The Future of Podcast Production

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech. You know we got it. Hey.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech. You know we got it.

Hey.

Well, welcome to the Tacos and Tech podcast. I'm your host, Neal Bloom. I'm thrilled to have Armin and Andrew from Podhouse. Guys, I'm in your house. Thanks for having me.

Welcome.

Thanks for having us.

Oh, this is awesome. This is such a cool studio. We're gonna, we'll have a, we'll have some video tour, B, roll of the studio tour, add while we're talking about it a little bit.

Sweet.

If we can. We've gotten to know each other over the last year through the Burbank tech talks, which has been really cool to get to know you guys. Thanks for coming out and supporting it. And we're planning actually the next years and we're going to have a lot more about media and creativity. So I think we'll have even more topical conversations over the next year in Burbank too.

Looking forward to it.

Obviously, Burbank, I mean, is one of the biggest media epicenters. Right. So it makes sense that you guys would be doing this here. I want to hear the backstory though. Like, what's your guys backstory? How you didn't just wake up one day and be like, I'm going to build a studio.

Well, I'll start it off and then I'll pass the baton off to him. It kind of did work out that way, actually, in a weird way. We had, I had a friend and I, I was always getting kind of getting into podcasts because of Gary Vee. He was. Started talking a lot about it back then, before it became a trend now. And then as I kind of got into it a little bit more, I had another buddy who was like, oh, what should we do to start a business distance that, that I'm like, well, podcasts seem to be trending. And I was like, okay, let's look into that. So I brought Andrew in on it and we started talking about what to do and like, how do we do this? Like, because he comes from a tech background, like, what, what do we need to do? And it just kind of rolled from there. Originally it was actually going to be a music studio. Plus A podcast studio. And then it kind of just evolved into only being a podcast studio. So we started kind of putting it together, you know, planning, blueprinting, figuring things out. And then we actually started then started in downtown during COVID During COVID Oh, Good timing, guys.

January 2020.

You didn't know? You didn't know yet?

No. How could you know? Regret, though, right afterwards.

So you didn't have your own podcast. You hadn't done your own podcasting or recorded for friends at all. It was just, let's manifest this studio and they will come pretty much.

I mean, serial entrepreneur here. So for me, it's like the ideas are always kind of spinning, like, what do we do? And that's kind of just one of the things that spun out and kind of happened serendipitously. And we were.

Yeah, I mean, they pretty much lied to me is how I feel about the whole situation, because the initial thing was it's going to be a music studio. Right. Like you said. So I'm like, okay, cool. I have a background in that. Like, I can do that. Producing's always been something that I'm fond of. And then it started to change. Like, the next week it was this, the following week it was that. And I'm like, this is starting to, like, drift very, very, very, very, very far away from what I wanted to do until it eventually turned to the podcast thing. But now that I'm in it, it's really, like. It's interesting. I like the fact that I get to meet a bunch of different people. That's probably the coolest part about it. Otherwise, you're just, you know, you're sitting in front of a camera for eight hours plus a day, but the characters that you get to meet doing this is just like, you can't get that experience anywhere else.

So are people totally different behind the scenes versus on the mic?

You'd be surprised. No, I'd say for the most part, no. Like, 90 to 95% of people are exactly what you would expect. Maybe like, tuned up a notch or two, but it's not, like, drastic. It's nothing that you're like, oh, my God, night and day, you know, we've seen the crazies.

It's not like we haven't seen the crazies.

They're just crazy as they are.

Yeah, like, but definitely, it's most part, everyone's pretty cool. Yeah, everyone's pretty chill.

I think that's why people like podcasting, because it's so genuine and authentic. Right. You feel like you're getting the real from people. Not a 30 second on, right. It's no, let loose and go for as long as possible.

Generally, that's the, that's the, I think the intention and that's the what gives it value for most people. You know, anecdotally we've had people come in that try to overproduce it too, where it's like they want to make it like a talk show. They want to make it this big media production. They come in a lot of times, maybe from that world, you know, that media world, and they come in with these notions of like, oh, it's supposed to be this way, but it's like, no, this is a more calm, chill, authentic kind of feel. You know, producers, scripts, right?

Like, hey, we need to be able to connect remote to New York. I'm like, you don't need any of that. I don't know why you think you do.

There's places for it. But it's like ultimately it's like, yeah, you just kind of get on the mic and just riff, you know, you don't really need to go to such lengths. But again, there's different angles or different directions, point of views, objectives, you know, goals. So it all kind of does matter at what the outcome is that you're looking for. But really, you know, just full circle, just get on the mic and talk.

