Auto Focus
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Auto Focus
How An Audio Engineer Built A Lean, Portable Podcast Workflow
Want audio people won’t skip? We sit down with Adam, an audio engineer turned podcast producer, to unpack the habits, gear, and decisions that keep listeners hooked. From a marching band beginning to editing for an iHeart-acquired show, Adam shares practical systems that work in the real world: treat the room first, pick portable tools you can set up fast, and build an editing workflow that survives client notes and tight deadlines.
We walk through why dialogue editing is simpler in aim than music mixing and how a single mic technique—the hang ten rule—can transform clarity across loud and quiet voices. Adam explains his backpack-friendly setup, featuring a MacBook Pro, Focusrite at home, and the Zoom PodTrak P4 for on-location sessions with four XLR inputs and SD recording. He makes the case that environment trumps expensive hardware, with simple fixes like rugs, curtains, and even recording in a parked car delivering bigger gains than a top-shelf microphone used in a reflective kitchen.
Editing gets the system treatment: listen once, mark structure, and edit backward through client timecodes so you never break earlier notes. Templates carry the weight—intros, outros, and standard plugins preloaded—while steady communication smooths revisions. When cleanup is needed, Adam leans on iZotope RX for denoise, de-click, de-breath, and de-ess, keeping voices natural without overprocessing. His advice for newcomers is refreshingly direct: ask partners for a phone-recorded proof-of-concept to confirm commitment, then master a repeatable workflow from file intake to delivery.
If you care about podcast audio quality, discover how portability, soundproofing, and smart editing turn scattered sessions into consistent, listener-friendly shows. Subscribe, share this with a creator who needs cleaner sound, and leave a review telling us your most chaotic recording story—we might feature it next time.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Auto Focus. I am here today with my friend Adam. I met Adam at uh the um podcast movement. We met in August, and it was really fun to meet you. Why don't you tell us a little bit more about you and what you do?
SPEAKER_00:Hey, so awesome to be on the podcast. Um, this is officially my first full-length podcast interview. Um, and I'm a producer, I'm an audio engineer. I've been part of thousands of hours of podcasts, if not tens of thousands of hours of podcasts. And um, this is still my first interview. So uh this is super fun for me. Um I'm an audio engineer, um, turned into podcast producer all in one person. Um, I call myself the podcast Adam because uh in college and high school and today, uh that's what people know me as the podcast Adam because that's really all I do. And um I use my uh audio engineering knowledge to clean up audio, edit audio, edit video, publish podcasts, publish social clips about those podcasts, uh repost clips about those podcasts, and um even all the way to recording on location in person.
SPEAKER_01:So that's amazing. Yes. Well, welcome to a podcast about podcasts. So yeah, this it seems it fits, it tracks. So tell us a little bit about you. Tell us how did you get involved in audio engineering?
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I was one of those kids that was in band from fourth grade all the way until high school. Um, I was in the marching band, I was in the jazz band, um, and it was very fun and made friends, but I knew I couldn't do that forever. I knew I couldn't make it as a career trumpet player. So um I used that knowledge to kind of go into audio engineering. Um I initially went into art because I just wanted to draw stuff and um I realized I wasn't that good at it. So um audio engineering, you know, 100% realized um I could do audio engineering and transfer that knowledge to podcasting. Um and this was in the mid-2010s when it was still blowing up, but you know, I feel like it wasn't at its peak uh as it would be in 2020 or 2021 or something like that. Um and uh that's kind of how I started out, just you know, editing music and you know, mixing and mastering music and instruments at uh the other students at my college, and uh COVID happened, and all of a sudden the podcast work started to blow up, and uh five years later here I am.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. I love the I love the marching band thing. My my brother was the marching band guy. He was the mute, he was the musician of the family, and I was the artist. So yeah, it's funny. Like I have an art, I have an art degree, and then he has an audio engineering degree, so it was kind of funny. He was the he was a he was a drummer though. He was he was in how how did you get into trumpet?
SPEAKER_00:I can't remember. It was some test in literally like the third or fourth grade, uh, where they had us listen to different tones, and I think it was like how they feel or something like that, or which ones we heard the loudest, or something. I think it was just based on uh, you know, frequency response, you know, individual frequency response or something like that. But they told me I'd be best at um trumpet, but my dad had an old saxophone in the attic from when he was he was a he was not a musician, but he had his old saxophone from when he was in uh I think like the third or fourth grade, something around my age at the time. So I really wanted to play saxophone, but I couldn't get over the licking the reed and you know putting it all together. And I like the three buttons on the trumpet because it was all you had to do was move your lips, which at this point in my life is harder than memorizing a bunch of combinations of K's. But at the time it was easier. So that's I I stuck with it.
