Audio Branding

“I’ve said this quite a few times, but it still rings true: I think that the superpower of sound is that people think about what they see, but they feel what they hear. And that is magic, I mean, that is transformative. That is what turns audiences into fans.”-- John Taite

This week's the second half of my interview with content entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and Made Music Studio EVP John Taite as we talk about his work for such clients as Turner Classic Movies and Panera Bread, the future of social audio, and finding the emotional core of a sonic brand.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

Your Brand on Mute

As we start off the second half of our interview, John talks about how digital audio, social audio, and even the metaverse are changing sonic branding. “There’s been such a seismic shift,” he says, “to, you know, sound on social platforms, or audio-first platforms, or audio-only platforms, and the conversation we have is ‘is your brand on mute?’” He tells us how he works with clients to understand the essence of their brand and how that brand can be expressed through sound: “you really do have to go through a sort of peeling back of the onion to understand what a true core brand sound is.”

Oboes and Death Metal

“We often say that we're an emotional connection company," John explains. "That's at the heart of everything we do: how do we make human beings actually feel something about a brand?" We discuss Made Music's approach to helping people express their ideas in music and finding their sonic brand. "You're not sort of putting somebody who's not musical," he says, "in an awkward position of saying, like, 'I think my car sounds like, you know, oboes and death metal.'" He talks about his inspiration and the creative process behind Turner Classic Movies' award-winning "Where Then Meets Now" audio branding campaign, and what AI and the Metaverse might mean for the future of audio. "It's bringing personality and emotional connections," he says, "to, you know, a purely digital space."

Keeping It Interesting

As our interview comes to a close, we talk about how much more competitive the audio industry's become over the past few years. "Sound and music are always going to have, you know, an important role to play," John notes. "I think everybody is looking to have an element of that enhanced emotional connection." He tells us what he's working on now and some of his most memorable projects. "There are never two jobs that are the same," he says. "there's never a client that's the same, never a challenge that's the same, and that's what keeps it interesting and keeps us looking to the future."

Episode Summary

• How digital audio, social audio, and audio-first apps are changing the industry
• John’s approach to working with clients and creating their unique sound
• His award-winning work on reinventing Turner Classic Movies’ sonic branding
• How audio branding is becoming an essential part of brand recognition

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://www.mademusicstudio.com/

Connect with John Taite on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntaite/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“There are so many things where it's about that emotional connection to brand experience or product, and, as we're creating that, you mentioned earlier, we're operating in an area which is very very heavily connected to the subconscious reaction to sound. You have to be very responsible about that, I mean, it is that 'with great power comes great responsibility.’” -- John Taite

My guest for this episode is an award-winning content entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and the EVP of Global Brand Partnerships & Development at Made Music Studio. He began his career as a music journalist and documentary filmmaker before working as a senior programming and brand executive at MTV, AMC Networks, and the BBC. He's been featured in several major publications, including Fast Company, Muse by Clio, Marketing Brew, and Business Desk, and he's captivated audiences at the Forbes CMO Summit, Adweek, Brand Innovators, LE Miami, and the Audio Intelligence Summit.

At Made Music, he leads an award-winning marketing, content, and partnerships team responsible for a 400% jump in revenue. His growing list of brand partners includes Mercedes-Benz, AT&T, PepsiCo, Amazon, Verizon, Target, Dunkin', Subaru, Warner Media, General Mills, American Express, Lexus, BMW, and the David Bowie Estate. His name is John Taite and if you're still wondering how effective audio branding can be after having listened to this podcast for a while, I have no doubt that this will be a fascinating conversation!

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

Invisible Brands

As we start the interview, John tells us about his early memories of sound, and listening to his father's upcoming interviews with musicians like Bob Marley, the Sex Pistols, and Talking Heads. "It was quite an interesting life growing up,” he tells us. “I grew up with not your average nursery rhymes and things like that.” He goes on to tell us how his career and experiences all over the world led to his insights about audio branding and the lack of a cohesive marketing strategy in many industries. “The thing that really struck me,” he explains, “was a lot of brands are invisible in this space. They put so much time and energy to create the visual identity systems and visual branding, but there was a real gap.”

