The Enthusiasm Project
The Enthusiasm Project
Bye Bye Bias
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What does it mean to be biased as a content creator? Should objectivity be the ultimate goal or is it ok to have personal preferences and biases?
🎙This week's mic:
•Earthworks ETHOS
https://geni.us/qBxUJ (Amazon)
⚙️ Gear of the Week:
•Mackie CR3.5 Monitors
https://geni.us/flCI1 (Amazon)
*White version is a Guitar Center exclusive
⏱️ Chapter Markers
0:00 - Intro
4:535 - Mic of the Week
9:00 - Updates on Last Episode
23:19 - Bye Bye Bias
46:46 - Channel Check In
1:08:58 - Gear of the Week: Mackie CR3.5 Monitors
1:13:17 - Listener Messages
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——————————— CONNECT ———————————
Electronic Mail: tom@enthusiasmproject.com
Main Site: https://himynameistom.com
Social Medias: @sodarntom
——————————— PODCAST GEAR ———————————
•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)
S13E04 | Series Episode 178
Podcast Artwork by Kevin Ramirez
Original theme music written by Patrick Boberg and performed by Mike Alvarez
Enthusiasm Project
Speaker 1Thank you , hello and welcome . My name is Tom . This is the Enthusiasm Project , season 13 , episode 4 . And what I've got in store for you is an episode . It's a podcast , for sure . Thanks for being here . Good to see you , figuratively , since I am not spying on you in this moment , or am I ? Yeah , no , thank you for being here .
Speaker 1I took a break last week and I did kind of want to talk about that just because I think it might be helpful , as I'm figuring out this video podcast workflow and I know other people are trying to do the same thing and I think that you know , figuring it out might be helpful for other people . So last week was just super , super busy . Tons of different things , different products like all kinds of stuff , all the things happening . And you know , it's like , obviously I want to record the podcast , want to do that . We're getting kind of down to the end of the week . I haven't had time to outline it , haven't had time to plan it , so I'm thinking , okay , I can do it over the weekend , but I'm just kind of exhausted and so I just thought , instead of doing that , I'll just not . I'll just not do it , I'll just take a break because something I've been trying to do lately . Not that this is a hard and fast rule , and it's definitely a gray area , because that's something that happens when your like hobby and your interest becomes your job is what is work and what is play , like I don't know . But something that really really kind of was is something I've been trying to work on , is not like producing stuff on the weekends just because if I do that as actually like sitting down and producing a full on video for like a main channel video kind of thing , trying to save that for the weekdays and have a bit of a break Again , you know , if I have some like idea that I'm just super excited about that , I don't want to wait till Monday or something . You know , I will break that rule from time to time . It's something I've been trying to do and I decided last week well , you know what , why don't you continue to do that ? It's going to be better in the long run for everybody . Continue to , like you know , give yourself time to rest and recover , and then let's do an episode next week .
Speaker 1And a thing when I was doing the audio only version of this show is it was a lot easier to sort of like squeeze that in unplanned , you know , not just on a weekend , but even on a weekday , in between things or at the end of the day or whatever . And the thing about the video podcast even though I feel like I've narrowed down the workflow about , as you know , as streamlined as it can possibly be and I'm quite happy with it it still requires what it it really requires is a lot of planning . There's way way more planning and prep that goes into this version than the audio version , and which I'm totally fine with . I think that's great because it makes the show better overall , but it takes obviously more time . And then there is more work afterwards , since it's not just an audio file but there's a video file you're uploading to multiple places , there's thumbnail , there's all the YouTube stuff . So the workflow , even in its most streamlined state , is still more and still bigger than the audio-only version . And so what that means is , in situations like last week , where time is just a very finite resource , it's just one of those things that had had to not be , not be done . So hopefully understand that , but I thought that it was interesting to share . So it's not just like I didn't feel like it , I didn't want to , but kind of the reasoning behind that , especially if you're somebody who's producing your own show , whether it's audio and video only , or especially for someone like me who is , you know , maybe switching from audio to video and you're still sort of figuring out that workflow .
Speaker 1So , anyway , that was sort of what happened last week and what's been going on , and before we go any further , I would like to talk about our mic of the week . So the microphone I'm using this week again , if you don't remember , my plan if I can execute this and find a way to execute this is to use a different microphone on every episode . That is very easy because that's something I do anyway . So all 10 episodes of this season will have 10 different microphones and then at the end , in the season finale episode or somehow afterwards , I'll play clips from all of them and you can tell me which one you like the best . I don't know , it's just for fun .
Speaker 1So this one right now , kind of like I just mentioned , just showed this is the Earthworks Ethos and it's running through the Rodecaster Duo , just on the generic condenser setting , if I turn that off . This is the microphone's default sound Very flat , very neutral , not unlike the SM7B , even though this is a condenser mic and not a dynamic mic like the SM7B . So that's kind of a good place . That the Ethos fits in is if you're somebody who you really like the SM7B but you would prefer what happened Something sounds strange over there . If you like the SM7B but you would prefer a what is going on ? Sorry , something weird is happening here . I'm going to pause that for a sec . Okay , I think we're back .
Speaker 1So I was getting some weird sounds after I turned off the processing and on the processing and I realized I just installed a new beta firmware into my Rodecaster yesterday and clearly it does not like it if you turn processing on or off . I don't know if that was just in my headphones or you heard it , but the mic was suddenly cutting to like a weird like . All the mids were gone and then they were back and then they were gone . They were back . I don't know . I just reset the processing . Everything sounds normal . Now I'm not going to turn that on and off again on stream , because I learned my lesson . I forgot I was running beta firmware and I'm also in . I'm using the Rodecaster video for my video and I also installed beta firmware in that yesterday . So you beta believe there could be issues , although I'm not doing anything crazy with that , so I don't think that's going to cause any problems .
Speaker 1As I was saying , the thing about the ethos is , if you like the SM7B but you want a condenser microphone , for whatever reason , you prefer condenser microphones . They work better with your interface , better with your mixer , because they require less gain and all that kind of stuff . This could be a really , really good option . I love this is just one of my all-time favorite microphones . I love it so much . The only thing that's a bummer for me personally is the windscreens are very specific size that come with it and I can't get any of my colorful reporter store windscreens on here . Sometimes you can like drape an SM7B windscreen , but it's a little too big . That's a . You know that's nitpicky . These things are just . They're so well made , they're so nice .
Speaker 1When this microphone was originally released several years ago , it had an MSRP of like $750 or something like that $700 , $800 , something like that and then , after I don't know a year and a half , two years , they cut it down to $399 . So it's at the exact same price point as the SM7B , which really seemed to be pretty clear what they were targeting with this and I love this mic . Like I said , it's an end address condenser microphone , something we're going to be re-talking about later in this episode , but it's great . The thing I love about this microphone and this is maybe just my opinion or it could be unique just with my voice in this environment , whatever is that this is the least fatiguing microphone I think I own pretty much . So in terms of like , tons of mics can sound good , tons of mics sound good for five minutes , 10 minutes , 20 minutes . When you're talking about something , that's one , one and a half , two hours or more , this is the microphone that I feel like is the least fatiguing . Like you just don't your ears don't get tired , it doesn't get uncomfortable to listen to Not that all my other microphones do , but certain things you know , like certain microphones that are maybe a little more harsh sounding or a little too bassy or whatever it might be , just naturally they can really start to fatigue your ears after a while , and this one just sounds smooth and just . It's just . It's a very good mic . I've noticed them becoming more and more popular , which makes me really happy , and I really hope that they continue to be popular because I feel like it's . I feel like it's a really good one . So the Earthworks ecosystem includes the Earthworks ethos and that's the microphone that I'm using right now .
Speaker 1Now , before we dive into the main topic for today , there is something I want to go back into last week's episode a little bit . Last week's topic , or I guess not last week there wasn't an episode last week , but the previous episode where I talked about the cons of being a pro , and there's a few things that I just wanted to sort of address that popped up in comments and popped up in discussion and messages and stuff . So things that I want to like expand on and also things that I want to clarify . Something that was really cool about that topic is that it seemed like it resonated with people , which made me feel good , because I was a little bit nervous about sharing
Professionalism and Realistic Expectations
Speaker 1it .
Speaker 1It felt like I could verge on being maybe a little bit too critical and I didn't want things to be taken out of context . And you know , it's one of those things like I have this feeling and I have this thought , but am I just , you know , a crazy person over here on an island by myself and nobody else has any idea what I'm talking about . Fortunately , that wasn't the case . Lots of other people sent me messages . They felt the same , both from the creator and the consumer side of things . So I had other creators let me know that they felt like , yes , I've also dealt with this . You know , I share a video on something and someone comes in and tells me how long they've worked in X industry and that they you know all the reasons I'm wrong for what I'm doing .
Speaker 1And then people all on the consumer side of things also saying like , yeah , you know , I feel like when I have a question I don't understand something I'm either talked down to or the explanation I get is way too complicated for me to understand . I just feel kind of dumb because I don't understand it . So it seemed to resonate both for me to understand . I just feel kind of dumb because I don't understand it . So it seemed to resonate both , you know , with creators and consumers as well , and that's really cool . But the thing I really did want to clarify because it was if you didn't listen to that episode what I sort of talked about was people who are professionals in industries finding content like the content I make , you know , which is often geared towards either beginners or prosumers , consumers , prosumers so that's where a lot of it's focused and sort of looking at that with that industry standard , industry professional eye and being hypercritical in a way that maybe is like uncalled for or not even called for , but also just unhelpful and sometimes just inappropriate .
Speaker 1You know like why I I'm working on a video or I wrapped up a video about , I think I told you last time , the mystery mic Someone sent like a no name wireless mic from Amazon . It's it's almost like a copy of the Hollyland Lark and it's just a no name brand . So I did like a video of like what is this mic and how does it sound ? And that's the kind of thing like obviously that's not geared towards professional use . Right , like a microphone , like that is not at all geared towards professional use . But that's the kind of thing I'll make a video on and have people say like oh , you could never use this for like real , you know projects or whatever it's like you shouldn't . That's not what it's for . It is a $30 to $40 wireless microphone .
