How a podcast: The summer album / winter album Jodi Avirgan

The beauty of the podcast is that anyone can do it. This is a rare environment that is almost as easy to do as it is consumed. And as such, no one does it in the same way. There is a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential pods, so the settings run the range of NPR Studios to USB Skype Rigs (the last of which has become default during the pandemic).

We talked to Jody Avirgan this week who co-hosts “Summer Album / Winter Album” With the frontman of the American Inde Rock Group The Hold Steady, Craig Finn. Each episode finds Avirgan and Finn to discuss whether the classic record should be categorized as a “summer album” or a “winter album”.

Avrgan-who earlier hosted the show for Radiotopia, TED, Fivethirtyeight and ESPN’s story about his subcansing setting of your choice. Here he is in his own words:

“Even when I worked at ESPN/Fivethirtyeight, I always had a home recording setting. Ever since I left – which happened to coincide with the beginning of the pandemic – I did my studio to record my basement my main home. This is actually the kitchen of an apartment in a basement studio, so just off the frame, behind some curtains, it is a refrigerator (off), a sink and many cabinets.

“But I turned on tons of curtains, scattered soft things around, and put some sound damp panels. I think it is both cozy and quite warm now. My microphone is ELECTRO-VOICE RE27N/D, MIC MIC from $ 500.

“To make it clear: I don’t make re27 money. We bought this microphone when I was hosted at 30 for 30. I left ESPN three weeks before the pandemic blow and somewhere there I wrote them an email with a question if they wanted to return the microphone. I have never received an answer and I certainly have not written tracking. That’s how I kept it. This is probably why Disney reserves have been reduced by 20% in the last five years. It’s a very warm microphone, but it’s a begemot.

“When I’m on the road, I pack AT2020-USB+, which turns straight on my computer and can kill the tracking from wherever it is ordinary under the blanket in the hotel’s closet, which is the natural habitat of the podcast.

“I perform my microphone through the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, a simple but powerful interface that allows me to control my microphone levels and route straight on my computer, where I often join people over Zoom or Riverside. I always save a local backup file using Hindenburg, which I then save to Dropbox. All roads eventually lead to Dropbox.

“One place where I deviate from the typical podcaster 101 set is in my headset. They all have the Sony MDR-7506 and I went through my fair share of them, but I really like the Rode NTH-100 headset. They are just a little more comfortable, they look a little more dense and so far the pad has not fallen apart the way Sony’s pads inevitably do it, which causes it to find small black spots in their ears after recording.

“Like many podcasts, I’ve been doing more and more video things lately. I have used a description for years, but since the worlds of audio and video merged, at that moment I do almost all my editing in it. I make social videos of our conversations about “This day“And”Summer album / winter album“But also the original things I played on on Instagram.

“I do a series every week in which I Try to know the title From the cover of the New Yorker for this week and I write it right in description and turn it for about 20 minutes, using a template I have built. Description – I’m a big fan. It’s very universal and it’s nice to work with a program that seems to give nonsense for what the poddists want, unlike Protools.

“I guess I had to think about my visual setting a lot. I bought the webcam that Wirecutter recommended, but honestly I prefer the appearance of the MacBook camera, so I usually just use it. I put a few books of my origin to prove that I know how to read; A photo of George Mican, for whom he had been in the Death of the Wing – and $ 28 fake plants from Ikea.

“I block the view, so I don’t think people can even see that the plants are there; But I like to know that they are there and they will always be there because of the forever plastic. “

Earlier, we asked other of our favorite hosts and podcast producers to emphasize their working streams – the equipment and software they use to do the job. The list so far includes: