure had fun with us on this one. We set out to create an episode about delivering a more remarkable audio experience to your audience … and then had to unexpectedly jump through every possible hoop to actually do it. The end result is an episode that is ironic, meta, and immensely useful.

Over the course of about 20 minutes during the main topic of this episode, we discuss the following:

• How Jon s family trip to Vancouver started our audio misadventure and gave him his first taste of the real-world audio frustrations the most podcasters have to deal with
• How a hoodie, a Johnny Cash t-shirt, and Jon’s experience as a punk rock drummer helped him combat a nasty echo in a hard, open room
• How Jerod used socks and a blanket to combat wood floors, high ceilings, and blank walls and windows in his home office
• Other more common options for getting good audio in a bad room (see pictures below)
• The incredible impact that the right microphone can make if you can afford it

This week’s listener question comes from loyal listener Kaleigh Moore, who asked us to identify the most time-consuming element of creating a new podcast episode. (Our answers may have been clouded by this week’s experience!)

This week’s podcast recommendations are:

• Jerod: Art of Charm with Jordan Harbinger — Dr. Aubrey de Grey | How We Can Avoid Aging (Episode 413)
• Jon: Stuff They Don t Want You to Know (HowStuffWorks.com) — Will Yellowstone Explode?

And here is a link to the Fresh Air episode featuring Marc Maron interviewing Terri Gross that Jerod originally had for this week’s recommendation.

Listen, learn, enjoy:

Listen to The Showrunner below ...