Month: March 2019

Beyerdynamic Creator Bundle Pairs DT 240 PRO and DT 770 PRO with FOX Microphone

~ jen

Beyerdynamic, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and conferencing products, announces Creator Bundles, combining the FOX USB-C Studio Microphone with professional headphones DT 240 PRO and DT 700 PRO.

Beyerdynamic’s Creator Bundle features the Fox USB paired with the DT 240 PRO, a mobile stereo headphone for monitor and recording purposes. The DT 240 PRO features clean, deep bass, vivid mids, and defined highs.

Designed to provide studio quality in an environment, the DT 240 PRO’s high noise attenuation prevents the penetration of ambient sound, making it an ideal product for producers, podcasters and filmmakers. Featuring a lightweight, yet rugged design, the DT 240 PRO is built with a padded headband and soft, replaceable earpads for a comfortable fit.

The Creator PRO Bundle pairs the FOX with a studio legend, the DT 770 PRO, which is recognized as the most frequently used studio headphone in the world. The DT 770 PRO is a closed, dynamic headphone with exceptional sound quality, long term comfort and accurate performance.

The DT 770 PRO is the perfect monitoring headphone for recording studios, post production, and broadcasting studios. Built with a low mass coil and diaphragm assembly, the DT 700 PRO produces a transient performance for the most demanding professional and audiophile applications. The DT 770 PRO features a carefully tailored frequency response to highlight natural and balanced sound, meanwhile, it’s soft earpads and adjustable earpieces creates unparalleled listening comfort.

Beyerdynamic’s FOX USB-C Studio Microphone is a high-quality, 24-bit, 96k Hz professional microphone. FOX USB-C boasts a cardioid polar pattern with a pressure gradient operating principal. Featuring a large-diaphragm condenser capsule, FOX USB-C is designed for vocals, dubbing, and musical instruments, including acoustic guitars, amplifiers, grand pianos, string instruments, wind instruments, drums and percussion.

FOX USB-C includes an integrated headphone output to allow listening in real-time, with zero latency monitoring. The sensitivity of the microphone can be adjusted from loud to quiet sound sources through the gain-switch. FOX USB-C is compatible with Mac and Windows PC to create a flexible recording solution for studio and home recording.

Slate Seeks Podcast Producers

~ jen

Slate is hiring two podcast producers. One position is for a Narrative Podcast Producer, and the other is for a Business and Technology Podcast Producer.

Here are some details about the Narrative Podcast Producer position:

Slate is looking for an experienced podcast producer to help them make future seasons of their smash hit Slow Burn and other scripted narrative shows.

The person we’re looking for has a keen grasp of all aspects of storytelling. They can identify the best tape from hours of interviews, and spot what’s missing while the interview is still in progress. They’re happy spending hours scouring news archives for the perfect clip. They can move adroitly between booking, recording, editing, project managing, and troubleshooting. They can track and integrate notes from multiple sides and turn around careful, sensitive edits and mixes on tight deadlines. The position can be located in Brooklyn, New York, or Washington, D.C.

Responsibilities include:

  • Work with writer-hosts to tell compelling stories in audio
  • Find archival footage and negotiate with rights-owners for licenses
  • Arrange interviews and oversee recording sessions, sometimes over remote connections
  • Edit and score recordings quickly and sensitively

Here are some details about the Business and Technology Podcast Producer position.

The person we’re looking for is a deft and speedy audio editor and adept booker and guest-wrangler. They have a sense of what works and what doesn’t in audio, an interest in technology, business and journalism, and a wealth of ideas. Ideally they’d have experience with and insight into both conversation-driven and scripted shows.

Responsibilities include:

  • Book guests, schedule and run recording sessions, edit, and mix complete episodes of some of our biggest podcasts
  • Work with writer-podcasters to bring scripted shows from conception to release: booking, recording, managing tape, editing, scoring, mixing
  • Work with editors and hosts to develop formats for new shows

For more details about either of these positions, visit the Slate websites where the job listings are posted.

Acast Launches in France

~ jen

Acast announced its expansion into France. The French business will be led by Yann Thébault, former managing director of Continental Europe for Spotify, who joins Acast with the mission of establishing Acast France as the go-to podcast company locally.

This will include supporting independent publishers, working with media groups and brands on their audio strategies and helping to develop the French podcast market.

The launch of Acast in France is in response to the rapidly growing popularity of podcasts in the region, as well as demand for support for podcasters. According to Médiamétrie’s Écoute des Podcasts study (April 2018), over four million people in France listen to podcasts every month. 25% of these are new listeners to the medium.

Ross Adams, CEO of Acast said: “Launching in France is the natural next step for Acast – it’s a market where the appetite for podcasting from a creator, listener and advertising point of view is starting to explode. We have big plans – global expansion is a real focus for Acast in 2019 and beyond, as well as working with content in many different languages as possible. Yann’s rich experience and love for audio means he is the perfect person to take us into such an important market for Acast.”