SPEAKER_01:That's cool, that's amazing. Yeah, I did, I did flute, I tried it, I tried band. That was hilarious. Yes. That was if I remember it was the same thing where like, yeah, like not everybody got to do the flute because like you couldn't, you had you had to be able to blow and like have it make sound. And so I'm I was like, they're like, they're like, Oh, you can do it, you can play flute now. And I was like, cool. So yeah, like okay, I wasn't into it, but yeah. Um, but okay, so what do you do now? You said you got into podcasting during 2020. So had you already been like an engineer, like already been like a career engineer, audio engineer for music, and then you switched to podcasting?
SPEAKER_00:Not really. I was still in college. Um, I was still mixing and mastering music. Uh my degree was really just spending as much time as you can in the studio, going from rolling cable to telling people how you want things mixed and mastered and everything. So um this was I graduated a month uh after I think it was like April 2020, is my official graduation. Um and I knew I wanted to go into podcasting. And during COVID, one of the producers that I follow on social media that produces one of my favorite shows posted about how they wanted to um they had a podcast production class over Zoom that was like 20 bucks a person, and they just wanted to make some extra scratch during COVID when everyone's jobs were you know up in the air and everything. Um and I had known pretty much everything that they were gonna cover, you know, how to you know open a uh digital audio workstation and create a track and everything, but I just wanted to ask all the questions I could at the end. And uh that's exactly what I did. And uh the teacher, you know, really my friend Reed, shout out to Reed Pope, um uh we kept in contact and they wanted to become a TV writer and TV producer, so started to slide me all of the podcast gigs that they would have gone but didn't want because um, you know, they wanted to go into TV. So uh that's how I got my first few clients, and um, it was kind of a rocky start for me because I had never really done before. And you know, I'd gone to school for audio engineering, but I didn't go to school for like, you know, business relations or uh, you know, how to do freelance work uh during a global pandemic kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, what to charge, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. So uh it was it was rocky at first, but um some of my clients have stuck with me and I've gained others on the way, and uh it's been a journey. I've been really fortunate to just you know pick up work right out of college.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. What's the difference between like voice recording, like podcast recording, and like music? Because I feel like they're very different.
SPEAKER_00:Voice recording, I feel is slightly easier because there's one direction you go in, and that's make it sound better, essentially. Like you know, when a voice sounds like it's been recorded on a phonograph and when it's you know been recorded on a sure SM7 beat. Um, but with music, there's you know, do you want it to sound like this? Do you want it to sound like this? Do you want it to sound like this? And then, you know, you can mix something else, and then you may have a different opinion about, you know, another instrument that you just mixed and spent a lot of time on. And I found that if you don't have a direction when you would go in when you're mixing and mastering music, you can really go in circles. You can go all day changing the sound and changing the vibe of everything. Um, but with dialogue, it's it's not easy, but it's straightforward.
SPEAKER_01:True. Yeah, I guess there's not it takes the thinking out of it. You're like, no, I just have to take this and make it sound better so people will listen to it. So it's not like, yeah, that's interesting. So cool. How has your business grown over the past five, five years?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I'm still freelance. So other than my clientele growing slightly, I wouldn't say it's grown too much. The growth I really see is in my podcast and their audience growth. Um I went from one or two clients uh, you know, were super demanding because they hadn't really done a podcast before, all the way to uh working with people who are friends of the people I'd worked with before. So they're, you know, more professional in terms of going to the studio and knowing what they're gonna do, having the segments. Um and that's been really gratifying to you know have that synergy with the client, with the host of the podcast, and to really streamline the workflow and the show. Um and ultimately the audience grows because of it, because the consistency and the quality. So that's usually where I see my growth. Um uh one of the podcasts that I work on was acquired by iHeartRadio, and uh we're still on there and publish every week. So that's kind of how I gauged my growth is um, you know, went from independent to iHeartRadio.
SPEAKER_01:So that's amazing. What was that like going in, like being going, going from like you control everything to now there's there's iHeartRadio?
