Zach & Rock, co-founders of SquadCast, share gratitude & stories within the Podcast community.

Episode Transcription

ZACHARIAH MORENO: Welcome to Between Two Mics. We’re Zach and Rock, the co-founders of Squadcast. The only way to record remote interviews in studio quality. Here on Between Two Mics, we explore the challenges, opportunities, and new ideas with the people who are pushing the limits of what’s possible in podcasting. 

ZACH: Where, uh, where are we recording from today, Rock?

ROCKWELL FELDER:We are recording from Studio To Be in Old Town Oakland, California.

ZACH:Yeah, super stoked to be here. Um, and I think it’s what we wanted to focus on in our episode zero, is largely the gratitude that we feel the, um, our thankfulness for being part of the podcast community. For me, it’s kind of embodied in Studio To Be the podcast community. And then also the events that we go to, um, what are, what are some of those events? And then like also as a follow up question, like, what are you super grateful for within to be part of the podcast community? 

ROCK:Uh, what do you mean exactly by events when you’re asking?

ZACH:Uh, conferences, meetups, uh, online stuff.

ROCK:What am I looking forward to? 

ZACH: Uh, what do you, uh, what are you grateful for thus far?

ROCK:Definitely grateful to be a part of Studio To Be, man that’s been really neat. And, uh, you know, we’ve only just started, so it’s already been great so far, but I think it’s only going to keep getting better. I mean, we’re in some good company here with Ken and Joaquin and then, you know, Snap Judgmentis, basically our, our, our neighbor and, uh, and there’s even…

ZACH: Radiotopia? 

ROCK:Yeah. There’s even other neighbors that we have. So, um, no it’s going to be great. Um, event that I’m most grateful for? I think, I think Podfest. Um, I really think we, we had a good, good time there. We, a lot of our success is derived from there, I think. And, uh, so it’s gonna be good to go back, go back. So sort of like veterans and part of the community and kind of seeing  friends again, you know, I’m looking forward to seeing people like Lee, uh, from the WE Have Cancerpodcast. You know, he’s been a big supporter of us. And we’ve seen his, um, podcasting game, like step up, tremendously.

ZACH:Yeah, speaking live. 

ROCK:Well he’s speaking. And just, you know, he puts out tons of content and, you know, the message is great. So the fact that we’re helping that message get out is incredible. 

ZACH:Yeah. Um, how are we helping the message get out for him? 

ROCK:How are we helping? We’re helping them connect with all these people to share, um, their stories and struggles through cancer and how they’re, you know, persevering through it or dealing with it or, you know, whatever. I mean, that’s the beauty of podcasting. I mean, unfortunately there’s a lot of people that have cancer. There’s a lot of people that are affected by cancer, but the fact that podcasting can help these people have a voice and connect with each other and really share their experiences and really inspire each other. And, you know, I mean, you and I don’t have cancer, but there sure inspiring stories. So, um, so yeah, I’m, I’m really looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to seeing how. That conference has grown, um, you know, relative to the growth in podcasting as well. I mean, it’s a very grassroots kind of event, and I think they want to keep it that way. But the reality is, is that, you know, podcasting is growing. So I expect that conference to, you know, grow somewhat as well.

ZACH:Yeah. And that would certainly be good for, for, uh, Chris and John Dennis to, uh, to, you know, grow their event. I’m sure that’s what, it’s just a challenge, it would seem, to like, how do we keep it, like a family vibe and continue to grow.

ROCK:And still make some money from this. 

ZACH:Yeah. Yeah. 

ROCK:So, so what about you then? I got to flip the script on you, man.