Yeah.

And really I want to flesh that out a bit on the point about the whole production thing. It. I feel like it takes away from the authenticity of the podcast. Right. Like an audience isn't watching a podcast to watch, you know, the best of you. Right. They're watching because they want to see you in your natural state. They want to see just a casual conversation or a casual interview or whatever the case may be. They don't want necessarily this highly produced, you know, high budget thing. So when I, whenever I see that, I try to dissuade clients from doing it. Typically speaking and you know, anecdotally speaking, I think most of the shows that we've had come through here that have turned out to be like, successes were more casual than they were, you know, heavily produced. Those tend to kind of just, I don't want to say like fall apart, but it just gets, it gets to the host, it gets to the producers eventually. Like, it's a lot of work when you do it that way.

Keep it fun and unsustainable. It's kind of what it sounds like a little bit too. You said you have a background a little bit in this, like, have you done producing music?

Producing? I used to. Not producing, actually. It was engineering. So I would record bands, and I would go with, like. So I would go to, like, venues and just like, record the band live when they were playing. So I'd set up their mics and stuff like that for the band, not the venue.

Okay.

And then do, like, live recordings for them. So I had background in doing that specifically. So podcasts and that are not really close, but I know how to hit the record button and, like, you know. Yeah, put the mic here, do that. Like, I got that part down.

Yeah, more than down. He's good at what he does.

He's just very understated.

Thank you.

Yeah, so I actually don't know that about music. Musicians, when they're performing live, have kind of two whole sets of everything. Like, they've got the amplified sound to the audience and then a whole set of recording.

No, no, no. It depends. Like, typically, if you go to a venue, for the most part, like, the venue handles almost everything.

Okay.

The only time, like, you'll bring in, like, a. An engineer if you want to have, like, your own sort of track that you don't listen, maybe you don't trust the venue to do a good job of recording it. Maybe that venue doesn't record at all. Because typically, like, the only thing you would mic up would be, you know, the drums, maybe the amp for a guitar or a bass or something. But drums are typically what the venue would mic up just to get, like, more punch from the kick or more, you know, more snap from, you know, from the drum kit itself or from the hats. So it just. It depends. But, yeah, like, I would go for a band specifically that wanted me to go and record what they were doing live at the event.

Okay. And there isn't, like, an out export from the soundboard to just put a recorder on that.

And that's what I'm saying. Like, it depends on the venue.

Yeah.

So you're. You're really at the mercy of the venue. Like, how are. How is their equipment set up? Like, is that what you want to use? Like, maybe they don't have the mics that you want them to use. Like, that you want used for your production. Right. So it. If you want it done, let's say to the nines, then you'll have somebody come and do it for you instead of relying on the venue stuff, basically.

Okay.

I mean, like, I wasn't recording for anybody at, like, you know, crazy, like, arenas or anything like that. So, like, small, little Venues, they probably don't have all.

Yeah, so, like Cobalt Cafe? Is that still a thing? You know the Cobalt? The Cobalt in Canoga Park? Oh, man. Growing up in the Valley, this is. That's where we saw ridiculously early bands that.

Okay.

That eventually turned into bands we know for sure.

I went to, like. I think my favorite out that way is. I always forget the name. It's something Saloon.

Oh, yeah.

Is it Sugar Maui?

It might be Sugar Maui.

It's not in Calabasas.

It's like Thousand Oaks or it's.

I think Canoga is. Sure.

Oh, is it over there?

Yeah, it's an sfv. I think it's Sugar.

You know what I'm talking.

I know, right?

Sugar Maui Mill or something like that. Almost every day they've got bands there, so it's really cool. Like, whoever the owner is, he's, like, into it. He just brings different bands and lets them play.

That's right.

That place is dope.

So what's similar about the music side and the audio side within podcasting for you?

Audio is the most important part of a podcast, in my opinion. I was told this very early by some random guy at. Where was I? I think it was at Film Tools down here in Burbank. I'd walked in, I was just messing around, like, looking at cameras, looking at lenses and stuff, and he just started chatting with me, and I was telling him what I'm doing. He's like, look, man, this is a Sony A7R, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, yeah, that's cool. He's like, but it doesn't even matter. Don't even look at it. Because the most important part is your audio setup. If your audio does not sound good, there's no recovering from that. It's. It's gonna. It's just bad, right? Like, people can tell that this is bad instinctively because it's not clear or it's muddled or, you know, there's audio dropout. Like, if you do this kind of like that. Yeah. Like, that's not good audio. Whereas video can be forgiven. You can say, like, oh, that was artistic choice. Right? Or, oh, the video died. The cameras died while we were recording. Okay, fine, it's gonna be audio only now. Like. But the audio is the core of it. So that's kind of the philosophy that I just adopted, because it made total sense when he said it. And I translated that knowledge into making sure that whatever we did here, the audio portion of it was always gonna be at 110%, regardless of what may happen with the cameras.