Speaker 1Keep expectations in line with that . And if you look at it , if you look at it with those expectations , with realistic expectations , then it actually is quite good . So something , though , that I wanted to clarify that was kind of the gist of the episode last week , but something that I wanted to make sure was still clear is that professionals are good , and I have a lot of respect and admiration for professionals in every field . Like that's to the the experience , the knowledge , the skillset to become a professional at something is is really good , and I'm not in any way saying I'm not . I don't want to be like the anti-professional person . I would like to be professional at what I do . I would like to , you know , be considered a professional content creator . But I actually had a revelation , believe it or not , at a hockey game last week , where I was thinking about this , and that's why I wanted to add this addendum here .
Speaker 1So our local hockey team is an AHL team , an American Hockey League team , and that's one level below the NHL . So the NHL is , you know , the main hockey league . I know it's the National Hockey League , so it's North America well , canada and US , but it's the main . It's the biggest hockey league in the world . Right below that is the AHL . Every NHL team has an AHL affiliate team that feeds into them , so it's supposed to be like a development team . That's where they can draft players into , they can build up their skill sets , move them into the NHL team . If someone in the main team gets injured , they can pull people up , all that kind of stuff . So it's a pretty cool system . Our NHL team is the Seattle Kraken and then our AHL team are the Firebirdsbirds and they go back and forth .
Speaker 1The Kraken did a strange , they've done a few strange things , so we don't need to turn this into a sports podcast . It's been a crazy week Prior to this week . They're not having the best season , but there's a player they had . It's only their fourth season . So the Kraken is the newest NHL team . It's only their fourth season .
Speaker 1There was a player there for their first two seasons who was , you know , like a good or great player , like not like a superstar or anything , but like a very solid NHL player , did lots of good stuff , scored lots of things , helped the team establish . And I don't know if he was traded away or they just didn't renew his contract or whatever going into the third season , but he went somewhere else . Okay , that's fine . This season , the fourth season in the middle of the season they did this trade and got him back , which I thought was interesting . I was like I didn't really know . I'm relatively new to following sports this closely . I didn't know players could leave a team and come back to that same team . Seems like it could potentially be awkward , but maybe it's like cool . Yeah , we realized we had this person who was really good and we gave him away and we want them back , and they traded for a couple other people and then they did something .
Speaker 1This was the strange part is the person they traded the person who left and came back had been in the nhl like only the nhl since 2017 , 2016 , something like that , so for a long time . And you know , because sometimes players will be in the AHL , they go up to the NHL , they go , they kind of go back and forth and then there's the players who are only in one or only in the other . It's just kind of the way their careers work out . He's been an NHL player for many , many seasons , many years now , and they took him and they put , they assigned him to the AHL team , even though , like , there didn't really seem to be a reason other than that they seem to prefer some of the other players that they traded for and which is whatever . It's a little . It's a little strange . You go out of your way to bring someone back and then like kind of get rid of it , because assigning them down to the AHL the way they did is is basically like you're going to stay there for the rest of the and then we're not going to renew your contract is kind of the message . Obviously , he's probably not too happy about that , even though it's strange , because it's like the AHL team , that's our team , that's the team we root for , the team we cheer for , the team we're excited about . But I understand that players you know most players aspirations are to go to that highest level and if you've been at that level and you come back to the to the second highest level , you know you're gonna feel a way .
Speaker 1And it's been interesting because he did a press conference like after the . Well , so first he he got sent down , they played a game and he immediately like scored two goals and like got some , got multiple assistance . That was just like like even with the really good players because a lot of AHL players have NHL experience like they're all incredibly good athletes , incredibly good hockey players he was just performing in a way that like didn't look like anybody else on the ice , it was just so . It reminded me of like when one of like the coaches or something drops into like one of the learn to play classes that I take , where it's like , oh , you can just control the game . It was kind of like that feeling .
Speaker 1And then in the press conference afterwards he was like yeah , my goal is to prove that I don't belong here . And he was like it's been , you know , like the fan reception has been nice . I appreciate that I don't think I belong here and I want to be back in the NHL and I like that honesty of like , yeah , this is , it's a public demotion in a way , and it seems pretty unfair and it's cool that you are okay admitting that . But what he also said was he was like this team has a lot of young people on it . I remember what it was like to be a young player . So while I'm here , I want to be a good role model , a good mentor for them , and I thought that was pretty cool . But you know , it also sounds like just a nice thing to say . Maybe I should have just said something that sounds a little angry .
Speaker 1But then in several games , since , especially because we get to go , you know we have season tickets so we go and watch the players and our seats kind of face the player benches so you can see them , and I just like keep watching him because I keep wondering how this person , how do you do your job in this situation ? And I've noticed like when they're on the bench , a lot of players are sitting watching the game . He constantly has , like they have , an iPad that I think you can , you know , review plays and do all that kind of stuff , and he's constantly has that with somebody else . So it's usually one of the younger players . A lot of players who are drafted to the AHL are really young , so , like you know , 19 , 20 years old they haven't gotten to the NHL yet or whatever and he's like constantly reviewing things with them , talking about . I've just sort of seen like and he'll kind of go person by person and do that and you can sort of see . You can see that he has leveled up the performance of the whole team , which I think is very fascinating . And I've seen multiple times where he will sit with a younger player . They'll be reviewing something on the iPad on the bench . That player will get off the bench , go on the ice and then immediately like get a goal or assist in a goal , and it's like I don't know what you guys are talking about , but clearly , like in terms of mentoring and being a good role model , you're doing
True Professional Behavior
Speaker 1it .
Speaker 1At the game a couple days ago that I was at , I was watching him there . There was like kind of trying to set up this play and I could really see he was like trying to get in position and trying to make this one shot like several times and they kept setting up until eventually it did happen . But I could see like he was not in any way giving less than 100% , like you could tell he was putting everything he had into this , even though it's a you know , a mid season minor league hockey game . Right , and you're you're a spurned major league hockey player Like you had every reason to maybe not give it your all and your contracts the same . You're gonna pay the same either way . So it's like you could just kind of coast in the minor leagues , get your same paycheck and then leave to another team next season .
Speaker 1But he wasn't doing that and the thought that popped into my head was I saw that I literally just without even thinking of it , thought like wow , what a professional . And because that's you know that is an uncomfortable situation , a tough situation , not to mention just the logistics of like you randomly had to move and meet a whole bunch of new people and then you know play , you know play , you know perform with them publicly Like it's not , probably not an easy thing to do . And this is the thought of like wow , what a professional . And then I was like , wait , that's a good , that , like what ? What makes me appreciate that more than you know ? The , the , like the professionals who sometimes show up in the comments section .
Speaker 1And I realized that there is a difference . And the biggest difference is being professional versus proclaiming yourself a professional , and I think it's kind of that thing . Like a leader doesn't have to say they're a leader , right ? Like if you have to tell people that you're in charge and you're the leader , you're probably not a great leader and you Maybe you aren't actually the person in charge . So being professional , being the person that has the skill set , has the experience and implements those and utilizes those and stuff , that's a thing you can do without having to label yourself anything , and that is very different than proclaiming yourself a professional , which is the person who will show up in the YouTube comments of a video about a thing that's clearly not geared for you and then have to list out your entire resume and why that person is wrong , why that thing's a piece of junk , why anyone who uses it doesn't understand what they're doing . And that's , you know , there can be two sides . You can have someone who is a professional who does that , but that's , to me , that knocks down your professional credibility a little bit . So I think there's a huge difference and to me that was very illuminating to kind of have that thought the difference between being a professional and proclaiming yourself a professional . And I think part of that is , you know , recognizing and remembering that , and we're going to talk about this actually a little bit later today in the listener messages section .
Speaker 1But you know , professionals obviously are huge resources of knowledge and resources of skills , right , like , if you go , if you need a medical procedure , you want a professional doctor . You don't want someone who has , like you know , a hobby interest in medicine . Like you want a professional doctor if you need to hire a plumber to fix a huge leak in your house , you want a professional with that skill set . The difference is , you know I guess that's sort of the difference Like , let's , let's use the plumbing example Say you have a leak in your house , you need to . You try to fix it . It doesn't work . You call the plumber and they come in and say , okay , this is what it is , this is the problem is so much it's going to cost . Here we go , boom , they fix it , they do a great job and they leave . That's very different than them coming in and going like , oh , did you install this faucet ? This is from Home Depot . Or did you try to get something on sale ? See , this is the right way . Here , here's your , you know , inflated bill . That's like you could still be , you could have that professional skill set , but that's not really professional , that's not actually professional behavior . And yeah .
Speaker 1So I think like when someone is a true professional , they know how to either use their skill set . They know how to just utilize their skill set and their knowledge and the resource and experience in a professional way . And when it comes to sharing it , relaying it with others , they know how to do it either with a light touch or , you know , when asked and how to do it humbly when asked . It's not the thing of like , hey , you're a pro at this , I need , I need help with it . How do you do blah , blah , blah and then just overload someone with jargon so it sounds like the retro encabulator video , like just complete , you know , insanity that makes no sense , that nobody can understand , and then you kind of look down on them for not understanding very specific lingo . You know how to relate to them , how to help them , how to share your knowledge with them , share your skills with them , and then that kind of betters and empowers everybody . That is what I think is the mark of a true professional .
Speaker 1So , getting into today's topic , which I am so proud of , this title , bye-bye bias . Getting opinions in sync , which I don't know if that makes sense , I just yeah , anyway , if you remember , in sync , that would make sense . And that makes sense . I just yeah , anyway , if you remember , in sync , that would make sense . And I still think that's very , very clever .
Navigating Bias and Subjectivity on YouTube
Speaker 1So something I wanted to talk about today is something that pops up a lot for me in the world of being a content creator , especially someone who focuses a lot on gear and products and stuff like that , and I feel like lots of other people can relate , but it also pops up kind of anywhere online a lot , and that is the idea . That is the the concept of bias and how that plays into what you do and how you do it . This is something . Having a bias and not being objective is something I get accused of regularly and we'll talk about . We'll talk about that Because I think that's I think it's a very interesting thing to explore and something that maybe a lot of assumptions are made by a lot of people about a lot of people and a lot of times it's not necessarily super accurate . So we're going to talk about what bias is and the thing that this is something .
Speaker 1So I'm going to share a YouTube comment and I do want to be clear that when I share YouTube comments here , it's not like you got one negative comment and needed to make a podcast episode about it . I got a comment the other day . That is the type of comment I get very often , and so it was like , okay , let me you know . Let me unpack this . I think this is a worthwhile discussion and I like using YouTube comments because they are posted publicly If someone sends me a direct message or an email , even if I block out their name or whatever . Obviously that wasn't sent . That wasn't sent to be public , that was sent privately . So I just sort of feel like YouTube comments are an easy thing to share because they are posted publicly , voluntarily , by the person that did them . So this popped up in my in my feed the other day .
Speaker 1This was on a video about the Zoom PodTrack P4 recorder . So it's a little portable podcast recorder and it says keep in mind , he's road biased , yet it was hard for him to knock something a third of the price with a better mic and headphone preamps , everything that's an issue is not really . Keep in mind , you can connect the device to a PC and then I'd assume you're doing some real neat stuff . If you're next to a PC , just plug this baby , set it up and you're good to go . The pod is about what goes on , the convo , not the casters being used . Some of the best podcasts out there had no good gear at all to start , so this is sort of that is all one sentence . This is overwhelming , kind of like a positive , kind of like an upbeat message , which is the gear doesn't matter , you can , you don't need the best gear .
Speaker 1This video I was comparing the Podtrak P4 with the original Rodecaster Pro , because that was what was out at the time . The P4 has an MSRP of like usually under $200 , sometimes like 160 , 170 . The Rodecaster , the original one , you know $600 , $ know 600 , 700 , and the roadcaster pro 2 a little more expensive than that . Um , and his thing here is is basically what he's saying is , at least at the start is he's saying that this guy is biased . He can't recognize that the zoom is better because it's so much cheaper . It has better preamps . The zoom is not better than even the original roadcaster . It is not like that's not a bias thing , that's just a fact . It's also like he was saying a third the price , so I would not expect it to be better . And that was kind of the point of the video .
Speaker 1Wasn't me making fun of this recorder ? Is me saying this thing's awesome ? And if you need a small portable podcast recorder , even to this day that's still like one of the best options out there . It's way easier to put that in a bag and do portable podcasting than it is to . You know , try to pack up a Rodecaster , a full on Rodecaster and stuff . So tons of advantages to it . It's a great deal for the price , a huge value for the price . And those are all advantages . It does not have the EQ . It does not have the eq , it does not have the processing , it does not have the overall quality , it does not have the interface like . It also has a lot of things that come up short even with the original roadcaster , much less than you know the roadcaster pro 2 or the duo or anything like that , but those are significantly more expensive and that's kind of how the video is framed . It's like if , if you just need a podcast recorder , podcast mixer , and you have you know you have the budget or budget's not an issue get a Rodecaster because it's going to give you the best results . If you are on a budget or you need something portable , you know you need kind of the most bang for your buck . The P4 is absolutely a good choice and that's kind of where I was going with this .
Speaker 1Now , this is the kind of comment too where , like the rest of it is is kind of cool , where it's like I like that . He's like you know , if you this plugs into a computer , if you're doing computer , you're probably doing cool stuff . Like let your show go where it go . Like I actually liked the message of this , um , but it's the road bias thing where it's like he's accusing me of being biased in favor of road , not recognizing that what he's really upset about in that first thing is that my bias doesn't align with his bias , which obviously he's biased towards the Zoom recorder . If I had said the Zoom recorder is great , get that over the roadcaster anytime . This comment wouldn't say keep in mind he's road biased , but he's still recommending this . He wouldn't mention the road bias . It's only because I disagree that like , oh , you're biased , it's like that . Like you know , it's rigged against me because I disagree with you but I also want to go on . But the reason that I really want to kind of like touch on this and why I think this is this is just a good example . I like this because it's a relatively polite comment , but it still brings up the idea of a bias , which gets brought up anytime .
Speaker 1I talk about anything , it doesn't matter . Especially it happens a lot with Rode , because I'm talking a lot about Rode stuff and I'm a big fan of Rode , but pretty much anything Sony cameras , apple computers , elgato stuff , you know , whatever you're biased , you're biased . You're biased which I would like to talk about . What does it mean to be biased , and is it a bad thing ? Do you need to not be biased ? So , literally copy and paste the definition from the dictionary of bias is prejudice in favor of or against one thing , person or group compared with another , usually in a way to be considered unfair . So the unfair part I mean I guess I could play into it , that's the part that would make a bias negative is the fact that it's unfair . So the unfair part I mean I guess I could play into it , that's the part that would make a bias negative is the fact that it's unfair .
Speaker 1But a lot of times , especially in the world of YouTube , when we're talking about , you know , oh , that creator's bias , that reviewer's bias I think what they're talking about is that person has preferences , and preferences are a thing that everybody has . So , whether you're talking about a preference or you're talking about a bias , everyone has lots of preferences , everyone has lots of biases . It's not always a bad thing . It's also called just having a personality and being a person . So what we really need to get into , then , is the idea of being objective versus subjective , and this is where I think there is a lot of . I think there are a lot of assumptions in the world of YouTube , I think and this it's hard to navigate because it's such a big , broad platform and there's a lot of everything on there . So objective versus subjective I think is more of like journalism versus opinion .
Speaker 1So if you go to something like the Consumer Reports YouTube channel and you watch , you know they review everything from cars to washing machines to computers and phones , like you know everything , you would kind of expect them to be objective . You would expect them to have a journalistic approach Like this is the thing , this is what it is , this is how we rank it . Okay , maybe this is how it compares to other things . You would expect them to have a journalistic approach like this is the thing , this is what it is , this is how we rank it . Okay , maybe this is how it compares to other things . You would maybe also expect them to have you know , if you're talking about one type of thing , maybe they also cover a lot of other things in that category . That is a more journalistic approach , ideally , right , you're objective , you're fair , you're looking at the whole scope .
Speaker 1Subjective is personal opinion . If you go to someone's channel and they say , hey , I just bought this new computer and I'm going to do a review on it . You're probably not going to get necessarily the most objective thing in the world because it's something the person already bought . So clearly they already had preferences . They already probably ruled out other things . They chose that for specific reasons . Even if there's things they don't necessarily like about it , they probably still would prefer the thing they chose to buy over other things . And you know , and there's the inherent thing of like , they want to feel good about the thing that they bought . So they might not want to tell other people like I bought this thing and it sucks .
Speaker 1I mean , sometimes that's why you make videos , right ? Is you just get really mad about wasting money on something ? But in that case the person also probably never claimed to be objective . They never claimed to be a journalist , they never claimed to take that approach . It's kind of just assumed . And especially in a world where you can go to something like a Consumer Reports channel where it's supposed to be objective journalism , and then the next thing up and you're recommended is just like person's personal review on a thing and as the viewer , if you're not being aware , if you're not being conscious and you know , critical of what you're watching and how you're watching it .
Speaker 1It's easy to just lump everything together and be like , oh well , a review should be objective . Not necessarily at all , and I think the key here for , especially for you know , creators or channels is to figure out what your approach is and and to just be be very clear about that approach . You know , are you somebody who does objective reviews ? Are you someone who does subject reviews ? I don't know that . I've ever claimed to be objective when it comes to reviews . I like things that I like and that's specifically why sometimes people say , hey , why don't you have a video on this ? Because I'm not interested in it .
Speaker 1If I were trying to be as objective as possible , I would review every microphone that comes out . I would review every camera lens , every streaming thing , every Elgato prompter competitor , every stream deck knockoff , every capture card , every , all the things . Every time one comes out , I would review it and then try to rank and review . I'm not interested in that . I'm interested in the , you know , the stuff that I find fun and interesting . So , right off the bat , like that's not objective . That's that's my approach , has never been an objective approach , but sometimes you know if , if that's what people are expecting , and then they see someone who has a preference .
Speaker 1Yeah , so the thing about objectivity is it does set a standard . So it's difficult to be objective in one case and subjective in another , unless you're very , very , very clear , like stating it , and I'm saying all this for anyone who also is a content creator . I think this is helpful for anyone who just consumes anything . You know you're watching YouTube , you're watching reviews , whatever kind of how they're . You know you can analyze how they are approached . But also if you're a creator yourself , you know you can you can analyze how they are approached . But also if you're a creator yourself , objectivity sets a standard . If you are known for being objective and then suddenly you throw in a subjective video that is going to throw people off and that's going to stand out in a weird way . So you know , being super clear about that's very important . Maybe that's every video like this is an objective review , or even this is a subjective review like this is all my opinion . I'm totally like I love this . I'm not even interested in competing products because I'm just really excited about this and you know , and that opens up whole other cans of worms , because obviously
Subjectivity, Bias, and Transparency in Reviews
Speaker 1on youtube .
Speaker 1You can only be subjective about something . You can only like something if the company pays you . You can't just like a thing because you happen to like a thing . No , no , no , that's impossible . Bigger thing , though , and especially for creators , you do not have to be objective . You do not have to be objective . All you need to be is transparent . So , if you have a preference , if you're not being objective , just let people know .
Speaker 1Hey , I'm reviewing the RODECaster Pro 2 . I freaking love this thing . It is my favorite . Okay , cool . Now I don't really expect you to recommend other products over it , but you can still tell me how other products compare . You can tell me what you like about it .
