Behind The Show: Danny Brown

Speaker: 00:00:09

Gareth (2): Hello podcasting people and

welcome to another episode of Behind

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the Show where I chat to you podcasters

to find out more about you and what

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you're using to make your podcasts.

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In this episode you're

going to be hearing from Mr.

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Danny Brown, Head of Podcaster

Support and Experience at podcast

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hosting platform Captivate.

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Danny has a number of shows on the

go and uses a whole bunch of hardware

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and software to help him make them

sound as good as they possibly can.

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If you enjoy this podcast, you

can let me know in the comments

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down below and give it a like.

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I'd love to build podcasting people up

into a welcoming and supportive community.

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So any word spreading and recommendation

will be greatly appreciated.

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Now, if you're sitting comfortably,

don't worry about taking notes,

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because all the tools Danny mentions

are also in a neat list in the post.

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Slash show notes with

handy links to said things.

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So kick back and enjoy

this chat with Danny Brown.

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Gareth: Danny Brown,

welcome to behind the show.

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Danny Brown: Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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And I'm looking forward

to this new episode.

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I apologize.

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This new show, but probably the

new episode once this is released.

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Gareth: Yes.

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Yeah.

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I've had one episode out, which

I should have shared with you

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actually, because it was my setup.

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So did a solo episode where I

talked through my hardware and

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software and, uh, I had a star

of the show, which was Calendly.

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So, I just find that.

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That has saved me so much time.

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And time really is the thing, isn't it?

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You know, before recording we were talking

about video and how long that takes.

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And so, yeah, for me that was,

it's just such a time saver.

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All the automating, all the

intros and, uh, after the show

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and, you know, this and that.

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But first, before we dive into your setup,

it would be good to let listeners know

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who you are, who you work for, what

kind of shows you do, because, I mean, you

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are, I think, , like me, you've described

yourself as a serial podcaster, uh, any

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excuse to start something new, so, yeah,

give us a little background, Danny.

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Danny Brown: Yeah, sure.

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So my name's Danny Brown, not to

be mistaken for the Detroit rapper,

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um, which I used to get mistaken for

when I was on Twitter previously.

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I used to have an old account

on Twitter before my latest one.

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Um, and I used to get a lot of his fans

tweeting me some interesting stuff.

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Um, and he actually connected

with me to apologize.

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He's no, no, it's all good.

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It's all fun.

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Um, so anywho.

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Um, so yeah, my name's Danny Brown.

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Um, as you mentioned, I

am a serial podcaster.

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I've been podcasting on and off

for 10 years, but consistently

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for the last seven years now.

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Um, I have multiple shows.

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I've got three active at the

moment, uh, two, which are my own.

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One I co host with my colleague at

Captivate, which is where I work in.

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Captivate is, uh, primarily it's

a podcast hosting, distribution,

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analytics, and monetization platform

for serious indie podcasters.

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Gareth: Yeah, and by the way, uh,

that podcast, I mean, all of your

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shows are fantastic in and around

podcasting, that you co host

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with Mark Asquith of Captivate.

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It's brilliant.

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It's just of a breath of fresh air,

I think, in the kind of landscape

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of podcasts about podcasting.

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For sure, um, and I was lucky enough

to be a guest on, one of your shows.

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My other podcast is, so, maybe I'll put

the link to those shows in the, in the

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show notes for people to find easily.

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okay, so we're here to

talk about your setup.

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I'm looking at your, maybe I can

take a, uh, a squad shot, they call

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it on Squadcast, to show everyone

your background because you've got.

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We've got similar acoustic tiles, haven't

we, but yours, yours are funky colours.

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Danny Brown: I've been told that

they're aggressive, which was not

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the look and feel I was going for.

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Um, I, I used to have like,

um, so I, I moved offices.

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Uh, this is like my home office at home.

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It's not huge.

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Now it's my daughter's old bedroom.

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But previously I had, uh, a

blue background, like blue wall,

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blue hardwood, hard, whatever

material walls are made of.

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I've no idea.

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So that was blue anyway, and it

had some black, much like you've

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got in the background there,

Gareth, with the, the, you know,

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the, the sound panels behind you.

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So it was black and blue.

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Um, so I thought I'm going to go

for a change now that I'm in a

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different room, and I like red, but

sometimes it can be a bit bright and

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aggressive, I guess, but I like it.

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Gareth: I don't think, didn't

cross my mind, honestly, it's

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just funky is the word I'd use.

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Anyway, should I take a photo of that?

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Do you mind?

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Uh, okay, uh, so, It'll give a countdown.

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There we go.

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I think you'll get that as well,

which is a nice little feature.

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There

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Danny Brown: Oh, there it is.

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Yep.

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Gareth: don't know what my face is doing.

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There we go.

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Anyway, a very nice setup.

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So for your shows that, that you

do, I'm, I'm guessing that for in

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and around podcasting, you mentioned

Mark does a lot of the video.

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so for different shows, I guess

you do different things, in

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your production kind of process.

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but for a typical, maybe for one

of your own shows, like a, a lot of

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us, Uh, making shows, by ourselves

and being every step of the process,

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let's go through what you would use.

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So, hardware, what do you use?

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Danny Brown: Sure, so I'm from a

mic, so let's do mics, I'm speaking

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into at the moment, obviously.

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So I switched between a condenser,

so at the moment I'm on my TZ

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audio stellar x2 condenser mic.

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And I've been using this primarily as my

main mic since about Christmas, I guess.

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And if I'm not using this, I've

got over there, I've got like

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the, um, Shure SM7B, for dynamic.

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And really it's about, you know,

what's my recording environment like.

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So if I'm at home, I'll be using

the condenser, um, because I'm

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in my sort of treated room, etc.

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But if I'm out somewhere and I'm doing a

local interview or anything like that, I

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SM7B because that's dynamic, so it's more

forgiving for background noise rejection.

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And a couple of other dynamics

that I've got just hidden

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away that I'll use for that.

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Um, so that's on the mic side.

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Gareth: By the way, just jumping in,

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You hit on a very good point

there, which was to treat the room.

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So, you sound really, really good.

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Um, I'm not

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Danny Brown: well, thank

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you.

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Gareth: kind of post for fixing the

audio or anything, because you've

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already considered what's around you.

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and then, you know, that's

half the battle, isn't it?

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To sound good through the microphone.

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Anyway,

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Danny Brown: Oh, no, and it's funny, it's

one of the things I always recommend.

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So I see, I'm very active on

Reddit, for example, and some of the

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podcasting groups on Facebook, etc.

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And any time I see podcasters asking

what equipment should I buy, and people

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all jump on and say, oh, you need

to get the SM7B, you need to get the

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3, 000 Neumann, you need to get the

Rodecaster Pro 2, blah, blah, blah.

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No, you don't.

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You can get great sound

if your room is treated.

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It doesn't have to be perfectly

treated, but add some soft, you know,

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uh, furnishings to it, so blankets

on the wall if you're not on camera,

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for example, cushions, you know,

chairs, a rug to cover hardwood floor,

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anything you can soften the room with.

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Start with that, and then you can get

away with using a 50 microphone, and,

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you know, USB straight into your laptop,

keep your cost down, make sure you

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like podcasts and you want to continue

with it, and then you can upgrade.

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I mean, it's taken me seven, eight years.

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To get to the stage where I'm pretty happy

with A, the room and B, the equipment.

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So it's, don't jump in and spend

hundreds of pounds or dollars and then

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realise a month later, I don't like

this because I have to do a lot of work.

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So,

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Gareth: absolutely right.

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Yeah.

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Okay, so we've got the microphone down.

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Danny Brown: So that's the microphones.

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So the microphones sit on arms.

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So the Shure is sat on a Joby Wave arm.

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So it's like a traditional boom arm.

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Um, that, you know, goes up and over

your monitor and then comes down the way.

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The arm I'm using on my condenser

is the Elgato, low profile, arm.

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So it's actually down and I

can raise it up if I want.

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But it's basically to keep the arm

and everything out of the shot.

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And all you should really see

is my mic popping upwards.

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So that's the arms.

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From a recording point of view, I

record and I use the Rodecaster Pro 2.

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I will say it's a bit

overkill for my needs.

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Had I known the Roadcaster Duo was

coming out, shortly after I bought

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this thing, I would have waited for the

Roadcaster Duo, because that's got the

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number of inputs that I'd be happy with.

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Gareth: Yeah.

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So is the RODECaster

basically an audio interface?