Video, you can, like, blink and miss it, and, like, no one's gonna notice, you know, at the end of the day. Or video, you know, most of the time, people are putting it on a second monitor or on the side, and, you know, they just glance over. I'm sure there's plenty of people that are paying attention fully, too. But generally speaking, you know, it's a lot easier to catch something in the audio because you're only focusing on one thing versus video. Your eyes could be focused on a multitude of things even in that one frame. Like, the camera's on us, but it's showing both of us. There's a microphone here. There's different colors. There's all these things going on. Your eyes are kind of, like, going everywhere. There's audio. There's only one thing coming into your ears at this time. So it's easy to kind of, like, hear if it, like, drops or if it messes up or if it's low quality. It disrupts your kind of body's, you know, auditory senses.

Yeah. It takes you out of, like, the zone. Right, right. Like, I think that's probably the way to think about it is, like, what would be a.

This is why I like the headphones. You know, when you wear the headphones.

You just tune in.

You know, it's like you just. You're locked in. You can hear everything crisp, you know, versus here. I can hear other things in the room.

I changed my opinion on it, to be honest. Like, I won't wear headphones anymore.

Yeah. Why is that stopped? Why did that go out of trend? I think.

I mean, I have a. Take my observation in the studios, it started with. Cause we have a very high percentage of female podcasters, and that will destroy their hair. A. So, okay, that makes sense. It could mess with their makeup, like, fidgeting with it and stuff like that. So that makes sense. They wear earrings, so depending on the headphones, they could be really uncomfortable and, like, just destroy their. Their ears. So I think that's where the trend kind of started. And then the guys, I feel like.

Hats, hair, glasses, same thing.

And they care much about their appearance. No, they care.

Yeah.

I'm saying, like, the guys are just like. Oh, you're saying for women still.

Well, women, too. But I mean, a lot of guys, especially nowadays, they care about their appearance, too. If they're going on video, you know, they don't want to have a wire coming.

I was. I was getting more at the fact that it seems like they just don't care in terms of like, probably if it sounds like I got you got it, go go back there and figure it out. Like, I don't need to know how I sound in my own ears. Yeah, I can hear my voice.

Yeah.

So that's kind of the feeling that I get. At least. I haven't surveyed anybody, but that's what I think.

And there's always the worry of the echo, like it. Or delay, and then. Then you're really messed up.

Thankfully, like, we don't have that. That's just the, you know, it depends on like, what latency that you have running in the back over there. So as long as you have that configured right, you shouldn't have any delay in your ears. But yeah, that that could happen is.

That's the value of having someone like him that has that technology outside of the music world, just tech in general, where it's like you're talking about all these terms. Latency, this and that. It's like, I'm. I understand it now, but you ask a layman, like, what are you talking about? But he knows, and he knows that like, if you have this, if the Internet's not right or there's latency or the wrong software or wrong headphones, all these, this combination of things can affect the performance of. Of the recording. Right. So if you have all those things checked off, then there's a high likelihood chance that headphones, for example, won't be a nuisance to you. You know, it will be useful. But that becomes now preference at that point. But again, benefit of having the tech backgrounds like, you know what you're looking for and how they all communicate with each other. You know, the cameras, the mics, the software, all that talks to each other.

And you know, that language or you've got the foundation to be able to figure it out. Like, you know, if we do, let's say upgrade to a completely different set of cameras and audio equipment, like, it's, it's all tech at the end of the day, so you'll be able to figure out what you need to do, you know, versus if you don't have that background. I can see it being a little bit more complicated, like, oh, the buttons aren't where they were before. And that's enough to throw somebody off. Right. It may take them way longer to figure out how to get back to a similar set of settings on this new camera, just because everything's in a different spot. And the menu doesn't look like my last set of cameras.

Yeah. So something else that seems to have changed, like look of studios. Right. And camera angles on people. You guys have three different studios that people pick. Take us through that. Like the little bit of. Describe the design. Maybe we can put some B roll of what that is going while we're talking about it.