ZACH:Yeah. Uh, I think, I’m, I’m super grateful for, um, largely the, the community and how it’s participated, um, kind of, much more than I think people would, would think from the outside, looking in. Participated in, in, uh, helping shape Squadcast, and, and really being open to talking about some of the challenges that exist within podcasting and really open to working with us on, on addressing the problem that we’ve chose to, to help with. And that’s, that’s remote recording. So the community has been really instrumental in helping shape our product, our experience, our solution to, to their problem. So it’s really been a conversation, um, that is ongoing to, to help shape our product, um, and, and play a small part in the community, um, to, to really be solution-oriented, I think is awesome. To see a quality come from the community and…And that a conversation is helping shape our platform that helps them record more conversations. It’s super awesome to me how meta that is. And, uh, that we, you know, we provide, uh, we have these conversations through using our platform, using Squadcast and can record those, um, help them record. And then also just being in the community, helping with, um, you know, share this, this knowledge, this information that we’ve come to, come to possess through our experience, working with working in this capacity, we can now start to, um, participate more actively in these. That’s what I’m looking forward to, I guess, um, is, uh, pre-gratitude maybe, is another way to say it. I don’t know, but like, um, I’m super grateful for the opportunity to start to, um, participate in these events and, and the meetups and conferences as a, as a speaker. To talk about some of the best practices and stuff that we’ve learned, um, in the last two years of, of, uh, working with the community to solve this problem of remote recording. There’s some definite best practices that the pros do that other people don’t. And a lot of those things aren’t solved by software. There is a huge chunk of it that, that. And the platform that you choose to, to have your conversation, but there’s a lot of other things that’s really cool that people like Liz Covart or Harry Duran or Dave Jackson or Lee, um, use to record their awesome interviews, um, without having to travel and do do crazy stuff like that. So that, that’s probably what I’m most grateful for is that conversation that’s ongoing with the community. They’ve given, they’ve given us this opportunity to help solve a problem, a real problem that, that, um, exists. So I guess, uh, I’m looking forward to, to other other challenges, other opportunities that, that we come, come across in the podcasting space, which is brings us here today for Between Two Mics. Right? We’re really focusing on the challenges and opportunities that exist within podcasting. And then also, um, that it’s a medium that’s still being defined actively by the people who are participating in this creativity, in this creative process. Um, so there’s a lot of interesting stuff, innovation, that’s happening at different areas of, of the industry of the medium. And, uh, we really want to explore again, those challenges, opportunities, and then where people pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in podcasting. So, um, like the backstory of how we found this problem, how we started working with the community is, is an interesting one. Um, how about, how about I can tackle the, the origin story quickly and then, um, and then I’ll turn it over to you for kind of a, you know, when we, once we first started working with the community at Podcast Movement, Anaheim ‘17? That sound good?

ROCK:I’ll only let you tell the story, Zach, because you came up with the idea.

ZACH:Partly, partly. Uh, but again, the community right is, uh, only get us so far. Yeah, so that the story, uh, I’ll try to, I’ll try to, what do you think, like the quick version, the minute, three minute version? 

ROCK:Give the version that’s in your heart, this is our podcast. We control the conversation, right? Like it’s, this is, uh, we get to tell it the way that we feel it needs to be told.

ZACH:Yup. And, uh, and Vince has the ultimate control over what makes it in. 

ROCK:So we still have final cuts saying …

ZACH: What up, Vinny. [laughs] Yeah. So, um, yeah, it really started with, with, um, wanting to contribute more positive science fiction to, to the world. Um, and then also me personally, feeling like I wasn’t doing, um, enough, like in my creative side projects, outside of writing, writing too much code. I wanted to, to have a creative outlet outside of that space. And, um, you had introduced me to podcasting back in high school, um, and, uh, just as a listener for a lot of, a lot of years. And then I came across this article in Wiredthat was talking about the new genre of, um, audio dramas, science fiction audio dramas, and thought that would be a great outlet to contribute more positive science fiction. There’s too much negative science fiction was kind of where I was coming from. And I wanted to contribute, um, to the bank of ideas that future technologists could pull from for, uh, creating, creating new technology. And I think we get there through positive science fiction. So, um, thought it would be a great medium to tell those stories thought we had a really good opportunity with, uh, uh, putting the team together with pretty quick order. My brother Vince is an audio engineer. He’s now our audio engineer working on Squadcast, but at the time he is a, he was an audio engineer. And I thought, okay, I’m a web developer, Vince is an audio engineer. Um, my friend Harrison is a decorated playwright. I’ve written some stuff in the past, like a lot of science fiction as a, as a reader and consumer. So thought we could, um, you know, create something pretty cool with those skills. Like those are, we’re already sitting pretty right? With, with that skillset relative to, I think a lot of people who are starting with podcasting. And was naive about how much work it is and all of that, but was up to the task. And, um, and then we, we, uh, just kind of kept, kept working on, you know, developing this, this audio drama concept, um, remotely from our, from our, you know, homes in different different cities in Northern California. And, um, came to, came to realize that it was going to be a challenge logistically to record together on a, on a regular basis from our homes. And logistically getting together in person was gonna be a bigger time challenge to line up our schedules and all of that. So ran into this problem of recording remotely. Um, and then to top it all off, we had this grand plan of working with vocal, vocal actors to, to have our, our different roles, um, portrayed by different people. And we could hire them pretty, pretty readily available online. But again, they’re in a different location. So did we, did we expect everybody to record themselves? There just was some challenges there tried some of the solutions and Skype or whatever. And the question that Vince asked that ultimately kind of put a stop to it temporarily was like, if we’re going to put in all this time and work into the production value for, for post-production, why do our vocals sound way, lower quality than, um, and we’re focusing on quality and all these other areas? Why aren’t we focusing on the vocal quality? And what’s getting in the way there? So that, that put a stop. A pretty hard stop on things wass like, I didn’t have a good answer. Nobody had a really good answer. Um, so then we got discouraged, right? And about a week passed, it was on the Bay Bridge coming across, um, back from my day job in the city, um, and started making some lists of about, um, how we could use a modern web technology stack to solve this problem of recording remotely and capturing it in studio quality. Um, could we, could we kind of have our cake and eat it too, in some capacity? And really build something to solve our own problem. Um, not yet thinking about the community or who else had this problem, but, um, I think, uh, we took a step back and created some like a pretty robust idea for a technology stack that could empower this, which I don’t think would have been possible even like a year or two prior to that. And what? This is, this is the end of 2016, the end of 2016? I believe. 

