The Enthusiasm Project
The Enthusiasm Project
Video Thrilled the Podcast Host | Season 13 Premiere
Send a text message to the show!
The Enthusiasm Project returns for a new season! In color!
If you’re listening to the audio version, that’s awesome! I’m working to make sure that pretty much everything still translates and makes sense, so video enhances the show but doesn’t make the show.
🎙This week's mic:
•Shure SM7B
https://geni.us/tepsm7b (Amazon)
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——————————— CONNECT ———————————
Electronic Mail: tom@enthusiasmproject.com
Main Site: https://himynameistom.com
Social Medias: @sodarntom
——————————— PODCAST GEAR ———————————
•Ecamm Live: https://geni.us/ecammtom
•Rodecaster Video: https://bhpho.to/3Ub88j2 (B&H)
•Rodecaster Duo: https://geni.us/ULKDFkp (Amazon)
•Elgato Prompter: https://geni.us/elgatoprompter (Amazon)
•Mic Arm: https://geni.us/zc7hAbW (Amazon)
•Elgato Stream Deck Plus: https://geni.us/EzyY6o5 (Amazon)
•Headphones: https://bhpho.to/3JNacqg (B&H)
•XLR Cables: https://geni.us/bluexlr (Amazon)
S13E01 | Series Episode 175
Podcast Artwork by Kevin Ramirez
Original theme music written by Patrick Boberg and performed by Mike Alvarez
Thank you, hello and welcome. My name is Tom. This is the Enthusiasm Project, season 13, episode 1. Isn't it fun. And it also coincides with the six year anniversary of the podcast started January of 2019. January 2025. Still alive, even though there has been a bit of a break. So let's talk all about that. And if you're listening to this like you always have, you might not notice this, but if you're watching this, what the podcast live? Not live, but in color. I am alive and it is in color. So those things are true.
Speaker 1:Yes, there is finally a video version, a consistent video version, of the Enthusiasm Project, which is something I have been scared of but interested in and toying with for a long time, as a lot of you probably know. So I definitely want to talk about that, share some insights into that workflow and that decision and how everything's happening, and just kind of just kind of get back into it. You know it's been it's been a while, but that extended break was something that I really needed to sort of reset my approach to the podcast. After 12 seasons of doing the podcast kind of needed to like make sure I'm not just repeating myself and what's the whole purpose here and again, how do I make this sustainable? I would rather take half a year off and then be able to do it for a long time to come, rather than just burn out and never do it again, ever. So that is kind of where we're at, which is really really fun, super exciting, I am aware, though I just want to make sure that this is super clear.
Speaker 1:Even though there is a video version, I also want to make sure that it's still a delicious that's not the right word but a good audio experience, because up until now, and probably for the foreseeable future, the way most people consume the show is through the audio only version. So that's not lost on me. I don't want to do a bunch of things that only make sense visually and if you're listening you're like well, I feel totally left out. Not the case at all If you're watching the video version. I want things to you know, enhance the show, but not be like required viewing for you to get you know, get the best out of the show.
Speaker 1:So there's all kinds of fun stuff we can do which I am super excited about. Some things are new. Some things are the same. One thing that is the same, but in kind of a new version, is we got to talk about the mic of the week. Right, we got to talk about the mic of the week, and what's that music? It's the mic of the week intro segment. Wow, who is so pro over here? So, as you know, I typically like to swap up different microphones every week here, which makes getting consistent audio a little bit tricky.
Speaker 1:Typically, this is also where I talk about what gear I'm using, but for this episode, I'm going to go into so much detail about the gear that I'm using to put this show together, because I think that will be really helpful for people. We're just kind of focusing on mic of the week because that's the thing that's probably going to change the most. Ideally, the rest of the gear shouldn't change, because I have spent so long putting this all together. So the microphone you're listening to me on right now is the Shure SM7B running through the Rodecaster Duo with the custom SM7B preset that I made, which is not like. It's not like a super secret thing or whatever. I just made a custom preset that I liked on my voice and that's what I'm doing right now. I could even show you if I take that off. This is what the SM7B sounds like just out of the box, running into the RODECaster Duo, and this is what it sounds like with the preset. So I just like this and it sounds broadcasty and fun and it works with my voice and it. I don't know, I just enjoy it quite a bit. So the mic of the week they're listening to me this week is the Shure SM7B. It is fun.
Speaker 1:Actually, there was a really good idea someone gave me of I'm just remembering this now. I should have incorporated this into my notes Using a different microphone, which I kind of always do for the 10 weeks of the season and then at the end have people vote on which one they think sounds best. So maybe that is a good idea. I should definitely swap it up every time. If I'm lucky enough to have 10 microphones to do that with, I should take advantage of that. So this week's microphone is the Shure SM7B and that's what you were listening to me on as we move on and talk about this new format, why I have been someone who has said you don't necessarily have to have a video podcast. Why am I doing that to myself? Why that's a lot of work. It's a lot of extra work to do video.
Speaker 1:I feel like I have streamlined the process as much as I can and that was something I wanted to make sure. At least for me was the case that I had the audio only version pretty well streamlined, where it couldn't be any quicker really to produce a show. It was almost real time. If the episode was, you know, 100 minutes long, it took 104 minutes to make the show kind of thing. I planned it out more, you know, like the planning and stuff, but the actual production time was essentially real time, which was real cool, and video just adds so much more. It's such a beast to add in. It's not just like oh, it's a little icing on the cake, like video is a whole separate beast and that changes things and something that I wanted.
Speaker 1:There's sort of two things that happened that made it sort of the perfect time for me to do this. One of them is that I sort of like said everything I could say in the podcast after six years and 12 seasons and it really there's. I got a couple messages that I'm going to play like listener messages, but I had asked for some feedback, like hey, you know, I restart the show for a new season, what are some things that you would like to hear? And Gil, who has replied, like many, many times and I always appreciate you, gil, you're the best Gil was like you know, I'm missing the show and I just go back and listen to old episodes, which kind of meant the world to me that someone would actually take their time to go back and re-listen to episodes. That is awesome. And he's not the only person that said that, which just blows my mind. So that's like a huge compliment right there. And he's like yeah, I listened to old episodes. I can still pull out like interesting nuggets and cool things there. He's like but you're right, you kind of talked about everything and that was sort of what I had said was like I have covered it all.
Speaker 1:Like I started the show is very personally. There was like so much inside that I just needed to get out and that was kind of what the show was for way before anyone else ever listened to it. And then, over years and episodes and seasons, people started listening to the show and and it started, you know, picking up an audience of which is crazy and super cool. And so it did kind of shift where it's like I have covered kind of all the topics that I wanted to cover personally not necessarily forever. Like you know, I live a life and new things happen and new thoughts happen all the time and sometimes it's worth revisiting things. But it's very different when you have like your whole life experiences to draw on versus and then you get all those out and now it's like now what? And so it was like harder and harder to find things that I wanted to spend whole episodes dissecting and diving into that I hadn't already talked about and didn't necessarily want to be super repetitive.
Speaker 1:So that was kind of a thing there, in addition to that transition of when I started the show very much for me not expecting another person to ever listen to it, but then over the years, building the audience, becoming aware that people are giving their time and do want something, expect something out of the show. So that kind of shifted to like okay, what can I do to make to continue making the show like possible to produce in terms of just topics and subjects and stuff, and also something that is actually valuable to the listeners. So shifting from a me focus to an audience focus. That's something that happened, you know, a long time ago, but something that I want to be really, really conscious of, which is why, when people ask, like, is there a video version? Video version that was such a popular question it kind of was like, okay, maybe I really need to look into this.
Speaker 1:Not everybody needs a video version of their podcast. Some of the more popular podcasts that I listen to I don't know if they're popular, the podcasts that I listen to the most, the ones that are most popular to me, are audio only versions. They don't they don't even offer video versions. Um, but for me it does kind of make sense, especially considering my background. I really like video. Uh, my YouTube channel is all about audio video production. So this, you know, videos, like kind of half of audio video production, right, and it just does kind of make sense, which I'll talk about in a little bit there. But that was kind of the thing there was okay. I think incorporating video is good. I want to make sure that I'm aware that the show doesn't just belong to me anymore.