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I mean,

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what, differentiates it from, say, just

an interface with a couple of inputs?

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Danny Brown: So prior to this I did

use the motto two M two, um, which is

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just basically that is an interface.

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It's got two Mike and puts, I

think it's got one headphone.

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Um, and that's it.

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It's all good.

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Um, the main difference with the

road caster, it allows you to do

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a lot of pre-production stuff, to

save you time on post reduction.

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So I can set up voice profiles and

set up my de essers, my compressor,

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all that kind of cool stuff.

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It has settings for different mics that

you use, or different types of mics.

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So it's got a condenser setting, a

dynamic setting, an SM7B setting,

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a Rode NT1, all that cool stuff.

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It's got a whole bunch of

settings that, that will set the

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presets for you based on the mic.

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So it'll set your gain level,

it'll set the kind of compression

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it needs, the noise gate, etc.

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Cool stuff.

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So it's got a whole

bunch of stuff on there.

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Um, it's got, soundpads so

you can add sound effects and

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upload your own audio files.

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So if you're streaming, you can have

your show intro, you can have like funny

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little dingers, all that cool stuff.

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So it's, it's basically a little

recording studio for your home recording.

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Um, so it's really cool.

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I, I do like it.

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As mentioned, I would say it's

probably overkill for what I need,

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but the duo wasn't out when I got

this, or I would have gone for that.

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Gareth: Oh yeah, I mean the sound effects,

that's appealing to have those in situ.

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I've got a podcast where we go

back in time so I've got this sting

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which is like a ticking clock, but I

always have to describe it and say yeah

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I'm going to put that in afterwards

but yeah it would add to the experience

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wouldn't it to have that in situ.

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Yeah.

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Danny Brown: and all the, uh,

the colored, uh, pads, et cetera.

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And they, they came in and

going, Ooh, what's this?

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So I put on like the little chipmunk

voice effect and the robot, the

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bad robot kind of sound effect.

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And they had the headphones

on, speaking in the microphone.

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They were just playing with it

for an hour, just listening to the

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silly voice effects it could do.

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So yeah, it's, it's really good.

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Um, and I'd recommend if you're, a serious

podcaster that does a lot of recording

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and maybe streaming, et cetera, It's

worth looking at, but like I mentioned,

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maybe the Duo would also meet your

needs, you know, from that point of view.

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It's got all the same

features, just less inputs.

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Gareth: Fantastic.

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So where is the RØDECaster going into?

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Danny Brown: Um, so that's going

into, that goes into my software.

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Uh, just finishing off

on the hardware side.

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Um, so on the hardware, um,

for video, I use the Elgato

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webcam, the face cam, sorry.

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Um, which is fine.

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It's okay, but I've not

got the best lighting set.

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That's one thing I do need

to improve on is my lighting.

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Get that sort.

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just good to go.

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And then just use my mac book Air.

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Uh, it's an M1 2020.

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Nothing special, but it does, it,

it's fine for what I need it for.

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Gareth: Yeah, great.

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I mean, the M1, those chips when they

came out, they're insane, aren't they?

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Basically,

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Danny Brown: One thing is they're

up to, I think the M four or they're

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about to really see M four, I think.

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Which is ridiculous.

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In, in the space of four, well, I guess

four years, like watch up a year maybe.

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Yeah.

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Gareth: so, I mean, these are

expensive machines, aren't they?

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And for the average consumer,

But then, you know, unless you're

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working in tech, you're not really

expected to get every single chip.

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One,

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Danny Brown: No, not exactly.

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And I, like I said, I've had

this since: 2020

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my old Mac for it anyway, so I

probably saved a few bucks there.

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Gareth: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Fantastic.

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Okay.

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So, is that it on the hardware

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Danny Brown: Um, I guess the

only thing is these things.

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Very important.

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Obviously, headphones.

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I always recommend you use headphones

when you're recording and editing.

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But yeah, they're the Sony MDR 7506,

um, they're neutral headphones, so

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it means they're not top heavy on

bass or, you know, mid range, etc.

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They'll basically replicate what you're

saying into your mic, and there's

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no latency, so really important.

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Gareth: Fantastic, yes, I find

that level playing field is

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good for mixing music as well.

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getting a true representation.

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Okay, on to the software.

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What do we have?

