Podcast Help Desk

News

Stephen Dubner from Freekanomics Radio starts a new daily podcast called "Question of the day"

Pocket Casts for Android now Supports Subscribe on Android.com. Get your subscribe on android button now at subscribeonandroid.com

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#1 tip for podcasting.

DON’T RUSH!

Fully listen to your podcast BEFORE you hit publish.

As you my notice, last week's episode was marked “Repost”. this is because I hit publish before I had listened though the podcast. Steve Lee (my boss at the Modern Life Network) emailed me that there was a problem with my file at the 12 minute mark. I was listening at the time and got to 11:30 in the podcast. Sure enough, at 12 minutes, a segment from the last episode got mixed in with the new episode. Oops.. My bad.

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Blab.im - Great fun and maybe useful! I will be doing "Blabs" on there about podcasting at various times. Watch @mgdell or @podcasthelpdesk for times and links

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Blubrry Tip of the week

MASSIVE update to the look and feel of the blubrry.com website. Now to include the backend. All the stuff is there, but moved around in (what we hope is) a much better layout.

Also:

Cathy, Our Social media goddess at blubrry posted this article that the whole team worked on.

Why TO use your wordpress feed for podcasting

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Interview with Ray Ortega from The Podcasters’ Studio and Podcasters’ Roundtable

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Support the show. Use promo code HELPDESK at checkout at Blubrry.com for any product.

International Podcast Day September 30th.

Please review Podcast Help Desk in iTunes and Stitcher to help me win the International Podcast Day Gratitude Award.

News:

Soundcloud Takedowns purging a TON of files. If you host your podcast there, BE CAREFUL not to include any copyrighted material.

http://podcasternews.com/2015/08/24/soundcloud-takedowns-trigger-massive-purge/

Panoply acquired by AudioMetric.

http://podcasternews.com/2015/08/12/panoply-has-acquired-audiometric/

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Followup from Ahmad about his hiss problem.

Hi Mike,

I can't thank you enough for answering my question here and on your great show. That's awesome.

I waited until I listened to the episode and the demo you made.

Regarding the hiss issue, please have a listen to the attached audio clips -NOT to be published :)

All clips are recorded in Adobe Audition and from their saved as mp3.

I also want to mention these points about the hiss I'm getting:

- It's not a buzz or hum. It's just a white noise just like that you get from a cheap mixer pres when you crank the gain all the way up. May be I'm being an audiophile. I just don't hear such a noise in your recordings or in any other advanced podcaster's. My podcast is about podcasting :) and I want to get as clean audio as I can.

- It's probably less hiss than that in your demo. It's like the one in your demo but after your have applied the noise reduction process.

- The Mackie interface I'm using is powered via USB only. So, the ground issue is not likely to be the cause although I get another buzz when my Macbook is charging in 120v only. I managed to deal with that either by unplugging the charger or using the 3 to 2-prong adapter you mentioned.

- It's not the Mackie fault because it is present even if I plug the AT2005 via USB directly into the MacBook.

- I use a Planet Waves XLR 3-foot cable. There is no power cables near my setup, no power supply bricks in the room. I also tried a different Audio-Technica cable just to make sure.

- As I said, it's like the noise from a preamp. But the Mackie Onyx Blackjack has a clean preamps. I think your mixer has the same Onyx ones. They are very clean up to 60dB which I never go above. After that you get a really annoying noise.

- I suspect that it is the dynamic mics as they tend to be gain hungry and never have enough gain.

- I tried the noise reduction tool in Audition and though it removed the hiss completely from silences, I didn't like the over all result that it gave my voice. I think it negates the idea of having a professional setup. I sounded like talking with a cheap headset.

My question this time is that: If I add a gate like the Behringer you use or the DBX 286s, will this kill the noise?

Thank you so much.

Keep the good work.

Best,

Ahmad

A: Ahmad, I have to say all three of the samples you sent me seem great. I’m not hearing much in the silence so whatever it is you are hearing is not nearly as bad as you think it is. It might be you are getting a bit picky (which is normal for podcasters to do). You might just be hearing the room noise, even though it seems very low / non-existent to me. In that case, a noise gate such as the Autocom Pro XL I have, or the DBX box would silence the blank spaces in your audio file. It might be worth a try. The compressor, limiter, and expander functions are handy in some situations, but I don’t really use that part. Just the gate function. I then do my compression and such in post editing along with normalizing using Auphonic.

Do you need Media hosting?

Did I hear you say on a recent podcast you don't have to have a hosting account with a Libsyn or Blubrry to link a podcast to iTunes? If so, how do I go about submitting an rss/feed to iTunes and other podcast directories....