Coming Around the Campfire

We talk about Made Music’s approach to branding, and its integration of sound, music, and story to speak to the audience. “It’s really about the story, you know,” John says. “For us, it's really about putting the stories out there." As he puts it, “we want to find something that couldn’t possibly sound like anybody else.” He gives us an example with their famous Tostitos campaign, which took inspiration from everyday life to create a memorable audio connection between the snack brand and its consumers.  “With Tostitos in particular,” John explains, “their whole thing is about coming around the campfire. It’s about togetherness, it’s about just, you know, those moments.”

The Lens of Sound and Music

Our discussion turns to the power of conscious and unconscious branding, and the subliminal impression sound can make even apart from the industry's more famous jingles.  "It really is a case," John says, "of steering people I suppose in a way where they begin to consider their brand through the lens of sound and music." We talk about conscious branding and the art of engaging consumers on a personal level through the power of sound and story. “It answers questions,” he explains, “like does this brand see me? Does this brand accept me? Does this brand invite me into its world?”

The Magic of It

John talks about some of Made Music’s most famous marketing campaigns and the behind-the-scenes process for creating them. “We probably have a higher success rate in terms of launching,” he tells us, “and that’s really because we spend a lot of time doing it.” A story that engages the listener is critical, he says, and “making sure that it’s embedded in the work.” The challenge and goal, he explains is to use the power of sonic branding to forge a deeper relationship with customers, to elevate them into, as he says, “fans of shows, fans of events, fans of brands. That’s really the magic of it.”

Episode Summary

• John’s early memories of such famous sounds as Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols
• How John sought to close the sonic branding gap in the marketing industry
• Made Music’s Tostitos campaign and the integral role of story in audio branding
• The power of conscious branding in creating personal connections
• Bringing stories to life and turning consumers into brand enthusiasts

Tune in next week as we talk about the dangers of leaving your brand on mute, the story behind Turner Classic Movies’ famous “Where Then Meets Now” audio campaign, and how such seismic shifts as social audio and AI content creation are shaking up the audio branding industry.

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://www.mademusicstudio.com/

Connect with John Taite on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntaite/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

AI and Podcasting - Talking to Computers

“Branded podcasting was one of the first things that I thought this would be perfect for, and I still personally believe that branded podcasts are one of the biggest untapped opportunities in podcasting because there are just so many companies out there that don’t yet have a podcast. And podcasting really is, you know, on the up. Soon it will be ‘you have to have a podcast,’ it’s not just a nice-to-have, and I think voice technology will spur that on as well. We’re already asking for a lot more audio on demand, so I feel like more and more companies just need to have more content on demand through voice interfaces, you know, as a catalyst.” -- Carl Robinson

This episode’s the second half of my interview "AI and Podcasting" with podcast host, AI data scientist, and Rumble Studio CEO, Carl Robinson, as we talk about what podcasting’s growth means for businesses, balancing digital convenience with a human touch, and just how intelligent is artificial intelligence.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

An Untapped Opportunity

As the second half of our interview begins, Carl tells us how Rumble Studio’s conversational AI is particularly suited for branded and company podcasts. “Branded podcasts,” he says, “are one of the biggest untapped opportunities in podcasting because there are just so many companies out there that don’t yet have a podcast.” We discuss podcasting as a labor of love vs a business necessity as well as the role sound quality plays in our listening habits, and whether there’s a happy medium to be found. “If I turn on a podcast,” Carl explains, “and it’s at all difficult to listen to I’ll just turn it off immediately but I don’t think I’ll listen to a podcast just because it has fantastic sound quality.”

The Human Quality

Next, we talk about how software tools like Auphonic and Resound have made professional audio quality easier to attain than ever, and whether over processing might remove something vital and human from the end result. “If you remove the human quality from the voice,” Carl tells us, “that’s the same as it becoming unintelligible.” We also take a look at the ease of digital voice transformation and how its misuse could add to our skepticism toward online media.  “If nobody believes in the information they're seeing on these platforms,” he notes, “the platforms will die a quick death.”

Like a Digital Parrot

As our interview comes to a close, we take a deeper dive into the future of AI, just how authentic it might become, and what that might mean. “If you train it long enough,” Carl observes, “with enough data, it sounds incredible... but it's so far from being sentient it's not funny” He explains how machine learning algorithms work and how, like a digital parrot, chatbots emulate human speech and interaction without truly understanding what it is they’re saying. “Those models that you create,” he observes, “don't understand anything that you're saying. There is no understanding of the information and the context, it's just repeating what it's already been exposed to in terms of the data.”