SPEAKER_00:Uh it was awesome. Um they're super nice. Uh I did have to re-interview because I was technically uh I wasn't supposed to be brought on essentially. They were just acquiring the host of the podcast, um Stradio Labs, the podcast that I'm talking about here. And the hosts, George Severas and Sam Tagger, were so nice as to bring me along because I had been working with them previously for about two years, and they knew my style, they knew my turnaround time, and uh I knew what they wanted in the podcast. And uh I did have to re-interview with iArtRadio. They, you know, asked me to edit, you know, what plugins I use, my workflow, that kind of thing. And um, but I I guess I passed, and uh I'm the editor for this podcast now, not the producer, but that's fine with me. Uh, because there's also a pay increase beyond being on iHeart. So that's awesome. It was fun, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So what does you um how how long have you been doing that?
SPEAKER_00:That was one of my first few clients. Uh, I got I started working with them in 2021. Um, and we were acquired in 2023, early 2023. Nice.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. I'm sure everybody wants to know like, like, how do they do that? Like, oh my God, I want to get acquired.
SPEAKER_00:Um, I think it helps to have famous friends being, you know, the host of these podcasts. They're friends with um, I don't know if I should say this publicly, but I call it like the CD list celebrity tier, or it's like the friends of the writers of the people on SNL.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's not exactly famous, but you know, it's like four clicks away kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01:They like know the they're in the same circles, like they know who you need to do.
SPEAKER_00:Go to the SNL after parties. That that's the keyboard.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that'd be fun. That would be so fun.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, right? Um, so I don't think that hurt at all. And uh they're super funny, they live right in the middle of Brooklyn, and they had written for um several like online magazines, so they had uh pedigree as the New York metropolitan area, and uh they're super funny gay guys, so that always helps.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, totally helps. That was amazing. Um, okay, so this talks is since this is about equipment. Um, what kind of equipment do you use? Like what is it, what is it you use and what would you recommend to someone just starting out?
SPEAKER_00:Uh when I just started out, I was super into like PC gaming. So I had this huge PC that was like super powerful. Um, and that helped my editing, but you know, it's not portable and you can't take it everywhere. And I realizing portability is paramount for me. Um, so I have this MacBook Pro here that I'm using to record this podcast on. Um I tried to, you know, I went for like the five years ago model, but the higher end. So it wasn't too expensive, but it's pretty powerful. Um I'm using the Zoom Q2N4K as my 4K webcam that also doubles as a stereo microphone, which is super fun. Um, that comes in handy in a pinch on location recordings. Um my focus right uh 2i4 for my at-home uh microphone recordings here that I failed to set up before this recording. Um and one of my most handy devices here, actually, not turkey. Um the Zoom Pod Track P4, which is super amazing. It's four XLR inputs. Um it runs off of two AA batteries.
SPEAKER_01:How long does that last?
SPEAKER_00:I think like six hours, depending on the battery I use. Oh, yeah, it's it's awesome. I uh just in case, you can also do like an external power cable as well. So I usually have both of those going when I record. It has like a little memory card uh slot and um a small compressor. It doesn't have a great compressor, but has a small compressor in there too. And it's only like 125 bucks. I think you can get it for like 100 now because I just saw a few weeks ago they're releasing like the new model that has their like AI sound cancellation built into it, um, which I might look into, but even just this little device, you know, fits in my pocket almost and gives me like studio quality recordings, and you can, you know, plug for these studio microphones in there or any XLR microphones. And uh that has been a lifesaver because I used to have to bring my laptop and my you know audio interface and the million cables, and it was a hassle, as my clients can attest. But um, the first time I showed up with the Pod Track P4, they were like, Oh, that's all you're bringing today. And I was like, Yeah, it's actually all I need to bring today. And they did not trust me at first until I saw the recording afterwards.
SPEAKER_01:I can see that. Yeah. God, on our kit is like, I can't even pick it up by myself. It's so big, you know. It's got like all these like four stands and SMB sevens and like all like you know, there's a roadcaster pro two in there. And you know, I was just like, God, this is this is not fun to take on location. So um, you know, yeah, we even because we even have a camera, but the camera is like this big, like it's just like a little MIVO, like like all the it's the audio equipment that is like heavy and the biggest. So like I love I love like yeah that that you just like pared down and just because you like how often do you go on look on on uh low location?
SPEAKER_00:Um I would say at least twice a month, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how often they the client wants to record in person.