Yeah, I guess the one that we're in right now is the first set that we created that we designed. Even our first studio in downtown. This was the set that was there. It was modeled after Joe Rogan. It's the simple kind of design. It doesn't have anything complicated. Has the table, the microphones, curtains in the background. Right. We kind of like this one the most because of that simplistic feel that just our style. Right. But then we decided that, you know what, there's like you said that other people have different tastes and different ideas and vision for what they want their podcast to look like. So our second. Our second room had a little bit more like a laid back feeling. It had a cow, has a couch, armchairs, TV in the background with like brick wall that kind of just wanted to give it a little bit more casual. I don't know if it's like maybe New York, New York kind of vibe, you know, like has that New York, Boston vibe to it. Like old, old country, old America kind of kind of aesthetic to it. And then the third one, we went kind of contrary to our beliefs where, you know, where studios are supposed to be bright. You know, most people. People think that they don't understand that studios need to have lighting. It has to look good on the camera if you're gonna record. Right. And lighting plays a big important role in that. So we avoided for the longest time to go with a dark room aesthetic. Eventually we caved in and we did it. It took our expert here very long time to make sure he did it in a way where the dark room's aesthetic does not conflict with the lighting needs that you need on camera. And it took us some time, but he figured it out and we kind of launched that room too, where it has like a dark room aesthetic to it. Wood slat walls, which is very trendy now. You know, you could throw up. Nowadays, people throw up like a ficus or something in the back too, to add some green. We have some lights instead.

So we have some fake plants.

We have some fake plants.

You just can barely see them. They poke over the little table.

So we wanted to give a different look, you know, like to everybody and kind of speak to whoever as generally as we could make it so that anybody that Comes into our space, like, has an option where it fits their vibe, it fits their aesthetic, or their vision for their podcast.

I like that you've already got stuff to show people so they don't have to think a blank canvas. But I'm guessing some people may bring their own. Like, bring their own chairs or want a specific thing of their own or. No, everyone jumps into what exists already.

They ask.

Okay, they ask.

Yeah, but as far as our studio goes, where we, you know, we offer it as a service for people to come and record out of. We're limited on a lot of things that we can do, right? Like, we're not just a pure canvas where people can just, like, bring in their stuff and record out of. Those do exist. But Mars is more turnkey, where it's like you walk in and everything's set and you just come and record. People do ask, like, oh, can we bring our own chair? Can we change the curtains? Can we do this? It's like, I wish we could say yes, but the amount of setup time, downtime, potential risk for damages, it just. It doesn't work. You know, it just. It's not compatible with the way we have everything set up here, where you come in, you sit down, we take care of the rest, and you just walk out and you have your podcast recorded.

And that's really, like, I think, fundamentally the most interesting part of all these different clients and what their expectations are, because, like, going back to what we were saying originally about, you know, people coming with producers and this and this and that, they've already mapped out in their head what they think the show is supposed to look like or how they want it to look. And so when they already get to the studio, it's almost like we're just, you know, we're the last step in their process. And when it doesn't mesh with the reality that they've constructed in their heads, well, it becomes very hard to convince them that, well, look, you should still record here.

It's still good, it's still nice, it's still doable. It doesn't need to be perfect.

Well, I mean, the thing is, for me, like, I think I get where they're coming from in that. A lot of times they want it to be branded or they want it to be very. Let's. Unique is maybe not the right word, but let's go with that anyways. They want it to be unique to their show. That's gonna be very difficult to do unless you, you know, rent somewhere for a week, stage everything out do 12 episodes during that period of time and then you're done. Right. Or you rent your own place month to month and you just do your show there month to month, like, okay, go ahead and customize it to your heart's content. But if you're just going on like pure space, or you're going on whatever and you're finding a studio to do something in, like, that studio has other clients before you and after you. So that expectation just. It doesn't mesh with reality. Yeah, you know, I get that.

Let's zero in on, like, who's the ideal person then? So you've got set stages and let's use me as an example. When I started my podcast, I did all them in person at CEOs offices. I wanted to make it as easy for them. And so I would literally jump in a conference room, put my iPhone down and hit record on voice memo and just put it in between us. So one mic for two people. I was originally editing myself using Audacity on my Mac. And after probably like 15 episodes, I was like, I gotta find someone to edit this for me. And so I actually paid some sound engineer producer guy and he was pissed that he had one track to work off of and I kept it that way for a year. He's like, I would love if you could record two tracks for me. He's like, well, I'd love for you to pay for microphones without charging me to do the setup.

Right, yeah.