Episode Summary

• The future of podcasting as both an art form and business strategy
• How breakthroughs in sound processing are changing the role of digital audio
• The evolution of conversational AI and how machine learning really works
• Rumble Studio’s upcoming projects and opportunities for listeners

Connect with the Guest:

Website (and a 7-day free software trial): http://www.rumble.studio/

Vocie Tech Podcast: https://voicetechpodcast.com/

Follow Carl Robinson on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rumblestudio

Connect with Carl Robinson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlrobins0n/

Follow Carl Robinson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VoiceTechCarl

Async Podcast Masterclass (PDF & Webinar) teaches you how to create podcasts ten times faster. Subscribe to Rumble Studio’s newsletter for more: https://rumble.studio/masterclass

 Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

AI and Podcasting - Talking to Computers

“I’m sure one day you won’t be able to tell the difference, and maybe it’s not a bad thing, because everybody wants to be at their best. You know, we wear nice clothes and put on makeup and everything else, and, you know, maybe one day you’ll do the same for your voice, so you won’t sound tired or hung over or whatever...” -- Carl Robinson

This episode's guest is the co-founder and CEO of Rumble Studio, a startup that helps creators, agencies, and brands create podcasts ten times faster and easier using cutting-edge voice technology. Rumble Studio is the first and only company to record asynchronous guest interviews using conversational AI, which allows anyone to create audio content at scale, no skills required. He's the host of the Voice Tech Podcast and has interviewed more than one hundred experts in the field of voice technology. Earlier in his career, he led a product team at a chatbot startup and became a published voice AI data scientist.  His ambition is to democratize audio content creation so that businesses large and small can establish a presence on the audio channels of the future.

His name is Carl Robinson and you’ll want to hear what he has to say about podcasts and the state of audio in general.  The future of sound is already here, so, let’s get to it!

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

The People Behind the Curtain

Our interview starts with Carl's earliest memories of sound, the video-game chiptunes and sound effects that helped define his childhood. He tells us how his career began with voice technology and, as a result, soon segued into podcasting. We discuss his early work with healthcare chatbots at a time when they relied much more on human guidance: as he puts it, "I was one of the many people behind the curtain." Carl tells us how the idea came to him that podcasting could be automated to scale using voice technology, and how underutilized it was at the time. "That was around the time," he says, "when Alexa and everything was taking off so it was a great time to have that realization."

Wearing Your Best Voice

Carl tells us how he finished his work in Beijing and moved to France to help develop machine learning models in the earliest days of voice interface. He spent much of his time, he says, talking to computers – or, as Carl explains, "dreaming of talking to computers because there wasn't that much talking to them." He tells us about the pioneering research into simulated emotional tones and how he's working these days on voice transformation, apps that process and change a person's inflections, accent, and even who their voice belongs to, in real-time. We talk about some of the companies that are on the leading edge of that process, such as Sanas.AI, Veritone, and Respeecher, and how one day we may see choosing our best digital voice as casually as picking an outfit to wear to an interview.

Robots on the Phone

We talk about all the exciting possibilities, and some worrying potentials for misuse, when it comes to voice transformation, and about how audio chatbots might be received once they're indistinguishable from humans. "If they were pretending that it was real," Carl notes, recalling the controversial launch of Google Duplex and its AI phone-concierge service a few years ago, "and it wasn't, I think that really gets people's backs up." He tells us how Rumble Studios is now working with this sort of technology and integrating it into the podcast production process in new and exciting ways.

Taking the Stress Off

Carl shares his experience creating his new series Audio Leads, which utilizes voice chatbots and AI to reinvent podcast production. He explains how the interviews are delivered by AI and customized both before and after the recording process to create a natural conversation, and how that system’s been received by podcast guests. “They have to think about the answer, plan it, and then that’s it,” he says. “But what Google found is that some guests prefer that.” We discuss the flow of a real-time podcast, how it compares to a chatbot-guided podcast, and how Rumble Studios recreates that flow through its unique editing process. “It is different from a standard podcast process,” he explains. “I can get people to leave a little bit more of a concise answer, and it takes the stress off of them as well.”