ROCK:When you first approached me with the idea?

ZACH:Yeah. I mean, I guess even pr, pre that, um, this would have been like October-ish, um, 2016? 

ROCK:I’m pretty sure you approached me at the beginning of October, beginning of October.

ZACH:So this would have been, um, September, September, September, August timeframe. And, uh, and then started really thinking about it in earnest. Like, man, if you know, if we could solve this problem, the chances are…The kind of hypothesis at that point is that other people would have this problem. And then that’s when I started, uh, putting together some thoughts to, to approach you, um, to, to really look at this as a, as a product and a service, really, that we could provide a platform to podcasters, to record remote conversations, whether they be with vocal actors or interviews. And, um, and then, um, you know, I approached you with this like hour long kind of dia-monologue, really of, uh, of how this could be possible. Why now? And you know why we didn’t think we were the only people with these problems. That was kind of a risk at the time. We didn’t know, we couldn’t, we didn’t really know how to validate that at the time. Cause we were just kind of coming at this as new podcasters. We didn’t have this position within the existing podcast community that we could easily pick up the phone and like text Harry Duran and ask him, you know, a question, a question about this. Um, so we were just really going off of that at the time. And, uh, and then we started, we started Squadcast, right? Like that’s kind of what it turned into, was that initial conversation. Do you want, wanna add anything about how you thought about it at the time, like about timing or the, the, the industry that we were talking about helping, or? 

ROCK:Definitely. I got a few things. I mean, You know, when you first approached me with it, um, you know, definitely interested because like you said, I kind of introduced you to podcasting, which, you know, I really feel like maybe I’ve introduced you to the Joe Rogan podcast. Cause that’s all I knew at the time. And frankly, um, you know, at that time that’s when I started realizing that there were more, more powerful. I don’t want to say more powerful, but just, um, podcasts beyond the traditional interview style that I had only been familiar with, which was, you know, Joe Rogan or Adam Carolla, you know, the, the big names. And then, and then because of Joe Rogan getting such interesting guests and a lot of those guests having podcasts of their own, I would, I found out about, you know, Dan Carlin and theHardcore History podcast, and that kind of reignited my, uh, Interest and curiosity with history. And of course, the way he’s telling it is completely different than anyone else. 

ZACH:History class. 

ROCK: But it’s like R-rated. It’s like Game of Throneswith real life stuff. But, um, but so, you know, when you approached me about that, I was already thinking like, you know, podcasting is, is something cool. I knew that I had said this at one point, and I’m pretty sure almost anyone has, that’s listened to a podcast that: oh, I should have a podcast or I could create a podcast. You know, they just hear, you know, these guys do it and they make it sound or they make it feel like it’s kind of easy, you know? And, and I’m sure Joe has got his system down, but there’s so much more that goes into it that, that we can call it truly appreciate sometimes. [laughs] But, um, so when, yeah, when you approached me about that, you know, we didn’t know a whole lot. We didn’t know that this industry was like growing, um, you know, or, you know, had a huge spike of growth after Serial. Um, you know, we weren’t like responding to like, oh, this market’s booming. Let’s find something that we can benefit and profit from. You know, it was, you know, you found a problem. You were trying to scratch your own itch. You started, you know, realizing that other people had it. You reached out to me. And I kind of was like: okay, well, you know, I really, you know, I was flattered that you wanted to take on this endeavor and chose me to be your, be your partner in that, in that fight. Um, you know, we didn’t, and we also didn’t know how difficult of a problem audio in general was. I mean, you know, you want to talk about, um, you know, naive, I mean, we were, but, but it’s, it’s kind of cool because like, you know, I wouldn’t have thought it would have been this difficult for me, whatever, for some reason, video just seems like that would be something more difficult to deal with. But, you know, audio’s got no shortage of problems and, um, I mean, I’m proud to be a part of it, man. It’s, it’s, it’s kind of fun figuring this stuff out and you know, now we’re having people that, you know, yeah, sometimes, you know, Squadcast isn’t perfect yet. And it does cause you know, you know, we’re still working things out, but people are so passionate about it when they tell us this because they just, they want it to work. They want to see that problem solved. And so it’s, you know, it feels really good to, to, to come where we came from on reflecting, you know, that conversation that we had about two years ago, uh, to where we are now. And it’s, it’s really exciting to, you know, continue moving forward and figuring other ways to, you know, make it better.