So that was the start of my podcast, which eventually iterated. We will share how I iterate. But is that. Is that the person coming to you or they pre idea even already or.

Where Armand, take this one.

But it's such a mixed bag. Yeah, it's a very much of a mixed bag. We do have people that will. Will come to us where they just had an idea, they built out the logo, they built out everything, and they want to start recording, they come to us. But then there are people that have already had a show that have gone through a few iterations like you have, and then they'll come to us. And there are even one offs where people are just doing like series where it's like, we just want this one piece of content. So we do get like a mixed bag of type of people. I will say, realistically, it's not to our benefit, but people who are just starting out, usually when they jump into a studio, usually, generally speaking here, it hurts their longevity because you have to have a budget to come here. Right. And again, it's against our Benefit, but we rather have them use that budget to marketing, grow your podcast, Start at home as basic as you can, and then use that money to create content, create clips, you know, whatever you need. If you need to pay for guests, which we don't recommend, we can get into. But whatever you need to do to kind of grow it even bigger and then come to us if you need a studio. Right now, there's pros and cons to that, but generally speaking, like, we. We will see the most successful people that come into our studio. For people who have had some experience, at least they know their way around the microphone, they know how to talk with people. They're having. They're in a state of play, they're having fun, and they have that experience that can help them go from, let's call it level two or three to level, you know, four or five.

Okay, that makes sense.

And I mean, like, aside from those people, the corporate clients that we get are definitely another major, major factor of, you know what? I consider what I want my target demographic to be, only because they come in with a list of, like, this is what I want. Can you give this to me or not? And it just makes our lives super easy because we're not scrambling trying to figure out, oh, you're gonna go get your logo done over here, but you need the intro made over there. And this is like, the piecemeal really complicates the process of us helping you produce a show that you're going to be happy with. Right. But with those kinds of clients, they're like, okay, here's the money. Do what I tell you to do. I'm like, okay, cool, done. It's done. You know, how long do you need it done by? Okay, it's done. Yeah, it just. It simplifies the whole process. So, I mean, that's definitely. My preferred client is, you know, corporate. Either.

What.

It doesn't matter to me if you're startup or if you're, you know, already established, but the mentality that they typically come in with is just. It's night and day.

Yeah.

It's very similar to, like, people that are in the industry, they just kind of know what they want.

I mean, just to add a little caveat to that, too, or addition to that, is that, like, you know, again, we. We're not opposed to, like, bringing in people new. You know, our whole production house and media agency, like, is dedicated to getting people to start from zero to, you know, from nothing to launch kind of thing. Right. It's just we want to make sure that we give the right advice. You know, we don't want people just come to the studio just so we can build them studio hours. It's like, no, we want you. We want you to come here for a long time. And the best way to do that is to start a certain way. Maybe, you know, unless you have a budget. You have the budget. Come on in, you know, no problem. You know, spend it however you want.

Yeah.

But just to quickly address your. Your question, like, directly, I don't think there's anything wrong with what you were doing. I think that's perfectly fine. Especially when you're just starting out and you don't have a budget. And maybe you're just testing the waters too.

Right? Yeah.

Take out your phone, hit voice Memo, and just record the podcast like that. Your editor's gonna complain, but he's gonna complain anyways, so it doesn't matter. Just make sure that you're getting him good, clean sounding audio.

Yeah.

And then let him. Let him figure it out. It's his job. That's why you're paying him.

Totally.

You know, So I don't think there's. I don't think that's wrong. And I actually think that when you're starting out, that's probably better because it's so low pressure. It's just, hey, I got the guest. Okay. I'll come to you. You don't worry about it. So it totally makes sense to do that as you're starting out.

Yep.

And you started in 2018. Yeah, 2018.

It's been a bit.

So again, you're a perfect case study where it's like you've gone through the steps, the iterations. Right. So it's like, it's the best way to put it, and you're having fun with it. Right. So that's all that matters.

And I wanted to learn every aspect of it first, so I wanted to attempt to edit it. And then once I figured it out, I was like, great, I'm happy to hand this off to someone else way better than me because I don't need to learn the expert pieces, just wanted it to so I could put it together and put it out. Right.

Yeah.

So I. My iteration was. That was voice memo based. And then January 2020, I signed up for a studio in a co working space, and they had a sound engineer who would do the full work. So got two months worth of podcasts out, and then Covid stopped in person, so went to Zencastr for recording everything. And I actually backtracked during COVID I went from zencastr to eventually to Zoom, where I just took the Zoom audio and editing. And what I loved about it was that it auto switched video. Like Zoom already has that built in.