Speaker 1Maybe I just want to know more about that , you know , and those biases having preferences , having biases , I think , can actually be a really good thing , because that is what gives you a personality . It kind of goes back to that thing from several episodes ago where we talked about people sort of just reading spec sheets in reviews and it's like then every review is the same , like it , because it's just , you're just a different person reading the spec sheet versus somebody's actual insights , someone's opinion , someone's use cases , even if they're not necessarily covering every feature , every capability of something . And that is where having your biases , having your preferences , makes you stand out . Right , I have all these guitars back here . Right , I don't have a Gibson guitar on this wall .
Speaker 1I do not like Gibson guitars . It doesn't mean I would never okay , that's a perfect example actually . It doesn't mean I would never play a Gibson . Like there are beautiful Les Pauls out there , there's some super cool flying Vs , you know , give me like a Thunderbird bass . It's pretty sweet , but they're not my thing .
Speaker 1I really typically don't like the style , I don't like the feel , I don't like the price . Like there's just things that just aren't for me . When it comes to Gibson guitars , I love me some Fenders , though , and just the colors and the designs and the styles really love that . And there's people who are totally flipped , the people who would never want to touch a Fender and have a wall full of Gibsons . It's just personal preference and it's sometimes arbitrary and just super subjective , but like there's nothing wrong with that either . But like there's nothing wrong with that either . And sometimes , you know , if , say , someone runs , say someone runs a YouTube channel where they talk about Apple products a lot and they talk about the computers and the phones and tablets and all that stuff , and then suddenly they throw in a Windows laptop review or something it could be fun to see , like Apple user tries Windows or whatever , like okay , yeah , tell me what you think from that perspective . But if you're trying to suddenly like be this objective thing , like I don't need you to be that .
Speaker 1If you're someone who I know is enthusiastic about Apple products and something new just came out , I kind of want your opinion on it right , like I want to know the person who likes this stuff . Sometimes the people who like stuff are the people who are most critical about it , because they have the strongest opinions about it and they're the most familiar with it . So I just want to know your opinion as the enthusiast . I don't necessarily need you to then also tell me what an entirely different ecosystem of products does , because that's not what you need to do , unless that's something you really want to do . So , as long as you're transparent about that , as long as you let people know what you know , if you are trying to be objective , let people know that . If you're being subjective , let people know that . If you have your preferences , let people know that , and that doesn't have to be a serious disclaimer . At the start of the video , it can literally be like I love this thing , it's awesome , it's my favorite . I don't even care about , you know , competing products . That's definitely part of it and for me , this is something that plays into it . That does definitely make things very subjective is I have a very hard time in life separating the art from the artist . You know , look at Michael Jackson , right , I feel weird listening to his songs . You know I used to love the Cosby Show . Don't want to watch that anymore . Like House of Cards great show , a couple of seasons Not going to rewatch that one which is like I can't separate the art from the artist . And so there is a thing out there where , you know , bad companies can make good products . And when I say a bad company , maybe a company that you know , whatever they're unethical , they treat their employees poorly , they have bad manufacturing . They can make good products . And good companies that treat people well and do things nice and try to , you know , be the best they can be , can also make bad products . And something that I do take into and that can be a problem when you're reviewing products , right , because sometimes you want to look at here's product A , b and C and you just want to look at those in a vacuum . This would be the objective approach Look at those in a vacuum and go this is how A works , b works , c works . Okay , b seems to be the best , b seems to be the best of this group , and that would just be an objective . Look , you're not taking anything else into consideration . I can't do that . I always look at where things have been , where they're going , the stuff behind the scenes . When I see a company that cranks out a product that just seems to be a cheap knockoff of something another company already did and spent a lot of time researching and developing , I'm already not that interested in the product , even if it is just as good as the original and more affordable , because it's like you just knocked off what someone else already did and the person who did it first probably has a bit more passion about it . Even in this case , person I'm talking about , you know a huge company or something like that . So you know , road is a good example . Let's talk about the road bias Over the years .
Speaker 1Like I started using road products I don't know when I bought my first one 15 years ago , let's say , way before having YouTube channel I , you know , then I I had my own personal road products that I bought . I I stocked , you know , multiple digital media programs with road products and I didn't even realize I had a lot . It literally wasn't until I started my YouTube channel . I started reviewing stuff that I just had here's a microphone , here's a boom arm , here's whatever and I was like , oh , it just keeps being Rode things , because they were just kind of that intersection of like performance , quality , reliability . They're just good products .
Speaker 1Over the years I've gotten to know people from Rode and , you know , talk to them and they've obviously sent out gear and stuff like that and I have an appreciation for how they do things . I've been critical of them in the past for products and releases and approaches and all kinds of stuff . But the reason I'm critical for them is because I want them to succeed , because I like them so much and I also then acknowledge when I think they do things right and they get things back on track . And what I've learned from at least the people I've met on their team is they really care Like . They are passionate about , enthusiastic about the thing that they're making and the products they make and the way they design it and they genuinely care Like . I've just . I've seen the I've talked to people in high level positions at road about very small minute details in products and they're really like if they think there could potentially be an issue or something . They take it so seriously and because they really care , and so for me , even if sometimes things are imperfect or you know , here's a beta firmware update that has a bug in it or whatever , like , who cares , I like that's . To me that's totally fine , because I trust the people behind the scenes want to do the best they possibly can and really care , and to me that means a lot more than like , than the opposite I guess happening , and for me it's hard to it's hard to separate that and I can even go , you know , let's go in the other direction , let's go with .
Speaker 1Dji is a company that I have totally shifted my opinions on in the past few years where , you know , prior to doing YouTube or whatever , I just I was into drones . If you want a drone , you buy a DJI drone . Then , getting into YouTube , especially we'll say , from 2018 to 2021-ish , especially DJI , their products have always been great , like , I always have thought their products are great . It was really their marketing and their approach that irked me . It just felt like it was very everything , just everything , and everyone kind of looked a certain way . Uh , and there I had some behind the scenes uh accounts from other creators , other people , people that were , you know , maybe treated in ways that I didn't agree with and I just sort of stopped using DJI products . I never cover them on my channel , just sort of like put them out there .
Evolution of Bias and Transparency
Speaker 1Well , about a year ago someone from DJI reached out and was like hey , you know , we're interested in , you know , working with you on something to do with the mic to their wireless mic thing . And I , full on , like we had a video call and my whole thing was just a notes doc of like here's everything . Like if I have said this stuff on podcasts and I've said this in videos , I'm going to say this to you . The person from the company right now . And they went through point by point address and they were like you know , like we understand where it comes from this , this , that and the other thing . And they're like I think if you go and you kind of look at our approach for the past couple of years , just sort of see that we've shifted .
Speaker 1And I did , I went and I looked , I looked at their websites , their marketing campaigns , the creators they include in launches , how they approach product launches , and I genuinely saw they had shifted and they had changed things and things felt a little more open , a little less like a little less high pressure sales , a little more inclusive . They kind of like remedied a lot . That was bothering me . And talking to the person I was talking to and you know the people from the company I could see that they actually that really bothered them and they really cared about not not doing those things anymore and improving and being better and it was like , wow , okay . So then I ended up you know , yeah , sure , let's do something with the mic too , and now the mic too is like my favorite wireless thing because it's , you know , it's nice and that's cool , because now , like I said , dj products have always been great . Now I don't have a weird feeling Like when I pull out my drone to fly it or I want to use the mic too . I don't kind of have like a or the Osmo pocket three .
Speaker 1I can actually be excited about these because I feel like you know , at least by and large , the company behind them is trying to do good things and obviously we're talking about a huge corporation here , so there's probably good people in that corporation and bad people , just like anything , but in general it's like they moved into a positive direction . Now I feel better about the products . My preferences and my bias have changed and have leaned and have evolved over time and I think that's totally okay and that goes for you know , that goes for kind of anything , and I think that at least that's for me is that I can't . I have biases and preferences , not just for products , but a lot of it is tied to where I think something came from and why I think it exists . Is it just a money grab ? Is it because you know , like people are excited about it and or the people behind it actually care about the thing that they're making ? And that stuff is all just incredibly important to me and I think just going back that's why it's going back to this and just reminding you that they're just two different approaches If you want to be objective , if you want to be subjective . Not one isn't better than the other . They're just different and all that you need to do is be transparent about what you're doing .
Speaker 1But I do think the reason I really wanted to cover this was to sort of explain that , highlight that , because I feel like sometimes a lot of people especially when I get criticized for being biased it's people who come into any YouTube video , any YouTube review , and expect that this is an objective journalist piece . I'm not a journalist . I don't claim to be . I never said that I was objective . I never . You are putting assumptions and expectations on me that I never , that I never put in place , and obviously people are going to do that . I can't control that . But I think it's important to just recognize that , especially from the creator side of things and especially because that is a criticism that you might find yourself getting often . If you are somebody who has a strong preference for something and to know that you do not have to be objective , as long as you're transparent , you're open and honest about it , you don't have to do that . It's not a bad thing . It can also be just as helpful and just as relevant and just as important as being objective could be .
Speaker 1So let's move in , let's talk , let's do a little channel check-in . With all that in mind , let's let's . Let me share with you some things I've been working on what's happening . The song is lasting a lot longer than I expected it to , still working out some kinks here . So this is a part of the podcast where , you know , the main topic of the show is often very creator-based . It's like hey , this is , you know , something relevant to being a creator . This is more just like hey , this is what I've been working on . It's a little . It's a little less less depth maybe . So stuff that I've been working on . If you remember , last time I was talking about trying to do a switcher review with the YoloBox Pro . I have solved my YoloBox review . It is finished , it is scheduled , it is ready to go .
Speaker 1I have been doing reviews on video switchers . So obviously , the RODECaster video came out last fall and I've been , you know , doing videos on that . And then recently I did a video on the Feelworld L4 . I've also finished although it's not published yet , a video on the Ulanzi DDO2 . And those two switchers doing those videos kind of prepped me for this , because those are very simple switchers . The YoloBox is a much more complex device and I felt like , okay , I think I have that down in terms of like how to produce the video in a way that shows the capabilities of the device but isn't something that's going to take me six years to edit and to film . And a big thing when using switchers is it's very easy to . You know , think about it this way , I guess .
Speaker 1Camera lenses this is something I've noticed in the world of camera lenses is . You will watch a lot of camera lens reviews and you will see the person sitting in front of the camera holding the lens talking about the lens , showing B-roll of the lens , but you don't see things filmed with the lens . And so a good lens review will show the lens , like most of the review , will be shot through the lens and so a good lens review will show will show the lens , like most of the review , will be shot through the lens . Not all of it can be , because if you need to show the lens , you need to . You know you need to use a different lens to film the lens , kind of thing . So I get that , but most I feel like most of the lens review should be through that lens . Most of a microphone review you should be hearing the microphone that you're reviewing .
Speaker 1And if you're doing a video switcher , talking about what the video switcher can do is very different than having the video be created with the video switcher . So that's what I've been doing with all these switchers is I've been just recording the . I've been running , I've been setting up a multi-cam setup and basically producing the review on the fly with them . I of a multi-cam setup and basically producing the review on the fly with them . I don't want to add in fancy B-roll and cutout . I want to show you what you can do with these things and use them to actually make the review about them , so that every frame of the video is produced by the thing . That goes for all the switchers that I put together recently . So that's something I want to do with the YoloBox .
Speaker 1I thought I had it all set up , the thing that actually I learned a lot about the YoloBox , but I really like it was tricky because I had to redo it , because I made a mistake and I had to , and this was a . You want to talk about a company that has people behind it who really care about the thing that they're making . That is , yolobox , yololive . They they genuinely like , want this to be the best and they want , but they want you to have realistic expectations . And so it's kind of cool because I know that when I run into a problem or I have a question , I can email them and they explain it very clearly , really quickly , sometimes in even way more depth than I asked for , which is super nice .
Speaker 1So the big thing here , aside from just how much this can do if you don't know what the YoloBox is . It's a video switcher . It's a big , it looks like a touchscreen monitor but you got four HDMI inputs . You also have two USB inputs . You have 3.5 millimeter audio , but inside of here is basically like Ecamm , so you can create scenes just like you can in the Rodecaster , but with more depth , more complexity . You can do like animated overlays , you can do instant replays , you can do crazy transitions , you can do scoreboard updates , you can do guests , you can live stream , bring in a guest . You can pop up comments to your stream . You can multi-stream . It's kind of crazy what you can do inside this thing .
Speaker 1But obviously that means it's a pretty complicated device . You know it can do a lot , so you have to learn it . There's a learning curve and , what's interesting , the thing that I learned because I've been comparing the YoloBox and the Rodecaster Video as the they're the two advanced mixers that you could potentially use them to create something that looks produced and professional and slick and has all the graphics without needing a computer , without needing other software . But they are different and the YoloBox does have more features . But I don't want to say it's unreliable . It could be unreliable because once you dial in your workflow . It's very reliable but there's a lot more potential for user error is probably the way to go , whereas the Rodecaster Video is simpler like , doesn't have as many features of the YoloBox , but it's very rock solid . It's like they tried to make it a little more foolproof , but that also means they're more conservative with the updates they put out to it . Anyway , now I'm just getting , I'm just rehashing the review . So what happened was one thing about the YoloBox . It addresses .
Speaker 1The biggest criticism of the Rodecaster video and any video switcher is it has 4k , 4k capabilities , asterisk , but you know it has big 4k things . You can choose 4k resolution , you can stream in 4k , you can record in 4k , kind of , and so that was something that I've I've been , I haven't been able to figure out , and so I had to go back and forth with the Olabox to kind of fully understand this and they took the exact opposite approach of Rode . So with the Rodecaster video , basically what Rode said is Rodecaster video is it's very powerful , like the internal processors that are in its , its computer , it's got like a full on GPU , full on CPU in there . It's capable of handling 4k video . But when you have four 4K sources that are then being run through scenes and transitions and effects and chroma key and all this stuff , then you could potentially have some reliability issues if people like take it to the max kind of thing . And with Rode specifically , what they said is like we don't want the Rodecaster video to like rarely drop frames , we want it to never drop , for like it needs to , they want this to be capable of being in a professional setting and so to do that it needs to , it needs to be rock solid , reliable . And so the fact that even though , yeah , I could probably squeeze in some 4k things and I honestly still , as a user , kind of hope that maybe they find a way to put in some limited 4K just to sort of like , just to sort of answer that criticism and claim , even if it means certain things get limited or taken out or whatever restricted , while you're using 4K to keep it reliable , whatever it might be . I fully understand where they're coming from . Yolo takes the exact opposite approach and they're like this can do 4k , but it's limited and it could get a little weird . But if you want , basically if you want to do like one input source of 4k that's kind of what this is for you can play in one 4k camera streaming to one source , you're good to
Understanding Limitations of Recording Equipment
Speaker 1go .
Speaker 1Maybe recording I've never been able to actually get recordings to be 4k . Even when I select them because it has an SD card , they always end up at 1080 . And basically the explanation for that is that , yes , it's capable of 4k . I have gotten 4k signal , 4k output with one source . But as soon as you start having multiple sources , then because of the processing it needs to , it bumps everything down to 1080 . So pretty much like 95% of the time or more , just depending on how you have this set up , with the graphics that you're using , the inputs that you're using , you don't need to buy this . If you're just doing a single input like that is absolutely a waste . So you're probably always going to have more than one input , which means you're probably always going to have more than one input , which means you're probably always going to not have 4k capabilities .
Speaker 1And then the other thing the problem I was having was I wanted to record in here and so I had my four hdmi's and I had my two usb webcams , because it'll take any webcam you throw at it . So I had six input sources . I was recording to the sd card and it just looked like there were some dropped frames , like it was a little stuttery , like looked okay . If you're watching it as a live stream , you'd probably be like , yeah , this is fine . Look , you know , it's a little stuttery maybe , but it's okay .
Speaker 1But for a pre recorded video , especially trying to show that something has capabilities , it wasn't working for me and so I recorded , recorded the whole thing , and then it looked like that and I was like I can't use this , what do I do ? And so I talked to YOLO and basically what they said was like yeah , you're using the four HDMI inputs and the two USB inputs . Each USB input takes two and a half times the processing power as one of the HDMIs . And then you're trying to also record simultaneously and they're like it just that kind of maxes out the capabilities . So if you want to record internally , you need to like probably remove the USBs and not use all six inputs at once while you're recording internally .
Speaker 1Or the other thing which I did was I just kept my six inputs and then just streamed it to a private stream and then just downloaded the stream , because it streamed full 1080 , super smooth , looks fantastic , no problem . It was just the internal recording was where things were getting weird . So it's like even that , like streaming , looked good , internal recording was a little funky . And that's basically what I learned with the YoloBox is every workflow is different . So what workflow you're using with it , what equipment you have running through it , what graphics you're using , that's going to tax it differently in terms of the CPU and the GPU and all that stuff , and so you need to get your setup set up and then you need to test it and experiment it , and once you've got it where your setup is working well , it will keep working exactly like that .
Speaker 1But every time you set up a different configuration , it might work a little differently , because it's taking all these resources and it's trying to assign them in the most efficient way possible all the time , and so it's different than the RODECaster , which is like it only works this way , but also you're limited , like you can't do a lot of that stuff because it's only ever going to work this way . So I don't think it's good , bad , right or wrong . It's just two very different approaches and it was something I had to learn . I had to redo the refilm , that very long review , entirely , but now I'm really happy with it and that was a cool thing because I learned a lot more . It's a thing I've used a lot , but trying to use it to make a review of it sort of put it through this second level of like scrutiny . So I learned a lot . I have a different appreciation for it despite all of that , and that's sort of a thing there actually . Is that not a thing ? Yes , that's something we're gonna talk about . A second I was like I put that in here , right ? Yes , I did , that's something we're gonna talk about . Right now . Actually , as we kind of switch on past that , so I'm going to pause that there . Think about mistakes , just think about mistakes .
Speaker 1The Mr Mike video that I talked about , that was something I worked on . That was super fun because that was like , basically it's a $40 . It's kind of like the Hollyland Lark M2 , but it's 40 bucks and it only works with phones and tablets . It's a cool little thing and it works okay . It's not the best sounding thing in the world . The Hollyland definitely sounds better . But again , looking at the person who probably doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a microphone and just wants to spend 40 bucks to get a better mic with their phone and you get two transmitters with it . I think it's very usable and it's gonna give you better audio than your phone . That was really fun . Less for the product and more for the exploration of . Like . This stranger sent me this what is it ? How does it work ? Like the , I feel like that's a video that could potentially be fun and interesting to someone who's not even interested in microphones . Just for the journey and the exploration at least . At least that's what I hope .
Speaker 1And in doing these , these streaming things , I have just gotten into the habit of anytime I use a switcher , I just kind of switch to 30 FPS because it it just seems like all switchers tend to prefer it , even though some most now are capable of handling 24 FPS . That's just where things just kind of . I just feel like I have so many fewer problems when I just put everything in 30 . And especially editing back some footage that's not run through a switcher but it's the full 4k footage , which I did for the , the mystery mic , I kind of like I had everything in 30fps for the YoloBox and I forgot to switch it , so it's just a 30fps video , but I was like gosh , I kind of like this , like I like it . It just it looks good in a way . I was like it looks good in a way . I haven't seen things looking good in a while , so that's pretty cool .