Episode Summary

• Carl’s early memories of sound, from Game Boys to ghetto blasters
• What a healthcare app for diabetic patients taught Carl about audio interfaces
• How technology enables us to improve, disguise, and reinvent our voices
• The “arms race” between voice authentication and voice modification software
• Audio Leads and how voice chatbots can streamline podcast production

Be sure to tune in next week as Carl and I talk about how businesses can streamline the podcasting process, how breakthroughs in sound editing are making it harder to believe our ears these days, and a closer look at the nuts and bolts of machine learning and how chatbots really think.

Connect with the Guest:

Website (and a 7-day free software trial): http://www.rumble.studio/

Vocie Tech Podcast: https://voicetechpodcast.com/

Follow Carl Robinson on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rumblestudio

Connect with Carl Robinson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlrobins0n/

Follow Carl Robinson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VoiceTechCarl

Async Podcast Masterclass (PDF & Webinar) teaches you how to create podcasts ten times faster. Subscribe to Rumble Studio’s newsletter for more: https://rumble.studio/masterclass

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“And that is also something you asked before about common problems with new podcasters, and this is true of companies and organizations. They can be very large, very well-funded organizations, it doesn’t really matter. They’ll say ‘we want to have a podcast.’ Well, why do you want to have a podcast? ‘Well, because everybody has a podcast’ or ‘because we want to get our message across well.’ That’s not a podcast, that’s an ad. Go buy ads on somebody else’s time. Or they simply don’t really know. They think it would be a good vehicle, but they don’t really know, and, um, and therefore it’s very hard to make it succeed.” -- Elaine Appleton Grant

This episode’s the second half of my interview with award-winning journalist, audio producer, and Sound Judgment host Elaine Appleton Grant, as we talk about the challenge of building an effective audio brand from scratch, how an increasingly diverse audio industry has helped give more people a voice than before, and our experiences with Twitter alternatives Mastodon and Post.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

Way More than Music

The second half of our interview begins with a look at Elaine’s experiences with large companies that try to follow the trends and enter the podcasting space without entirely understanding their goal or reason for wanting a podcast. “They think it would be a good vehicle,” she explains, “but they don’t really know, and therefore it’s very hard to make it succeed.” We talk about audio branding and the holistic approach it requires: as she puts it, “it's way more than the music, that's just a tiny piece of it.” The discussion turns to how a bad strategy can end up being worse than no strategy, and the lessons we’ve both learned over our years in the voiceover and voice production industries.

Voices That Speak to Us

Our discussion turns back to the question of hostiness and just what it is that brings some hosts to life for their audience, and Elaine shares her thoughts on the sense of safety and trust that forms the foundation of a successful podcast, no matter the topic. “The quality,” she says, “the need to build that relationship appears to be universal.” We talk about our increasingly young and diverse population and how more people than ever before are being represented in podcasting, advertising, and other forms of mass media. “More and more,” she explains, “we want to hear voices that speak to us.”

Getting a Fresh Perspective

As the interview comes to a close, Elaine tells us about an NPR study on just why people listen to podcasting and streaming audio, and how, while the number one reason is multi-tasking, a close second is getting a fresh perspective. We discuss what that means, and how much voiceover representation has improved since our careers began, As she says, "there's a sense of 'I'm in the community with you,' that we're a part of and I feel seen, that someone understands who I am. They sound like me. They talk about what I'm interested in. That was, just, it gives me chills to think about it."

Episode Summary

• The challenges large companies can face when trying to build an audio brand
• What hostiness really means and what audiences value most in a podcast
• How a more diverse audio industry is helping more people feel seen than before
• The importance of empathy and humanity when it comes to podcasting

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://www.podcastallies.com

Follow Elaine Appleton Grant on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elaine.a.grant/

Connect with Elaine Appleton Grant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/appletongrant/

Follow Elaine Appleton Grant on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elaineagrant

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

What makes a good podcast host? That's a question many of us ask!  What gives a Podcast its "hostiness" and makes you want to come back for more again and again?