ZACH:Talk about something I’m grateful for. That’s a huge, huge thing that I’m grateful for is that, you know, you entertained that idea. Uh, even though I was coming seemingly out of left field with like all these ideas, we’re going to create this podcast and then we found this problem and now we’re going to solve it. Like, you know, it wasn’t, uh, as articulate as we’ve come to refine it to today. 

ROCK:Nothing was back then. [laughs] But, you know, man, I mean, I, I always knew that, you know, you’ve always been the kind of guy that you put your mind to something and you do it. And, um, I, you know, I like to think I’m very similar in that regard. It’s just, you know, we definitely have different ways of thinking and, and, uh, you know, different mindsets, like the way our brains work. Um, but I always, you know, knew that, you know, whatever you were a part of what’s gonna, was going to work out and. You know, when you approached me about that, I was like, well, yeah, I definitely there’s no one there, no one else I’d rather try to figure this stuff out with you. I mean, and it’s, uh, it’s been, it’s been fun and yeah, I’m stoked to finally be putting this podcast together. And I think it’s going to be a lot of fun because most of it is just you and I hanging out, but then it’s also hanging out with our, our, our customers or the people that we, we look up to, the people that we’re, that are inspiring us, um. 

ZACH: Pushing the envelope. 

ROCK: Exactly. Um, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a good time to be in podcasting.

ZACH:Definitely, definitely exciting. And, uh, to, to bring it back, uh, to the community, um, what was that first step like? To go, um, and kind of come out of our shell after we had fast forward a few months, we’d been working on this developing an alpha and alpha, um, solution to this problem in, in, uh, in a web application. Um, and, you know, we refined it to the degree that, um, our assumptions could kind of carry us with, but, uh, there were some, there were some wrong assumptions, lots of wrong assumptions. It turns out, um, and, kind of, what, what was that like to go, um, and kind of come out of our shell in alpha, maybe pre-alpha? I don’t know, who knows. It was pretty rough at the time. Uh, what, what was that like to come out of our shell at Podcast Movement 2017 in Anaheim, California, we, uh, we chose to sponsor that event. So, um, gratitude while we’re on that topic to, to Ege Ertem, uh, for pushing us, uh, at that time to, to consider, um, sponsoring the event, not just attending it. So, um, just wanted to get that in there to Ege. Thank you, Ege.

ROCK:Yeah. I mean, a lot of, a lot of credit goes to him for, you know. But that’s why, you know, we’re, I guess we, we were smart enough to surround ourselves with people that are going to push us outside of that comfort zone. Um, but yeah, man, I mean, you know, I mean, being the financial guy on the team, you know, I’m kind of thinking about it. Like, you know, our bank account really couldn’t afford that at the time. And there wasn’t a lot, you know, I was still very. Conservative mindset of like, you know, let’s dip our toes in the water type of deal. And,

ZACH:And why, why was our bank account in that situation, I mean, startups are supposed to have cash and get swag and all this stuff like? 

ROCK:Oh, cause we were going to fund it ourselves. And so like, you know, it still required us to work full-time jobs and you know, pretty much everything that went into the company came from you and I. 

ZACH: Bootstrapped. 

ROCK:Exactly. Um, and so. No, I’m proud of it, but you know, it does have its limitations. And so, you know, my approach has always like, you know, I come from an accounting background, it’s a very conservative environment and, uh, you know, financially conservative, especially. I’m not talking politics, but, um, but you know, that’s, so that’s just, my nature is like, well, it’s not in the budget, you know? I mean, but it…

ZACH: We weren’t planning for it. 

ROCK: We weren’t, we weren’t, but you know what, it, it, it forced us to be out there forced us to, you know, our pitch kind of looked into a lot more than I think we would have. Because you know, when you’re talking to people there and they’re telling you that, you know, we’re getting instant feedback from them. And so we learned a lot just in the first hour. You know, I think we learned at first, like, Hey, you know, people really do need this. We’re not just like some problem that we made up or something that only a few people on Reddit and Facebook, and somehow I managed to find them all. You know, it was like, no, this is. There’s a lot of people that, um, are experiencing similar issues.

