Latest / Abbey the Podcast Lady / Avoid Overspending: Smart Gear Choices for Podcasters This Holiday Season

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Avoid Overspending: Smart Gear Choices for Podcasters This Holiday Season · Abbey the Podcast Lady

• 0:05
  Hello and welcome to a special bonus episode
• 0:08
  of Abby the podcast lady I am so glad that you
• 0:11
  could join me today Usually we release episodes
• 0:13
  on the first and third Thursday of the month
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  But as I'm recording this it is actually Black
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  Friday the day after Thanksgiving and I was poking
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  around the internet and I was Looking at a few
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  things that I've had in my shopping carts. There
• 0:26
  is a lot of Products that I use for podcasting
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  that I end up having to buy more of as I use
• 0:31
  them and need them more and have to Replace them
• 0:33
  and just want to add extra things to my setup
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  So it's just kind of poking through some things
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  that I've had in my cart and on the back burner
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  and I was kind of thinking to myself, you know,
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  if I was a beginner podcaster, what kind of thing
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  should I be shopping for on Black Friday and
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  Cyber Monday or adding to a Christmas wish list
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  or, you know, just kind of keeping an eye on
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  as we go about this holiday season, because usually
• 0:53
  there's some pretty good deals on certain items.
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  So I thought, you know, why don't I share my
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  knowledge of starting a podcast with everyone
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  else? Because that's the whole point of this
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  show. So I wanted to show you a few things that
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  I am scoping out this Black Friday for my podcasting
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  journey that I hope can help you on your podcasting
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  journey as well. If you are just listening to
• 1:12
  the audio version of this show, be sure you check
• 1:15
  out the video version as well because I actually
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  will be sharing my screen to show you certain
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  products on certain websites to help you make
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  the best decision for you to start your own podcast.
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  If I was a beginner podcaster, the first thing
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  that I would want to make sure I purchased is
• 1:29
  a microphone. And my microphone recommendation
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  is always, always, always going to be the Rode
• 1:35
  PodMic USB. I am a huge fan of this microphone.
• 1:39
  I'm actually using it to record this podcast
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  right now. What I love about this microphone
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  is it is so dang versatile. Like I'm using it
• 1:47
  right now plugged into my MacBook Pro via USB
• 1:50
  -C. I've used it before where I've plugged it
• 1:52
  into my cell phone via USB -C. It is so great
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  because not only does it connect with a USB cable,
• 1:58
  it's also an XLR microphone too. So if you're
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  using it to just with your laptop, you can just
• 2:03
  plug it right in. Or if you're using it with
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  a soundboard, something like the Zoom Pod Track
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  P4, or I use a Rodecaster Pro, the first generation
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  of them, you can connect it via XLR cable as
• 2:14
  well. What's great about getting this microphone
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  as a starter microphone is that it can grow with
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  you. So whether you're just starting with you,
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  this microphone in your cell phone or you, this
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  microphone and a small recording device with
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  an XLR cable, it can kind of do everything. And
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  I am not going to lie to you. I'm kind of rough
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  on equipment. I try to be gentle with things
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  that I'm just naturally just kind of rough with
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  everything I own. And this thing has been through
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  the wringer. I have accidentally dropped this
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  microphone. It has been thrown in backpacks.
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  It is thrown in bags and just brought everywhere.
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  It's really stood the test of time. If I take
• 2:53
  the microphone cover off on it right now, you'll
• 2:55
  see a few dents and dings in it, but it still
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  sounds great. It still works great. I love that
• 3:00
  your headphones can plug into the back of it
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  so you can monitor your audio through this microphone.
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  It is a great piece of starter equipment. If
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  you're just looking to get into podcasting or
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  have a great piece of audio gear, I cannot recommend
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  the Rode PodMic USB enough. This thing is awesome.
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  Plus it also comes in white on Amazon. As I'm
• 3:18
  showing you, you will pay a little bit more to
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  buy it in white but I like buying microphone
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  covers for mine. I have like five different colors
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  of mic covers for my Rode pod mics. And I just
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  think it's a great piece of audio equipment that
• 3:29
  you can get a lot of mileage out of, especially
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  if you're just getting started in podcasting.
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  So definitely keep an eye out for deals on the
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  Rode pod mic USB this holiday season. Now, if
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  you're looking to do a multi -person interview
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  or co -hosted style podcast in the new year,
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  I would highly recommend looking at the Rode
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  Wireless Go Gen 3. microphones. You might be
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  thinking, well, I have those like teeny tiny
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  little like plug into the phone clip on microphones.
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  Those work fine, too. But if you want something
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  that is going to be a truly great piece of audio
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  gear that's going to last you a good long while
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  and be able to grow with you, I think that the
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  Rode Wireless Go series is a great place to start.
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  Actually, let me show you something. Sitting
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  right next to me. I actually have my rhod wireless
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  go gen 2 in their charging case I never leave
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  home without these microphones. I absolutely
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  love these things I have the second generation
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  which I think only came in the color black. I'm
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  not gonna lie to you I have been looking at upgrading
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  to the wireless go gen 3 which is one that you
• 4:30
  see on the screen right now purely because they
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  come in this color lilac purple I love this color
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  everything that I can have in that color. I have
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  in that color like literally my computer mouse
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  is that lilac color. My mouse pad is that color.