International Podcast Day is September 30th

International Podcast Day is coming September 30 and you can help celebrate the day-long event by purchasing the first ever #PodcastDay shirt. And because the celebration happens every year on September 30th, your shirt will be good for years to come. Go to: http://internationalpodcastday.com/shirt and start the conversation.

Question from Ahmad

I'm struggling to get rid of "hiss". Here is my setup:

- Audio-Technica AT2005USB mic or Rode Procaster dynamic mic into the Mackie Onyx Blackjack audio interface connected to MacBook Pro via USB. I record in Adobe Audition.

I start with the gain at "0" then go up tell I start hearing hiss then I go down a little. When I raise the gain, it introduces hiss, so I keep it down.

But when I record and try to add just a little normalisation or compression, just a little, I start hearing a background hiss. If I keep it without post processing, the sound is too low.

The hiss is definitely NOT from the room, I'm in a very quiet room.

How can I fix this?

Thank you very much.

A: What you describe sounds like a ground loop hum or a noisy preamp for the mic. I’m not familiar with with the Mackie interface you are using but for the most part, Mackie makes a very good (and Quiet) preamp.

One thing you could try is isolating the ground to the power supply to the interface (if it has one). In the US, and I’m not sure where Ahmad is, we have 2 prong AC plugs and 3 Prong AC power plugs. In the hardware store, there are these little adaptors that you can plug a 3 prong plug into and it allows you to plug it into a 2 prong outlet. This will remove the ground from a 3 prong cord. Maybe you could send in an audio clip so I can hear what you are talking about.

In the mean time, you can use Noise Removal tool in Audition. You leave some quiet space in your recording and in the tool you highlight the noise and click on “Capture noise Point”. Then select the whole recording and apply the “Noise Reduction Process. You may have to experiment with the settings a few times to get it just right.

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Paul Colligan came up with a perfect statement about Apple iTunes N&N.

"Starting A Podcast To Hit iTunes “New And Notable” Is Like Launching A Business To Get Into The Phone Book"

I’m going to give Paul a SMALL amount of crap for getting the name wrong. it’s new and NOTEWORTHY. (only a little crap because I do the same thing)

Hear the whole show at http://thepodcastreport.com/58/

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I’m going to be Guest Hosting Ask the Podcast Coach Tomorrow morning. (Saturday the 15th) at 10:30am Eastern. Dave Jackson will be speaking at Podcamp Pittsburgh and may call in remote, but Jim Collison and I will be holding down the fort. It will be found at askthepodcastcoach.com/live/ or look for Ask The Podcast Coach on your podcast catcher of choice. Sorry for the short notice.

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Blubrry tip of the week.

The hits keep on coming! Blubrry launched a redesign of its main website and the directory. This is all part of the prep to launch the Powerpress sites feature and the expanded directory. This is not really a tip other than to say that instead of “manage account” you click on “Podcaster Dashboard” from the home page once you are logged in to find the settings. The backend (the manage account area) hasn’t changed yet, but will when all the new stuff is live. Very soon I’m told.

Use my promo code HELPDESK at blubrry.com for a free month of Podcast Hosting, Stats and SOON, Wordpress hosting via Powerpress sites.

Patreon for the Modern Life Podcast Network https://www.patreon.com/ncs

For a free 10 day trial at Lynda.com go to http://modernlifepodcastnetwork.com/lynda

News: Podcast Movement and the Academy of Podcasters Awards are going this weekend in Ft. Worth Texas. Mackenzie and Todd from Blubrry are there to tell everyone about Blubrry’s new stuff. I will go through that a bit later in the show. If you are there, or went, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it this year. Hope to make it in the future. I will be at NMX/NAB in April of next year.

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Why do I podcast? (And why you might want to)

Several reasons people do podcasts….

To tell the world what you want to say.

To promote a business

To entertain

To play with audio gear (yes, there are some that love to play around with this stuff)

To make Money $$ (well $)

To become an expert in something

Because they got fired from Radio

The reason I do podcasts.

It’s fun

I like to help others learn new things and I learn just as much by teaching

I meet lots of people because of my podcasts

I like to play with the gear.

Reasons people give for NOT podcasting

It takes time

It’s expensive

They don’t like the sound of their own voice

Mic Fright

Too Geeky

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Blubrry introduces Powerpress Sites - http://turnkeypodcasting.com

Blubrry also (by the time you listen to this) will have Subscribe by Email in powerpress

Blubrry directory expanding / being redesigned

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Ask me a question! With the dog days of podcasting here this summer, the questions have slowed down. Get them in now while I have time to get them into the show.