“There's almost nothing about hosting and really by implication producing and that, that quality – I did not coin the term 'hostiness,' that comes from I believe PRX many years ago – but it's, it's this ineffable quality that makes us go 'oh, I love listening to Ira Glass,’ or Jad Abumrad of Radio Lab, or Anna Sale, or Brené Brown, or whoever we connect with, and different people obviously connect with different hosts. But what is that makes us connect?”-- Elaine Appleton Grant

My next guest has actually been on this podcast before. She's an award-winning journalist, audio producer, and on-air talent who worked for three NPR affiliates before founding Podcast Allies, LLC in 2019. She hosts the podcast Sound Judgment, a master study in great podcast hosting, and I’m certainly honored to have her here. In fact, you might have heard her review of this podcast read out on a recent show. Her show features today's best hosts, and producers, including Glynn Washington, host of Snap Judgment, John Barth, founding producer of Marketplace, Ann Bogel of What Should I Read Next, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs of Last Day. Her production company, Podcast Allies, develops narrative and conversation podcasts for social impact organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund and the American Academy of Pediatrics, so her background in audio is pretty extensive.

Her name is Elaine Appleton Grant, and I’m looking forward to getting her take on what she feels makes a good podcast and a great host. With all the interesting people she’s interviewed, she’s bound to have a very informed opinion.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

The Voice of God

As we start the episode off, the discussion turns straight to podcasting, its storytelling strengths, and the powerful role it plays in audio branding. We talk about her work with John Barth, developer of the famous Moth Radio Hour, and Elaine and I discuss audio trends in everything from television commercials to movie trailers, and how modern audiences have outgrown the classic "voice of God" Hollywood voice-overs. As Elaine puts it, "it's like the end of the newscaster voice."

Ways to Get Attention

Our conversation continues with a look at how multi-tasking and our always-on-the-go lifestyle have changed the tone and purpose of advertising. "We're all trying to find ways to get attention," she says. "There are effective ways, there are good ways, there are ways with integrity, and there are ways that you and I might argue are less so." We talk about how this very podcast got its start and the audio trends, both good and not-so-good, that helped inspire its focus on sonic branding.

An Ineffable Quality

Elaine tells us about the start of her podcast Sound Judgment and her search for the true meaning of “hostiness,” a word she borrowed from Jay Bear to describe that perfect chemistry with a host that brings the audience back week after week. “It's this ineffable quality,” she explains, “that makes us go 'oh, I love listening to Ira Glass,' or Jad Abumrad of Radiolab, or Anna Sale, or Brené Brown, or whoever we connect with, and different people obviously connect with different hosts. But what is it that makes us connect?” How can we be a good podcast host? We talk about some of the common pitfalls new hosts encounter, and how that personal link between the host and their listeners can make or break a podcast.

Finding Your Voice

We talk more about how hosts can tap into that wellspring of sincerity and authenticity, from relating to the material in a personal way to rewriting it to better suit their performance, and how many newly successful voice talents with a gift for impressions have to work to find their own distinctive voice. “What's interesting about that," Elaine says, "is that there may be many you's in a way." As she puts it, voiceover is about "learning the range of who you can be sincerely and convincingly."

Episode Summary

• Defining audio branding and its relationship to commercial podcasting
• Marketing, movie trailers, and the new advertising rule of “show, don’t tell”
• How a lifestyle podcast paved the way for The Hidden Gem of Marketing
• The early days of Sound Judgment and how Elaine defines “hostiness”
• Podcasting’s unique ability to foster a relationship between host and listener and how to be a good podcast host

Stay tuned next week as Elaine and I talk about the challenges companies face as they enter the podcasting world, as we hone in on the secret of hostiness and how it empowers the host, guest, and listeners alike, and how a more diverse voice industry has helped transform advertising.

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://www.podcastallies.com

Follow Elaine Appleton Grant on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elaine.a.grant/

Connect with Elaine Appleton Grant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/appletongrant/

Follow Elaine Appleton Grant on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elaineagrant

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

What color is a piano note? How loud is purple? What’s the brightness of a melody? If these questions are leaving you a little confused, that just means you don’t have synesthesia, a rare sensory condition that’s estimated to affect just one out of twenty people. If you do have it, then your answer to those questions might be very different from anyone else’s, since it affects each person in a unique way. Synesthesia means “joined senses” in Greek, and that’s exactly what it is: a mixture of different senses within the brain so that people can taste the words they read on a page, feel numbers as if they were building blocks, or literally see time flowing around them.

The most famous kind of synesthesia might be chromesthesia, a neurological link between sound and color that allows people with this condition to see each note as a separate color. The result can be both beautiful and a little dizzying to watch, and it reveals a deeper link between the senses, and between sound and light themselves, than most of us realize.

You can find a link on my blog to a short video from Great Big Story and chromesthetic artist Melissa McCracken as she shows us how she turns the songs she hears into paintings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbh7tAnwLCY

While synesthesia is a neurological condition that seems to have a genetic component, it isn't technically a disorder or a disability, and it definitely isn't a disease. If anything, it seems to help some of the people who have it. There are reports of "synesthetes"  having better memory and creativity than average, and for people with chromesthesia, the ability to see sound can make them more successful as musicians or artists. Leonard Bernstein famously wrote about his ability to see timbre as color and would often notice and correct changes in timbre without anyone else being able to tell the difference. Some historians suspect Isaac Newton may have also had chromesthesia, given that he devoted much of his life to exploring the relationship between musical notes and color.

The cause of synesthesia is still a mystery, but it runs in families and seems to develop in early childhood while the brain's learning how to process language and symbols. One theory is that extra neurological connections are formed between different senses and the parts of the brain that process them, which might explain why having it seems to have other benefits like boosting memory and problem-solving skills. Another is that the connections are the same, but the boundaries between those different parts of the brain are weaker. That could explain why some brain injuries, and even certain hallucinogens, can also cause it. But no one's sure if that's really the same kind of synesthesia, or if all the different kinds out there are related to each other. It's still a very mysterious topic.

Want to see a classical violin piece through the eyes of someone with chromesthesia? Check out my blog for a link to a YouTube 360° video of Kaitlyn Hova, a neuroscientist and musician with chromesthesia, who’s created a real-time VR simulation of how she sees music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrBAysVef0

Most of us can't see music for ourselves, but that doesn't mean sound and color don't have a lot in common. Each one is a broad spectrum of wavelengths much larger than the part we can perceive, and both light and sound have certain wavelengths that are more comfortable than others. For light, we're most sensitive to a wavelength of 555 nanometers, which is bright green. The color our eyes are least sensitive to is blue, which is one reason why LED displays strain our eyes. On the other hand, blue light also helps us relax, so it's becoming a popular choice for street lamps.

Sound also has certain frequencies that our ears pick up better and that we find more relaxing than others. The human ear’s most sensitive to a frequency of 2,500 Hz, which sounds like a shrill, high-pitched smoke alarm – for good reason, since smoke alarms are supposed to wake us up and grab our attention. A sound frequency of 400 Hz, a soft steady hum, is the most relaxing.

These similarities come together in the "noise spectrum," a way of describing audio noise precisely the same way that we'd describe the color of light. White noise is made of every frequency mixed together, the same as white light. Blue noise and indigo noise have their peaks in the higher wavelengths just like blue and indigo light. Brown noise is a rumbling mix of lower frequencies and pink noise, perhaps the most soothing noise frequency for our ears, sounds like a waterfall. Just like the name suggests, its mixture of high and low frequencies is exactly the same as pink light.

If you’d like to hear some of these noise colors and decide which one you like best, there’s a link on my blog to a short Scientific American video that demonstrates each of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moEgZYrazdc

Even if most of us won’t ever be able to recognize a song by its color, at least not without the help of a synesthete who can share their experience, light and sound still share a powerful connection within our brains. Both shape the way we see, hear, and experience the world around us, and they influence each other and our inner selves in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

“I remember the electricity of being and speaking in front of fifty thousand people or something like that which I’ve done in one of those rooms, and just seeing the little icons of everyone who’s there, and the numbers are amazing as well as, just, you know, hanging out with ten people and talking to your friends. I think those two experiences are extremely different from podcasting and also very compelling, but perhaps more of a sign of a moment that we were all going through, sort of being inside and having the desire to connect that I think, you know, has passed a little bit. Even if there’s longevity to the app, I think it's certainly not going to be taking over podcasting anytime soon.” -- Mike Kadin

This episode’s the second part of my interview with RedCircle's founder and CEO, Mike Kadin, as we talk about his tips for a successful podcast, how social media and podcasting can complement rather than compete with one another, and some of RedCircle's exciting upcoming projects.

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

Creating Compelling Content

We start the second half off with a look at just which surprising podcast topic makes the most money in Mike’s experience, and he makes the distinction between the most overall and the most per download. “If you look at the podcasts that are making the most money per download,” Mike explains, “in other words, the most money for their audience size, those are actually just shows that monetize with listener payments where they collect a couple of bucks from their friends.” This simple approach can be very successful, Mike says, “if you can create compelling content that people are willing to pay for.”

The Resilience of Podcasting

The conversation shifts to streaming media, the prospect of real-time podcast purchases, and what a "cookie-less" world might be like from a privacy and podcasting perspective. We also talk about how much COVID-19 has changed the podcasting landscape, creating both a quick boom in new podcasts and an increase in listeners. “A lot of them churned out,” Mike says of the flurry of new shows, “a lot of them didn't stick with it... Now, I think we're in a new space.” He reflects on how podcasting has grown alongside streaming media and exceeded more traditional markets like real estate: “What's amazing to me is the resilience of this medium through all kinds of economic change”

Carve Out Your Niche

As our interview comes to a close, Mike gives us a sneak peek at some of the new features in the works at RedCircle and offers his advice as a technical guru on podcasting. “It's super important,” he explains, “to make sure that your title of your show is unique,” so that it’ll come up quickly in a search without any other shows getting in the way. He also recommends finding an under-served niche and sticking with it from the start rather than trying to find your voice as you podcast. “You need to be strategic,” he says when it comes to podcasting, “about which territory you're going to chase after.”

Episode Summary

• Which genres and monetization approaches have seen the most success
• How the pandemic helped create the podcasting boom and social audio
• The strength of podcasting in the face of uncertainty and a shifting market
• Mike’s practical advice on giving your podcast a successful start

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://redcircle.com/

Connect with Mike Kadin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kadin-a341571b

Follow Mike Kadin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkadin/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“A lot of folks start businesses and they just kind of look at what's hot right now, like, ‘we're going to start like a bitcoin’ or ‘we're going to start a mobile gaming company’ when that was popular, or whatever, and I think I can tell you from starting a business and growing it to twenty-six people, if you're not in love with the thing that you're doing it's going to be super-duper hard to get through it. Because there’s, you know, there’s certainly highs but there’s also tremendous lows, so if you’re not passionate about the thing, you’re going to struggle.” -- Mike Kadin

This episode’s guest is the founder and CEO of RedCircle, a platform that equips podcasters with strong tools to support their efforts to advance, make money, and gain attention. Through his experience building RedCircle's technology and growing its customer base, he’s had the unique experience of working with thousands of podcasters and advertisers, from the smallest marketers to the largest publishers in the space.  He brings his technical background and expertise in the podcasting industry together to help move the audio advertising space forward for independent creators.

His name is Mike Kadin, and while this might sound a little meta (we’ve covered this subject before), I think it’ll be really useful and encouraging for you if you have a podcast of your own.  And if you don’t yet have a podcast, maybe you should consider it.  Come on in – the water’s nice!

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

You’ve Got to Build

We start things off with a look back at Mike's most enduring memory of sound, the music and sound effects from the video games he played as a child. "I don't remember what color my shoes were when I was seven," he recalls, "I don't remember the stories that we read in class, but this music is burned-in in a very special way." He tells us how a coding project in his spare time led to his career in podcasting and the rewards and challenges of working in such a fast-growing industry. "If you want to earn money, or whatever your goals on it, to achieve that you've got to build, and that takes time."

Where the Listening Happens

Mike tells us about the advantages of podcast advertising, the differences between host-read ads and announcer ads, and how each one has its own role to play in podcasting. "There's lots of reasons why you might not want to do [a] host read," he explains. "Host read's great, but all podcast advertising is great" Mike shares some surprising statistics about which kinds of podcasts are attracting most of the audience, and his perspective on how indie podcasters fit into it all.  "Our view," he says, "is that these middle-class creators are deserving of being rewarded just as much as everyone else."