ZACH:And Podcast Movement, gratitude to the team there for accepting us as first time sponsors. I mean, they had no idea what Squadcast was, who we were. So I think we just reached out to, um, Dan, Dan Franks and said: Hey, we want a sponsor. And I, I think we got one of the last spots even. 

ROCK: And it was like one of the last ones. Yeah, for sure. 

ZACH: It was real, real tight. And, and, you know, the cash was tight, the timing was tight. Uh, Dan took a chance on us. The team took a chance on us, and, uh, we were lucky that it was in our backyard in Anaheim. And then we could, we could drive there as a team and, uh, again, opportunity for gratitude to Andrea Davis for helping us out with, uh, the first, um, the first kind of hotel room to just be able to have a place to stay in Anaheim and, uh, really, really grateful for that, that support at that juncture. It was super early days. So thank you, Andrea.

ROCK:Yeah, no, it was, uh, it was, uh, it was a thrill for sure. We learned, we learned a tremendous amount and, uh, you know. It’s, it’s hard to say what was the most impactful or most, uh, that one thing that we were the most grateful for cause it was just so much, I mean, you know, making the connection with so many people, but you know, none as special as Harry Harry Duran from Podcast Junkies. I mean, he continues to be a, a friend, a mentor and advisor, uh, just, you know, he’s, uh he’s uh. And he does this for everybody. That’s what’s really cool is like, that’s just how he is. Um, but you know, we were, you know, still figuring this thing out. I mean, we still are, but you know. I feel, I feel like we were introducing ourselves to the community back then. And then now when I come back to these kinds of events, I definitely feel like we are part of the community. These are our friends. We’re going to see them and reconnect with them and then obviously make many more, um, hopefully.

ZACH:Deepen those connections.

ROCK:Definitely. Definitely. Um, and, and I mean, that’s what those events are for. I mean, there’s some good information that you certainly get out of them. But I think that’s what Podfest did really well, uh, was kind of forcing you to, they like did a lot of the breaking the ice for you in some, some interesting ways, um. 

ZACH: Right out of the gate. 

ROCK: Mhm, mhm. So, um, yeah, no. I’m, I’m, I’m glad that we learned early that it’s important to go to these events and that it’s important to sponsor at these events, even though yeah. It’s expensive and it’s a lot of effort and, you know, standing at a booth for hours and hours talking to people, shaking a bunch of hands, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s draining. 

ZACH:Yeah. You’re absorbing a ton of social energy. So it’s all positive and all awesome and all that stuff, but it’s, there is kind of an upper limit to the amount of energy you can absorb. Kind of like going to a concert. Right. You’re just taking all this audio energy in and it’s coming at you. Um, so the, um, it’s all awesome, but it’s just, uh, yeah, it’s one of those things where we, I don’t know, had you ever worked a booth before? I hadn’t. 

ROCK:Worked booth? I mean, I worked at booth that at events like job fair events and stuff for, for the company I worked at. Um, but it, it’s much different because, you know. It’s almost the opposite. Like they are wanting to pitch us when we’re at that booth. And yeah, I mean, we want them to, we want to pitch the company and explain all the cool things that we do and why we’re different and what not. But at a job fair, it’s more so the students are looking for a job and we’re looking for the right candidates, but it still feels like we have more of the power. Where I felt like in this, um, setting, being a company that was new, unknown, uh, none of us really had podcasting experience. Um, you know, it definitely felt like we were outsiders trying to, you know, say: Hey, you know, we’re, we’re here and, you know, tell us what you think. And we you know, is this something, do you guys think this is something? And if not, what do you, I mean, what, what do you think? It’s that simple, like what you do you think.

ZACH:That’s another quality, um, that I’m super grateful for within the podcasting community. Is that level of openness, like. Like you said, were we were outsiders at that point in time, um, because we didn’t have street cred with our own podcast and we hadn’t, you know, a hundred, 200 episodes in, uh. All these people we’re talking to at this event, you know, they’re in that category, but that didn’t stop them. That wasn’t a roadblock for them looking at us as being an opportunity to solve a problem so that I don’t know that all communities or all industries have that quality of openness to new ideas. Right? Cause it’s like, oh, all our problems are solved. We’re in a pretty good spot. And sure, something might come along every once in a while that shakes things up. But largely then, it was problems are solved. That’s one of the things I find exciting about podcasting is there are still, you know, there’s still a list of challenges that, um, are opportunities to overcome. And the community, you know, is, uh, is really vocal about those things. Um, and, and then also doesn’t shy away from, from fresh ways of looking at solving them. So I’m really grateful that that’s a quality of our community. That we’re part of with podcasting is, is that, that openness to new ideas? 