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  Everything I can get in this color purple is
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  great. And what's awesome is that if you have
• 4:47
  a signature color for say, you're starting a
• 4:50
  podcast for your business and your brand color
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  is this aqua blue. great, you can get that color
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  microphone orange, pink, purple, red, this really
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  cool like terracotta color. There's a lot of
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  options with the Rode Wireless Go Gen 3. And
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  I think that it'd be so fun to just match your
• 5:07
  brand's vibe with your microphones. And these
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  microphones are truly great. And like I mentioned,
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  they can grow with you. So I most often will
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  take mine and I keep a little USB. cable in with
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  it. Obviously it's purple. And you can plug it
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  right into your phone and then you have a two
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  microphone setup for out in the wild, on the
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  go, interviewing people. I just use these to
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  do a walking tour. For one of my clients, we
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  recorded a podcast of her giving a walking tour
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  of her new facility that she just opened. And
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  these microphones sounded so good, so clean,
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  so professional. And I just plugged it right
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  into my cell phone. They also work great with
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  cameras. I plug mine also into my Sony ZV -1
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  and they work great for that as well. I'm a huge
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  fan of the Rode Wireless Go microphones. That's
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  not to say you have to buy these, but I think
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  that there's something really great to look into
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  and invest in, especially if this is something
• 6:00
  you want to be exploring long term or honestly
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  dabble with these microphones for long form video.
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  They work for short form too. So the Rode Wireless
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  Go Gen 3 microphones. I think are a great thing
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  to keep your eye on this holiday season, especially
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  if you can maybe get a little discount on them
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  somewhere. I know that there was a price drop
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  on them in the past 90 days. They went down about
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  $100. And I just think they're a great piece
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  of equipment to pick up. So definitely look into
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  those. Also, I should mention this podcast is
• 6:29
  not sponsored by Rode. I just am a big fan of
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  their products. Now I want to get into some software
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  things that you could be looking into this Black
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  Friday. There's some really great software deals
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  going on right now. We're going to start with
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  the one that we're actually recording on right
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  this minute, and that is riverside .com. They
• 6:46
  have a Black Friday deal going on right now.
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  35 % off their annual plans for new users with
• 6:51
  a special promo code that is BF2025. And that
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  deal is going on for a couple more days now.
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  So I think like through the end of This Thanksgiving
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  weekend is when you can take advantage of that
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  Black Friday deal. I've been a Riverside user
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  for... It's been over two years now, I think.
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  I've been a part of the Riverside community for
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  a while. And it has been so amazing to watch
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  this company grow. And the thought and intention
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  they put into every single update they make behind
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  the scenes and making this service better and
• 7:21
  better and better. I love it for remote recordings.
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  I do a lot of my interviews over Riverside. It's
• 7:27
  just so seamless. And then the editing process
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  afterwards is great too. It's really beginner
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  friendly. It's super simple, super straightforward.
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  And there's a lot of great tutorials on YouTube
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  on how to use it as well. So I cannot recommend
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  Riverside enough, especially for a beginner podcaster.
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  This is a great platform to start on. There's
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  a free version as well. You can do a lot of editing.
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  Obviously, you'll get the watermarks with that.
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  But I think the paid version is awesome. And
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  if you can score a deal on that annual plan to
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  get started with Riverside in 2026 to get your
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  podcast going, I think it's definitely worth
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  looking into. Another software that I like to
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  use is Descript and I know that Riverside and
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  Descript are very similar. They have a lot of
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  the same like functionality, but I also think
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  it's very different in what you're trying to
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  accomplish on the back end. I really like Riverside
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  for recording and editing simple interviews and
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  just kind of like single camera shots or screen
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  recording like this. I think Riverside is the
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  way to go for that. But for Descript, I think
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  that their transcript based editing is I wouldn't
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  say easier, but I'd say more thorough and more
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  detailed. And I think that there's a lot more
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  functionality for like multi -cam in Descript.
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  So if you're shooting a multi -cam podcast, I
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  think Descript is a great editing software to
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  use for that. That's what I do a lot of my multi
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  -cam edits for clients on. And I really like
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  that you can... manipulate the camera angles
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  a little bit more than you can in Riverside.
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  So if you're doing more of that kind of production,
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  I think that's the way to go for that. And there's
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  a great deal going on for Black Friday for Descript
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  as well. You can get a thousand AI credits and
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  10 media hours for free. And they have a bunch
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  of different plans that are pretty affordable
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  from beginning to more business people that are
• 9:10
  running podcasts full -time like I am. I started
• 9:13
  at the hobbyist one and it worked great until
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  I just needed to kind of keep upgrading to the
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  business plan, which I just... up to last week.
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  So I had a couple of really big files that needed
• 9:23
  uploading. You could only do it with the business
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  one. We're talking like big files. So just something
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  to look into. There's a lot of great options.
