1 00:00:00,001 --> 00:00:13,540 Welcome to Podcast Answers, the show where I help you start and grow your podcast, answering 2 00:00:13,540 --> 00:00:17,800 any podcasting questions along the way. That's right. Today, we are talking about a topic 3 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:24,520 that is fun. It's something that I think people forget about a lot. And so, we're going to 4 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:26,160 be talking about tech checks. 5 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:32,640 What does it mean to have a tech check and why you should have one and all of that good, 6 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:38,320 good stuff. So welcome back, guys. If you've never joined me again, I just try to answer 7 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:42,520 podcasting questions and help people grow and start their podcast. 8 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,960 And so this day is no different. And it's been a while, guys, since I've done this. 9 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,140 I've been... Summers are really, really busy. And so one of the things that I do preach 10 00:00:51,140 --> 00:00:57,640 is to try and stay on a schedule with your podcast, which means you should be out there 11 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,360 and you should be doing the thing. 12 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,960 We can week out, we can week out. So that way people know when to expect your shows. 13 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:12,860 People build you into their lives. And I've not done a great job at that. I have really 14 00:01:12,860 --> 00:01:17,960 not done a great job at that. I have. Yeah, the last couple of weeks have just been interesting 15 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:22,840 for me. I've been out and about and not being able to get into the studio. 16 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:28,780 But if you... The last episode we did was on... It was with Laura from Sure, talking 17 00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:31,980 about different mics that you can use for your podcast. And so that's a great episode. 18 00:01:31,980 --> 00:01:35,420 If you've not had a chance to check that out, go ahead and check it out. Today, though, 19 00:01:35,420 --> 00:01:41,700 we were talking about... We're talking about all things tech check. So essentially, what 20 00:01:41,700 --> 00:01:42,700 is a tech check? 21 00:01:42,700 --> 00:01:45,780 Right? Well, and I do want to say this before we actually start. So I've been doing something 22 00:01:45,780 --> 00:01:51,180 called Summer of Live, and I've been doing it on the podcast answers YouTube channel, 23 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:56,100 as well as my own personal YouTube channel. And essentially, I'm just going live. I'm 24 00:01:56,100 --> 00:02:01,940 trying to go a lot live a lot. It's not every day of the summer, but it is trying to be 25 00:02:01,940 --> 00:02:03,960 as much as I can. 26 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,540 And I did actually cover this topic yesterday on that show, but I wanted to get it out to 27 00:02:08,540 --> 00:02:13,660 you because I know not everybody who listen to this podcast also checks out the YouTube 28 00:02:13,660 --> 00:02:17,260 channel, which if you've not go ahead and go over to our YouTube channel because we 29 00:02:17,260 --> 00:02:25,420 do have a YouTube channel and that's at podcastanswers.com/youtube. And you can see that and you can go ahead 30 00:02:25,420 --> 00:02:28,940 and see our YouTube channel there. 31 00:02:28,940 --> 00:02:36,500 And all of the things that we produce at the YouTube channel is over at podcastanswers.com/youtube. 32 00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:41,460 But the Summer of Live is essentially just me going live with different topics and different 33 00:02:41,460 --> 00:02:49,700 subjects of live streaming. And so I talked about this a little bit yesterday on the show, 34 00:02:49,700 --> 00:02:53,580 but I want to talk about it here on this podcast because again, I know that not everybody that 35 00:02:53,580 --> 00:02:56,220 listens to this podcast is on our YouTube channel. 36 00:02:56,220 --> 00:03:04,380 So the thing what so what is a tech check? First off, what is the tech tech check check? 37 00:03:04,380 --> 00:03:11,060 Just like it sounds it's a time that you check your technology. And this really is two different 38 00:03:11,060 --> 00:03:17,980 topics, really. Because if you're a solopreneur, a solo podcaster, like I am, for the most 39 00:03:17,980 --> 00:03:20,940 of the time, it's going to mean one thing. 40 00:03:20,940 --> 00:03:27,900 But if you have guests on or a remote host, it's going to mean something different. And 41 00:03:27,900 --> 00:03:31,740 so I'm going to talk about both of those things today and, and the differences between them 42 00:03:31,740 --> 00:03:38,580 and what you can expect with a tech check. So realistically, what a check check is, is 43 00:03:38,580 --> 00:03:44,380 it is just that you're checking your technology. And if you're a solo podcaster, what that 44 00:03:44,380 --> 00:03:51,860 means is having a rundown, a pre show rundown. 