ROCK:It seems so obvious now. I mean, this is a, this is a community of talkers, right? So I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised that they would tell us what they think. But yeah, no, it’s, it was it’s, uh, it’s to our benefit, you know, and, and the fact that, you know, we, we want to listen, you know, I think we’re, we are good at listening, but we are also always trying to be better because we’re just seeing how beneficial that is to really just understanding anybody. Um, you know, I feel like most of the, the books I read, podcasts I listen to, audiobooks I listen to. It’s like, it’s all about figuring out empathy and trying to get an, you know, trying to listen to that person, trying to get their perspective and really, you know, reach them and, and, and, um, yeah, so. We are here to listen. 

ZACH:Yup. Yeah. And it’s one of the qualities of, of, um, of improv that we’ve talked about, where it’s like, if you come in with your own agenda, then you’re just gonna kind of try to derail the conversation in your own direction. Um, but really it’s about. Uh, listening and being open to what the other people are, throwing material. Other people are throwing your way. And then it’s about, you know, um, amplifying that and giving, giving them more material to work with and playing off of each other in that way. And that’s where I feel, you know, uh, uh, a start-up or Squadcast is certainly how I think about it as where we’re engaged in like a real-time improv when the community is given us material to work with. So, you know, challenges to overcome and, and, and then, you know, we have our own kind of ways of looking at things, but those are largely informed by the conversations we have. And listening, listening to the community. So it’s, um, it’s something that I’m, I’m really proud of that we’ve been able to cultivate that ongoing conversation with the community for, for the last two year, for the next two years beyond that. You know, this is an exciting time to be in podcasting as, as you noted. And, uh, we’re, we’re definitely not stopping here. So some of the, what are some of the conversations we have lined up, um, to, to talk with some of these people in that that we’ve become, you know, connected with and fortunate to, to have a dialogue with, um, to talk about some of the challenges, opportunities, and ways podcasting as a medium is, is being moved forward? What are, what are some of those guests that we have lined up? 

ROCK:Yeah. So we’re fortunate that we have a lot of really interesting guests, really interesting shows that, uh, are recorded using Squadcast. So we have, you know, coming up, Liz Covart from Ben Franklin’s World podcast, um, friend, we met at Podfest and she’s been kicking butt ever since. Uh, Eric Hunley, one of our like, and he’s from the Unstructuredpodcast. He’s like, I call him one of the OGs of Squadcast. Cause he was like one of our first, uh, like annual signups and stuff. And, you know, to get that, you know, someone that, you know, believes in us for a year, I mean, it was, it was, it was, you know, it’s great when you’re building those first five, those first 10, you know? And so he was part of that. And what’s really neat about Eric is that he started in May of 2018 and now we’re recording this in November, and he’s close to hitting a hundred episodes. And he said he had, he definitely will, um, before the end of the year. 

ZACH:Bigger and bigger guests.

ROCK:Oh yeah. He’s had some huge guests. He’s had, you know, Jordan Harbinger on. He’s had, of course, you know, he’s had some of the podcasts and heavyweights like Dave Jackson. He’s got some really interesting people on there. Um, and so that’s awesome that he was going to come on our podcast and share that experience with us. We have, um, Gordon from Those Conspiracy Guys. That’s another one. They have a, they have a very interesting use case for, for Squadcast. And so that’ll be interesting to uh, dive into that with him and, you know, get his experience and his story with podcasting. Uh, you know, we have, Mike Thomas has been a huge proponent of ours. Um, you know, and he, he uses his, um, pod, podcast for the it’s like, um, educational podcast for his company. I’m blanking on the name right now.

ZACH: Innopsis. 

ROCK:Thank you for saving me. So, yeah. So, um, you know, I’m looking forward to chatting with him as well. Uh, cause that’s a different use case than what we’ve seen. 

ZACH:It’s like multiple hosts. So it’s kind of like a network in that way. Um, I know that’s a similar way that at Harry Duran is using it as well. Cause he has his, um, podcasting service, FullCast and. So they kind of operate similar to a network where there they’re offering some coaching service to their hosts and then they Squadcast is part of that workflow that they have established for them. Um, so I’m sure we’ll get, we’ll get to have a conversation with Harry, uh.

ROCK:You stole my next one. [laughs]

ZACH:Um, I know we’ve, we’ve gotten some, uh, some cool confirmation from, from some cool guests and a little bit further out. We want to be respectful of their time. So everybody’s busy. 

