Ep. 3 - The Metasode

👉 Listen to Metacast: Apple, Spotify, CastBox, Google, YouTube

This week we’re doing something new.

When we first started this podcast, we wanted to do a bi-weekly interview show with guests. But Jonathan Courtney from the Jake & Jonathan podcast convinced us we need to do it weekly. But, boy, a weekly show it too much work with all the scheduling and prep. So here’s what we’ll do from now on.

We’ll release episodes weekly. Every even episode will be an interview while every odd one will be a “metasode” with dad jokes, rambling about all sort stuff (mostly podcasting), and reflections on how Metacast is going.

In this inaugural metasode, we chat about our first and second episodes, checklists, Napster, bootstrapping, internet porn, and room tone. Sounds like a pretty random list but the conversation flowed so well, so believe it or not, it’s actually a cohesive set of topics.

We also discussed Arnab’s reflections on being a first-time podcast host and how both of us made a mistake of trying to get feedback from our families.

That was my favorite part and here are some quotes:

• “I didn’t understand anything but it sounds professional”

• “Can you please turn the volume down, I’m trying to read”

• “Wow, that sounds good!”

• “Why is it so long?”

The lesson here is that you shouldn’t ask people who are not interested in the subject of your podcast to give you feedback. They’ll either try to please you or NOT try to please you. Either way, their feedback will be of questionable usefulness.

We also talked about the software hero of our episodes — Descript, a tool for editing audio in a word processor-like interface. So far I have mixed feelings about the tool but we’ll keep trying to make it work for our workflow.

Oh, and by the way, we got feedback that people couldn’t find links to our podcast in the previous newsletters. So, we’re making them a little more obnoxious and harder to miss!

Listen to Metacast here 👇

• 🍎 Apple Podcasts

• 🎧 Spotify

• 🎁 CastBox

• 🔎 Google Podcasts

• 🎥 YouTube

• …or wherever you listen to podcasts

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Key takeaways

• Create a checklist. It’s easy to forget about important steps while doing a podcast because there are simply too many of them. Create a checklist to make sure things that need to be said get said and you don’t have to do follow-up recordings.

• Room tone doesn’t matter as much. Room is the sound of “silence” in your room, which is never 100% silent. Some people obsess about it and fill the gaps in speech with “room tone,” pre-recorded sound of silence. It may sound like heresy but, when people listen to podcasts while doing dishes or driving, they won’t be able to hear and therefore appreciate the room tone. Why bother?

• Podcasting can be therapeutic. Recording a podcast can help you come to terms with your voice and your accent. You can’t easily change how you sound, might as well just accept it. Recording and listening to your voice over and over helps with that.

• If it feels too long, it is too long! If your podcast’s trailer feels too long to you, it’s definitely too long and other people will be bored. Cut it short.

• Bootstrap your podcast on podcasting platforms with a trailer. It takes time for podcasting platforms to discover your podcast. Create a trailer episode to seed those platforms way before you publish your first episode.

• Podcasting with no agenda is fun. It is. Try it!

Get in touch

We’d love to hear from you! Arnab is a Twitter guy and I’m on Instagram. Use the method that works best for you!

• Email: hello@metacastpodcast.com (both of us get it)

• Arnab’s Twitter: @or9ob

• Ilya’s Instagram: @podcasthacks

You can also leave comments on this substack post. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already!

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Show notes

Software

• Descript — a tool that can help you edit audio similar to editing text in a word processor.

Gear

• Blue Yeti — an inexpensive USB mic that has multiple recording modes (e.g. cardioid, condenser, etc.) Both Arnab and I recorded this episode using a Blue Yeti mic.

• Shure SM58 — an indestructible and fairly cheap cardioid vocal mic that is widely used in live concerts.

Podcasts

• A History of Internet Porn on the Internet History Podcast (Brian McCullough was the guest of our previous episode)

• Jake & Jonathan who are guests of our next episode!

Books

• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

• “How the Internet Happened” by Brian McCullough

Random mentions

• Napster

• System Design Interview YouTube channel by Mikhail Smarshchok

• Illya Kuryakin, a Russian spy and Ilya’s namesake

Bye for now. Don’t forget to subscribe below!

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