45 00:03:51,860 --> 00:03:55,500 And really, this applies to both things, you'd probably want to do this, even if you were 46 00:03:55,500 --> 00:04:00,580 had a guest, you'd want to do your own tech check, as well as your guest tech check. And 47 00:04:00,580 --> 00:04:05,540 so if you've ever flown with a pilot, and I'm not talking about commercially, you know, 48 00:04:05,540 --> 00:04:10,980 like, United or American or whatever, I mean, they do this too. But you don't get to see 49 00:04:10,980 --> 00:04:15,100 it. If you've ever flown with a pilot, you've ever had a friend that's a pilot, and you've 50 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:20,380 flown with them, they have a rundown check sheet, they pre flight check sheet that they 51 00:04:20,380 --> 00:04:26,220 run down, they check their engines, they check their whatever, I don't know, I'm not a pilot, 52 00:04:26,220 --> 00:04:29,860 but I know that they've they I've seen it, I have friends who are pilots, and they have 53 00:04:29,860 --> 00:04:36,220 a check sheet that they run down. And they basically say, Okay, this is good, this is 54 00:04:36,220 --> 00:04:43,820 good, this is good, this is good. Now we can fly. Now that we've done all of the checks, 55 00:04:43,820 --> 00:04:46,740 and all of the things, we know that we're going to be good. And we know that we're going 56 00:04:46,740 --> 00:04:54,980 to be able to not crash, because we've done all of these pre flight check things. Now 57 00:04:54,980 --> 00:05:01,380 we can go. And so those are the same things that you're going to do here. So for me, and 58 00:05:01,380 --> 00:05:06,880 this may look differently, depending on what kind of hardware you have. But the first thing 59 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,780 that I would say is, make sure your mic is not muted. Right? I mean, when you go to start 60 00:05:11,780 --> 00:05:16,780 your recording, make sure that you're actually recording, not just talking to yourself, because 61 00:05:16,780 --> 00:05:23,380 there's nothing worse. Okay, there's a few things worse, but nothing worse than finishing 62 00:05:23,380 --> 00:05:31,900 your recording, and realizing that your mic was actually muted. Or you go to hit the stop 63 00:05:31,900 --> 00:05:38,420 buttons for the stop recording. And it turns red. And to indicate, hey, I'm now recording, 64 00:05:38,420 --> 00:05:43,700 because you didn't actually hit the record button. So you've talked for 10 1520 minutes 65 00:05:43,700 --> 00:05:50,660 an hour, whatever it is, and you don't actually have the recording. Because you failed to 66 00:05:50,660 --> 00:05:57,020 unmute yourself, or you failed to press the record button. So that's something you want 67 00:05:57,020 --> 00:06:02,220 to check. Now, again, if you're, you check your levels. So if you're if you want your 68 00:06:02,220 --> 00:06:06,100 soundboard, make sure that your levels are all hidden in the right spot. Before you go 69 00:06:06,100 --> 00:06:11,060 live or hit the record button. You're going to want to make sure that when you're looking 70 00:06:11,060 --> 00:06:15,620 at your meters, you're hitting the right spot. Those are all the same, that your music is 71 00:06:15,620 --> 00:06:20,380 good, that all of your stuff is good. If you're live streaming it, make sure that you're going 72 00:06:20,380 --> 00:06:25,500 to be live streaming, make sure everything is scheduled. I'm live streaming and video 73 00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:33,360 and audio at the same time on this show. So on this show, I have audio and video both 74 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,980 streaming. And if you're in a new podcast app, you can listen to the show in one of 75 00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:41,780 the new podcast apps as I'm recording, which is a lot of fun because I'm coming straight 76 00:06:41,780 --> 00:06:47,100 to use to your podcast app. Or if you want to watch me on YouTube, I want YouTube, but 77 00:06:47,100 --> 00:06:51,300 make sure all of those things are set up ready to go. Make sure that you're if you're doing 78 00:06:51,300 --> 00:06:56,260 video to your scenes are good, your camera's good, your cone of cleanliness is good. So 79 00:06:56,260 --> 00:07:02,860 those of you who do video, you may have a really messy room. But the cone of cleanliness 80 00:07:02,860 --> 00:07:09,040 is that area that your camera sees, make sure that the area that your camera sees is clean, 81 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,540 make sure that it is not going to look messy. And so those are the type of things that you're 82 00:07:13,540 --> 00:07:18,980 going to tech check, right, you're going to go ahead and you're going to say, Okay, I'm, 83 00:07:18,980 --> 00:07:24,340 I'm got all these things good to go. And I'm ready to go. Now, what you what you can do, 84 00:07:24,340 --> 00:07:28,700 and what I would definitely recommend doing is, if you're using, like I said, you can 85 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:34,940 use anything really, you can use a note, like in, you can use a note on Evernote, or the 86 00:07:34,940 --> 00:07:41,380 notes app on your phone or your computer or whatever you want to do, you can use those 87 00:07:41,380 --> 00:07:48,460 things as you go live. Or you can use that as a as a check to make sure that you're actually 88 00:07:48,460 --> 00:07:55,460 checking those things right and you're getting all of it and you're ready to go. You can 89 00:07:55,460 --> 00:08:01,360 you can use a note like that. But you can also if you're live streaming use something 90 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:07,320 what I call a mechanicals or, or something along the lines of that. So a scene essentially 91 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:16,480 in your in your profile for your streaming software. And again, I use E cam. But I have 92 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:23,180 something called infos. I have profile infos. And then I also have a checklist. So I have 93 00:08:23,180 --> 00:08:27,180 this checklist that says, Okay, here's what I want to I want to hide my menu bar, I want 94 00:08:27,180 --> 00:08:32,160 to set to the streaming profile, I want to turn my pro mouse on, I want to do mic check 95 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:38,240 input, I have a few things that I can go through and make sure that I actually have that ready 96 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,500 to go that I'm that I'm ready to go. So if you're watching on YouTube right now, this 97 00:08:42,500 --> 00:08:46,780 is is part of my list, I'm still working on coming up with a better list for everything. 