EPISODE 028 - Technical: How does my Podcast Setup look like?

Michael Seidl: Welcome to a new episode of the Get Shit Done in IT podcast. My name is Michael Seidel and the topic today might be a little bit different than usual one because we are talking today about how this podcast is produced. So I got a lot of questions on LinkedIn and in community and also in recent sessions where I talk about this topic. how this podcast is produced. So I decided to do one podcast episode about the background and then we focus on the usual topics in the future episodes. So how this podcast is produced? I defined four areas I want to talk. So how the ideas are coming, the technical equipment, the workflow and how long does it take to produce the podcast or each episode. So the ideas usually are coming from the community. from you. So I ask you on every episode to send me your questions, to ask me anything, what you would hear in this podcast. that's one source. The second one is I started with the session get shit done in IT, I think one and a half years ago. So beside all the technical sessions I do, sometimes I really enjoy to talk about this topics on IT conferences. I did a session yesterday, a virtual session for Microsoft MVPs and talk about this topics. And in this session, I got a lot of feedback and questions. And these questions I tried to bring in one of the next episodes. So the main resource of questions is the community. once the direct messages on social media or sessions I do and the attendees ask questions what I try to bring into the one of the next episodes. So give me feedback and ask your questions for one of the next episodes. The next one is the technical equipment. So what I use to record the podcast. One thing is

Michael Seidl: already existing blue yeti usb microphone so there's nothing new. I had this I think for a few years already and it figured out to be good enough for the podcast otherwise let me know but at least what I hear it is good for the podcast. Then I tried different cameras so I had one Opspot camera which follows you around so this is used for conferences. teams meetings and so on. But for the podcast itself, I use a new Elgato teleprompter and the Facecam Pro. So the benefit of it is that I have the camera right here and I have my notes, my text right here. So I look directly into the camera and see all the text and notes I did before. The idea was that it forces me to look more directly to the camera. In reality, it's different because still shaking my head and look around. I promise to be better and more looking into camera for the audio podcast. It's completely useless, but I also do some video cast and video snippets. And for this, it would be easier or better to look at to the camera, but it's not so good. One more thing, I'm a little bit struggling still with the correct video format. So sometimes it looks very bright and without much colors. So I'm still dealing with the correct settings for this, but maybe it's getting better. Let's see. If you have a hint for me or some notes, if you use the Facecam Pro and the teleprompter, maybe you can give me a hint how to... use it better. Just my feeling that the quality is good, but the picture looks very whiten. So the white balance is too much for my feeling, but I don't know. Additionally, I have two Elgato key lights in the back of the monitor, but those already exist since think two years or three years where Corona starts. So I did this to just have a view and better light in Teams conferences and so on.

Michael Seidl: And shockingly for producing a user Mac, no Windows, no Microsoft, I use a Mac. It just feels better. that's it. for podcast producing and video recording, I use the Mac for everything else. I use my Lenovo Microsoft Windows device. So, but just for this thing, I use the Mac, but I'm still Microsoft guy, so don't be afraid. Okay. So that's the equipment. So the only new thing what I got is the teleprompter and I'm still a little bit struggling with it. But yeah, let's see. So the workflow looks like this. If you heard the previous episodes, you should know that I use Notion for nearly everything. And of course, also for podcast managing. writing my notes, writing my episodes, creating my episodes. So I have a notion table with all my episodes and those are automatically synced via PowerShell and Asia Automation to Podigy. So Podigy is the podcast service who takes the audio files and sending them to all the Apple podcasts and Spotify and whatever else is out there. And recently, recently, recently, written a PowerShell script in Asia Automation to synchronize those information. The only thing I have to do is uploading the audio file to Podigy, but everything else is done automatically out from the Notion table to Podigy. So that helps to improve the process. The recording is done on Riverside. So Riverside is a cloud solution to record the audio and video. session after recording. They're also using AI to improve the audio, improve the video, cut out some ass and blah. Something like this. then I use Adobe Audition to finish the audio podcast. in Adobe Audition I have a template.