SPEAKER_01:Um how big is your as is is your pack like when you pack it all up? Is it like you can fit in like a backpack?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um it does fit in a backpack. The case for the P4 is just this big, about the size of my head. Yeah, I need one.
SPEAKER_01:Um it's like, oh my gosh. We go we're going on location more, and it's just it's so much. I can't even I'm like, I need help picking it up and taking it out of the car, and I was like, this is ridiculous. Like, we've got to figure, find out something smaller.
SPEAKER_00:The microphones that I use, um, I just got this like tiny suitcase that has three Samsung R21s, which they're just you know dynamic microphones, but there's I don't know if this is fit on the camera, but there's three of them in there. And so I fit this, the pod track in my bag, and then all the cables. And it's generally good for what I need. Sometimes I'll pack my laptop just in case, of course, extra cables, uh, maybe an extra microphone, but um, it's rare that I record four people at once. Um, but I am prepared for everything I try to be.
SPEAKER_01:So right, yes. I know we tell our clients, like our studios were like, okay, you know, no more than four, and then they show up like eight people, and you're like, awesome. This is this one's gonna be great to edit. Like they'd be leaning into the microphone close to they don't even lean, they're just like, there's a guy here and a guy here, and this is the mic, and you just gotta and you're like, well, we'll fix that. So yeah, no, I think if we showed you some of the stuff that like that that that we deal with all the time, you know, because podcast videos is like where you you come in, you sit down, you um, you know, like we we you don't have to worry about the tech and we handle it all for you. Um, which also means we don't train you how to use it. You just come in and sit down and you just and even if we do tell you, we're like, okay, so you like if you're sharing a mic, you know, like move it over to the person that's talking, and then they they don't. And so yeah, if you saw some of the things that happen, like there's there's a guy that'll like lean back, like, and like he'll just talk, and you're like, my my favorite is when they lean out of the camera angle and they're far away from the mic, you know, and then they're and that's when they say something amazing, you know. You're like, Oh, that's gonna be the that's that's the clip, you know.
SPEAKER_00:I find sometimes when people are super egregious with that, I'll make them wear headphones that like feed directly into the mic so they hear like how far away they are from the mic.
unknown:That's good, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I find that helps sometimes, not always.
SPEAKER_01:I know. And we tried that we tried that with our some of our clients, and like one guy he always wears a hat. And so um he was like, I don't want to wear headphones because like he's like, I don't want to take my hat off, but we're like, well, just wear them underneath. And he's like, This is uncomfortable. So then we just like so now we don't require anybody to wear headphones. So no one knows what it sounds like, you know, they're like they have no idea. Which which brings me to the next the next question. So, what are some tips? So, what are some tips that you would give for when you're recording audio? So, like, you know, for all of our clients who are leaning all the way back, doing all this stuff, what like where should they be away from the mic? Like, what are some tips?
SPEAKER_00:Um, first of all, away distance from the mic, I learned in school um from instruments and everything, uh that it's always like a hang 10, you know, pinky in the thumb, um, extended as far as you can, not just like you know, straight like this, like as far as as far as a way as you can. And then uh pinky on the mic and thumb at your bottom lip. And that's really that's really what it is. You'll get the most consistent audio quality. Um if someone yells or is super loud, they're usually enough distance away to where you can cut it down in the mix. It's gonna it's gonna clip in the moment, but you can cut it down in the mix. Um, and if they talk quietly, then you can really jack it up and hear everything they're saying.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, my favorite is this guy. He like leans back and then he's like, So do you taste this and that? And he just has this really low voice, and you're I'm like, I'm sorry, editors.
SPEAKER_00:I just gotta wear a lavalier at that point.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, and that I know, and then we're fighting. Yeah, they're like, no, it has to be sure SM7s, and you're like, okay. Yeah, it's fun. Any other tips that you have? Because I know um, I'm sure there's plenty. So, like, like, yeah, I love the I love wearing the headphones, like making people wear headphones. But um, like, are there is there anything that that people can do if they're not gonna wear headphones or like even like soundproofing? Like, because I know that you know, if you're in your kitchen and you're trying to record a podcast, it's probably different than when you're in a studio.