Speaker 1I do want to talk about this mistake . This is maybe something I should have even saved for a separate episode , since we're going a little bit long here . We haven't gotten to user messages yet , but that's okay . There's something . This ties in very much to what I just said with the YoloBox , where I could be kind of critical , show some limitations , but be like . I really like this thing and I think we live in a world where , when it comes to reviews and content , if you have like , if you have mild criticisms of something like oh , this microphone doesn't accommodate my colored windscreens Like that's an okay criticism . But if you , if you come up with actual limitations on something , that's where people are like , obviously it's a piece of garbage , right , like it has to be either the best thing ever or a piece of garbage , nowhere in between , and I'm I'm a big fan of like .
Speaker 1No , you just need to understand your tool . The YoloBox has these limitations . That just means it's a complicated tool that you need to understand . Don't buy this to use later today . Like , buy this to use next month and then spend the next few weeks learning how to use it and how it works , and then you're going to have a great experience . But you need to the onus is on you to then , you know , take that time to put in that understanding and do that stuff .
Speaker 1So a couple of weeks ago I made a video about a simple podcast setup that was just using the Rode Interview Pro , so that microphone . I kind of talked about this on here too . It's a wireless microphone but it also has built-in internal recording and if you take two of those or any number of those , you can go into any location . You can have them all recording . There's no handling noise , they sound great and you can basically have mobile podcasting and then you just mix all the audio files together , sync them up in editing and there you go . That's , that's pretty much it In that video .
Realistic Podcast Setup Mistakes and Fixes
Speaker 1I made a mistake that I intentionally left in and even addressed in the video , so to show that Heather and I had gone to like the small little mountain town nearby for New Year's and while we were there I was like , oh , it'd be really fun to film part of the video there . So we're like kind of outside in the mountains , because it's a place where you wouldn't normally think of making a podcast , like that's what I wanted to show , like I didn't want to just be in here , where of course it's like it's a podcast place . I want to be somewhere where you wouldn't normally think of that . And so we're sitting outside , we're sitting next to each other kind of on like this picnic bench and we're talking to the microphones , and basically what happened there was that was my mistake Because we were too close together the interview pro has an omni directional pickup pattern , so it's the microphone I'm using right now will pick up things pretty much directly in front of it . But if I go off to the side .
Speaker 1My voice changes With the Interview Pro . As long as you're just kind of around it in any direction , your voice doesn't really change . It picks up sound from all directions and that really does . That's one of the reasons I chose it as an example for being a good podcast mic , because if you're somebody who doesn't really know how to use a microphone that well you don't have experience like you're a guest on a show you can hand that to someone and it doesn't matter if they go far away from it , they go close to it , they move it around or whatever . Like the sound is going to stay the same . It really compensates for poor mic technique in a great way , and there's also no handling noise on it . So I was like cool , that's awesome .
Speaker 1The thing I didn't realize , heather and I , we were like shoulder to shoulder and you can see in the video we're right next to each other .
Speaker 1So in that case I should have been like we can actually use a simpler podcast setup and I can put one of these microphones in between us and we're done and it's going to sound great . Instead , we each had one and so we had some mic bleed because they were too close , they were picking each other up , and so when I filmed that and I watched it back I was like , oh , that doesn't sound right , that sounds weird . So I need to go through and edit this and like , essentially I have Heather's audio track , my audio track , and I need to sort of like cut between them so that way there's not the weird kind of mic bleed sound , which is fine , there's nothing wrong with doing that . But that definitely goes against the like . Hey , this is a simple podcast setup and so I thought you know I could redo this . Like we could redo this , we could explain it . Like we could either use one microphone close together or we could just be further apart . As long as we're not in the reach of each microphone's pickup pattern , it would be fine .
Speaker 1But I thought you know , if I made this mistake and I have a decent amount of experience with this stuff- I think , other people might make this mistake too , and so what that means is maybe this would be a good chance to not only explain that but even show a solution , because someone might've made that mistake and just feeling like oh , my podcast is ruined is not the best way to feel . So what I did was I um , I put a . There's a whole segment in that video where then I explain like here's what I did . You know , heather and I are really close here . We should have used one microphone because we we were sitting close together . There's some mic bleed . Here's how I'm editing around this . If you find yourself in that situation with any microphone or this one , here's how you , you can fix that and you know , kind of it's a couple minutes of the video where I talk about . You know , here's some podcast editing techniques . Here's how to fix this issue . Here's how to do that . Cool , if you don't want to do this kind of editing , just make sure that your microphones are far apart , because then they won't pick up each other's sound . You won't have the mic bleed problem . So that's all that was in there . I thought that was really helpful and I still think it's really helpful .
Speaker 1But where people got confused and a comment that popped up a lot on that video was this isn't simple . There's nothing simple about that . There's not like . How could you say this is simple ? This isn't a good workflow and it's like , I think .
Speaker 1I think what people were confused by is that it was biased . It was my personal preference , like , yeah , we could use different microphones that have different pickup patterns , but I don't prefer those because I know that they're also then they're not going to sound as good , because if you use a lav mic that's positioned poorly , now you're going to have someone sounding muffled . If you use a microphone that's more directional but has more handling noise , now you're going to have all this weird rumbling and then you're going to have to put it in a mic stand and you're going to then get away from my whole point of the video , which was a simple mic setup . So , rather than again , I guess the point of the point of the video which I emphasize in the video is it's , it's , it's simple , it's you take these two microphones , or however many you want , and you hand them to people and everyone talks in a microphone and they don't need any mic experience and you're gonna get great sounding results . They're just certain instances to be aware of , where , if you don't wanna do any editing afterwards , you need to be very aware of your positioning .
Speaker 1That's all pretty simple , but I think , because people are so used to the home shopping network style of things , where everything is polished and everything is perfect and all mistakes are edited out , it was like almost confusing to see something that's like oh yeah , here's a problem you could have , but this is still an awesome setup . Same thing with the YoloBox oh yeah , here's all these limitations and weird things , and I even had to redo my video . It's still awesome , and I even had to redo my video . It's still awesome Like and that's to me that's the realistic experience , because rarely do you ever buy any product , any piece of gear , that you get it and you open it and everything's just perfect . You know , like doves fly out of the box and your life is just better . Usually it's like oh wait , how do I use this ? How does it work this way ? Well , you kind of have to figure it out , right ? That's the realistic thing and that's what I wanted to show in that video and I think it really threw people off because it wasn't just this very polished thing , and even last year I did this video . It was an unedited , ended up being like 35 minutes , I think , and it was like my top five pieces of underrated gear , and so it was just me at my desk , one camera shot . Because it was unedited doesn't mean it was unplanned , not unlike this podcast . I had five pieces of gear . I know what I was gonna say about them , but I just said like here's the thing , I like this because this is what it does . Okay , here's another thing , blah , blah , blah . So it's , it's just me talking about that .
Speaker 1People loved that video . Like it got such a positive response . It made me so happy because it was like okay , I don't need I don't always need tons of B-roll , I don't always need fancy editing , flashy editing . Sometimes you just need to communicate the thing that's happening . And something that people did say they really liked in that video was a couple of times when I'm using things . It's not that the things don't work , but you see me like trying to , you know , screw an adapter on something and it doesn't quite go right away , or like things don't work perfectly every time , and people commented that they liked that because that is realistic . That's what you can expect your experience to be like as the person , the user right , and I love that people like that .
Speaker 1So I thought that's why , with this video like this is one of those times where don't edit it out , don't refilm it , don't make it look perfect . This is a problem , a mistake that people are realistically going to make . Instead of pretending like it doesn't exist and making someone feel bad when it happens to them , explain it so people know how to avoid it or fix it when it happens . And that , to me , was way , way , way more helpful . And , especially , I really actually love that , because in our current world , where everything can even be like polished AI content that looks like way too hyper-realistic and hyper-perfect , I think realism really stands out . I think stumbling over your words , maybe leaving things a little less edited than normal , leaving in mistakes , explaining your mistakes I think really does add that human touch that makes things stand out . And so , in this case , this mistake is something that I am really happy about and really proud of . And if you're making stuff too , I wouldn't say let your stuff suffer in quality or be low quality , but don't be afraid to let your realistic , human nature seep into it . Don't be afraid to include mistakes and then even explain how to fix those mistakes .
Speaker 1Speaking of things that aren't a mistake , let's talk about gear of the week . I'm excited for this one because I haven't gotten a chance to talk about these yet and I'm biased , so I want to talk about desktop monitors . So a while ago I made a desk setup video where I was like , hey , here's my desk setup , this is what I'm using , and in that video I was like I don't really have good speakers . I sort of had this like Sony Bluetooth speaker that I've had forever . It was actually from multiple teaching positions ago . I think I got it in like 2013 or something and it was so I could have a little speaker like on my desk in the classroom . But it was easy to like put away , you know , because anytime , sometimes , especially when there's substitutes you're not going to be there , you kind of need to take things away and lock things down . That's the way public education is , so something like that and that's what I've
Review
Speaker 1just been using forever .
Speaker 1I just I've never , had like a good pair of like monitors or anything and I edit with headphones . So I don't really like I don't want to have the editing room where you have the big speakers that are in like the perfect , optimal position and do that . And I know that might be the technically correct way , the professional way to do it . It's not what I'm particularly interested in . So , anyway , I made that video . I explained I don't have anything . I even asked for a lot of suggestions in the comments and people gave me some suggestions . I was kind of looking at and then Mackie reached out and they were like hey , would you like to try our 3.5 inch studio monitors ? And I was like sure , this isn't . Yes , they sent them , but it was the typical ethics statement thing of like eh , if you like them , cool , if not , let us know . You don't have to make a video , you don't have to do anything . Obviously , from their end it kind of makes sense because if I like them and they're on my desk , next time I make a desk setup video , guess what's probably going to be in them is those . And what's really cool is they sent me white ones they're usually black . That ones they're usually black . That's pretty standard . I've been getting white equipment just to try to brighten things up more in here See the white boom arm and they have white ones . The white ones are only available at Guitar Center though , so like a Guitar Center exclusive , just so you know . If you want the black ones , they're available anywhere else . But these are really cool because they're not huge .
Speaker 1The speakers themselves are I don't know the exact height . I would say eight inches tall , maybe the . You know they're three and a half inch speakers . They sound awesome , but they have a ton of capabilities . I'm trying to look at like I have the box over here . So what's really cool is you've got quarter inch inputs , you've got RCA inputs , you've got 3.5 millimeter inputs and you've got Bluetooth . So I know it sounds like an ad , it's not . It's just why I really like these , because it covered all of the different things that I wanted in monitors and they even .
Speaker 1They have a . It's basically a tone thing , a tone knob on the front , but it's labeled as like a work play thing . So if you want to use them as reference monitors , you can turn it to the more to the work side . You're going to get more of a neutral , accurate sound , but if you're just listening to music , watching videos , playing games , you can crank it to the other end and it's going to like give away more less accurate , more processed sound but maybe a more fun sound for stuff like that .
Speaker 1So I kind of like I was legitimately sort of torn like well , do I want something that's super accurate or something that just sounds good , sounds fun ? This is kind of both . It's pretty neat . They even have a little um . They have a little speaker or a little switch where if it's on the desktop or on a shelf , you can switch in . It changes the way the speaker sounds based on where you have it positioned . It's pretty cool and the msrp is 130 bucks for for the set .
Speaker 1So that's like they're not the highest quality professional speakers . They're really nice and I love them and they suit my needs perfectly . I don't I use them for listening to podcasts , listening to music . I don't edit on them you could . I don't have them positioned in a way that's good for that at all , but they're great Like . They sound awesome , they don't take up a lot of space , they look cool . They have tons of features . I really love these things . They have been nothing but a joy to use Totally , would spend the $130 on them . It was just nice that it was one of those things where I was like I'm shopping for monitors and this company is like , hey , you want to try these monitors ? Well , yeah , sure , sure , I do , so they're awesome . So that is my gear spotlight of the week .
Speaker 1I haven't had a chance to talk about these . I've had them for a couple months now and they are absolutely awesome . I'm just oh , sorry , I was looking at the box . I was like , with touch control , tone control , I misread . I was like where I guess you touched the knob . Anyway , I misread things . Let's move on now to wrap things up with listener messages . So we've got , we've got a voice message and we've got a few comments to go through , and we're going to dive back in , like I said , a little bit more on that professional conversation . We're going to do that very professionally . Up first , though , I have a voice message from HoopNuke , which is a very fun name to say , and we're going to be talking about the Rode NT1 Signature Series .
Speaker 2Hello Tom , I have a question , surprisingly , about microphones
Microphone Selection for Videos
Speaker 2. I'm talking to you on the Rode NT1 Signature Series and the question is about this exact microphone . I recently started a basketball channel called Hoop Nook where I just basically talk about the history of the game basketball players , weird moments , stuff like that . And the problem is the audio quality is really good . People have been really liking the videos . I know what a terrible problem to have , but it is a problem because while most of the video is B-roll clips and me just doing voiceover on top of those , sometimes I like to mix it up and have some A-roll in there when I'm on camera .
Speaker 2And my problem is the Rode NT1 is just a damn big microphone and while I love the way it sounds , I've been really thinking about buying a Lewitt 440 Pure because it's more compact , it takes up less space , I can wave my European arms around and all that . But the problem is , in every comparison video I saw between these two microphones , I really prefer the NT1 . It's much more smoother , it's easier to listen to for long periods of time . So how would you balance this if you could only have one condenser microphone ? And I do this because I want to have consistent audio quality throughout all my videos . Which one would you go for , the one that sounds better or the one that's more practical to use on camera ? How would you balance that out , or do you have any recommendations for me to do that ? So yeah , thank you , tom . If you include this in the episode , have fun .
Speaker 1Thanks so much for that message . If you want to leave a voice message , just like that , you can go to hi , my name is Tomcom , scroll down and click on the little , leave a message for a podcast thing and you can use whatever device you have . You can sound awesome , like if you use the NT1 Signature Series or if you just use your phone , or whatever . You can do that . So this is a great question . I love the way that you phrased it . I also love fun . It was just , I liked the message a lot , but I like the way you phrase it . Should I use the one that sounds the best or the one that's the most practical ? And I have found myself in this situation making reviews and making videos . Where the DJI Mic 2 is a great example , that's not the best sounding wireless system . I think the Rode Wireless Pro sounds significantly better . The DJI is the most practical and fun to use , so it's actually the one I would recommend more because it's just . If you want to just get set up running , it still sounds great . I recommend that one more , even though it's not the best sounding one . So sometimes I know we're talking about microphones and you would think , well , you go with best sound . All the time , a lot of it is like what do you have to go through to get that good sound ? So it's not always the default option . In this case , though and I even put this in my notes here I love both . You're talking about the Lewitt . The Lewitt 440 is a wonderful microphone . It's awesome . It is more compact than the NT1 . So I have an NT1 right here , but if you've not seen it , the microphone itself , this is a shock mount . The microphone itself is a little condenser mic , and then you put it in the shock mount , and it does need the shock mount . You don't have to do it . Rode does make a mount called the RM2 , which is a non shock mount . That will then like let you just clip this , clip the mic itself to a mic stand , and that does cause it to take up less space . I would only use that , though , if you know that you're never , ever , ever going to touch the surface that the microphone is on , because then it will pick up every bit of handling noise . Usually you need it in the shock mount and it comes with it . So you already got the shock mount . You're good to go . This is already a pretty big setup , and it is a side address microphone , but what it also comes with because it is prone to plosives is a pop filter . So there's a pop filter , that kind of screws in a little holder on the front , and then this is the setup . So this is kind of the setup we're talking about .
Speaker 1When we talk about something taking up space . It's big Like this does take up a lot of space . If this were in front of me , you know , if you're just doing voiceover , you're just doing audio , it doesn't matter , but if you're on camera , this can very easily start to take up a lot of space . The thing I put in my notes , though , is that one you sound awesome Like your audio quality sounds so good . Whatever processing you're doing on that microphone maybe it's just the mic itself how it sounds on your voice it sounds really good . So it is kind of one of those cases where , if it ain't broke , maybe don't fix it . You know , spend like you have something that's really good already , and maybe spending more money isn't the solution to that . So I don't know that you would actually be happy with something else . Even though the Lewits are great and I love them , I would worry that you would get one and then feel like I wish I was using my other microphone , you know , and you could switch between them . You could have the Lewitt for your A-roll stuff and the NT1 for your voiceover stuff and you can mix them together pretty well . That wouldn't be a problem . But I really think we can work with what you have , and especially if anyone else has this setup or a similar setup , because I use the NT1 on camera a lot and I've had this same problem because you have this big setup here and it can be an issue . So what I would say is , if you're doing just the audio only thing , keep this setup , keep the pop filter , do all that , because that's going to make it easy to get the best sound .
Speaker 1When I use this camera or this microphone on camera , I never use the pop filter with it , because getting rid of that slims down the size tremendously . So I usually use it just like this . There you go , and then the problem is it is very prone to plosives . The NT1 will pick up plosives like crazy . So it really comes down to positioning . Instead of having it right in front of you , where it's still going to take up space , I usually have mine kind of like this at a 45 degree angle , usually a little lower than me . You could even position it up A lot of times .
Speaker 1You'll see , if you have a high mic arm , like a tall mic arm , sometimes people will take these microphones . They will actually position them upside down , so you can do that . It doesn't really matter , but it's , it's out of the way and it's at an angle , so that way I'm not talking directly into it , my breath's not going , but it's pickup pattern is still picking up my voice from my mouth here and that works really well . And so usually this is kind of where I will have that mic positioned when I , when I'm using it , and it works great . As you can , if you're watching this , the microphones kind of down to my , or if you're listening to this , microphones kind of down to my side , but my face is still clear . It's not in the way .
Speaker 1And the NT1 looks cool . I have this isn't the one I'm holding here is not the signature series . I have a blue signature series that's mounted to the wall over there . I love it . So even the default black one . It's a cool looking microphone . But if you got one of the colored ones and it's really , you know eye catching and looks great on camera . So that's what I would work with is position the mic a little bit differently , take off the down to the side . You have to be very aware of you know where your breath and how you're speaking . But I think then you can work with what you have and then , when you're doing those voiceover only segments , you can put a pop on the pop filter and get the same audio quality and it'll be way easier to match that , even if the mic is in slightly different positions for those different parts of what you're making . And that's what I would recommend doing and I think that would work really , really well . Like I said , there is that little mount that the Rode RM2 , if you don't want to use the shock mount at all , but I would only do that if you never touch the surface that the microphone is on . So thanks for the message . I hope that that helps and I would definitely recommend working with the mic that you got because it sounds so good .
Speaker 1Up next , we got some comments from last week's episode which are always fun to go through . So this is from Don Bullock . Tech Eyehound says after listening to you on the couples tables this week , I realized I never subscribed to the podcast . How dare you ? This was a very helpful episode . While your section on professionals doesn't pertain to me in tech , it did speak to me regarding how I present material on my podcast . It needs to be focused more on being helpful rather than just informative , and that's a great way to put it . I mean , there's nothing you know . There are places for just being informative , but I feel like a lot of us , when we create stuff and we put it on , we put it on the internet for other people . What we're doing is we want it to be helpful , right , but if we're just speaking in our jargon and our high level stuff , that's not necessarily
Levels of Instruction and Microphone Selection
Speaker 1helpful .
Speaker 1Keeping in mind what level you're , you know what level you're explaining , like I when I took an online bass course last year . It's called beginner to badass . So you start at the beginner phase . I've been playing guitar since 2001 . And you know , even though I started playing bass more fully in like 2022 , I had the . I had the basics down right , the basics of bass . I knew how to hold it , I knew how to use finger style , I knew how to pick all that kind of stuff . But the first chunk of that course is literally like this is how you hold your bass , this is how you plug it in , this is where you put the finger here to like , strum this string , like this is what a fret fret . It's very like . These are the parts of the instrument , very basic , but with something that has beginner in the title .
Speaker 1That's what I would expect and so , even though I already know those things I just went through and you know , try to pick up any helpful tidbits I could . If that were called like advanced to super advanced , I wouldn't expect that . I would expect to jump in having expectations , like you probably know , major , minor scales . You know this , you know that . You know like all , like , there would be an expectation of proficiency jumping into it , and that's you know , and that's just what to keep in mind . Like who is your audience ? If you are seeking to be helpful to beginners , you do need to distill , and that , to me , is just such a skill set being able to distill complex things into simple explanations . That is a very hard thing to do and it's something I always admire when people can do it well .
Speaker 1And Don says , as for using Keynote , it's an amazing tool for videos that most people who have Macs don't realize they have much less use , because that was my gear of the week was Keynote . Not only can it do a lot and Apple continues to add more capabilities , it's also extremely easy to use . Now I have to go back and listen to the first episode , season two . Thanks as always . Yeah , that's what I'm using right now . I love Keynote . It's awesome . It's just , it's genuine . It's an application I genuinely enjoy using , like I like making Keynote presentations . It's fun .
Speaker 1Up next , internet Doggo . This is where we're going to go back to the topic . I'm curious what are the advantages and disadvantages of side address or end address mics ? Also , why do you suppose side address are the standard for condensers ? I love that you asked this . It's because I was using the Rode Broadcaster last episode , which is an end address condenser , just like this is . But a lot of condensers I don't know that I would say most because I don't have the data but I feel like most of the common ones they're side address , like the NT1 here , where you talk into the side of it , you don't talk into the end of it , and so when you end , sometimes you find people who have side address microphones and they're talking to the top of it it doesn't sound good . And sometimes then , if you have people are used to condensers , you find them talking into the side of end address microphones , which also doesn't sound good . Especially on the Rode Broadcaster that I was using last time , it looks kind of like you could talk into the side of it . So it's not something this one makes sense , like you talk into the end of it . I think anyone would do that .
Microphone Design and Professional Advice
Speaker 1That one was a little less clear so I thought that you know what ? That's a really good question that I don't actually know the answer to . So I had to do a little bit of digging online into some like websites and blogs from professionals . This is where I was like I want a professional resource . I don't want guessing , I don't want hypothetical stuff . I want someone who knows the answer to give me the answer . And that's where it's like I want the professional resource . So this is a time where that professional input really really really helps .
Speaker 1So in general , what I've learned is , from side address to end address , there's really no difference in sound for the most part , like yeah , I mean , I guess if I took this capsule from this microphone and somehow mounted in the side , in general , it would sound pretty much the same . Side address microphones typically do allow for larger capsules , so it's a little easier to have a large capsule facing that way rather than having to make the mic bigger in diameter . You can just make it . You know , I don't know . I think in terms of designing the microphone it helps . The biggest difference , though , that I found was pickup patterns . Having the side address microphones makes it easier to allow for different pickup patterns . So if you want something that not just you know has a cardioid pattern that picks up what's in front of it , but maybe you want a figure eight pattern that does in front and behind , or you want an omnidirectional pickup pattern , that side address makes that significantly easier and sound better than trying to do that through an end address microphone , and I was like , oh , that makes sense right there . So side versus end address , I think pickup pattern is probably the biggest thing .
Speaker 1And then there was also some discussion on working with different gear . So what you're trying to mic up ? Are you trying to mic up a person ? Are you trying to mic up a drum set , a choir , an amplifier , all that kind of stuff like certain designs end address , side address , based on the mounts that you have and the stuff that you're trying to do . Some of them just work better than others . So , in general , like a professional recording studio will probably have a variety of microphones , studio will probably have a variety of microphones and address and side address , and then we use them for different things , for different reasons , and those are some of the some of the answers to that . That was an interesting question and I was excited that I was able to , you know , rely on professional uh resources for that . Uh . Speaking of the road broadcaster , next comments from audio hotline , who gave me the road broadcaster . Also , I need to send a huge congrats because Audio Hotline had a baby this week . Audio Hotline's wife had a baby this week . He , I was gonna say he now owns a baby . That's not it , but congratulations . That is super exciting . He's a nice mic Also , great episode .
Speaker 1I do think the enthusiast route is best to take . I've had a hard time bridging the gap between pro and enthusiast , which seems weird , but it's a bit of a struggle with every video and I'm trying to work it out though , and that's if you watch Bronson on Audio Hotline , I think he does a great job of bridging the gap between pro and enthusiast , but you know , like he wants people to have the best info , and so he , I think . I think I am more willing and this is why I rely on the fact that there are other YouTubers out there I think I'm more willing to leave things out , to sort of simplify stuff to the point where , if you really dive into this , then you're going to find , okay , here's the next level . And sometimes I do that , sometimes I don't , but I am always worried about overwhelming people . And I do that because I know I can make a simple video about an audio thing that kind of gets people in the door , gets them feeling comfortable with it , gets them asking . You know , as long as you get someone to ask questions , like I can overload everyone with like info about lens , aperture and the exposure triangle and all that it's not going to really mean anything until you just sort of help someone go like hey , you wanna take a photo that has a blurry background , and then they really like that . And now suddenly they're like wait , how do I do that again ? Now they're suddenly asking questions about what is exposure , what's ISO , what's aperture , how does that work ? And then , once you've got someone to ask their own questions . Everything else is easy . Then you've won . And that's where I know like , if I can do that , if I can bring people in , give them the basics , get them to ask questions , then I know there are the people out there , like audio hotline Curtis Judd in the audio world , where , because he wants you to have the technical info and wants you to have the full story , it never , ever feels like you're being talked down to . It really feels like you're being shown , guided . It really genuinely feels like you're just hanging out with a friend who's just like showing you something and nerding out about it . I think you do a great job of that and that's , that's pretty awesome . Level up with . Mike Newman says thank you for the video .
Speaker 1I have been really struggling with my channel . I feel like the harder I try to keep my videos fun , simple and funny , I get killed with comments from pros . I seem to get a lot of flack about my presentation , my lack of specs , even how I use my own gear . Are you me , mike ? Are you , are you me ? Even how I use my own gear in my own videos via emails and Facebook messenger . So I caught myself trying to change my style , from trying out mics for enthusiasts to making videos to get their approval . I feel this to my core and I well , let's finish , I get no joy from that . It has brought me to a place where I was contemplating just hanging it all up . To hear this from you has changed my outlook and I'm going to push through a stroke . I'm so happy to hear that , mike , not the bad part , but the push through part , because I feel that , like I feel that so much , if you're trying to like all the thoughts right , let's look at the Rodecaster right , the Rodecaster Pro . It has pro in the name , so right there it's setting itself up for a little bit of criticism .
Speaker 1The Rodecaster Pro is something that can be used in professional environments . Yes , it's really more of a prosumer device and I think that's where it lines up , and so that's one of those things where I feel like someone who's a pro , who has all that experience , they can find that and they can know how to use it . They can know how to to contextualize in their workflow and that's cool . I feel like a pro . Somebody at that level would also know like , oh , it's just isn't for me , so I'm just not going to worry about it .
Speaker 1The weird thing is when the person comes in and then has to tell you all the reasons why you're wrong . This thing sucks , this is bad , and then , yes , then you might find yourself going like , okay , when I make this , how do I please that person ? How do I not get any more of those comments ? That person didn't need the info right , they know what the thing is already . They know so much about it . They know why it doesn't work for them . They don't need your video . That's not who it's for . It's for the person who's like you know , like the mystery mic . I'm really looking forward to that video coming out , the little 2.4 gigahertz mystery mic video I mentioned , because I can't help but feel like there's going to be professionals in the comments telling me how that mic sucks and I can hear it . I can hear that it does not sound as good as the other microphone .
Speaker 1But I tried to be very clear in that video of like who is this for ? Who is a $40 dual transmitter wireless microphone for ? It's not for professionals , it's for , and I even say like get the Hollyland if you want something relatively affordable , that sounds way better , but if you're somebody who would never consider spending over $100 on a microphone and you do a lot of filming just with your phone and you just want a little bit better sound . You just want to be able to pin a microphone to yourself , to someone else , to make some videos or do whatever . 40 bucks is going to get you better sound Not the best sound , but better sound . And that is who that is for . That actually has a place , that has a purpose , and so that's the person that's going to be helped by that going , oh my gosh , there's resources , or it could also help that person by going oh , that's what the $40 one sounds like , that's what the you know $125 one sounds like . That seems like a big price difference , but the features and the sound really do seem a lot better . So maybe I'll go with the $125 one , like that's actually going to help the person versus the person who is never going to buy it anyway .
Speaker 1I just feel you to my core with this comment . I'm glad that by sharing that , I let you know that you're not alone in feeling that way . I'm glad you could let me know , and you know we can all not be alone together . We can all be alone together . Oh , that was the last comment . All right , see , that's why I had to put up the end frame there . I didn't realize that was at the end . So thank you to everyone who sent comments .
Speaker 1If you want to again , you can go to hi . My name is Tomcom , leave voice messages . You can tap the fan mail thing If you're listening to the audio version right at the top of the show , or you can always email Tom at enthusiasmprojectcom . Definitely recommend you do that , because next week is episode five . So , as is tradition , that is going to be the Q&A episode of the season . Not that you can't ask cues any episode , but that where the whole episode is dedicated just to questions and answers . That'll be fun , because I haven't done that in video format yet . So if you have any questions , however , you want to send them text , voice video , feel free to send them my way and I'll include them in next week's episode . Thank you so much for listening . I really appreciate it . Hope you enjoyed that . Hope you got something out of it . Have a safe , happy , healthy week and I'll see you next time .
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