98 00:08:46,780 --> 00:08:52,700 This is mostly just for streaming, but I'm coming up with a list to everything. But I 99 00:08:52,700 --> 00:08:58,740 keep that as a just as an extra scene in my live streaming software. And so that way I 100 00:08:58,740 --> 00:09:05,300 have it ready to go. And I'm ready to, I'm ready to actually do the thing I'm ready to 101 00:09:05,300 --> 00:09:12,660 actually stream. So now the next thing is okay, so you've checked yourself, which is 102 00:09:12,660 --> 00:09:17,960 great. Now you want to check your guests too, because you if you have guests coming on, 103 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:24,180 whether that be through zoom or through E cam interview mode, or through stream yard 104 00:09:24,180 --> 00:09:31,140 or through Riverside, or any number of things that you can live stream on, you're going 105 00:09:31,140 --> 00:09:36,220 to want to check check your guests too. And so tech checking your guests means coming 106 00:09:36,220 --> 00:09:41,940 in before the time. So if you're going to go live, and this is really important for 107 00:09:41,940 --> 00:09:45,460 those things, if you're going to go live, right, so those of us who live stream your 108 00:09:45,460 --> 00:09:52,580 audio or video or both, it's important to make sure that we're that we're, if we go 109 00:09:52,580 --> 00:09:55,660 live when we say we're gonna go live, but we want to have our guests there beforehand. 110 00:09:55,660 --> 00:10:00,040 So if you go live at 830, you want to make sure that your guests are going to come on 111 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,980 at 815 and tell them this, tell them that you're not going, you're not going live right 112 00:10:04,980 --> 00:10:08,660 away that you're going to do a check. So we're going to show it for tech check. And this 113 00:10:08,660 --> 00:10:14,380 can be right before the show, or it can be a day before or whatever I recommend before 114 00:10:14,380 --> 00:10:18,540 the show right before the show, because something may have changed. They may be in a different 115 00:10:18,540 --> 00:10:22,860 spot, the lighting may have changed, the mic may come unplugged, you want to, I suggest 116 00:10:22,860 --> 00:10:27,740 doing it right away, like right before the show. And so tell them, hey, come on 15 minutes 117 00:10:27,740 --> 00:10:33,780 beforehand or whatever you decide is the appropriate amount of time for you. But for me, I say 118 00:10:33,780 --> 00:10:39,220 15 minutes. And then what I do is I say, okay, we're gonna check and make sure that your 119 00:10:39,220 --> 00:10:46,720 audio sounds good. We're gonna make sure that you are coming in loud that we're matching 120 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,960 levels that are levels are close to the same on the mixer board. So if you have a mixer 121 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:54,160 board that has a couple different channels on it, you want to see that you're actually 122 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:58,360 hitting about the same spot on those mixer boards so that the sound levels are close 123 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:05,340 to the same when you're done. And then you want to also make sure that they're, that 124 00:11:05,340 --> 00:11:08,740 they fit into your scene. Well, if you're doing video, so make sure that they're centered, 125 00:11:08,740 --> 00:11:12,620 you know, because if you, if they're coming in centered in their camera or off to the 126 00:11:12,620 --> 00:11:17,600 side on their camera, but then you crop their camera down, they're not going to be in the 127 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:21,880 frame. So there are some things that you can do, you can ask them to adjust or whatever, 128 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:26,940 but you want to make sure that their levels sound good, that they're not using a wireless 129 00:11:26,940 --> 00:11:33,100 headphones there, that they're gonna be good to go. So anything that you need to make sure 130 00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:36,140 is good to go for your guests, you want to make sure it's good to go for your guests, 131 00:11:36,140 --> 00:11:41,460 right? And so that would be, yeah, making sure that they, they sound good, that they 132 00:11:41,460 --> 00:11:46,780 look good, that everything is good. But then also making sure that they know what, how 133 00:11:46,780 --> 00:11:49,580 the format of your show is going to be. If you're going to talk for 10 or 15 minutes 134 00:11:49,580 --> 00:11:55,300 before you bring them on, let them know that, let them know that they are going to be waiting 135 00:11:55,300 --> 00:11:59,140 10 or 15 minutes, five minutes or whatever. Or if you're going to get right to the interview, 136 00:11:59,140 --> 00:12:04,180 then you get right to the interview. That's, that's more of a flow thing as