ROCK:We got um, Scott, from Hellbent for Horror. That’s another one. S.A. Bradley. Yeah. And he just released his book, um, Screaming for Pleasure. So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to talking with him, seeing how the book deal went and how that’s kind of helping his, his brand and his podcast. He’s a guy that, uh, you know, I really admire the way he’s, he’s really chosen a niche and gone all in and the niche fits him. I mean, he’s very authentic with it. I mean, um, so. Um, I really want to see that guy win. Not just cause he’s, um, you know, a fellow East Bay, you know, resident. 

ZACH:Oakland podcaster’s meetup group. 

ROCK:Correct. Um, you know, he’s, and obviously he’s a, a Squadcast, uh, user as well, you know, I mean, I don’t want to see him succeed just for that. I just see him, you know, he’s so authentic, he’s put so much into it. Uh, I really hope that, um, you know, his, his podcast, uh, and book takeoff, in the way that he, he wants. And, um, you know, cause you can, you can see his passion is, is in it. I love listening to it. I’m not like a horror fan myself. It’s a, it’s a podcast about horror movies. But, you know, this is what a good host does. He gets you into it because he’s so passionate. 

ZACH:I pre-ordered my copy for as a Christmas gift to my sister-in-law. So hopefully she doesn’t listen to this before Christmas, but, uh, I got your back Lindsey. 

ROCK:Oh, nice. Nice.

ZACH:Other other guests. I know we got a Jay Connor from The Extraordinary Negroespodcast, line it up, and he’s making this transition to doing more live events. They’re doing their, I’m proud to have an opportunity to help sponsor his first, um, his first live event that he is hosting and that’s called an extraordinary event on December 13th in Los Angeles, California, where, uh, we got an early opportunity to help sponsor. That first event, so really stoked about, um, showing up in L.A. and engaging with the L.A. podcast community, um, who we’ve, uh, we’ve been going, we’ve been fortunate enough to attend two events within their, their local scene. Um, not their meetup yet, but we were able to go to the, to The Outliers Podcast Festival hosted by, uh, Ever Gonzalez and the EarBuds collective, uh, at The Village Workspace in, in L.A. that was an awesome live one day, sorry, two day long event. 

ROCK: We went to a meetup on Saturday as well though. 

ZACH: Oh, we did. Yes. Thank you for reminding me. Yeah. 

ROCK:We’re getting really efficient with these trips now.

ZACH:Yeah. And, um, that’s, that was a few months back. And then, um, and then made some friends there with the folks at Simplecast, met the, met the, um, co-founder Jeanine with Simplecast and some of their…

ROCK:Don’t forget, Addy, man. Addy’s a huge supporter.

ZACH:That was huge. Addy. And… Uh, so, um, that, that was awesome. And then, um, they, uh, they gave us a, you know, a tip on attending a, an event outside of podcasting, but, um, still definitely related. Um, and that’s the VidSummit event in L.A., which is for primarily video creatives, but, um, I believe Pat Flynn and Paul Colligan, um, got opportunities to, to speak there on how, uh, like a, you know, multi, like a content strategy for video could definitely include and be empowered by audio storytelling and, um, in, in podcasting and how a workflow with, uh, two mediums is more powerful than, than one. Um, and then, you know, some of the interesting things there around the parallels between video and podcasting and how you can have this, this multicast strategy. Um, so that was awesome to meet, to meet Pat and Paul in person. And, um, engage with the community there. Like there was a, there was a podcast, you know, bubble within the video bubble there. So it was, it was awesome to, we can all be friends, right? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There’s a lot of parallels in video, video, definitely. Um, it has a place, a relative relative to podcasting.

ROCK:And we’re just trying to get that video money. That’s all.

ZACH:[laughs] Yeah, it was really cool to see. Um, and also like to see how, um, you know, video kind of in some ways has a headstart on, on audio, um, on podcasting. So it was awesome to see like what an event of that magnitude, uh, with a, with a community that’s matured, um, kind of in advance of podcasting in some ways, or it matured in its own kind of right. And relative to podcasting and parallel. And, um, just to see some of that stuff and how, you know, we can start to see podcasting events evolve into something like a VidSummit, like Podcast Movement is definitely on that trajectory being the largest event. Um, so it was awesome to really connect, uh, with the, the Simplecast team there. Like I said, Pat and Paul, um, some of the other folks within podcasting, we were fortunate enough to meet there. So, you know, it’s been, um, it’s been awesome to engage with the L.A. podcast community and, and, uh, Jay Connor has the next event that we’re, that we’re, I’m stoked about there. And that’s an extraordinary event. and, uh, look out, look out for us there at December, December the 13th. Um, any, any, uh, any kind of other, other hosts that we have lined up, um, that were, that were excited for?

ROCK:Well, I mean, Pat said he would be on the show, so I’m still working with him trying to figure out a date and, you know, so we’ll get that one. I guess, you know, like who, who is, uh, who’s a guest that you really want. That, you know, maybe it doesn’t sound realistic today, but I’m sure Joe Rogan never thought that he would have some of the guests that he has on.

ZACH:Elon Musk? [laughs] Yeah, no, I think for, for us, it’s, uh, like I said, it’s the people, it’s the people either, you know, addressing challenges, turning them into opportunities, pushing the envelope. So there’s the, on the creative side, there’s a bunch of super awesome creative folks within the audio drama space. That’s one area that is, seems to be really, kind of a, like I said, an emerging genre, a new genre and, um, that, uh, we we’ve, uh, we know, we know Sarah Rhea Warner with the Girl In Spacepodcast and the Write Nowpodcasts. I think she would be a fantastic guest to, um, to work with in the future. Um, get some of her ideas about how the medium is, is evolving. Um, Chris and John Dennis from, from the Podfest event in, uh, in Orlando that happens at the beginning of every year. I think they’re definitely pushing the envelope on what an event can look like in podcasting. Um, and I know they’re even working with Harry Duran on his, you know, own event, um, kind of the day before Podfest this year. And I think that’s called Clarion. Um, so looking forward to, to speaking at, uh, speaking opportunities at both of those events, we have our application in. And so fingers crossed on that. 

ROCK:Um, we’re going to need to eat, eat, eat or Wheaties every day that week.

ZACH:Yeah, the marathon. Definitely. Definitely. And then also within Florida, you know, from coming from California, we’re not used to that humidity. So that’s its own unique challenge that we need to, we need to turn into an opportunity. Um, but really that’s kind of how, how, uh, I think about it, how we tend to think about it is, uh, as we don’t, we don’t use rhetoric like problems within podcasting. We look at them as, as challenges, and I’m coming at it from that that perspective, challenges can be morphed into, um, morphed into opportunities. Right? And that’s really how we think about all of the macro problems that we’re helping address, like remote interviews down to the, to the nitty-gritty of how this mic works with this interface on this operating system, right? Like those are, those are challenges that we need to overcome alongside the community and really turn those into opportunities, um, to create something completely new. And that’s, that’s how I would sum up Between Two Mics. Right? Is, uh, the reason we’re doing this podcast. We’ve been afforded this position, this opportunity within the podcast community to, to work with these creatives who are pushing the envelope. Um, turnings challenges into opportunities and, uh, and really, you know, moving the whole thing forward as, as a group, as a community. So, uh, look forward for episodes. Um, I believe we’re on a, on a two week, we’re going to be, uh, sticking to a two week release cycle on, on these. Um, you can subscribe, and find, find Between Two Micsanywhere you listen to podcasts. And, um, I think any, anything else we want to add to wrap up? 

ROCK:No, I think you nailed it. Obviously, if you want to record remote interviews and sound awesome, check out Squadcast.fm. And, uh, what’s our promo code for the, Between Two Micspodcast. 

ZACH:We’ll do B 2 M. B-number two-M. And that’ll get you one month free of Squadcast in addition to our 14 day free trial.

ROCK:Giving away some stuff. That’s nice.

ZACH:Yeah. Yeah. So, um, we’re super available. We can find us, uh, find us at, @Squadcast.FM on all of the socials. On Medium. And, uh, and then like Rock said, our website and then also, um, Between Two Mics, we’ll be establishing that on, on social media. We have, uh, betweentwomics.com betweentwomicspodcast.com. So, uh, we’re pretty easy to find, hit us up and, uh, you know, continue this conversation and be part of this conversation with us on improving, uh, improving the challenges, turning the challenges into opportunities in podcasting. If you, if there’s a challenge that you face within podcasting, uh, let’s talk about it. I think that’s, that’s the whole point of this, uh, of this show so that we can, uh, figure out a way to help. 

ROCK:Cool. Well said. 

ZACH:  So this is, uh, episode zero of the Between Two Mics  podcast with Zach and Rock from Squadcast.fm. Super proud, super honored for the opportunity.

ROCK:Yeah, baby. 

ZACH:This has been another episode of Between Two Micswith Zach and Rock from Squad cast, the only way to record remote interviews like this one in studio quality. Visit squad cast.fm/resources to download your free remote interview checklist. And as always, happy podcasting.