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Danny Brown: Yep, so recording wise,

so I'll start there, because that

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goes back to the Rodecaster, so that

plugs directly into Hindenburg Pro.

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Or Hindenburg Pro 2 now, as it's

called, but anyway, Hindenburg Pro,

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and that's my DAW, so I record into

that, if I'm recording locally, I'll

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also edit that, and that's where I'll

add any post production, so any audio,

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clean up, all that kind of stuff,

I will do that in Hindenburg Pro.

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I also use, so that's my

recording and editing software.

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If I'm doing remote recording,

so we're using Squadcast at the

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moment, I'll use Boomcaster.

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Very similar platform, it's a remote

recording platform that also offers

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live streaming, separate audio,

video, all the cool stuff that you

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need on a remote recording platform.

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Gareth: And that actually, um,

when I was your guest, and you

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were using Boomcaster, you could,

uh, tailor the background as well,

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couldn't you?

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Danny Brown: hmm.

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Yeah, so you can basically create

as many studios as you want.

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So if you've got multiple podcasts,

you might, I mean, I know you've

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got multiple podcasts, Gareth.

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You could create a separate studio, all of

its own brand and logos, background, etc.

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And then jiggle it.

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So if you want to remove the

logo, and put it over your

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guest's mouth for a bit of fun.

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You can do that.

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It's entirely up to yourself.

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So basically it's just a talking logo.

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But yeah, it's, it's a nice platform.

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So I've used that for two years now.

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Um, yeah.

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Gareth: Yeah.

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Danny Brown: So yeah, Hindenburg

Pro, Boomcaster, um, on transcripts,

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I think transcripts are important.

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It should be in pretty much every show.

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Um, especially cause you

can get them for free now.

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For transcripts, I use

WhisperScript, which is a Mac.

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Uh, app.

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So it's a desktop app.

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You download it.

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So all the transcription is being

done on my Mac and then, you know,

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sent up to get corrected, et cetera.

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Uh, really good, really accurate.

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I found it hard to get a

transcription service that recognizes

312

: 00:14:18

a lot of the words that I say.

313

: 00:14:19

Gareth: Does, does Hindenburg

314

: 00:14:21

Danny Brown: Hindenburg does

have a transcript service.

315

: 00:14:23

I don't use it.

316

: 00:14:24

I don't find it very accurate.

317

: 00:14:25

Um, and I do tend to find it can slow

production down a bit because it's

318

: 00:14:30

processing a whole bunch of stuff.

319

: 00:14:32

So the more plugins you use and the

more effects you add to your audio when

320

: 00:14:36

you're exporting, it can slow it down.

321

: 00:14:38

And I feel that the transcript

sometimes adds to that, that slowness.

322

: 00:14:42

Um, so I try to limit

that as much as I can.

323

: 00:14:44

And like I said, I don't

find it very accurate.

324

: 00:14:47

At least for me.

325

: 00:14:48

I don't think I've got a strong

Scottish accent, but I know it's there.

326

: 00:14:51

Um, so,

327

: 00:14:53

Gareth: I'm joking.

328

: 00:14:53

Danny Brown: so WhisperScript

is the one I use for that.

329

: 00:14:56

I also use, what do I

use else, um, that I use?

330

: 00:14:59

Oh, I've just started using a

tool, called Video, which is, uh,

331

: 00:15:04

it's like a, a clip generator.

332

: 00:15:07

So basically if you have a video,

so obviously my other podcast

333

: 00:15:11

has a video, Option on it.

334

: 00:15:13

And, and then around podcasts

and as a video option.

335

: 00:15:15

So if you use video, basically what you

can do is either connect your YouTube

336

: 00:15:18

account or just add a URL to the episode

that you want to get clipped and that

337

: 00:15:23

will create or use AI and create a

bunch of clips you can use on TikTok,

338

: 00:15:27

Reels, YouTube Shorts, et cetera.

339

: 00:15:29

And I've always, I've always been

very skeptical with these tools.

340

: 00:15:33

I've tried some and found them to make

interesting clip choices that have

341

: 00:15:37

nothing to do with what I was actually.

342

: 00:15:39

Talking about, um, but I found video

to be really cool at identifying,

343

: 00:15:44

that'd be a good clip, that'd be a

good clip, and having good starting

344

: 00:15:47

and ending points, um, for these clips.