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  And I think that Descript is a great place to
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  kind of level up to when you're on your podcast
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  journey. Maybe you started on Riverside, you're
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  looking to up to a couple more camera angles
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  in the new year. I think Descript would be a
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  great place to kind of shift your energy to if
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  that's something you're into. The next piece
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  of software I want to show you, they're not running
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  a Black Friday deal to my knowledge or at least
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  I haven't seen anything when I was looking this
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  up online earlier, but that is Adobe Podcast.
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  I started my audio journey on Adobe back in college.
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  I went to college 12 years ago, 10 years, 2014,
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  almost 12 years ago. It was a while ago, but
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  I learned how to edit audio on Adobe. And I am
• 10:12
  a huge fan of Adobe Audition. And Adobe Podcast
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  is kind of like the beginner version of Adobe
• 10:18
  Audition, is how I view it anyway, because I
• 10:21
  feel like I was kind of thrown to the wolves
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  when I had to learn Audition. It seemed very
• 10:24
  scary, but it's not once you actually learn it.
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  But I actually had a college professor teaching
• 10:29
  me how to do it. This is a very beginner -friendly
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  way to get some really good, clean audio for
• 10:34
  your podcast. If you're starting it in the new
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  year or starting it from scratch with maybe not
• 10:39
  the best equipment or maybe it's just you and
• 10:41
  a cell phone and you want to clean it up and
• 10:43
  make it sound professional, Adobe Podcast can
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  do just that. And they have some really great
• 10:48
  plans as well. Their free plan includes enhancing
• 10:50
  the speech and enhancing the audio. It's very
• 10:53
  like simple, basic. It gets the job done for
• 10:55
  what you might need it for as a beginner podcaster.
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  Their premium plan includes audio processing
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  for video. You can do bulk files. You can adjust
• 11:03
  things. There's a little more tweaking that can
• 11:05
  be done, obviously, because you're paying for
• 11:07
  the service. But I think it's well worth it.
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  I'm a huge fan of Adobe, honestly, all their
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  tools, but I really like Adobe Podcast. I think
• 11:14
  it is such an amazing tool. It has saved my butt
• 11:17
  and my client's butt. so many times with like
• 11:19
  corrupt files, just needing like tweaks or there's
• 11:21
  like a weird hum or a background noise or just
• 11:24
  taking that echo -y sound out of the room. I
• 11:26
  think Adobe Podcast is something everyone in
• 11:29
  the podcast industry should be using, even if
• 11:31
  it's just to quickly clean up something and send
• 11:33
  it out into the world. I think it's such a great
• 11:35
  tool and I would highly recommend looking into
• 11:38
  it. Like I said, I don't think they're doing
• 11:39
  any Black Friday deals. I haven't seen any Black
• 11:41
  Friday deals, but definitely poke around there
• 11:44
  and get familiar with Adobe Podcast because it
• 11:46
  is just... And then the last thing I want to
• 11:50
  touch on when it comes to Black Friday deals
• 11:52
  and shopping around for podcast gear and trying
• 11:54
  to figure out what you need to buy to get into
• 11:56
  this industry and get into your show and making
• 11:59
  it actually come out of your head and into the
• 12:01
  world. I just want you to know that you don't
• 12:03
  have to buy anything. Like you can use what is
• 12:06
  around you at any given moment. I tell everyone
• 12:08
  the best thing that they can start their podcast
• 12:10
  with is just their cell phone, just their cell
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  phone, prop it up, record. clean up the audio
• 12:16
  in whatever free audio editing tool that you
• 12:18
  can find, and just put it out into the world.
• 12:21
  Share your message with the world. All it takes
• 12:23
  is hitting record and publishing it on some sort
• 12:26
  of platform. So you don't need to go and spend
• 12:28
  an arm and a leg this holiday season to get your
• 12:31
  podcast going if that's what does kind of kick
• 12:34
  you in the pants like buying new gym clothes
• 12:35
  to get to the gym. That's great. So be it. But
• 12:38
  you don't have to buy anything. You can use what
• 12:40
  is around you to make your show happen and make
• 12:42
  your podcast happen. And if you're curious about
• 12:44
  how to do that, I'd be more than happy to answer
• 12:47
  any question that you might have. abbygravesproductions
• 12:50
  .com is the best place to get a hold of me. Just
• 12:52
  fill out the contact form. It goes straight to
• 12:54
  my email. I would be happy to answer. any podcasting
• 12:57
  questions you may have to get your show started
• 12:59
  in 2026. I just want to see more podcasts getting
• 13:02
  put out into the world. I want to see you succeed
• 13:04
  with the dream show that you have in your head.
• 13:07
  Make it happen. And if you need recommendations
• 13:10
  or you need help along the way, that's what I'm
• 13:11
  here for. Thank you so much for checking out
• 13:13
  this bonus episode of Abby the Podcast Lady.
• 13:15
  We will catch you with our regularly scheduled
• 13:18
  episode coming out on the first Thursday of December.