Yep.

Saved me a ton on editing, that's for sure. Both if I was outsourcing it or doing it myself. That's actually where I've gotten back to now I'm just. I was doing it myself. Now I have someone again, an assistant doing it. So yeah, I kind of go back and forth and based on budget as well, based on where I want to put efforts around that. But I'm starting to get. Well, video is brand new for me. Only started video six months ago. So I've been going since 2018. Audio only. Yeah. So I haven't really explored with that. But I think the part that was the most compelling was switching all of my distribution to Substack, where I upload the podcast, edited podcast to Substack and it auto pushes to the RSS feed. And what then is really cool is it will actually auto create. It transcribes the whole thing within seconds and then creates clips for you. So it'll make one minute clips Auto. Or you can go through and search the transcript and. And create a clip yourself as well. So that seemed to be the most compelling to actually go and do video because now I could actually make a long tail out of the podcast.

You're not recording through Substack, right? You're still using Zoom or something similar to Riverside. Riverside Zoom, yeah.

Yeah.

Have you played with Riverside's functionality? Because they've kind of done something similar.

Not on that part. Not on the post production.

The clips.

Oh, no, I haven't seen that.

It's pretty decent. Like, I'd be really curious to test the two because I've been playing with Riversides and it's like scary good. Oh, when everything is like working right. Like as long as your guest wasn't in like a car in the middle of like somewhere and their audio is dropping in it.

Like, I have had this.

I've had it too. I don't. I don't know what goes through people's.

Heads, to be honest with you, but people just think. I don't know. I think depends on who you're interviewing. The guests don't necessarily. They're definitely not thinking about the production value.

Yeah, that's taking what we were talking about earlier. That's taking it casual and authentic too far. Right. Where it's like. Well, it's not that casual. Okay. It's still some kind of a production. We still need to have some consideration on the quality of it.

I'm waiting for someone to do it while they're driving on autopilot with Tesla. I know it's gonna come soon.

Yet another creative idea. Start a podcast. Driving around on your autopilot. Tesla.

Yeah.

Please don't do that.

Right. You could actually get your chairs maybe to all turn towards the middle and have four people doing a little in Tesla session.

Sounds great.

Where's Elon's doing that robo taxi in? Is it in the eu? No.

Austin? No.

Is it in Austin that they approved it? That might be a good place to test.

Or Wayos. Right. We could do it in a way. We're going to do a podcast from a Waymo.

Are the seats facing each other?

Yeah. No, but they should definitely.

I mean, on the topic of tech, like, I. I saw something the other day that came out on Current News with Spotify. I think I shared it with you. Now Spotify is doing. Let me backtrack a lot of these recording software, started doing the transcription services, and now it's finally reached Spotify, where they're doing their own transcription too, when you upload something. And now they're taking their whole ecosystem for podcasting a little step further where they're enabling comments, kind of like a YouTube kind of thing to it. And I'm like, interesting. So it's like a lot of these. You start to see it with a lot of the podcasting platforms where they're trying to, I don't want to say stepping in each other's lanes, but they're all kind of doing everything. You know, every podcasting platform or service is now trying to do all things that podcasters can use from. So now it becomes where, you know, people who are starting to do a podcast, instead of having a string of, like a tech stack, they'll just have a decision to make on which, you know, software, which company they want to utilize. Do they want to go substack? They want to go to Spotify, Want to go to Riverside or some of the other, like, tech companies like that.

Have all of them.

Now they're blurring a little bit because as a podcaster, I want to. I want them pushed out on every platform.

Right.

For sure. Right. I want them on Apple podcasts. I want on Spotify, I want on YouTube. So I don't care. I don't have, like, loyalty. But I could see how Spotify would stop from pushing you to YouTube now if you so There might be some start to be some.

It makes sense for Spotify. It was a couple of years ago they bought Anchorage.

Right.

So they, they kind of knew that they wanted to heavily lean in this podcast direction. So it makes sense for someone like Spotify. But like with all the other companies, it's like, well, you guys, you know, are more expensive a than if I have a Spotify accounts 12 bucks a month and I can also do my podcast on it versus now I have to have my Spotify 12 bucks a month and then have the other tech stack at like 35, 50 bucks a month. You know, I won't names because we.

Don'T want to, you know, drop in Spotify.

I don't think I upload video. Does it take video from every podcast?

It does take video.

Oh, they rolled that out.

I want to say a couple years ago, something last year. I want to say early in the year or late the year prior.

They bait at it two or two years ago, I think something like that. And then they start rolling it out by my country from there on there.

I wonder if it's. So I push audio up through Libsyn, which only takes audio. So that's probably why I need to find a way to push, I guess, post directly to Spotify.

Yeah, you pretty much have to do that. I mean you could. And I don't know how this would work with your workflow because you're using substack to do your RSS feed. But if you.

Well, Libsyn also. So I actually pushed both.

Okay.

So sometimes I find I have double published an episode because of that.

Might just need to do some cleanup.

Yeah, because if you move your RSS to Spotify, you could just upload the video there and they, they will pull the audio out and distribute it and the video will stay there. But then, for example, if you want to be on YouTube, you're still gonna have to upload it.

That's the problem with video is that I think, I think for the most part video you have to go. You have to go to each site.

You know, you.

It's not one place and just sends it out to everywhere.

Substack will push to YouTube, but it won't push your show notes to it. So it's so weird. You, you create a, in a sense video podcast post on substack, upload your video and it says, do you also want to push to your YouTube? But then you go and look later and it's just a blank description. So you then have to manually upload the show notes. It's fine. You just have to have it in your workflow. But it's weird that they only push to. That they should be looking to push to all the places.

It's weird that they're even able to do it because why wouldn't like, like Spotify should do that too, right? But then again, no, they don't want the competition. But then it's like, okay, well then why do you have the RSS feed function? Because you're pushing it out to Apple and all this. Anyways, so it's weird.

It is weird. Back on the recording side, I'm starting to get a lot of interest back to recording in person in unique spots. And so actually coming up in a few weeks on the Tacos and tech podcast, I'm interviewing an owner of a taco chain called Puesto. We're doing it at his restaurant and I think we're actually gonna eat tacos by the end of the episode. So what do you recommend to people for more like one off when they need to go out of studio to keep the consistency that they get in studio a little bit.

How do you mean?

Yeah, run that by me.

Okay. Imagine you're using you guys forever.

I thought we were talking about tacos. Is there a taco place around here?

So imagine someone's using Studio to record everything, but for a one off episode they want to go out somewhere. But you want consistent audio and everything. What's a good recommendation to give people for?

I would get one of those Tascams. Like a Tascam or one of the Zooms. Um, they're these little tiny devices about like that big. And if you just go to like Amazon or B and H, you can, there's, there's tons of them. There's also generic knockoffs on them, but you get one of those and a lot of them have. Excuse me. A lot of them have multiple functions. I mean, obviously it depends on how expensive you start to go, right? But like in its most basic form, that audio is going to sound really good. So you could put it in the center of the table, kind of like how you're doing with your, with your recording app. But this is like an actual microphone built into this device. It records onto an SD card or onto internal memory, however you configure it. And if you get like the fancier version, you could even plug in external microphones so you can carry like. I wouldn't say, don't take these. These require like power. But you know, if you get different kinds of Microphones, you just plug them in and it'll all fit into a backpack.

Okay.

For audio, that solves the audio problem. Just the priority videos gonna be a lot trickier. If you're going in person and you want to record in video. I mean, the simplest way is have a laptop, push it far wide. Right. But, like, it's gonna be very hard to try and get a. Like for like, you know, from studio to a travel pod, for example, or travel episode. Because you're gonna have to have the gear.

Yeah.

You can rent it alternatively. Nowadays, a lot of places that you go to will have a podcast studio. I mean, they're kind of popping up all over the country. All over the world, really. You know, and a lot of YouTubers and vloggers, that's what they do. You know, they'll go and they'll find. We've had it happen in the inverse. You know, we've had people from other countries come and record here when they're here in la. So, you know, that's an option too. Again, you have to pay for that.

Yeah.

I don't know what the price would be, but that would be most closest, like, for, like.

Yeah. I mean, and I would point out the thing that you wouldn't expect. Right. Is, oh, I've got this $10,000 camera. I recorded everything and it still looks like crap. Well, that's because the camera wasn't really at fault. It's the lighting, typically.

Yeah.

That's more important than the camera.

Good point.

Yeah. You wouldn't expect it either. Unless you've been doing it and you kind of. You've tested and you've seen. Yeah. So there really isn't a way to do it. Studio quality, because you're not going to have studio lighting. Yeah. It's just not possible. Right. Unless you are lugging around just briefcases.

And like, some people do that.

I've seen it.

Some people do.

I have seen it. But I mean, that's crazy to expect.

Like, you got to be interviewing people with, you know, views. Right. Like.