345

: 00:15:50

So I've just been messing about with

that for the last, I'm going to say

346

: 00:15:53

two, three weeks actually, it's very

new to me, but I do like the results,

347

: 00:15:57

um, so I might continue to use that.

348

: 00:15:59

Gareth: Ah, that's fantastic.

349

: 00:16:01

So that rounds off the

software, in your workflow.

350

: 00:16:04

Danny Brown: thing, sorry.

351

: 00:16:06

One other thing.

352

: 00:16:06

I just remembered when you mentioned

post production that, that just

353

: 00:16:09

triggered me and says, yeah,

I got something else as well.

354

: 00:16:12

Um, so I know a lot of people use

iZotope tools, for post production,

355

: 00:16:16

audio, prepare, optimization, et cetera.

356

: 00:16:18

And awesome tool set.

357

: 00:16:20

I've used iZotope myself, but

I, what I use is Accusonus.

358

: 00:16:24

Um, now they're no longer around.

359

: 00:16:25

Unfortunately, they got

purchased by Meta back in: 2021

360

: 00:16:29

I'm going to say, or even 2022.

361

: 00:16:31

But what they do, very similar.

362

: 00:16:32

So you've got de breath, de

s, de clicker, noise remover.

363

: 00:16:36

All that cool stuff that you

can really fix, you know,

364

: 00:16:40

um, the sound of your audio.

365

: 00:16:42

So I've still got that.

366

: 00:16:43

It still works and it's

on perpetual license now.

367

: 00:16:46

So when they got bought by Meta,

every license owner that they had

368

: 00:16:50

using their software, they just gave

them a complete perpetual license.

369

: 00:16:54

It'll never run out and you

can use the software as long

370

: 00:16:56

as it works with your hardware.

371

: 00:16:59

No, so that's fine.

372

: 00:17:00

It works for now.

373

: 00:17:01

If Hindenburg ever made an update that

broke that, I'm sure I'm guessing I'd have

374

: 00:17:05

to switch over to Izotope or something.

375

: 00:17:07

But at the moment, Accusonus Era Bundle

6, awesome collection of tools, and it's

376

: 00:17:12

a shame that they're no longer around.

377

: 00:17:14

Gareth: I use something called Supertone

Clear, which does a very similar thing.

378

: 00:17:19

It's all based on AI EI, it's

not O McDonald, uh, based on AI,

379

: 00:17:27

and it's called, D Noise and D

Reverb Voice Separator, basically.

380

: 00:17:31

So if it ever does run out, your

license, then, that's a new one,

381

: 00:17:37

a relatively new one on the market.

382

: 00:17:39

Um, it's down for, it's on

sale at the moment for 69,

383

: 00:17:43

but works really, really effectively.

384

: 00:17:46

Um, If you want that quick fix, I mean

obviously you can go down the rabbit

385

: 00:17:51

hole of doing things yourself with EQs

and limiters and all the rest of it.

386

: 00:17:57

so yeah, okay, are we ready

for the star of the show?

387

: 00:18:03

Which bit of your whole production

process is the superstar?

388

: 00:18:08

what is it for you Danny?

389

: 00:18:09

What could you not do without?

390

: 00:18:12

Danny Brown: I'm going to say Hindenburg.

391

: 00:18:14

I know I just berated him a little bit

for the processing time it can take for

392

: 00:18:18

exporting files, but again, that's because

you've added certain repair plugins,

393

: 00:18:22

etc, which is always going to add, you

know, to the process and speed, etc.

394

: 00:18:27

But what I like about Hindenburg,

there's a lot of things I like about it.

395

: 00:18:30

I veered away from it

for the longest time.

396

: 00:18:32

I tried it years ago.

397

: 00:18:34

I found it interesting, but clunky.

398

: 00:18:36

The user interface was clunky.

399

: 00:18:38

And again, we were speaking about

platforms that were clearly built

400

: 00:18:42

by developers and not creators.

401

: 00:18:44

And I think Hindenburg at the time

was probably built by journalists,

402

: 00:18:47

maybe, working with developers.

403

: 00:18:49

Um, because it was originally

meant to make it really easy for

404

: 00:18:51

journalists to edit audio and get

audio stuff out for the radio.

405

: 00:18:55

That's where the background

of Hindenburg came from.

406

: 00:18:58

And they've cleaned that up a lot

and had a lot of features released

407

: 00:19:01

over the last couple of years.