Speaker 1:It belongs to the people who give their time to listen to it and to you know, consume the show and I want to be able to then restructure it in a way that isn't just me trying to find, like, what is this week's topic? Maybe you know? A big thing I had talked about and tried to incorporate before, and some feedback that I got from a lot of people was yeah, segments are great. You know, like we can have a mic of the week segment, we can have a YouTube talk segment, we can have all this kind of stuff where it's like you don't have to find something that you can dive into for 60 minutes straight. Maybe you only need to share 10 minutes on something or even less, and that way there's. It doesn't feel like this overwhelming thing and, in addition to trying to then figure out a video workflow that wasn't going to just take so much time. So that's kind of you know, those are sort of the things that the universe put together in order to make, you know this, possible for me to do it this way. So I kind of do want to dive into a little bit more about like why, why would you want to do that? Because I am somebody, if you listen to the show, who has said like, yeah, you probably don't need a video version. I don't think I want to do a video version.
Speaker 1:For me, the thing about the audio version was not just the ease of the workflow but also there's a very different vibe. Like right now to do the video version, I am in my studio. I had to, you know, get camera ready. I didn't just roll out of bed like this, I had to turn on lights, set up cameras, set up graphics. Like that is very different than the audio only version, where I could literally be in my pajamas sometimes I could be, you know, it could be dimly lit situation that just felt like comfy to be in but where a camera would not pick up a good quality image at all and record a great episode, and that that was really kind of nice. Like it does ease a lot of pressure. You know you don't have to worry about like the pimple on your nose or something if you're doing an audio only version of a podcast, but video there's a little bit more there. So there's just being on camera adds more to it. Doing stuff like being able to make graphics, being able to make slides, being able to make segments, organize things. You know it takes a bit more time, but the workflow I've established is about, I think, as close as I could get to my former audio only workflow in terms of, like, once all the pieces are prepped and ready to go, I can press record, do everything in real time. I'm sure, again, a pro would maybe edit out some things, but well, you're listening to me instead, so that's not happening. So that's that's that. Those are kind of reasons why, but also a big reason why is it's 2025.
Speaker 1:And if you heard me talk about, you know like I don't want to do a video podcast, I I do think that you know it's always important to reevaluate your opinions and your stances on things. Over time change your opinions with new information. And you know I made a video in I think it was late 2017, about why you don't need 4k, because I had just bought the Canon 6D Mark II camera at the time, which was 1080. And late 2017 was when a lot of people were starting to kind of get their first like 4k mirrorless cameras and I was like you know, there's no need for me to get a 4k camera because at that time there was nothing really reliable. It's like overheating like crazy. The file sizes were ridiculous. Most computers like had a really hard time editing. So it's like, oh, I have to buy some crazy expensive computer that's still going to be a struggle to edit on. You know, I don't even know if YouTube was totally accepting 4k at the time, but even if it was, most people couldn't consume 4k, like they weren't even watching on a 4k stream or they didn't have an internet connection that could accommodate 4k. Like you could buy a 4k TV but everything you're streaming on it is in 1080.
Speaker 1:You know, it was like it was that kind of time and so my point was at that point at that time, like 4k is awesome and it's clearly going to be the future, but right now you probably don't need it. And that's kind of how I felt, you know, with video a while ago was like, uh, video versions of podcasts are great if you can do them and you know and and it's not, it's not totally taxing on you, or or it's something you do really want to prioritize, but it's not necessarily required. And I still don't think it's totally required, but there are new reasons that I do think it's it's worth considering in the year 2025, especially because people you know, people do kind of expect it when you say you have a podcast, I think. I think the image that used to come to mind was someone sort of sitting at a desk talking into a microphone, and now it's like the image of like people on camera talking into microphones. I feel. I feel like video podcast is becoming very synonymous with podcasts now. So that's, that's a big one.
Speaker 1:In addition to the fact this was really the biggest one for me and this happened, you know, I really started taking advantage of this last year, even with the audio-only version of the podcast is that YouTube supports podcasting. Youtube has always been a place where people could upload podcasts. They could upload a video and be like this is a podcast, this is a podcast channel, whatever. But now that YouTube actually categorizes things as podcasts, promotes them as podcasts, ingests existing RSS feeds of podcasts, that's really huge. And so last year I had put the RSS feeds of podcasts. That's really huge. And so last year I had put the RSS feed for the Enthusiasm Project into my YouTube channel, which I did some episodes about, and the workflow was very, very clunky because everything got like. It actually was not hard to ingest the show. Mixing it in with the videos in a way that wasn't super distracting was really frustrating and didn't really let me take advantage of the YouTube platform and so doing this version now I did. Obviously, if you're watching this, you're watching this on a brand new channel. At the time of recording this it has four subscribers, so I've got to make room for that second silver play button over there over there. But YouTube, I was able to not only move all of my existing episodes over there through my RSS feed, so YouTube just pulled everything from Buzzsprout into this new channel, so all I think is 183 episodes total that it just pulled over there. I was able to get rid of those off of my main channel, which was very difficult and time consuming to do so. Now the whole podcast is here.
Speaker 1:The thing about having the podcast on my main channel was that the episodes were unlisted, and the reason for that was because they would get thrown in. If you went to my video page, there was just 183 episodes mixed in with all the videos, and it was like messy and confusing. There was no way to separate, like here's all the videos and then here's another page that's only the podcast videos, like everything was mushed together, and so my way around that was to make the podcast episodes unlisted, but the podcast itself public. So if people clicked on the podcast they could have all the episodes, but they would never then take advantage. You can never search in YouTube for an episode name or the podcast in general and have everything pop up. So now, having everything on its own channel, it can all just be public and that means it can show up in search results. It can show up in the algorithm. People can find it a lot more easily. I pulled in all the audio only episodes, and now I can just add in the videos going forward, which is pretty awesome, and and then I can just pull the audio from this as the audio version and upload that. So it's not a tremendously like taxing workflow overall.
Speaker 1:And that was that was sound simple, but getting all those pieces together which we'll talk about when we talk about gear in a little bit um, was why it took, you know, seven months to figure this out. So a big reason for switching video is the fact that YouTube supports podcasting, and another reason is that it is something new, kind of like I mentioned, you know, after that many seasons and stuff, I kind of like needed to shake it up a little bit. I needed a new challenge. I needed a new, in a way also even new creative constraints to kind of play with and help mold the show and keep the show going and keep it sustainable, which is also something it's also like a form, I think, of professional development. So you know, whether or not anyone watches the video version of the podcast, every time I do one I learn something right Putting everything together.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of stuff that I know how to do already, but it's also stuff that maybe I'm not practicing as regularly, even though I talk about it on my channel all the time. Here's microphones and gear and stuff you can use for podcasting, but I'm not doing a video podcast. It's very similar to when I was teaching and my you know, I'd give my students these projects, which would have pretty tight turnaround things Like, I knew how to make videos, I knew how to edit videos, but once I started my YouTube channel and I was also doing things you know, very quickly with minimal equipment you know tight turnaround times Suddenly a lot of the pain points in my students' workflow that I wasn't really aware of became a lot more apparent to me because I was now in their shoes, doing the same thing and so doing the video version kind of I'm hoping that it's sort of that. It is that professional development. I can establish a good workflow that I can share, which hopefully makes things easy for some people if they're also looking to do something similar. But at the same time, it might really point out like, oh, this is why, like, people are always mentioning this thing in the comments of my videos is because it is a pain, it's a huge, you know, whatever you know it, it just sort of keeps me current on what's happening, and so I think that's. I think those are all great reasons to start a video podcast in 2025 and or to add a video component to a podcast in 2025. So that's something I am super excited about.
Speaker 1:Like I mentioned, there was quite a workflow to make this happen and that a lot of that requires gear. So I want to talk about the gear that I'm using. So that way, you know I don't know if you have an idea I don't have any crazy graphics or videos, so if you listen to the audio only version, you ain't missing out on anything here. It's just going to be me talking on camera. But speaking of that, let's go into that right now. So I do have, you know, some graphics. I do have some slides to kind of make things more visually appealing.