Right.

That's where the. It becomes worth that investment at that point. I mean, in a nutshell. Right. It's like if you're trying to get studio. For studio quality, go to a studio.

Yeah.

If you're. Or you just have to suck it up and say, you know what, this one episode, it's going to be not studio quality and use one of the, you know, alternative options, either getting the device that he mentioned or just using your laptop.

Yeah.

But I mean, again, going back to what we said earlier, the audio is the most important part. So you don't have to have that video component if you did absolutely want to have it. Like these things have come so far.

True.

Especially those newer iPhones. The cameras are insane. They film films on those cameras.

Just set it up on a tripod.

And just shoot it on there. Yeah. And again, make sure you have an external audio source. Right. Because then you can sync that to that video that you took. You don't want to use the iPhone's microphone.

Right.

I mean, if you're going to use an iPhone, they even have little plug in, like plug in microphones that you could get that. That'll just immediately improve the quality of that audio.

Okay.

So there are mobile options, but yeah, studio level, probably not going to happen.

All right, I'm going to. This is my shout out to Alex at Puesto to install your own podcast studio. Just so we can make that happen at least when we're in San Diego. Yeah, this will be your guys Southern studio there.

Totally for it. As long as he has the tacos ready to go.

We've been asked for six years, why don't we eat tacos on the tacos and tech podcast? So it's time to make it happen.

It's kind of like how hot ones does it, right? You know, you eat the hot ones, you're doing an interview. Great spin. People love it.

Yeah. So we'll see how it goes for sure. While we're on the taco topic. Okay, let's ask tacos. What? I know this is the hardest question of the interview. No, not for me. All right, what is it?

Favorite taco, El Matador on Santa Monica and Western. You go there after a night out in Hollywood, man, they got everything. They got, you know, your regular carne asada, chicken, pork, whatever. But then they got crazy stuff. They got lengua 3 pet. It just keeps going like cabeza. So if you're into that kind of stuff, they probably make it the best that I've had, but that's. That I've had.

Okay, I'm going on the other side. Okay.

That's.

That's classic. I'm kind of going. The more modern touch. There's this new place that kind of took the top leadership board for me called Mideast Tacos in la. La. It's more like Silver Lake, I think, but they're kind of like this newer style taco, right. Where they have like their own little sauce and they have all the same meats and everything like that. But they have, like, this more modern spin to it. Artisanal tacos. That's right. Yeah. That's the way. That's the best way to put it. He nailed it. Yeah.

But that's what I would recommend.

Okay, there you go. Adding them to the database. There are new ones to our tacos.

And tech pot, but just remember, you have to go to El Matador.

Yeah.

After night out.

Oh, I've definitely seen it.

After a night out.

It has to be a night out.

It has to be. That's what elevates the entire experience for sure.

Maybe it's the night out that makes it taste so good. Not that it's absolutely not.

No, no. They're fire. You could tell they're fire to begin with, but that's just like, puts it over the top.

Oh, there are definitely certain taco spots that are only good at certain times of the day, for sure.

Taco Bell.

Taco Bell. That's the one I think of after 3am for sure. People ask that. They're like, oh, my, I've got Taco Bell. Doesn't count, right? I'm like, it counts. Certain times when there's nothing else.

You know, I listened to a podcast called Business wars where they were talking about Taco Bell versus Chipotle and the whole story and the rivalry build up to it. And Taco Bell leaned into that. They realized that at some point in. In their journey, and they're like. They completely lean into it. We're like the late night Taco spot. And they totally count.

I miss their, like, early 90s, late 90s, early 2000s commercials. Man, they were so on point.

So good.

It was the best. And it's just slipped now. I'm like, this is boring.

Yeah. Now it's just. How do you tweet as your corporate account? Right. That's. Apparently that's what Wendy's.

Wendy's. Yeah, Wendy's.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, they. They're still. I think they do it right. Everybody else kind of tries to copy that, but they're just not able to do it. It just doesn't work. You know, Wendy's figured out.

They figured it out.

The intonation and, like, how you got to do it. And totally they're nailing it.

And they call out other brands trying it, trying to. That's. That's even cooler. They like.

The irony of it is I think I've had Wendy's once in my life.

Same.

I've never had Wendy's.

Yeah, I don't think either.

I think I got a Baconator.

It was pretty good.

Okay.

But it was a square burger. Yeah.

Okay. I don't think I've had it.

It's pretty good. We should do that.

Okay. All right.

On you, right?

Startups get the party started.

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