408

: 00:19:03

I jumped back in and what I like about

Hindenburg, so some of the features

409

: 00:19:06

it does, you upload your audio file

and immediately that will remove any

410

: 00:19:11

noise in the background and it will

also bring up your levels or lower

411

: 00:19:15

your levels to get to a nice level

peak when you upload your audio.

412

: 00:19:19

So if you've got two or three speakers

and you upload separate audio files for

413

: 00:19:23

each speaker, obviously, that will look

and say, okay, He's at minus 23, he's

414

: 00:19:27

at minus 12, and she's at minus 19.

415

: 00:19:29

Let's balance them all out and

get them at a consistent rate.

416

: 00:19:33

So it does that for you.

417

: 00:19:34

Um, the interface is really

clean when you want to edit.

418

: 00:19:38

So you've got big waveforms.

419

: 00:19:39

You can see where all

the ums are right away.

420

: 00:19:42

You can just sort of highlight

that and get rid of them.

421

: 00:19:44

Go away, ums.

422

: 00:19:45

Get out.

423

: 00:19:46

Um, so it sees that right away.

424

: 00:19:48

Um, It's VST plugin compatible so

it supports iZotope, Accusonus,

425

: 00:19:53

the one he mentioned, etc.

426

: 00:19:55

Um, so it's got full plugin support.

427

: 00:19:58

Um, and on the Xbort, now it also

has a new feature where you can

428

: 00:20:01

actually optimise the audio for video.

429

: 00:20:04

So you can record a video like we're

doing now, download this from Squadcast,

430

: 00:20:08

and upload that to Hindenburg, do your

audio repair, and chuck that back out.

431

: 00:20:13

So now all the audio will be recorded.

432

: 00:20:15

to your profile settings with the video

that we've recorded on Squadcast, you're

433

: 00:20:19

not Reliant on the Squadcast audio or

Riverside audio or Boomcaster audio, etc.

434

: 00:20:25

Gareth: Yeah.

435

: 00:20:26

Danny Brown: I think one of the things

I really do like about it is on the

436

: 00:20:30

export So if I add chapters to my audio

that goes out on the export and that

437

: 00:20:35

gets picked up by Captivate when I'm

creating my episode It puts in the

438

: 00:20:38

chapter markers for me and I add an

image or a URL if I want to expand it

439

: 00:20:43

a bit But it also allows you to set to

the right LUFS setting for podcasting.

440

: 00:20:50

Everybody should be mixing to

minus 16 on mono or minus 19 on

441

: 00:20:55

stereo.

442

: 00:20:56

But,

443

: 00:20:56

Gareth: are broadcast industry

444

: 00:20:58

Danny Brown: broadcast standards, exactly.

445

: 00:20:59

And Apple Podcasts, which, let's face

it, Maybe not smart, not so much Spotify.

446

: 00:21:03

They'll disagree, but Apple is

the big player still in the room.

447

: 00:21:07

They kind of dictate what the

standards are, so they'll set the

448

: 00:21:10

artwork standards, the, the, the sound

standards, the love standards, et cetera.

449

: 00:21:14

So yeah, minus 16, you can set

all that so you know that you're

450

: 00:21:17

exporting exactly the way it should.

451

: 00:21:20

For the loudness level on podcast apps,

which is a major saving point because

452

: 00:21:26

I know a lot of times before I used

Hindenburg, I would have to upload

453

: 00:21:29

my exported file from GarageBand,

for example, and stick that up to

454

: 00:21:33

Authonic, do a lot of auto repair

on Authonic, download the file and

455

: 00:21:37

then upload that to captivate that.

456

: 00:21:39

Hindenburg removes all that.

457

: 00:21:40

So it does a lot of stuff for you when

you upload your files and it does a lot of

458

: 00:21:44

stuff for you when you export your files.

459

: 00:21:47

Gareth: That is fabulous.

460

: 00:21:49

Well, Danny, thank you so much for

talking us through your hardware,

461

: 00:21:53

software, and of course your star

of the show, which is Hindenburg.

462

: 00:21:58

All that's left to say is thanks

for joining me on Behind the Show.

463

: 00:22:01

Danny Brown: You're very welcome

and thank you for the invite.

464

: 00:22:03

I appreciate it.