Episode 14: It Sounds Like A Podcast
So many different types of people have dominated the
presence of terrestrial radio. The two
most common are the sound perfectionists and those who bring the performance no
matter how messy the background.
Podcasting’s totally rewritten the rules on what is or isn’t
broadcast quality. I love it when Conan
O’Brien sits in the back of an airplane and pulls off a lengthy
conversation. The roar of the jet in the
background makes me feel like I’m sitting in the seat next to them. Whereas I’m was sort of OK with Amy Schumer’s
kitchen conversations with three others.
It’s me with the problem!
I’m not fond of the vocal echoes caused by a lack of sound
proofing. NPR has always been brilliant
with taking listeners somewhere without having to pull back. They can afford the extremely expensive
equipment to not only record the reports but clean them up in
post-production.
Where I become a sound perfectionist is when the background
becomes what I’m listening to and not the physical conversation. Someone’s eating, ruffling papers, moving
their chairs or the guest on the show has had no training what so ever on how
to properly speak through a microphone.
The very second you slip a pair headphones on a newbee the
physical sound of their voice casts ugly clouds on their willingness to truly
let go. If they aren’t using phone then
they’ve got no idea what volume they’re at on the show or how many popped P’s
are smacking my ears.
This is why business decision makers and fresh new listeners
have to have an adjustment period. To
learn how to accept this new age of we’re doing a show even it sounds like I’m
taking a cold shower on a cold summer day.
I don’t know why it took me 7 years but two months ago I
grew extremely tired of trying to clean up sputters and spins of conversation
so I whipped the equipment into 100% left and right channel capability. I’m on the right side the guest is on the
left. Whoever burps or says yeah way too
much is easy taken out making the conversation warmer.
One of my shows is called Unplugged and Totally Uncut. I’m call bull on that! The editing that goes into the show is a
hardcore disciplined project. Your identity as a podcaster is determined one
show at a time. The day you bust open a
can of this is what you get is when your biggest listening audience will
somehow find you that day and seriously decide if the episode fits within their
day.
There’ve been many times I’ve had to pause podcasts to
figure out what I’m doing wrong as a listener because trying to fit my square
head in their round hole was turning into a battle.
My very good friend Nathan used to spend hours cleaning up
his podcasts. I’d listen to them and
feel like it was too sterile. Real
people talk have ums in them. We stammer
and say the wrong words. I like the
feeling of knowing as a listener that those doing the talking are one of
us. Then again, I’ve been known to march
into my own podcast production and re-ask a question because it didn’t sound
right.
The podcasts I never return to are those that hit play and
record and whatever happens happens. I
get it. Life as life. But there comes a time in every conversation
where someone asks, “Where are the restrooms?”
Another words they’ve chosen to bail.
I was talking to a friend the other day about knowing the
end result of the question you haven’t asked.
I’m a show prep whore. I dig for
the junk in someone’s trunk that you’re not going to find on Eddie Trunks
show. Rather than ask questions. I make statements. I’m sure my guests hate me for it. I send out a sentence then sit back and wait
for them to reply. Nobody likes dead
air. I said it. Now react to it.
Remember, as the producer I get to go back in and clean up
the chop shop. But let’s get back to
that. Knowing the end result of the
question you haven’t asked. I never take
my mind off the listener. It’s a radio
thing that program directors shove so far up your system of choice that when
you’re out here on your own flying by the seat of your pants it’s like damn it
they were right!
How do you know the end result of a question you haven’t
asked? If you did your homework
correctly the process of getting answers should be a conversation not an
interview. Podcasts sound like podcasts
because everybody’s trying to one up the other.
Letting your guest slip into conversation mode is a huge score because
it’s no longer about the podcast. Every
bit of your journey through thoughts should now be based on what’s taking place
in the conversation. Listeners are fed
the insert question here approach to news talk radio.
I have pages of show prep material and rarely get through
it. Today while talking with Rock and
Pop legend Dave Clark about the remixing of a Freddie Mercury song we totally
got engaged into what was being shared rather than being investigated. I hate being interviewed! I’m such a smart ass on so much stuff that
any answer given would be me trying to get the interviewer to stop scratching
the surface and get into the soul.
I got the idea for this episode from the podcast Inside
Conan which features the behind the scenes people of the show. What it’s really like to be a writer, music
director to physically designing Conan’s suits.
One of the guests chuckled at the hosts and simply said, “So this is
what it sounds like to be on a podcast.”
Outsiders have no clue what to expect and those of us who’ve
weaved it into the only suit we wear have learned to muster up story about who
what why when and how we do what we do as podcasters. How should a podcast sound is a question that
may never locate an answer. This is a no
rules world of talkers and thinkers setting free the right to be independent
and happy, sad, politically incorrect, completely into themselves and whatever
other shape is made available on a daily basis.
So what’s the moral of the story? It’s very simple. Look before and beyond the performance. It’s too easy for me to say that bad podcasting
is making the rest of us look wanna be radio people that can’t land a job at
iHeart, Entercom or Fat Willie’s Broadcasting Headquarters and Suites.
It’s extremely easy to turn this into a hobby only because
for 40 years all things in my life broadcasting have been my hobby. Cleaning the house and mowing the lawn is a
job and I bitch at the image in the mirror everyday about hating what he
expects.
Pay close attention to the distractions. As listeners there’s only one of us out
here. The power of one on one theater of
the mind is extremely present and as podcasters we have the will and the way to
give them good breaks or another reason to push them away. Know the end result of the question you
haven’t asked. There’s a much better chance that you won’t
sound like a podcast.
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