Growing Your Podcast

Next, we discuss the different features and services RedCircle offers to both podcasters and advertisers, and what sets his company apart from the competition. "Host read," he explains, "is really what makes us unique and different in the game" He also offers his advice for successful monetization and reminds us that there aren't any shortcuts when it comes to effectively building a podcast audience. "The first thing for growing your podcast," Mike says, "the most important, is that it needs to be good. People need to want to listen to it, and they need to want to come back and listen again."

The Value You’re Creating

“Tons of studies,” Mike notes as the first half of our interview comes to a close, “have shown that the primary vector for podcast growth is just word of mouth.” We talk about the most effective placement strategies for ads and he shares his positive experience with introducing listeners to both monetization and other alternatives for helping the show. “I think people get it,” he says. “I think they understand that you’re putting a lot of hard work and energy into the thing and you’re hoping to get some value back.” As he puts it, “it’s not out of line to ask for value back out of the value you're creating.”

Episode Summary

• The unforgettable impression video game melodies made on Mike
• Mike’s journey from part-time coding to full-time podcasting expert
• How to best utilize host-read vs. announcer-read podcast ads
• Building an audience and knowing when monetization’s worth the cost
• Growing your podcast and working promotions into the flow

Tune in next week as Mike and I discuss whether podcasts might someday come with at-home purchases, his tips on how to help your new podcast stand out from the crowd, and what role social audio apps like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces might end up playing in it all.

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://redcircle.com/

Connect with Mike Kadin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kadin-a341571b

Follow Mike Kadin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkadin/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“And I parked my car, I jumped out of the car, and this happy dog is springing around, and I laid down on the sidewalk because I know that they want submissive approaches. So I sat down and then I laid down, and then kind of did stuff so he’d come over and sniff me, and then I lightly grabbed the pup named Jazz, which was funny, and right as I was, like, laying on the sidewalk sprawled out, sprawled out like I’d just been hit in the head with a bat, this cop drives by. And he looks out and he sees me and he sees this dog, and he just keeps driving by. He didn’t even stop, didn’t say nothing, was like ‘not today, mm mm, not dealing with that weirdness.’” -- Van Gunter

This week’s the second half of my interview with voice artist, DJ, and sound engineer Van Gunter as we talk about some of Van’s spookier experiences with sound, the value of social media when it comes to building a brand, and why he always keeps emergency dog treats and leashes in his car.

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

Keeping Everything Moving

The second half of our interview starts with Van’s account of some of the spooky audio phenomena that the acoustics of his studio, a converted church, can create. “It creates a lot of silence and weird pockets of sounds. There’s so many times that I thought there were people here in the building, and it’s totally empty.” Van offers his voiceover advice as a sound engineer and how he works to ease anxieties and helps sessions go more smoothly. “It’s the respect and the simplicity of keeping communication,” he says, “but that's also teamwork... it’s just keeping everything moving and flowing.”

A Puppy Studio

“I am a firm believer,” Van says, “in the power of the puppies.” We talk about how he and his wife work with rescue dogs and some of his most memorable adventures when it comes to helping animals, and he shares their volunteer work has taught him about “speaking canine,” a skill that’s just as useful with humans as it is with dogs. "I love to speak canine because it does sweet things and we're a puppy studio," he explains. "Things melt away, anxiety melts, and people become whole again."

Teamwork With a Vengeance

As our interview comes to a close, Van tells us about his latest projects, including what he calls a dangerously catchy new jingle. “We need to remember this time right now,” he playfully warns us, “because in a few weeks when this hits the air, you're going to want to hit me with a bat.” We also talk about his work at the Sidewalk Film Festival, which he calls a "teamwork with a vengeance experience.” Van credits his wife and their sixteen years of marriage for keeping him sane and talks about the important role social media plays in this day and age when it comes to branding. “I think we all need to get a little bit more active, if you want to, on social media. I certainly need to.”

Episode Summary

• How building acoustics can create unsettling audio effects and illusions
• Van’s advice as an audio engineer when it comes to voiceover
• How “speaking canine” can be a valuable skill for working with humans
• Boutwell’s latest projects, including DIY Science Time’s new season

Connect with the Guest: 

Website: https://boutwellstudios.com

Connect with Van Gunter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/van-gunter-4bb4048/

Follow Van Gunter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vansayword/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/