Yann Thébault, managing director of Acast France said: “France is a dynamic market that has historically been known for its high radio consumption. The podcast market is now booming and represents a real growth opportunity for Acast. With our ability to address every need of both independent podcasters and publishers – including hosting, distribution, marketing, measurement and monetization – we are able to bring innovative and tailored solutions for podcasters, advertisers and listeners.”

Twitter’s Character Count Podcast is About Advertisements

~ jen

Twitter has launched its first podcast. It is called Character Count and it is about Twitter’s most interesting advertising stories. It is a @TwitterBusiness podcast, and its target audience appears to be companies who either want to post ads on Twitter, or who already are posting Twitter ads.

Effectively advertising on Twitter isn’t always easy. On each episode, we’ll feature a different brand who is creative, surprising, and effective with their Twitter Ads campaigns. Listen and subscribe for world-class marketing inspiration straight from the source – Twitter.

TechCrunch reported that Twitter is testing the waters with Character Count. The company intends to get the crowd’s reaction to the first few episodes so it can make adjustments if need be.

Character Count is hosted by Joe Wadlington. TechCrunch reported that he is a marketer at Twitter who’s specifically supporting Twitter’s Business initiatives.

At the time I am writing this podcast, there has been a teaser episode, and two full episodes. The first one focuses on the Monterey Aquarium (@MontereyAq) which uses memes to raise ocean awareness.

The second episode focuses on Dropbox (@Dropbox) and how they build warmth with their customers. An upcoming episode will feature Simon and Schuster (@SimonBooks) and discusses how the company brought a legacy brand online.

Blubrry Podcasting Partners with Audioburst

~ jen

Blubrry Podcasting and Audioburst announced an evolutionary partnership that will allow Blubrry hosting customers to have access to Audioburst’s suite of tools and the Audioburst library of searchable voice “bursts.” This library uses technology to listen, understand, segment, and index the content to be searched and generate new cross-platform distribution.

“Our mission is to empower podcasters and radio professionals with a robust solution for monetization, distribution, and discovery,” said Amir Hirsh, co-founder, and CEO of Audioburst. “The integration of our Audioburst Creators platform gives Blubrry thousands of creative community members of the unmatched tools to transcribe, increase exposure and earn money.”

Blubrry hosting customers will be able to obtain full transcripts, create short clips called “bursts” of their audio or video content and then share those bursts on social media platforms. This extends the life of their content using modern AI programming to highlight specific segments that can further earn Blubrry creators revenue and listenership.

“This partnership with Audioburst is exciting for our Blubrry customers as I’ve been a big fan of their technology for some time,” said Todd Cochrane, Blubrry CEO. “The audio bursts, automated transcripts and indexing of audio content will allow Blubrry customers to reach new listeners and engage with a wider audience.”

Blubrry hosting customers can sign up for Audioburst free within their podcast dashboard and have their personalized content created within minutes. Bursts, transcriptions and new content can be found on any one of Audiobursts distribution platforms where users specify topics and categories for results.

She Podcasts Live has a Kickstarter

~ jen

She Podcasts Live is the women’s podcasting event. Whether you just love to talk or want podcasting to be your career, you belong here. She Podcasts Live is on Kickstarter. At the time I am writing this blog post, it has 21 days to go.

Join your fellow women podcasters for a weekend of learning, camaraderie, and belonging as you learn the core skills and aspects you need for every stage of podcasting. You’ll hear from women who have been successful podcasting ON THEIR OWN TERMS, who have done things THEIR way and will teach you how to do the same.

The event is intended to take place in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 11-13, 2019. She Podcasts is seeking a $25,000 goal.

She Podcasts is a network of over 12K podcasters that identify as women and may or may not be career podcasters, or “corpcasters”. She Podcasts wants to host this first event to provide a space “for all of us side-hustling podcasters navigating our work in a male-dominated industry.”

Any gender identity and/or expression is valued and this event is targeting those that don’t fit the dominant avatar of podcast hosts, aka men. She Podcasts will provide a safe space for non-binary podcasters, cisgender women as well as trans women to thrive in a safe space.

They are planning on having three to four separate tracks for women in all different parts of the podcasting journey. Those tracks are called Start, Refine, Grow, and Accomplish. Each track will include sessions that speak to the skills for each phase as well as the mindset and energy that needs to be present in order for that phase to be conquered.

BBC Removed its Podcasts from Google

~ jen

BBC posted information that explains why its podcasts are no longer available on certain Google products. This includes the Google Podcast app and Google assistant. The post was written by Director, BBC Distribution & Business Development, Kieran Clifton.

Last year, Google launched its own podcast app for Android users – they’ve also said they will launch a browser version for computers soon. Google has since begun to direct people who search for a BBC podcast into its own podcast service, rather than BBC Sounds or other third party services, which reduces people’s choice – an approach the BBC is not comfortable with and has consistently expressed strong concerns about. We asked them to exclude the BBC from this specific feature but they have refused.