SPEAKER_00:Uh soundproofing really for me is like 75-80% of the battle. Um you can use almost any mic you'd like as long as you have proper soundproofing. Um, here I'm sitting next to almost a wall of soundproofing, you know, the padded stuff. Um, and I'm just using my iPhone to record as a microphone, even though I wanted to use my you know studio quality microphone. So it's all about I just hit my desk. Um, it's all about the environment that you're in and making sure it's not echoey. You know, everyone's pet peeve is when you're on the phone and someone walks into their kitchen or bathroom and it's just tile everywhere, and somehow your phone is only picking up the echo and not what they're saying. Um it's arguably even worse than a podcast. Um, speaking of podcast movement, one of the best tips that um I think they gave on like the intro day, like the intro uh keynote. Um, and it's super obvious, but it, you know, putting it into words really hammers at home is don't give people a reason to skip your podcast because most people are looking for a reason to skip off or listen to something else, or you know, when people say, I'll give this a try, they're not locked in for the whole thing. They're only there to, you know, see what the quality is and if you're funny or if you have something interesting to say, and you know, you can't give them that reason to skip off. So just soundproofing everything and you know having at least a decent microphone is ideal. Um, some people I find kind of want to jump right to the nice microphone, and that kind of tells me they're not that serious about this. Um, some people I'll tell them uh, or they'll say, Oh, I have an idea for a podcast. Can you help me record a podcast? And or can you tell me what microphone to buy or whatever? And I'll say, Okay, well, let's start the podcast. Let's, you know, hear you come up with a concept that you can do at least 20 or so times. Maybe record a sample episode or a trailer, uh, just on your voice memos. Just record it on your voice memo, send it over to me and we'll figure it out from there. If they don't want to do that, then that kind of tells me like Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like you're gonna have to talk into a microphone and tell your story.
SPEAKER_00:Like you're gonna have to, you know, put more work into it other than getting on the phone, you're gonna have to soundproof a bit. You're gonna have to treat your space and you know, know your workflow before you really get into it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, because I yeah, we've um I know that there's there's always something, you know, uh, when when I was teaching people about cameras and things like that, like you can have the nicest camera in the world, but if you don't use it correctly and if you don't know how to use it, it's not gonna help you. It doesn't make your pictures better. It will make them worse. And so it's like, yeah, it's like so you start with what you know, like your cell phone, and then you know, and take pictures with that. And if you really and like you get good at that, then you can start moving out, you know, because like like you can have a really nice camera, but if you don't understand how light works, or if you don't understand, you know, like like what the difference between a shutter speed and aperture ISO, like if you don't know what any of that means, like it's not gonna help you.
SPEAKER_00:Like I think six or so years ago, I was fiddling with my uh parents' nice DSLR camera, and uh it was me and my girlfriend, we were posing in front of the fireplace, and we had the timer all set, and then I was looking at the photos a day later, they were just all out of focus. I couldn't see anything. It was awful, it was just like a a blob of color on the on the screen. I was so shit. Small screen on the camera, it looks fine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And then you zoom it in, you're like, oops, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was awful. So yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_01:But audio is the same thing. So, but I I do said like, you know, it's like you want to like make sure that you get it done like you do it, like in like you want to record it as nice as possible. So that's what I love about the soundproofing. And like I've used like I've used my car before soundproofing. Um, yeah. And so I mean, like, that's because like maybe people are like don't want to like hang up blankets or do anything like in their own house, like you can let like sit in your car.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, that's the thing is they're made to be soundproofed. Um, and I don't know if people, you know, really realize that. Of course, they realize it's quieter when you're in the car, but they put a lot of you know design into soundproofing the car. So um, if you don't have a sound booth in your house, your car is pretty much the closest thing you can get to it.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. Okay. And then I now and then I want to talk to you about editing. So, like, there's recording the audio, and this is like some some tips for people when they're when they're trying to record it. Now, how about some tips for editing? So, like people that are like trying to get into like editing, what are some what are some good tips?
SPEAKER_00:Um I feel like the most basic tip uh every editor learns or is told by someone else who doesn't edit um is always to edit you know backwards on the timeline. For me, um hopefully this is self-explanatory to everyone listening or watching, but um, you know, when you get your edits back, you send your client your you know finalized edit, either video or audio, they may say, um, can we cut from here to here? Can we cut this out? Can we cut that out? Start at the end, start at their last note, the furthest into the episode. That way, when you edit, all of their previous time codes are still applicable, and you're not messing yourself up and um having to listen to everything, you know. Oh, they said it was around 43 minutes, 11 seconds, but I cut out five minutes and 47 seconds and then two and a half minutes here. So I have to do the math on the episode time and subtract 13 minutes from to what and then go to here and listen to make sure I find the right sentence. No, yeah. Um, I've done that to myself as a starting out editor, and I had to either you know restart a save file from earlier or you know, from scratch. Um that being said, when someone told me to do that several years into my career, I was more mad than I should have been.
SPEAKER_01:I know you're like, I didn't even think of that. Like, I've never thought of that. I guess I've never edited anything that long. Like, I guess, but that podcast can go like you know, like over an hour or an hour.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, so always edit backwards. Um don't mess yourself up. And um the other note I had here was, and I think I mentioned this a few times, is know your workflow. Don't be surprised by what someone asks you to do. If you're advertising yourself as uh audio producer, video editor, whatever, don't be surprised when someone says, uh, oh, I have um like a five-person video podcast that's three hours long. Can you edit this for me? Um of course that's a huge ask, and that's not something I would like to do.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, especially if it's like it's about like finance. Like, what is it about? Do I want to listen to this? Like tax advice. You're like, oh god.
SPEAKER_00:I have templates for every situation that I work with regularly. I'm not much of a video editor, so I try to have all the audio templates I have. Um, you know, like the intro music, the outro, um, already, you know, at the beginning and end of the session with the appropriate plugins I know they'll probably need because they always record in their house and their house is way, you know, that kind of thing. So um for every project I work on, always have the template. Don't be surprised by the workflow. Know what you're gonna do from start to finish, at least when you have the files in the session, you know how they sound. Because I've had this situation where sometimes it's labeled one thing and it's actually a different recording, um, or it's you know, two people in the same file and you can't, you know, split them apart for whatever reason. So once you have your files in the session, know how it's gonna go and you know, master your workflow.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. When you say workflow, what do you mean? Like you like, it's just kind of like how it goes in the editing, like in the software.
SPEAKER_00:Um I guess everything. For me, most of my I spend most of my time editing because I edit a lot. So uh I get the audio files from you know any kind of cloud service. It's usually a cloud service, no one's sending USBs in the mail. But um download uh the files, listen to them, make sure they're the right labels, make sure they're the right um person, you know, as silly as that sounds. Um uh put them in your audio workstation, line everything up, and uh, you know, if there's any um inconsistencies in the volume, like if they get up and leave for the bathroom or something like that, um, or if they lean away from the mic or something like that, some you know, host stuff that always happens inevitably during recordings, uh, make sure to take care of that first. Um I usually take a listen to the full thing uh before I do any edits, or if I do, I just you know put a marker in the session to know this is where I want to make an edit.
SPEAKER_01:Um like if someone had a snack in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_00:If they had a snack over if I know they're good.
SPEAKER_01:We did a live webinar and this and this guy, he wasn't even on mic, but he didn't mute himself and he ate, he he pulled out a granola bar, and it was one of those crunchy ones, and you could just hear him eating the granola bar while someone else is talking. And I luckily I was in the other room, so I had to be like, I had to put my head in and be like, hey, like put yourself on mute. So that would have been fun to edit later.
SPEAKER_00:Like oh boy, um all that kind of stuff. Um I find when I I have to fight myself sometimes because I'll take, you know, line everything up and then start to listen and then go, oh, it sounds fine. Let me start to edit here, and then come to realize like, oh, this is still the pre-roll, or they wanted to cut this whole thing out, or um, the guest told the story, it was a great story, but then they realized like they gave away someone's address inadvertently or something like that, and I had to cut the whole thing. So I spent 20 minutes editing something that's gonna be on the cutting room floor or whatever. Um so you know, take a full listen, um, and then you know, either mark the session or do smaller edits and go from there. Um communication with the hosts, if you work with the hosts, is paramount as well because they're the ones that you know give the edits and everything. Um I my most of my podcast, so I try to have the rough drafts for the host at least by Thursday or Friday, um, so they can have the weekend to listen and give me edits. Um, and then Monday is the first like business day to get everything done. So that's usually when I'm the most busiest because that's when everyone listens, even though I give them the yeah, you know how it works.
SPEAKER_01:If you multiple days and they're waiting like the day before, like, can you make me an edit? It's not a lot of edit.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I don't plan a lot of things for Mondays nowadays. Um So that's kind of by mastering your workflow, knowing when uh to you know, send things off, knowing when to take time off to do the edits and um communicate with the hosts because uh uh sometimes sometimes it just becomes a here's the podcast, thanks, here's the podcast, thanks, here's the podcast, thanks, email exchange. Um you really want to communicate. I try to say, like, oh, I love this episode. If if I'm not communicating with the host in person, that is um, you know, love this episode, this is a great uh guest, uh love this part.