Speaker 1:The gear that I'm using, the thing that really kind of made it click for me to go okay, I'm going to do a video version of the podcast was the Rodecaster video release, which I knew a long time before it was released that it was coming out. That was like one of the few times that I've been like very aware of something coming down the pipeline for a long, long time and I was waiting and waiting and waiting for it, because my goal with that was that is going to let me do what I've already been doing with the Rodecaster Pro the audio version. Now they're just a video version. I can do the same thing. Instead of just loading up sound clips and switching between audio sources, I load up video clips and switch between video sources, do everything in real time and it's done, which is true, and I am running. The video you're looking at. If you're watching, the video version is all through the Rodecaster video.
Speaker 1:But I did have to make I don't want to call it a concession, but kind of I really wanted that to be on workflow, because the Rodecaster video is so fun to use, it's so powerful and it's also just there's something about like the tactile nature of it that I really really like.
Speaker 1:But if you're watching this and you're looking at the graphics, you might go, hey, I don't know how the RODECaster video generates those, or, you know, you kind of go like, hey, it looks like your camera is a little bit, you know, colored there.
Speaker 1:It kind of looks like almost like you've got some presets or some color adjustments Interesting. That is because I am using Ecamm Live and so pretty much, to be honest, most of the stuff I'm doing you do not need the Rodecaster video for, even though it was the catalyst for doing this, especially right now. Today I only have a single camera, so you definitely don't need the Rodecaster video for this, but that was kind of a big thing. So, using the Rodecaster video in, you know, in collaboration with Ecamm which could be, you know, I could be using a Cam Link, I could be using an ATEM, whatever I'm definitely planning to have multiple cameras in future episodes when I need them. So a multi switcher is really cool. The Rodecaster kind of crushes everything when it comes to audio. So that ability, especially if I do want to maybe record things not in here, which is something we'll talk about being able to be a little more portable and high.
Speaker 1:What was that? Noise and high quality would be really cool. I got a cold like the beginning of December and it is just not going away. Anyway, speaking of that well, not speaking of that speaking of cold, colds remind me of things that are cool. And what's cool is the other gear that I'm using. There's a transition, so I am using the Elgato prompter. That's the thing that I'm staring at right now, where I have my Ecamm window up so I can see what's on screen. I can see what you're seeing in real time, which is really, really helpful.
Speaker 1:And this is the A7IV, the Sony A7IV with my 24 millimeter lens. That just you know. That's my favorite setup. So why not use it for the podcast here? Well, I usually use the FX3, I should say the A7IV has been my, the camera that I swap in and out of my desk setup a lot. It doesn't live here because I use that camera a lot for other things, in videos and also use it for photos and stuff. So it's getting a lot more use than just being like the webcam. But that is also what I'm using it there. So, but that is also what I'm using it there. So there's the A7 IV mounted to my desk. I did a desk setup video recently where I kind of showed a lot of my desk things and a lot of it's the same. A couple of things are a little bit different.
Speaker 1:I talked about the microphone. The microphone is on the Elgato Low Profile Pro arm, which I really love because if you're watching this, look at that. I can easily with one finger move the microphone around and adjust it and it stays put. If you've been using any of the low profile arms since their release, you know that that's not something you can normally do, and now I can. This arm is so close to being perfect. It's just, of course, it's always the end, the mount where you connect the microphone, and this is a good one. It's a ball mount, it's just like it's 95% of the way there, and one day someone maybe me will take part in making a mic arm that is 100% of the way there. So anyway, that's the reason there. I really do love this mic arm quite a bit.
Speaker 1:I am running the audio into the Rodecaster Duo and just running that into Ecamm Live, and the reason there's no. It's all the Rodecaster's also going into the Rodecaster Duo and just running that into Ecamm Live, and the reason there's? No, it's all the Rodecaster is also going into the Rodecaster video. So there's no reason that I couldn't just select the Rodecaster video as my audio and video source in Ecamm Live. But it was already set up this way. So, like you know, that is just like there's no difference and this is just how Ec can was already set up, so just doing it that way. But it is really cool because roadcaster pro the audio ones you can just via USB connect them to the roadcaster video and use them, which is very, very cool. So that is my audio source there, where I'm kind of running things through and, you know, getting all the signals and the what should be mixed minus, what shouldn't be mixed minus and stuff. You know, hopefully things will work because I have slides that have sound on them.
Speaker 1:We've got listener messages, we've got my voice, we've got videos, you know, like intro and outro videos. So all that's there and basically that's what. That's what's happening in Ecamm and I think I can probably pull this window over here and show you, if you, if you're watching the Ecamm setup. So what I've got in Ecamm is I've got my keynote presentation. So the slides and the segments are all being done in keynote. And what's cool is, even if you're just listening to this and you can't see them, they help keep me on track. I do have my Apple Notes document down here, which is usually what I used to use for um, for keeping myself on track and podcasts. I would just go through the notes doc. But I was like, why not just take those same points and put them into a keynote presentation where they're just going to look better, Right, and it's just going to be more visually interesting and engaging and help keep me on track? So even if you're not seeing those, you're hearing the benefits of it because the show stays on track.
Speaker 1:And once I made these, and as I make them, especially if I have recurring segments, then it's easy because you know I'm essentially creating a template and then in Ecamm I only have a few scenes. For this one I have what? Six scenes, I guess. I have a black intro scene which is just when I hit record. It starts at black and then it goes to the intro. There's this main shot which is just me, there's the shot with my keynote slides and there's also a web browser share screen if I need to share something in a web browser at some point, which is something I do a lot during podcasts. And there's also the outro. So those are really just my six scenes and that's kind of all I need there.
Speaker 1:I do have down here I have some listener messages that I've got queued up ready to play and then my keynote presentation there. So it's kind of cool when I'm doing this and I'm on keynote. Actually, I guess I can't do it in demo mode, but when I have this little window in my prompter like my preview window, there I can see what's happening. But I have the keynote like presenter window here on my computer monitor so I can see what slides are next. I can have notes to myself there. So this really has been something that I feel has helped keep me uh, or will? I've only done half an episode so far, so we'll see but I think it's something that's going to help keep me really on track in in a super duper helpful way, and it's something that's going to help keep me really on track in a super duper helpful way, and that's something that I'm pretty excited about.
Speaker 1:So those are the main. That's the main gear. I don't think there's anything else. You know, nice gear but relatively simple. I am using the Elgato Stream Deck Plus. There we go. It's the white one with blue knobs on there, and that just lets me. I could do hotkeys on my keyboard. I don't necessarily need that, but that lets me just switch between the scenes. So when I go to the keynote slide or go to no, we don't need to do that was the wrong thing there. I almost ended the podcast. Don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:And I like this one because it has the dials on it, which is cool because they work great. With the Elgato prompter I can control like the brightness and the, you know, the margins and stuff I'm doing text. But on the prompter right now I have the brightness at like 50% If I turn that all the way up. I don't know if you can see it, it kind of depends, but it sometimes gives like a haze or reflection because the prompter display is so bright. So now, just without having to go into the software or anything, I can just adjust that, basically try to make the video look as good as possible while also being, as you know, readable as possible to me. So that is. That's pretty much everything I'm using for the workflow. So everything's just being recorded in Ecamm. The whole thing is being run computer-wise on my base model M1 Mac mini from four years. Four years ago, five years four years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I. I, the new M4 computers, m4 Mac mini stuff seemed totally awesome. If I didn't have one, that's what I would get. But this base model it still goes. The only the only thing I'm like hesitant about, which I think should be fine, is, um, making sure it has enough space, because it's the base model, so it only has a 256 gigabyte hard drive. Of that, I think about 120 gigs are free. But this is this podcast is not in 4k, this is 1080, because it it's something that does not need to be in 4k. Like you know, this is fine and I don't want to deal with 60 to 90 minute 4k video files. It's just too 4k hard, if you ask me. And so this is 10 80.