The BBC is a public service funded by the license fee payers in the UK. As such, the BBC wants their content and services to be available to as many people as possible. But, the BBC has to ensure that the availability of their content is done in a way that is good for all audiences.

The BBC wants to make sure podcasts made in, and championing in the UK, are prominent on global platforms. It also wants to make sure their programs and services as good as they can possibly be,which means getting hold of meaningful audience data.

The BBC says, “Unfortunately, given the way the Google podcast services operates, we can’t do any of the above.”

Spotify to Acquire Parcast

~ jen

Spotify announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Parcast, a premier storytelling-driven podcast studio. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Since its founding in 2016, Parcast has launched 18 premium podcast series including Serial Killers,Unsolved Murders, Cults and Conspiracy Theories and the studio’s first fiction series, Mind’s Eye.

The press release says that Parcast will bring to Spotify its curated library of highly produced shows and its engaged, loyal audiences. With an expertise in genres touching mystery, crime, science fiction, and history, Parcast has shown it has depth in subject matter and the ability to develop audiences across its robust network. Additionally, Parcast has more than 20 new shows slated to launch later this year.

“The addition of Parcast to our growing roster of podcast content will advance our goal of becoming the world’s leading audio platform,” said Dawn Ostroff, Spotify Chief Content Officer. “Crime and mystery podcasts are a top genre for our users and Parcast has had significant success creating hit series while building a loyal and growing fan base. We’re excited to welcome the Parcast team to Spotify and we look forward to supercharging their growth.”

“In three years, we have created a production house that has grown exponentially and hit a chord with mystery and true-crime fans, especially women, across all 50 states and around the world. We are proud to join the world’s most popular audio subscription streaming service and gain access to one of the largest audiences around the world,” said Max Cutler, Founder and President of Parcast. “Alongside Spotify, our ability to scale, grow and amplify the unique and tailored brand of content we create is full of fantastic possibilities.”

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019 and subject to customary closing conditions.

iHeartMedia Launches iHeartPodcast Channel on the Radio

~ jen

iHeartMedia launched it’s first iHeartPodcast Channel. It is the new format on WSAN in the Allentown-Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, market. Since 2016, AM 1470 had been airing the Spanish-language sports network ESPN Deportes.

InsiderRadio reported that channel is now being called “The iHeartPodcast Channel on AM 1470”.

The iHeartPodcast Channel is a carefully curated experience that brings you the most creative stories from over 25,000 podcasts available on our free iHeartRadio app. From true crime to history, comedy to food, we’ll cover dozens of topics every week,” says Craig Stevens, SVP of programming for iHeartMedia in the Allentown-Bethlehem market.

The Morning Call reported that the 1470 frequency will continue to broadcast Lehigh Phantoms hockey, but will no longer carry the Philadelphia Phillies games in Spanish. The station will continue to air Tempo Italiano with John Richetta 8 a.m. to noon on Sundays.

The Monday-Friday lineup will be:

  • 12-3 a.m.: Stuff You Should Know
  • 4-5 a.m.: Omnibus
  • 5-7 a.m.: Stuff to Blow Your Mind
  • 7-8 a.m.:Unqualified with Anna Ferris
  • 8-10 a.m.:Ridiculous History
  • 10 a.m. – noon:Stuff You Should Know
  • Noon – 1 p.m.:Broken Harts
  • 1-2 p.m.: Part Time Genius
  • 2-3 p.m.: Stuff to Blow Your Mind
  • 3-5 p.m.: Stuff You Missed in History Class
  • 5-6 p.m.: Stuff Your Mom Never Told You
  • 6-7 p.m.: Happy Face
  • 7-8 p.m.: Broken Harts
  • 9-11 p.m.: Part Time Genius
  • 11 p.m. – midnight: Hell and Gone

Pod Mini is a Pop-Up Soundbooth

~ jen

Does the ambient noise in your home cause problems when you want to record your podcast? Perhaps the Pod Mini is something that can help with that. It is a pop-up soundbooth that can be placed over you and your equipment while you record. PodMini is on Kickstarter. At the time I am writing this post, it has 10 days to go.

The Pod Mini was designed to be a pop-up soundbooth, for shared work areas or travel requirements podcasters often run into, such as podcasting on-site during events.

While the Pod Mini isn’t 100% sound proof from exterior noise (this is physically impossible in a portable unit), the quilted interior fabric in the walls dampen exterior sounds and echo from inside.

The Pod Mini is large enough for a small desk and stool. Or, you can put Pod Mini over the top of you sitting on the ground. There is no floor in the Pod Mini, so it’s easy to pop over and start recording. The size is 120cm x 120cm x140cm. There are ventilation windows on top to ensure air flow for the podcaster’s comfort.

The Pod Mini might be a good option for podcasters who are currently attempting to turn a closet into a tiny recording studio. It also could be useful for podcasters who need to record on location at conferences or other important events.