231-421-4490 or use the “Leave a voicemail” link of the website. You can also email me your question, text or audio to [email protected]

Today I talk a lot about iTunes.

iTunes limiting listing to 20 episodes.

Also Happy Birthday MP3!

Geek of the North Returning

** Sorry for the lame shownotes this week **

PHD054

News:

iTunes glitch limits LISTINGS to 20 episodes

WNYC Podcast Accelerator

More speakers for Podcast Movement

Blubrry soft-launches a new site It’s another way to subscribe to podcasts via email. Similar to the feedburner email subscription in one way, but different in another way. This one is for your listeners. They can subscribe to as many podcasts as they want via email and they will get a daily digest email with all the episodes put out that day, sent to their inbox. If no episodes come out that day, then they don’t get an email. As a podcaster, you can hit the podcasters link on the site and make your own subscribe by email button for your site. If you use powerpress, it will be added to powerpress on the next release. There will be metrics and such added later for the podcaster. Hence the “soft-launch” Check it out at http://subscribebyemail.com/

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Bad Advice

I’ve had a rash of people come to me after getting very bad advice from so-called podcast Gurus. Some of the gurus are charging a TON of money for their advice. Sometime the old saying that “you get what you pay for” isn’t really true.

Examples: One such “guru” says you should ignore the Parental Rating setting in Powerpress and in Libsyn (they call it something else) This is just a bad idea. Yes, you CAN ignore it, but you should not ignore it. In the US, Canada and Brazil, there is a law called the Vchip law. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip). Basically, this allows parents to block shows by their rating for anything that goes on a TV… This includes smart TV’s (apps on the TV that play podcasts for instance) and set top boxes like Roku, Apple TV, FireTV, boxie and others. If your podcast goes on one of these devices, and it’s not rated, it could be blocked, or if it’s rated G and you drop an F-bomb, you could get in trouble. It’s best to set that field for the right rating.

Another “Guru”, who we have talked about in the past, is still telling people to use Feedburner.

One of the worst pieces of advice I’ve heard in a long time is to NOT have a link to your RSS feed on your website. (REALLY???) and the best one yet is Don’t bother to have a website at all, and send all your listeners to [insert podcast hosting company site here].

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Audio-Technica BPHS1 Headset Mic

I’m testing out a new microphone. The Audio-technica BPHS1 Headset mic. It’s a dynamic mic and good headphones which is normally used for sports broadcasting or broadcasting in a noisy environment.

In fact, I did the last episode using it.. Did you notice any difference from the PR40? Likely there is a bit of difference, but I think it’s acceptable for what I’m doing. And it lets me podcast standing up… I am going to also test it in the car (with one ear open for safety). I will put that in the podcast at some point.

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Blubrry tip of the week

Using the PowerPress subscribe buttons with a feed not hosted on your website.

Enable podcast channels in powerpress > general settings tab

go to channels under powerpress in the wordpress sidebar

Edit the “default” channel

click on the feeds tab and where it says “Feedburner feed” (with warning) put your off site feed address in there.

Save your settings and your subscribe buttons and links will now point to that off-site feed.

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Mark Whitney - Genius

A client of mine is just now getting into podcasting and he is one interesting dude. His shows may not be everyone’s cup of tea and they are not family safe, work safe but if you are into his type of humor and commentary, I think you will enjoy his podcasts.

NEWS: Instacasts Dead

Brian Williams demoted to MSNBC

Gimlet Media is hiring

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Finding, Listening and Subscribing to podcasts for listeners

First. Why subscribe?

When you subscribe to a podcast that you like, you will get every episode automatically delivered to you when it comes out. With all the smartphones and tablets out there these days and Wifi or Cellular connections everywhere, there isn’t really a reason not to subscribe.

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Finding Podcasts to listen to

Google is your Friend - Even though they seem to hate RSS

iTunes / IOS Podcasts App (Duh!?!)

Stitcher

Your App’s directory - Most Apps have a directory associated with them. Likely pulled from Apple’s API or in some cases their own (Like Stitcher)

Other independent directories / networks

Blubrry Directory

Libsyn’s direcory https://directory.libsyn.com/categories

Tech Podcast Network

Modern Life Network

Two Thumbs Up Media

Podcast One

NPR

Many many others

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Ways to subscribe (Apps/devices)

Back in the day there was an iPod… Now we have MANY devices. Every smartphone and some not-so-smart phones support podcast listening. (even blackberry).

IOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

Podcasts (by apple) The default app

Pocketcasts (my new favorite)

Downcast

Others

Android

Podcast Addict

Podcast Republic

Simple Podcatcher

Pocketcasts

Others

Windows Phone 8 / Tablet / Desktop (I assume Windows 10 will be the same)

Podcasts (Default Windows Podcasts app)

Podcast Lounge

Podcasts! (note the exclamation point)

Pocketcasts Now available

Blackberry (They are still around??)

Podcasts (I’m sensing a theme here) https://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/2857/?countrycode=US&lang=en

Web

Most podcasters (at least the ones that listen to me) have a player right on the website.

Pocketcasts has a web Podcast player that will let you subscribe and it syncs with all your devices so if you listen on your iphone and pause the show. Then pick it back up on your computer in the web browser right where you left off.

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Blubrry Tip of the week

Listeners, this one is for you!

Blubrry has a great directory to find and subscribe to podcasts.

Using “MyCast”. You can also “watch” podcasts (both audio and video) on the Blubrry Roku App, Boxee app, Google TV (or whatever they call it these days) and some Samsung Smart TV’s.

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Rant / Bonus content

When you are just starting out in podcasting, it’s easy to get over enthusiastic about podcasting and do what my friend Dave has called “Casterbating”.

There is also a good chance that you will want to start 5 podcasts. Resist that urge! Do one podcast. Don’t go too many times a week. 1 time a week is harder than you think. Put all your eggs in that one basket for the time being and get good at it. Work all the bugs out before going on to a second, third or 15th show.

You can get caught up in the excitement of a new thing (podcasting) and either over-think things (casterbating) or scatter-brain everything by trying to do too much too quickly. All the successful podcasts and podcasters I know started with one show (or learned this lesson) and stuck with that one until they got all the bugs worked out. Those people tend to stick with it for a while. The ones that scatter-brain it, tend to burn out and go away,

News

Academy Of Podcasters Hall of Fame

Academy Of Podcasters Awards Nominees

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David Auge asks a question

Question: I have a Berhinger Q802USB to a Heil PR40. A friend of mine wants to sell me his PreSonus FireStudio audio interface...should I get it? Would it make any sort of changes? Do you discuss this in a previous episode?

Answer: The PreSonus looks nice, but it would be kind of a lateral move for you. The Berhinger mixer is also a very good piece of gear. I would say unless there is some feature you just have to have with the PreSonus, there is no reason to change. If you are getting good audio you are best to leave well enough alone.

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10 Reasons to use a platform you OWN

Deb Ng (Ange) over at the Blogworld Blog (the people behind NMX) has a great article about owning your own brand in podcasting.

http://www.blogworld.com/2015/06/03/10-reasons-why-its-essential-to-host-content-on-your-own-platform/

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Blubrry Tip of the week - Show Listings

Among all the things that blubrry does, it is also a podcast directory. With the changes coming to the blubrry directory (see: http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Blubrry+to+Expand+Directory+with+Easy+Access+to+Hundreds+of+Thousands+Shows/10450085.html) it’s important to update and maintain your listing at blubrry.

To do this, login to blubrry.com. Go to manage account > settings and look for program listing settings. Make sure you have all the blanks filled out.

Go to service settings and make sure you have “Publish from your own WordPress blog with PowerPress plugin (Recommended)” if you are using powerpress.

To check to see what your listing looks like, go to the link in the program listing settings on blubrry.com. If something doesn’t look right, make sure your info is setup correctly in the Feeds, iTunes and Artwork tabs of powerpress. Then go to blubrry.com > manage account > settings and click on “Refresh Program Listing”

Your blubrry listing address will be http://blubrry.com/YourProgramKeyword in my case it’s blubrry.com/phd

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Podcast Nomenclature

I have had lots of trouble lately with people using words when asking for help about podcasting that are not really what they mean. I want to go over some of those.

FEED = RSS feed. this is the RSS link someone would use to subscribe to your podcast.

iTunes Feed = NO SUCH THING! Stop it!

iTunes subscription URL = The URL that apple sent you when your podcast was first were approved in the iTunes store. It will look like this: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/title-of-podcast/id000000000

Podcast = The overall show. Or series of Episodes. Example: Podcast Help Desk is my Podcast

Episode or Podcast Episode = One entry in your series of podcasts. Example: Episode 52 (this episode of the Podcast Help Desk)

iTunes Podcast = Again, no such thing. it’s a podcast AVAILABLE via iTunes, but not an iTunes podcast. Stop it!

Welcome to Podcast Help Desk now part of the Modern Life Network Check out more great shows over at modernlifepodcastnetwork.com

Also, part of the Tech Podcasts Network - If it’s tech, it’s here. Check out more family freindly shows at techpodcasts.com

Even though this show is now part of a network, you can always find the full shownotes at podcasthelpdesk.com

Now, on with the show…

NEWS

“The Trolls have won - TWIT Network stops live streaming and Chatroom. The shows will be streamed after they are edited instead of live. TWIT will still do live specials. The behind the scenes at the TWIT Brickhouse Studio will no longer be streamed or shown at all.

http://podcasternews.com/2015/05/27/twit-to-shutter-chatroom-format-change/

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Apple shuts down [email protected] for iTunes podcast support. They are now directing you to http://support.itunespodcasts.com/ for support.

“Dear Podcast Provider,

The email [email protected] is now closed.

Please direct all inquiries to http://support.itunespodcasts.com for

questions and concerns about your podcasts on the iTunes Store.

Regards,

The iTunes Podcast Team”

The link goes to a Zendesk page. Zendesk is a support ticketing system. Hopefully they will be more responsive.

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USB Mic Question from Andrew from Creative Writer’s Toolbelt at http://ajc-cwt-001.podomatic.com/

Q: Here' a problem I've been having for months, and I suspect others do too. I have a PC, and I use this with a Rode Podcaster mic and Audacity to record my podcasts. I connect the mic via USB on my new Dell - so I think it's a USB3 connection.

Most of the time my mic works really well, and the PC always shows that it's connected. Then suddenly the mic seems to stop picking up sound, or it will pick it up faintly. Everything is still showing as connected, and if I wait a while / disconnect and reconnect everything it all starts working again - for no apparent reason. When my Rode mic stops working, other mics like the one on my $10 gaming headset and mic are still working fine.

I had the same problem with a Samson mic I bought, and thought the Rode would solve it but I'm guessing it's a connectivity or sound card issue.

A: I'm not a windows expert by any stretch. What I would do is see if there is a specific driver for your device. Or make sure your USB drivers are up to date.

This might sound funny, but I've also heard that if you change which port you have it plugged into, it may help.

Sorry I'm not much more help than that. Your best bet is to contact the manufacturer of your device (Rode).

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Android

From Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice Inc, Parent company of Blubrry.com

“If you do not think the Android platform is important, and those corresponding listeners are not important. Here are three takeaways from the Google I/O conference this morning.

"Eight out of 10 phones that were shipped" last year "were based on Android”

There are over 4,000 distinct devices you see in Android.

Over a billion users each for Android, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, search, Chrome.

Now how are you adding Android listeners? Are you supporting One Click Subscribe on Android? Are you making it easy for Android users to subscribe to your show? If you are scope locked on iTunes I suggest you think about the 8-10 devices sold last year running Android.”

2014 1.2 Billion phones sold Likely 2.5 Billion phones out there in use. Not counting Tablets or Old phones not activated but in use via Wifi.

That means there are nearly 2 billion Android phones!

NEWS

Midroll - 7 Reasons why podcast ads are effective

Spotify adding podcasts

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Episode Artwork??

Podcatchers (iTunes, Podcasts App, Downcast and so on) all use different parts of the feed or the ID3 tags for different things.

What the apps do with it once they get the rss feed is totally up to them.

Think of your RSS feed as your transmitter for your radio station. You can have your transmitter to broadcast stereo in hi fi. BUT, if your listener decides to listen to your broadcast on a pocket radio with a 2 inch speaker, they are not going to hear it in hi fi. You have no control over that. You just have to make sure your feed (Transmitter) is tuned up the way you want it to be, with all the artwork, tags and such and what the podcatchers (Radios) do with it is really out of your control.

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Feedburner AGAIN?

I’ve had a rush of clients with feedburner issues.

Cliff Ravenscraft - The Podcast Answer Man Still recommends feedburner

John Lee Dumas - Recommends using a libsyn feed (better than feedburner!)

Pat Flynn NO LONGER RECOMMENDS FEEDBURNER!!

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Pros and Cons of Joining a Podcast Network

Pros:

A group of podcasters coming together for a common cause

Cross Promotion opportunity

A group of content creators to bounce ideas off of

Distribution opportunities

Another point of presence

Possible Add deals

Accountability

Website and Hosting provided by the network

Cons:

Creative control (Rules)

Personality conflicts

Ad deals

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Podcast Help Desk is joining the Modern Life Podcast Network - modernlifepodcastnetwork.com

My friends Steve and Dave Lee, formerly of Netcast Studio, have re-branded their network and invited me to join them at the all new Modern Life Podcast Network.

See the Show listing at MLN here: http://podcasthelpdesk.com/mln