opposed to 137 00:12:04,180 --> 00:12:10,480 a tech check, but you're going to want to do a tech tech, tech check every time tech 138 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:16,300 check your equipment, check their equipment every time. And so what that really means 139 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:20,740 is yeah, making sure that you're good to go, right? I mean, you want to make sure that 140 00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:24,500 you guys are sound the best, your guests sounds the best and knows what to expect. And then 141 00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:29,180 if there's not, you have that time built in there that you can make adjustments. So if 142 00:12:29,180 --> 00:12:32,940 their levels aren't good, you can recommend that they do something else. You can recommend 143 00:12:32,940 --> 00:12:36,760 that they get a different mic or if it's noisy in the environment that they're at, you can 144 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:42,540 say, Hey, maybe can you like go away from this coffee shop that you're sitting in? Or 145 00:12:42,540 --> 00:12:47,380 can you go away from the area that you are? Can you do this? Can you take the dog out 146 00:12:47,380 --> 00:12:52,260 so that they don't interrupt us or whatever? You're the host. You can tell them how you 147 00:12:52,260 --> 00:12:57,940 want them to sound, right? This is your show. This is your podcast. This is your YouTube 148 00:12:57,940 --> 00:13:02,280 stream. Make sure that they sound good and look the best because really that comes back 149 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:09,460 on you. That comes back on you to have a great looking show and a great sounding show. So 150 00:13:09,460 --> 00:13:13,420 make sure that they know that and can do that. And then again, I realized that everybody 151 00:13:13,420 --> 00:13:19,020 has different technology. Now they may not have a professional video camera. Heck, in 152 00:13:19,020 --> 00:13:21,860 fact, I don't right now. It's one of the things that I would like to get eventually, but I 153 00:13:21,860 --> 00:13:26,340 don't, I don't have it. But they may not have a professional camera and it may not look 154 00:13:26,340 --> 00:13:32,220 great. So you may want to give them suggestions on how to make their their show look better. 155 00:13:32,220 --> 00:13:38,600 So those are the things that you can do for tech checks. And I recommend you do this every 156 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:48,600 single episode before you go live because they are gonna they may not be right. They 157 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:54,660 may not come in good and you want to sound the best for your show. So guys, I can help 158 00:13:54,660 --> 00:14:00,360 you become a better podcaster. I can help you start your podcast. I can help you learn 159 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:05,280 Ecamm. Ecamm is a software that I use to stream. And right now they're actually having a sale. 160 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:13,160 And if you want to check it out, you can go to podcastanswers.com/ecamm. That's E-C-A-M-M. 161 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:19,560 Through the end of July, you get 30% off if you are a first time customer. And so again, 162 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:26,920 podcastanswers.com/ecamm. That link is also in the show notes to this episode. But you 163 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:33,840 can get 30% off of an annual or monthly subscription to that. And it is really the best streaming 164 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:39,140 software. But if you want help learning Ecamm, or learning how to podcast or making your 165 00:14:39,140 --> 00:14:48,320 podcast sound better, you can also hire me to do one on one consulting. And you can find 166 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:54,920 that over at podcastanswers.com/contact. And that'll get you in contact with me and we 167 00:14:54,920 --> 00:15:00,000 can set up a time to do a one on one zoom call so that I can help get your podcast set 168 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,000 up. 169 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:06,560 Great, because I love helping people do their podcasts. So guys, if you have any questions, 170 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:12,640 feel free to hit me up. I love to help people get their podcasts going. And again, this 171 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:19,460 is why I do this show. Because I've been podcasting since 2007. And I love it. And I think everyone 172 00:15:19,460 --> 00:15:25,360 should be doing a podcast. And so if you want to get your podcast started, contact me again. 173 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:31,440 You can contact me at podcastanswers.com/contact. And that'll get you in contact with me and 174 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,520 we can set up a one on one consulting. 175 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:38,660 So guys, I just really encourage you to go out there and see what you can do this week 176 00:15:38,660 --> 00:15:44,300 to make your podcast better. And then doing a tech check will help that. And so go ahead 177 00:15:44,300 --> 00:15:49,240 and do your tech check. Have a great week. Keep podcasting. 178 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:50,240 Transcribed by https://otter.ai 179 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,820 (upbeat music)