Michael Seidl: to using AI to get the interesting parts and producing all the videos with the text and everything. And with this short videos, use Adobe Premiere Rush to finish the social media videos with the text at the beginning and the outro videos. So for this, use Adobe Video Rush. So that's a free version of Adobe Premiere Rush. So that's the name. And those videos are then used for social media and I use Notion for this as well. So I have a Notion table for my podcast videos, for my short videos. And I upload them to Notion. Notion is helping me with AI to produce the social media texts and the tags and everything else. And from that, an Asia automation PowerShell runbook is synchronizing those posts to MitriCool and MitriCool is taking care to publish them on different social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. But everything is done in Notion. So that's the workflow. So from the recording to the post and pre-production to social media, that's the workflow. And the last thing is, I'm talking is How long does it take to produce one episode? And for those who don't know, maybe in real life, I have two podcasts to be honest. So I have the same podcast in English, what you hear now, and the same in German. So I the recording, the audio and video recording twice in German language and in English language.

Michael Seidl: Of course, it depends on how long the podcast is, but usually I try to target around 10 minutes. Right now we are at nearly 10 minutes and will take some time more. So it depends on how long the podcast itself is, but usually around 10 to 15 minutes, twice. So English and German. To prepare the podcast, it takes, I think, around five minutes. I think about the topic, I write down some notes. Usually I do this during the car drive and then I think about doing the car drive and take down the notes then when I arrive at home or in the office. So usually it takes five minutes to prepare a podcast and that's the point I want to talk about. And then preparing the audio. So Riverside is then taking care about the audio and audio quality and everything else. But I need to listen, need to check, need to write the description, the tags, everything what you see in Adobe, in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, the description, everything is done by Riverside, but I need to copy paste it, everything to Notion to be synced. And I need to prepare the audio in Adobe Audition. This takes usually a double episode, like I said, English and German. I think around 10 minutes. And then doing the videos, the short videos and with Opus Clip and check all the videos. So Opus Clip usually is providing me 10 to 15 shorter clips of a recording. And those need to be checked if they are useful. Then they need to be planned in Notion. So put every record in Notion and then plan it for the days or the next weeks, whatever. So this takes additional... around 10 minutes. So each separate double episode, so German English, will cost me around one hour. It depends a bit on how long the episode takes. I had some shorter episodes, about eight or nine minutes. Right now we are 12, so that depends a little bit. But approximately an hour for a double episode for this podcast.

Michael Seidl: Usually I try to do mass production, I record two, three, or maybe four episodes at once. Then it's lowering those time a little bit per episode because it can combine some things. So that helps a bit, but usually it takes up to 50 to 60 minutes for each episode, and English, both at once. Okay. And I think that's good time for a podcast I hear from other podcasters, they take more than double or triple time to produce a podcast for the same audio length. So what you hear the 10 minutes, the 15 minutes takes me 60 minutes, but I hear from others that maybe takes 120 or three hours, two hours or three hours. So I'm fine with that. There might be some lower improvements on the productivity, but I think I'm good at that. It's fine for me. Maybe, as I said, a few more minutes to save, but I think there is not so much potential to save on the production. In the end, 50 to 60 minutes for one double episode of the Get Shipped on an IT podcast. As I said, maybe writing down all those information in my private or in my technical blog techguy.at. Maybe in the future, maybe I will also talk about what the equipment costs are, but this was not the focus right now, just more about the workflow and how long does it take. So this was the special episode on how this podcast is done. Next episode, we are talking about how to get shit done in IT in the future episode. So give me your questions on LinkedIn, the best or on other social media platforms, but LinkedIn is the most, that platform I'm most active on. And so at the end, I have to wish you a nice Monday, a happy week, stay productive and bye bye.

Michael Seidl: Ahem.