Speaker 1:Ecamm is very efficient with how it records files, so it should be, it should be okay. Um, and Ecamm should be fine. I'm always a little nervous. The thing with the Rodecaster video when you plug your SSD and record in there. I have found that to just be so insanely reliable that it and especially you can connect, you know, like a four terabyte SSD or something, and you just you know you're never going to run out of space. The Rodecaster is super reliable. I just want to keep looking and making sure. I see that Ecamm is recording. So this is all being done through Ecamm, uh, and and we're going to talk a lot more about Ecamm next week in a new segment that I'll be introducing next week, which will be super, super fun Um, but that that kind of covers, uh, the gear and everything for for what I'm using, at least for now. I'm sure this obviously will evolve over time, but that is, that is the gear right there. And, oh, nuts, I was trying to be all slick but my audio output changed, so this is one of those problems there. There was a new segment that I was waiting to introduce in this really cool way, where I was going to, like, start it and you're going to hear the music, and then I was going to go to the keynote and you're going to see the slide. We'll get there.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, there's a segment here that I want to include every week called Tube Talk, which is a content creator corner. So, historically, I'm wearing the same shirt as I am in this graphic, so I can actually maybe try to make it look. There we go. What this basically is is, historically, I've done a lot of episodes just about the YouTube channel and about things that happen on YouTube and that kind of stuff, and I love that Sometimes there's more to talk about than others. So I kind of figured, hey, if it's not the whole episode but a segment, that's really cool. So the Tube Talk segment, which is harder to say than it was when I typed it out, is something that I would like to do every week, where I can kind of share some thoughts, updates, experiences, whatever that are on my mind and that I hope are interesting and maybe helpful to you as well, or just updates, like if it's just like hey, this is a thing that's been going on, like it has been a while, you know, since we've done the Enthusiasm Project.
Speaker 1:So in the time since, there's a lot of things that have happened. There's actually a pretty big thing that happened very recently, just last month, which was I won the RØDE Creator of the Year People's Choice Award in the Gear and Tech Reviews category, which was kind of crazy. So that is something I owe a huge thank you to, because I voted the one time for me, but it was a lot more than one vote that let me win, so I really appreciate everybody kind of going out of the way. That was like one of the most meaningful things that has ever happened, not even just in my like content creator career, but in my life. The gear and tech review category the category winner was Becca Farsaci Becca, who's really great. She's from the Verge and then started on, left the Verge and started her own independent YouTube channel. So you know she has like an Emmy award in the background of her videos and all this crazy experience and stuff. So she was the category winner and then I was the People's Choice winner in that category and category winner Beans Road also had a panel of judges, which is pretty crazy because of the creator of the year thing.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't know really what to expect, but it turns out there were 11,000 entrants across 20 something, 22 categories, 24 categories, something like that, so 11,000 people to choose from. There were 46 winners total, which is pretty, pretty nuts because each category had to the people's choice and the category winner, which was basically they had a panel of people, not just road people, but like industry people go through each category, choose the finalists and then the judges also chose that category winner and then there was votes that chose a People's Choice winner, which is pretty crazy, because the total People's Choice voting not for me, but for everybody was 250,000 votes were cast for people in different categories, so that is, that's a lot. It's not one of those things where, like, you got six votes and they got five votes, so you win's like shoot, like it is genuinely a like a thing, thing that happened, a thing to be proud of and and it. I don't want like I never want it to seem like you need that kind of recognition. You need awards to be valuable or to be validated or anything. But it's nice, you know, and now that I've been doing this almost four years full time and I love it and I don't want to do anything else. There is still the thing, though, where you kind of feel like you're just floating out in open water in the ocean sometimes and you're like am I doing things right? Is this good?
Speaker 1:2024 was a really good year, fortunately, to have different experiences, like going to NAB and talking to people, getting to go to a couple different events at B&H Photo in New York, being part of the Roadcaster video launch at B&H Photo in New York City was pretty crazy. Those were all things that let me like in real life, face-to-face connections, learn that the channel is a valuable, helpful thing for people. And the podcast too. People talk about this podcast to me in person which was so cool, so that was. And then the people's choice thing is like I mean, I made a video about it but I never thought it'd be the people's choice for anything. So that's pretty wild and it helps me feel like I'm on the right track, even though sometimes it feels like I don't know what the heck's going on. And Sometimes it feels like I don't know what the heck's going on and there's sort of a thing that, like this is sort of strange.
Speaker 1:But not to harp too much on my teaching career, but when I started teaching I was an English teacher and then I moved into digital media and when I moved into my first digital media program I was teaching like the video side of there was sort of like two pathways with two different teachers, two different classrooms, two different, you know things within the same program, and one was digital imaging, the other was digital storytelling. I was a digital storytelling teacher and that was basically like video production, audio and video production. The other side was a lot of like photo and graphics. So if you wanted to do design stuff, graphics, they can get a little bit into 3d stuff too, which is very, very cool. And that's just because digital media is so huge Like it is tough to cover with one person in one class cover all those needs. So we had two things there.
Speaker 1:The program had been around for several years before I moved into it. The digital imaging side was always going strong, but the digital storytelling side was like it was kind of like working really well for a handful of students but not all students and it was honestly kind of a mess. And so I revamped everything, like basically rebuilt the studio by hand, the classroom by hand, worked to get all new equipment, all new resources. I rewrote all of the courses and got them all approved. So, like the you know, instead of whatever random classes were being taught, they were, you know. Students were able to get the you know, the credits they needed towards college acceptance from these classes. Like there were UC approved classes, board of education approved classes, all that kind of stuff, uh, which was very, very cool.
Speaker 1:Um, and the program did really well and it's still doing well to this day and there was a part of me that always knew like I put years into this program, into rebuilding it and into making it something special. So I feel like you know, I feel like I did a good job and I'm capable of doing that, but it was something. There was an infrastructure that was already there. There was. There was already a program. Half of it was already firing and all cylinders. There was administrative support. There was already like scheduling built in and, uh, like a culture on campus where students knew what the program was, and so part of me was also, like you know, almost feeling insecure of like, well, could any would this have been successful if anyone took it over? Or did I actually do something? You know, would it was actually able to use my skills and abilities in a unique way here? And I thought I'd was, but I wasn't 100% sure.
Speaker 1:So when the chance came up to then go to a new school in a new district and start a program from scratch like there was nothing there, the campus had just been rebuilt, so it was literally like empty space, zero equipment, zero students, zero culture, zero knowledge, expectations whatever, and basically build it all from scratch.
Speaker 1:That was kind of the most tempting reason why I wanted to take that opportunity and leave what was a really good position and go do that Um, because, geez, when are you ever going to get that chance again? And it happened. It took years, you know it took it took years, but after you know four or five years it was up and running and going like just as strong as my other program was and it was a part of not even just the campus culture but the district and the community and all this stuff which is super cool. And then there were things like every year, you know, there's teacher of the year awards, which are always kind of cool. Some of them are student voted, some of them are like district voted or whatever, and I pretty much won like at least a campus one every year which was like really cool.
Speaker 1:I won the student's choice one pretty much every year, which sounds braggy, but like I don't know, they voted. I didn't bribe them, uh, and that that was really cool because it's the same thing as, like the road, people's choice one, like it's like I the students are the ones that I wanted to be voting Like, I want them to, you know, be happy with their program and their teacher and stuff. So that meant a lot to me. And then, so crazy, it was all right. Before COVID, I was the 2020, I was the 2019 teacher of the year for our school district and then I was the 2020 teacher of the year for our entire county and then I was the 2020 teacher of the year for our entire county, which was one of the biggest counties in California. There's 22,000 teachers in our county. So that was crazy and you know that was definitely a highlight of my career. And then I promptly left teaching. So hopefully they don't regret that. That was a crazy experience and definitely something that was like okay, like if I can literally build this program out of nothing, get to that point, I feel like I'm at least somewhat capable, maybe. And then I left and went to be a content creator, you know, and do all that where you have no idea, like, are you doing a good job or not? And so it's interesting because, like the students choice teacher of the year stuff, and now like a road people's choice creative of the year, it feels like the closest version to that, which makes me feel really good. Because it's the thing of like, it just makes me feel like I have found a way to use special skills, abilities and experience in a way that seems to be helpful, unique and beneficial. And you know, and that's that's something that I think everybody wants to do, but it's, you know, it's always hard when you're just trying to navigate regular life and figure out how to, you know, survive like, and then you're trying to go up your hierarchy of needs of, like, self-fulfillment and things. So when you're able to sort of check all those boxes, it's a pretty special, magical, impressive thing. And the road creator of the year award was something that really it just it really stuck out in a huge way to me, so that's a huge thing. The channel also crossed 150,000 subscribers, actually over 155,000 currently. Um, which is nuts. So that is very, very, very exciting.
Speaker 1:Um been making videos. Nothing changed. They're having tons of fun making all kinds of different videos, tons of ideas. Um been doing a lot of stuff with Heather on her gaming channel, which she re like, yeah, rebooted. Basically, um called Heather just play. So we've been she's been doing a lot over there and I've been doing some final fantasy 14 gaming streams, which are really fun, and videos too, um, so that's a that's a super fun channel and it's fun to just do something you know different. Um been playing around with my second channel a lot, which is cool Cause that is where it's just like throw whatever at the wall and just have fun with it and you don't have to worry about all the strategy and stuff. In addition to starting a new YouTube channel for this podcast, which was you know, it sounds simple, but, oi, it's like so much work to get a channel up and running. But it's cool and I I am super excited to have that, even if it's one more, you know, one more email account or whatever to keep track of and to check and stuff. So that's, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:I have a lot more tube talk. I guess you could say that I want to dive in in the future, but this is the beauty of segments. We can save that for future segments, because there's actually even more that I want to get into today. Specifically, I want to go into segment music, listener messages. Yes, probably have more listener messages than I normally will. Maybe I don't know, because it's not just stuff for this episode, but also catching up on things during the break. So some of these I apologize, they were sent in months ago. They're not there.
Speaker 1:So one thing I want to start with, though, when it comes to listener messages, are some feedback and ideas for the podcast. So a while back, when I was like, okay, I have everything here, I have everything in place in terms of the workflow. Now I'm ready to, like, make an episode. I have these ideas. I did some community posts and stuff asking people like what would you like? Like, if you like the podcast and you're spending your time on it, what would you like me to do with it? Like, where would you like to see it go? And I got amazing feedback. So thank you so much to everybody who sent in, whatever it was, whether it's a voice message or an email or a text, whatever you sent, I really appreciate it. I listened to everything, took everything to heart, definitely gleaned something to incorporate in the show from every episode whether that's in this, from every message, whether that's in this episode or not.
Speaker 1:So you know, I really appreciate that because it makes it feel like a homegrown community effort kind of thing, which is which is super, super fun. Like I mentioned, gil sent a message, but some of them were ones that they're messages to me. They're not messages to play on the podcast, but there is one and I'm not sure this sort of rides alive, but I don't think he'll care. So this is from Patrick Boberg, who also wrote the theme song to this podcast, which is actually for my Ska podcast that I had several years ago and then I commandeered it for this one. That one I Tom-andeered it for this show when that ended a while ago and I just thought Patrick's message was really, really good, and so I want to share that with you right now. So this is let's hear what Patrick had to say.
Speaker 3:Hey Tom, this is Pat from Iowa. I've been missing your voice. Glad to see you're looking for ideas to keep the podcast going, because I love the podcast. One thought you could do episodes, or once a month episodes, with people who are enthusiastic or jazzed about something and then they can share why they're up on it and you can just riff and have a good time and really broaden people's horizons about what people are getting creative with out there. You can talk about it from you know making it their nine to five. You just talk about it, about how they fill the hours with it, how they spend their nights, you know building yo-yos or something. However, you know people are getting enthusiastic just to kind of hit that niche of the name of the show, and I love talking to people who are excited and hearing people and what makes them excited. I'm getting a call so I'm gonna let you go.
Speaker 1:Thanks, pat. That's the best way to end a message. This is so interesting because this feedback about like interviews and people that that is literally like, and I'm sure maybe you know this, but that was the the thesis, the impetus behind the channel in the first place, like the youtube channel was supposed to be like, I want to sort of share stories and perspectives of people who are enthusiastic about stuff, because the channel used to be called the enthusiasm project um, um, and so I think the idea of incorporating that into the podcast, which still retains that name, is a great one. I also one of my favorite things lately, let me tell you, uh, not just because of the creator of the award, but the road interview pro microphone there's. This thing is so cool and I think, as part of the creator of your thing, I think there's a prize pack where I get another one of these, so I have one. I've been wanting two of them because I feel like these are like the perfect mobile podcast setup.
Speaker 1:Obviously, it's good for interviews it's literally called the interview pro and you can do this with other things. You know, there's audio recorders, wireless systems, cameras, whatever, but what I really love about these is now, this is just the gear segment. What I really love about the Interview Pro is the lack of handling noise. So when you're out in other environments it makes it so easy to not have to worry about picking up handling noise. And the omnidirectional pickup pattern just means that you also don't have to worry about perfect mic technique, which is great when you're you know, if you hand the microphone to someone else who's not used to talking to microphones, pretty much wherever they position it, as long as it's somewhere near their face, it's going to sound great, and if they move it it's not going to change the sound, there's not going to be crazy proximity effect or anything. And of course, they're wireless. You can run them wirelessly into a camera or whatever. But they also just got built in 32 bit float recording, so they're just little audio recorders as well, and to me, I want to do a whole thing where I think this might be the best mobile podcasting setup where you can literally just take two of these, record them, have a camera going.
Speaker 1:So all that to say some feedback that popped up in several different messages, including past just now, was doing interviews and bringing in other people in all different ways, and that is something I definitely want to include. It's been intimidating in the past because I were at something like NAB and I just talked to someone really cool for five minutes 10 minutes. You know that's not a whole podcast episode and it might feel kind of shoehorned into like a video collab situation, but it would be the perfect thing to include in a podcast segment and so I definitely want to include that and I think that'd be really fun in whatever form it takes, and I think seeing how things evolve over time is going to be really, really fun, because that's, you know, that's kind of the beauty of starting something kind of new is you get to see how it evolves and changes, like these very flashy keynote transitions that I have. So some other messages I have some other voice messages from people. These are not about the show or the direction of show. These are more traditional voice messages, all sent through SpeakPipe.
Speaker 1:If you don't know what SpeakPipe is, it is the app, the service that I use to collect voice messages for the podcast, and you can do that at himynameistomcom If you go right to my website homepage. Oh, actually, hey, hi, I'm Tom. I can do this because it's a video version. Look, my website is right here. Hi, my name is Tomcom. You scroll down a little bit.
Speaker 1:There's a thing that says leave a message for the podcast and you can click start recording. And if you do that, you will start recording. You can use whatever you want, which is really cool. So if you have a um, if you have a cool podcasting set up and a good microphone, you can use that. If you're just on your phone, you just use your phone like whatever device you're on that has a microphone.
Speaker 1:That's what you can use to record and does not have to be polished audio. If you're someone who has polished audio, that's always fun to hear what different people's setups and stuff sound like, but you don't have to do that. So don't feel never feel obligated to do anything like that if it's, if it's a little too difficult, but yeah. So we got a few messages here from SpeakPipe, which is super cool. Some of these again go back months, so I apologize for that. The first one is from Gordon and this is about wireless audio quality and my lovely Mac mini switched my audio inputs again For some reason. It just really likes to do that and I don't know why, keeps switching it from the Rodecaster to just the Mac mini speaker, for some reason. So anyway, gordon, what's up with your wireless audio quality?
Speaker 5:Hey Tom, I run a podcast called the EMS Lounge using predominantly Rode gear. What I found is, when I'm recording though with my wireless mic setup, which is the wireless me, it doesn't sound as full as the recordings do on my road caster. So I'm wondering if you have any tips or tricks to get it to sound a little better. I've tried running it through the road caster post-production and see if that will boost it. However, I'm just not getting that big bottom sound or the effects processing that I'm looking for. Any help on that would be great. Thanks, love your show.
Speaker 1:So I'm hoping Gordon solved this problem many months ago. He's not still lamenting it right now. But basically he's using some of the Rode wireless things the Wireless Me and the audio quality is just not sounding as good as when he runs through his Rodecaster Pro, which can definitely be frustrating, especially if you're trying to mix those audio things together in a podcast episode and you have this you know beautiful EQ, bassy sound coming from the Rodecaster and you have this thin, harsh sound coming from the wireless thing. It's going to be a little bit funky. So it sounds like what you're describing is the audio directly from you know essentially how I can use this interview pro as a standalone recorder, using the wireless me like as a recorder. Is that like the audio just coming from that? I guess running into a camera or whatever? It's just not as good as what you're getting in the road caster. How do you fix that? You can do presets. You can connect it to road central and adjust some of the presets, but it sounds like those aren't, aren't scratching the itch, aren't sticking the way that they should, which is strange and frustrating.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's a weird device in that way where sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't what I would recommend. I mean the place to start. There's two things actually. The first one might be a very simple fix, which is if there's noise cancellation I can't remember if the wireless Mi has noise cancellation or not. If it does, make sure it's not accidentally turned on, cause that could be. The whole problem is that a lot of these, like recorders and small mics, have noise cancellation and it's very easy to like accidentally press one button or click one setting and turn it on without realizing it and they give you no notification. That's turned on and that's going to immediately sap, like all of the life out of your audio because it's trying to do noise canceling, especially if things aren't sounding bassy, and they are sounding you know, just kind of tinny and crunchy or whatever.
Speaker 1:You might have noise cancellation turned on, so that could be super simple. Solution number one that's the best solution because you push one button and everything sounds great. If that's not the problem, then what I would do is it's not too much of a hassle, hopefully is spend more time on the post-production workflow, not in the Rodecaster or in Rode Central. So taking that audio and putting it into your software whether it's audio video editing software and working with those EQs to it sounds like especially the low end really needs some work. So you know probably some sort of graphic equalizer where you can play with some of the lower frequencies and maybe boost those. You might want to dive into a parametric equalizer.
Speaker 1:I have a video on my channel all about sort of making things sound better with a parametric equalizer. I talk about in Final Cut Pro, but it's the same in any application, so it doesn't really matter. And then probably you know a little bit compression stuff like that. I also have a video, a new video, that's three simple steps to making your voice sound good for podcasting and streaming. So that might be helpful for for this very specific situation and that's what I would do, and so basically putting the audio into software and forgetting all the road stuff, but just using the software to create the sound that you want. And then, once you have that, you should be able to do this in just about any software, but creating a preset so that way in the future, when you bring in your audio from the Wireless Me, you don't have to do that from scratch Every time, you just drop your preset on it.
Speaker 1:Maybe you have to do that from scratch every time, you just drop your preset on it. Maybe you have to fine tune it, maybe you don't, but it'll make the workflow a lot easier and that's that's what I would recommend, if you haven't already found a solution to that because again, this was this was a bit of an older message we should say All right, so up next we have a message from Jeremy. I have two messages from Jeremy, but they were sent like a month apart. So Jeremy's asking about open-back headphones. So take it away, jeremy, hi.
Speaker 4:Tom, this is Jeremy, big fan of your podcast and of the channel. I was just wondering if you have ever experimented with using open-back headphones. I've seen that you use the Rode closed-back headphones. In my experience, it's a lot easier to listen to without that kind of echo chamber sound of having the closed back, and I just wondered if you've ever experimented with any open back headphones like the headphones from Sennheiser. If you haven't, I would recommend trying them out. I think that you might really enjoy them, and for me they sound a lot more natural when I'm on a microphone using those than closed-back headphones do.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for your time. Cool Thanks for that question, jeremy. Or, I guess, suggestion. It is a question and a suggestion.
Speaker 1:I don't think I've used open-back headphones. I've been using the Rode NTH-100s since they came out several years ago now and I really like them. I use them a lot well for podcasts and stuff. I use them for all my video editing and I also use them when I'm playing like guitar and bass and stuff. I have them all the time because I think they sound really really good. I have a pair of Shure headphones that I did a video on as well and those are almost maybe a little more fun for music and bass because they pump up the bass kind of like artificially. But if I'm not doing production stuff where I need things to sound accurate, that's kind of fun, right? The Sennheiser ones though I haven't used them, I would imagine if it's a Sennheiser thing, it's got to be really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I don't know what the I honestly don't know the difference between open back and closed back headphones, other than what the name implies. But I am curious because the Rhodes the reason I like these so much is that they are so comfortable. I wear them for many hours at a time, sometimes many days in a row. Pretty much wear them at some point basically every day for some amount of time, and there's a lot of times where I I'm not. I basically forget that I have them on.
Speaker 1:I stopped using the audio but they're just on and I really like them, even though they are closed back and they're not isolating but a little bit. And I really like them even though they are closed back and they're not isolating but a little bit. I really like them and I find them super comfortable. So it's interesting if open back headphones might even might provide the same comfort, the same quality, but without feeling like even less isolated, feeling Like having headphones that have noise cancellation, isolation. You know it's a nice thing, but if you're wearing them for a long time and you're working and you want to like talk to someone and go over here listen, you know like you don't always want to be totally isolated from the world around you, so I don't know that could be a cool, could be a cool solution. I've got another one from Jeremy, this one's about Rodecaster Pro Hiss. Let me see if we can make that history.
Speaker 4:Hi Tom, this is Jeremy. Thanks so much for all you do. Yeah, I watch a lot of your stuff and I noticed that on the Roadcaster one of your reviews you mentioned that you have a lot of feedback on your headphones, on the Roadcaster, and there was a product that I use called the iFi. That's iFi Ear Buddy, which isn't available anymore, but I used it on a full-sized stereo amplifier to listen to earbuds just for fun, and it basically took care of a lot of what you're describing as the loud hiss, especially on powerful outputs on larger equipment, and that isn't available anymore. But they do make something called the IFIE Match. So that's I-F-I-I-E-M-A-T-C-H and anyway it's about 50 bucks and I thought it might be worth trying if that's your biggest complaint with the RODECaster, because I know it does tame a lot of the hiss that I get when I was using it in the situation that I was grabbed. So anyway, I just appreciate all you do and thought that that might be helpful. Have a great day.
Speaker 1:Cool. Thank you for the kind words, jeremy, and also the suggestion. So I'm curious which video you're referring to where I talk about the Rodecaster, because I'm curious which Rodecaster we're talking about. For me, the Rodecaster Pro 2 and the Rodecaster Duo and the Rodecaster Video all those like second generation and up devices have good headphone preamps. I don't have any complaints. I stopped to see if I could hear anything Like they're clear, they're clean, I like them, no problems. Yeah, so I love them.
Speaker 1:The original Rodecaster which is right here behind me on the shelf, that is the one that had some really not great headphone amps and I didn't know at the time when I bought the Rodecaster. You know I could hear everything that's happening, but the issue with it was that you could hear there was hiss in the headphones and so you're like, oh my gosh, like there's hiss on my microphone and you play back your audio recording and there's no hiss. And so you're like, oh my gosh, like there's hiss on my microphone and you play back your audio recording and there's no hiss. And so you realize it's not the preamp that the microphone is running into. Those are clean. It's the headphone amp that you're hearing isn't as high quality and is giving you some hiss and some noise, and that can be maddening. Once you understand that and you use the same gear all the time, you can kind of trust yourself and be like, okay, I know, I'm hearing a little bit of hiss, but I know it's not gonna end up on the recording. But there's always this little bit of you that's like am I just recording something that I know sounds bad or doesn't sound as good as it could?
Speaker 1:So that, for me, was only a still using the original Rodecaster or another mixer or another interface. There are tons of things out there that do have noisy headphone amps and, don't you know it doesn't sound great. And so the suggestions that Jeremy offered if you have that extra 50 bucks, it could be a great way to not have to update your whole gear or change anything, but just add in one little solution that cleans things up and gives you a better idea of how things sound. So, fortunately for me, that hasn't been a problem anymore. Um, since I upgraded to, you know, the newer roadcasters a while back, but um, that's still something that's definitely an issue for a lot of people and I want to. I wanted to share this specifically because I think it's really helpful for them. So our last voice message might be one of my favorite questions of all time, and this is from Dave. We're gonna see what Dave has to say.