SPEAKER_01:Um, you know, trying to communicate and that you actually listened, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right. That goes that goes a long way.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. Well, that's really good. That is really good advice. Um, and I just wanted I always end this on one last thing. So if there was like one piece of really good advice, I know we just went over like all the advice, but if there is one piece of like really uh important advice you would give to someone who is just starting out, what advice would you give them?
SPEAKER_00:Um two things, I guess. The first is kind of going back to what I said earlier. If someone asks you to start a podcast with them or help them start a podcast uh from scratch, you're not taking over editing for them or something like that. Um like I said, make sure they record like a sample episode or a trailer or a proof of concept at least on their phone. Um just to prove that, you know, they can do the work for themselves. You don't want to work for someone that doesn't do work for themselves, essentially. That's kind of my philosophy. Um, you know, if they pay attention of what you tell them of, you know, microphone placement, soundproofing, and all that, and they you know take all that to heart, then you know, okay, they're you don't even have to be serious about it, they just have to be committed to doing a podcast and not just treating it as like a phone call, or I just want to hop on the phone with friends and help be recorded, you know, that kind of thing. Um don't do work for someone that doesn't work for themselves. So just get that proof of concept um on the phone or in whatever setup they have or are trying to have, kind of thing. Um, excuse me. And the other thing um it's just shouting out my plugins, I guess, because I swear during the iHeart interview that I had to re-interview to you know become the editor for them. They were waiting for me to say I use the RX suite of plugins. Um, I don't think I would have gotten the job if I did like plugins. Um, they kind of asked me, like, so what plugins do you use? You know, like waiting for this answer. Um and so shout out the RX suite. I think they're up to like RX11 now. I think I looked it up right before I hopped on. Um they're up to like RX11 now, and they have all the AI stuff in there, but I use RX8, I believe. Um and that is just a lifesaver in terms of uh dialogue enhancement and dialogue cleanup. Um the voice denoiser, I think it's called, is like the main one that just kind of takes care of pretty much everything. Um they have one for they have a plug-in for like breath if someone's going like every time they start a sentence.
SPEAKER_01:Um they smack their lips?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, lip snacks.
SPEAKER_01:Oh no, that dry sprays.
SPEAKER_00:Um uh they have the DSer, which is you know, when someone has the super whistly front teeth that gets rid of that. Um there's no shame in there, but it's just the microphone that really is taking the brunt of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um and the one I'm still looking for, and you can kind of get the effect, but if someone has like a microphone buzz or like a fridge buzzing, that is one of the hardest things for me to get rid of, I find. Um there are like D-Hummer plugins, it does uh it is noticeably uh being affected. You can tell like someone's having their voice treated. It's almost like um not to bring this guy up, but I know the president's giving these interviews on like the tarmac and like you know, the middle of the plane while the door is open, and you know, outside of the helicopter, you know, like all these you know, but you can tell now that these journalists are starting to like put um uh like you know live vocal denoisers on their microphones because some sentences will sound different than others, and sometimes he's super nasally, and sometimes he doesn't. Um and that's kind of fun to see a live uh audio engineering thing going on. Um but yeah, uh that's a long uh way to say RX suite from Isotope. It is on the pricier side, but I know they have like multiple like huge discount days per year. Um I think there's like a holiday sale, like a 4th of July, and like a spring something or other. But uh don't buy the full price if you can. But if you do, it is still worth it because it did help me get this job. So there you go. And it is worth it, it does it does the job perfectly. So that's awesome. Um definitely good.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you so much, Adam, for being here. And I just want to let you have one last plug. Let's plug you, the podcast, Adam. Um, where did where where can people find you and how do they get in touch with you?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I'm fortunate enough to have everything be the same. Um, I'm the podcast Adam everywhere, all social medias. Um, and my website is thepodcastadam.com. It has all my podcasts that I work on, past and present, on there. Um and uh you can submit me a message on there. No one's ever done that in the half decade I've had my website. Um, but I'm all over social media at podcast Adam.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. We uh this has been this has been a lot of this has been a lot of fun, and I think I'm still I'm still doing I'm still doing the hang 10, so I'm doing good. All right. Well, thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. This is awesome.