Speaker 2:Tom. Hey, it's Dave Jackson. I did not know you had this enthusiasm podcast and just I'm sitting here listening to to shill or not to shill, and so I'm clicking around. I'm like, well, what website is this on so I can share it? And I'm now at him. Himmy name is Tom. Him, why name? What's the why? For Inquiring minds want to know I get his name. Yeah, I know it's an inside joke, but why is it himmy name is Tom? Because I must know. Thanks, buddy.
Speaker 1:All right, dave, I appreciate it. Your audio sounds great, by the way. So the answer to your question is fairly simple. If you want to know exactly what we're talking about here, you can go to himymynameistomcom, which is my website, and that's the URL there and I was. The reason I was laughing was because during the keynote, I have a little message down here where I have a graphic if you're just listening to this, that has, you know, speak pipe listener audio and has everybody's name so you can hear the messages and stuff.
Speaker 1:But there's a thing at the bottom says you can leave messages at hi, my name is tomcom. And it's one of those things where this happens to me all the time your brain just can't see something. Um, it's like those pictures, those like what's like the magic eye pictures where you have to, like, look through it and then the picture you know, like you just can't see it, but then eventually it clicks and you're like, oh my gosh, happens to me all the time with people who have a personalized license plates, I like cannot I always read them wrong. Uh, and usually the wrong way is is the funny way. But yeah, the the website URL is just hi my name is tomcom. Uh, like, hi, my name is tomcom, that's all that. It is, um, and there's actually sort of a funny story behind that. So that has been my website URL, I think, since 2010, maybe 2009. It has been a while 15, maybe 16 years.
Speaker 1:At this point, I had finished up my bachelor's degree, but we were right in the middle of the crazy Great Recession where there were no jobs and I was trying to be a teacher but there were no teaching jobs, and I was really debating do I continue on and getting my credentials, or do I do something else and just start from scratch, because there's no jobs available right now? And so I was actually applying to go to art school for graphic design, because graphic design is my passion and so I need. I was putting together a portfolio website and I was also doing some freelance like photo stuff, um, and I just needed, like a portfolio website, a personal website, and tombuckcom was taken, uh, which actually I'm kind of curious. Now, actually, we can do some free promo. Tombuckcom. Is it still taken? Let's?
Speaker 1:I should maybe not put that up on video until we see. Here it is, yeah, and this is actually very interesting. So the TomBuck of TomBuckcom has owned this website forever and he's a voiceover artist. So it's actually not like. The crazy thing is, if someone went to TomBuckcom, it might take them a minute to be like wait, this isn't the same guy from YouTube. Because it's like you see a microphone, you see voiceover, it's like, oh, it kind of makes sense, like that would be what Tom does, but it's a totally different guy who's been doing it way longer than me. So he yeah, he's a voiceover artist. Anyway, he yeah, that's who owns that website, that URL.
Speaker 1:So I needed something else and this was when I don't know if it was when Twitter was new, but it was relatively new and the first time, like, I signed up for Twitter, I think in 2009, but I didn't actually even use it until 2017. And now it is like not a thing anymore. The first time I went on Twitter, I was trying to find people. Somebody who popped up in my feed was Mark Hoppus, the bass player from Blink-182, of whom I have a signature series bass sitting right here that I'm pointing right on the wall behind me. So he popped up and he's always been like funny on internet and social media from like the earliest days, and his screen name on Twitter was hi, my name is Mark, just all one word. And for some reason I just thought that was like really clever and really funny, like I, you know it's 2009. Keep in mind there's like. It's like you could do that on the internet. You could do something like goofy or whatever like that.
Speaker 1:And it reminded me many years before, back in high school, um, when I was. You know, you get home from school in the early two thousands and you would go on like AOL instant messenger or MSN messenger and people would have their screen names or their away messages or whatever. And one of my friends screen name for the day was just crap, the space bar is broke. But it was all one word, uh, and I was like that's funny. And I said hey, and he was like no, my space bar is broken, so I cannot add spaces in any of my messages. And all of his messages for like the next several days were just like walls of text with those like I'm just trying to use like the period to add a space or whatever. But it was just. It really made me laugh. I don't know like the phrase that was all one word, just made me laugh.
Speaker 1:And then, seeing, I don't, I don't know why seeing someone who I felt was very well known just use like a goofy phrase like hi my name is Mark, I thought it was really funny. So then I went and was like hey, hi my name is Tom would be a good URL and it was available and so I bought it and I have had it ever since and the the the reason that's kind of, so that's the origin of where that came from. But the goofier part of it is I've actually had people offer to buy it several times over the years because it's a good one. But also something I didn't realize which, like, shouldn't really be a problem is that it wasn't just a goofy thing that Mark Hoppus did, I think in 2004, 2005,. Once I looked into it, he started like a company, a brand called Hi my Name is Mark, and he has done like merchandise and products like this is the guitar, the bass that's behind me is a Fender release. But he's even done like custom signature guitar release, bass releases through his brand Like Hi my Name is Mark, like it's, it's a thing, like you know, it's a thing.
Speaker 1:And then I got worried like oh, I didn't know. I literally didn't know that until like a year ago, I thought it was just your screen name, so I had no idea. And then by that time I had been using this for so many years and then I had also evolved into this weird thing where, like, I sort of also had an online brand and I was so worried like, oh my God, am I accidentally like copying a thing that I didn't realize was a thing Like, oh no, yeah, I don't know. It's like I'm going to start an online bookstore called brazilcom or something Like. Wait, there's already like a South American themed online thing, whatever. I didn't know, I didn't know.
Speaker 1:And fortunately I don't think it's a problem, because I don't do any like. That is, as Dave points out, it the only place that I use that name is on, uh, the website URL and that's it, and that's because I think it's funny. And it's in my emails, because I have email email addresses at that domain and it makes people laugh every time I give them my email and it makes people laugh every time I give them my email and it makes me laugh every time and that has been worth it for all these years. But I don't. It's not like my brand. I don't sell anything under it or conduct any business under it. So I don't think there's any issues there, but I was like, wow, what from just something that like made me giggle back in 2009 to like a thing that now Dave is confused about, now in 2025. I think that's really funny. Um, that's, that's kind of the story behind that. And then the little semi like other goofy little quantum surprise with that is that it is sort of funny because of the three people in Blink-182, one of the other ones is named Tom, and so I kind of wonder sometimes how many people have come to my website over the years because they find Mark's and like, hi, my name is markcom. And then they go like, oh, maybe every member of the band has their own website like this, and they go to hi, my name is tomcom and it's just me. It's not, it is not anyone from Linguine 82. And I, but, but then it's me who's like also a fan of Linguine 82. So like, is it a fan of Blink-182.? So like, is it a fan site? I don't know, it's just a thing that happened. So anyway, dave, thank you for letting me tell that story. I apologize for the confusion. Hopefully it makes sense now and things aren't as kooky now.
Speaker 1:Now we have a few other messages, but these are interesting ones that I've never been able to do on the podcast before, because it's a feature that was released after I finished the last season and this is called Fan Mail, which is actually a feature specific to Buzzsprout. So this is really really cool. This is something Buzzsprout added, which is my podcast host. Basically, now, at the top of every description of every episode audio episode there's a thing that says send a text message to the show, and if you tap on that, you can just send a message that goes directly to the show, basically like a text message. It is not two-way communication, so there's no replies or anything like that. You can keep it totally anonymous if you want. You can include your name if you want, but it's really cool because then I just get a message that says like hey, new fan mail, and then it pops up here. It is super cool If your podcast is hosted with Buzzsprout.
Speaker 1:I know it sounds like an ad, it does not, but if your podcast is hosted with Buzzsprout, you can enable fan mail and it's a very cool way for people to engage with your show, especially now that I have a video version on YouTube. It opens up the opportunity to just do YouTube comments, which is a really cool way that I haven't been able to have people interact with the show ever. But if you're doing audio only, this is kind of a way to do something similar. So I have several fan mail messages that popped up. Uh, the first one says hey, tom, I'm a teacher full time and I'm also lucky enough to be the entertainer in residence at the world famous sip and dip lounge in great falls, montana. That sounds fit. That goes top line on the resume.
Speaker 1:I just discovered your work and feel like you've been speaking directly to me. Although not the techie you are, I love all things road. I'm looking to start my broadcasting life through YouTube podcasts and live streams. I'm on the lookout for your coaching slots, because if anyone were to understand the struggle of being a teacher while trying to nurture outside dreams, well, sounds like you. All that to say thank you for your work. I to say thank you for your work. I love it. I really, really appreciate this message. There's not really a question here, it's just. It's just a kind message, that again going back to what I talked about earlier, like when you, when you're in the world of content creation, it's very tough to know if you're on the right track or or not, and being able to talk to people like this and get messages like this play such a big part in helping me to feel like I am on the right track, regardless of what any numbers might say or analytics or whatever. Like this is like okay, yeah, I'm doing the right thing. I do occasionally have consultation slots open. My schedule is just so weird that it's hard to reliably throw those in there, so unfortunately I don't do it as often or consistently as I was able to in the past. But that is a thing, and you can always feel free to message the podcast as well.
Speaker 1:Next fan mail says hey, tom, oh, this is this one Blew my mind to read, and it's it's on a. In a similar vein, I guess. It says Hi, tom, I'm not sure if you know this, but you've become a symbol of hope for many of us. There are many teachers that are trying YouTube or technically anything to transition out of education, and while I enjoy my job 3D printing at a middle school, I'm in. We reference you as a template and a goal for our financial futures. Thank you for being our symbol, adrian, this blows my mind. I feel like I know you, adrian, but I didn't want to make that super clear. But this is crazy because this is something that I kind of talked about way back when I was leaving my job as a teacher, and I think I even covered it in like the secret series episodes which kind of cover that whole transition Basically, when I gave my notice that I was leaving and there was still like a month or two before I actually left.
Speaker 1:What was crazy to me was every person I talked to, every teacher, every administrator, every person I talked to, from my school site, other school sites, district, other districts, like whatever every person said. I wish I could leave too. Keeping in mind this was early 2021. Teaching is always a difficult job. A year into a pandemic, a lot of people teaching online, remotely, trying to, you know, go back in person with you know, questionable safety practices A lot of people. It was a very, very rough time. That's why I left at that time, like it was that bad. But it was shocking to me that every person had the same thing of like I wish I could do that. I wish I could leave, whether it was YouTube or something else. And what it made me realize, you know, the reason I had to leave when I did was because I had the YouTube channel and the teaching job, pandemic aside.
Speaker 1:At that point it was like two full-time jobs it was. They were taking, I mean, more way more than 40 hours a week for each of them, and that just wasn't sustainable. And so it was like, okay, I need to give up one of these things. Do I give up my YouTube channel and stick with the stable career, or do I give up the stable career and go all in on the YouTube channel, which is crazy, the YouTube channel being, you know, I've talked about this before, but an investment in myself, like that's not up to somebody else who could just decide to eliminate a program, eliminate a position, move something around, whatever. That's me, like, it's all me. Investing in yourself is always the thing I recommend over investing in something that somebody else is in charge of.
Speaker 1:And then I lost my train of thought. But I guess I could edit that out, but I'm not going to because I'm such a pro. The thing was just like it was kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity. I wasn't going to get that chance again. It might not be as ideal as what I currently had, but teaching positions are things that, like you know, there's a teacher shortage. I feel like that's something that could potentially be a thing that I come back to, whereas that was sort of like if I want to make this leap, this is the time to do it, and if I don't, I'm definitely going to regret it.
Speaker 1:What I didn't realize, though, was, up until that point, there was you know that that pressure breaking point of like I can't sustain this anymore, but up until then, as the channel was growing, that was obviously not why I started the channel in the first place. I started just to have a YouTube channel. I just want to make stuff, I just want to share stuff. You know all that, and as the channel grew, I didn't realize I was making a lifeboat. When I was building the channel, I had no idea that was not the intent, not the purpose, not the strategy by any means, and the way everybody talked to me and the way Adrian's talking in this message, it really shows the importance of having something.
Speaker 1:I don't necessarily want to say like everyone needs a side hustle, but like building something that is your chance to invest in you and you alone, I think is really important and really valuable, because it could potentially be your lifeboat career wise career wise one day you never know. But also, at the same time, it could just be your. You know your connection to sanity. It could be the thing that you get to be in charge of and and your outlet, when other places, like maybe your job, your career, really feel stifling and aren't your outlet and stuff like that. So, um, this, this is awesome and it is something like I, I, I know I don't have like consultation slots or stuff or whatever, but whether it's through comments on here, messages, emails, whatever, I uh, I'm always interested in talking about this stuff because I think it's really important and I know, I know that feeling of being trapped and people who feel like they're trapped and you're just like, well, I guess I can just do 20 more years of this, right, like just 20 more years of my life, the best years of my life. I'll just throw those away to a thing I don't want to do. That's not great. So if there's something I can do, even if it's just like proof that it might be possible, I'm happy to do that and that means a lot.
Speaker 1:Our last fan mail message is from Julie and Julie says hey, tom, it's Julie Gayhart, longtime listener and YouTube subscriber. Totally understand YouTube subscriber, totally understand what you're going through with podcasting. I just hit my five year anniversary of my podcast Congratulations and I feel like I'm all talked out. It's about hiking long distance trails and I've covered everything I can think of, including going live for the show using Ecamm. Of course, I love behind the scenes type podcasts and I really enjoyed hearing about your leaving education and becoming a full time YouTuber. What a theme right between these messages. I know you've shared a lot with Heather over the couples table, but maybe a season of how things have gone since leaving education good, bad ugly, leading up to your most recent win with road. Congrats, by the way, happy holidays and thanks for all you do for all the creators out there. Such great content. Thank you, julie. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I hope that everything you mentioned here is something that I can now include in the podcast in future segments, future episodes, all that stuff and hearing like knowing that you're interested in it makes me feel better about. Like you know, sometimes is this something that's interesting? Is this self-indulgent? Is it whatever it's like okay, no, I know, you know Julie will benefit from this. As long as I know there's like the one person at least that will benefit from this, then there's probably others. Right, it's one person has a question, other people probably have that question. So if one person might find that interesting, hopefully other people find that interesting as well. So that is the end of our fan mail. I should bring us to the end of the episode. That was fun. I like that a lot.
Speaker 1:If you want to leave a message for the show a bunch of ways to do that and you can do whatever you'd like. You can click the leave a text for the show, send a message to the show, fan mail thing. If you're listening on the audio version, that's right in the top line of the description. You can always send emails to Tom at enthusiasmprojectcom. You can always leave a speak pipe message at hi, my name is Tomcom and now that this is on YouTube, you can also just leave a YouTube comment and I'll do my best to reply to those and incorporate them into future episodes If it makes sense.
Speaker 1:You do not have to wait to a Q and a episode. I love Q and a episodes, so that's definitely something that we're going to be sticking to in the new format, but you do not have to wait. So I'm like, okay, it's a Q and a episode. Now you can send your questions. Like, if you've got comments, you've got questions, go for it.
Speaker 1:I was tempted actually to kind of like batch record several episodes so I could really feel like I hit the ground running. But I don't want to do that because I want this episode to come out so people can reply to it and then the next episode I can. If there are messages, I can do that. If there are no messages, then maybe I can batch record, but I want to make sure I can include, make it the dialogue and the back and forth as much as possible. So, really appreciate you. Here's the thing I really appreciate.
Speaker 1:One of the most common questions anytime I did anything like Couples Table Podcasts, my own live streams, whatever was. When is the Enthusiasm Project coming back? And that blew my mind that people missed it and cared about it and wanted it to come back, and that definitely was a reason of me. You know, I had the question of like, maybe I'm done, maybe it doesn't need to come back. I did 12 seasons like over five years five and a half years, maybe that's enough.
Speaker 1:The fact that you know people, it actually meant something to people and people enjoyed it really made me wanna make sure that I could keep it going and find a way to do that. So I really appreciate that and just all the support over all the years for both YouTube podcasts anything. It does mean the world to me and I hope you enjoyed this. Definitely. Let me know what you think of the new format. Even if you're just listening in audio, like how's that If you're watching the video, how's that? Let me know, I appreciate it. I hope you have a safe, happy, healthy, fun rest of your day, rest of your week and I'll see you next time or you'll see me next time because this is video. Right, it's video, take care.
