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July 16, 2024
Educational Podcasting: Jeff Bradbury’s Proven Techniques on Achieving High-Quality Podcasts
Educational Podcasting TeacherCast
How can you effectively integrate podcasting into educational settings without breaking the bank?
Join us and learn some of the best tech for educators on a budget, and the importance of recognizing and categorizing educational podcasts for broader visibility.
Today, we are chatting with Jeff Bradbury, the creator of TeacherCast, an educational channel devoted to helping teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches integrate technology into their classrooms effectively. With 13 years of experience in podcasting, Jeff has established himself as a bridge between educational technology and classroom application.
Jeff shares his journey, initial struggles with video editing software, and why he has stayed loyal to Final Cut Pro. He also delves into his technical setup and shares invaluable tips for podcasters aiming to reach new heights in audio and video quality.
If you’re engaged in podcasting and looking for proven, cost-effective solutions to achieve a professional sound and appearance for your show, you won't want to miss this episode!
In this episode we cover
- The early technical challenges in podcasting: Jeff discusses his initial struggles with video editing software and why he has stayed loyal to Final Cut Pro.
- Strategies and equipment for effectively integrating podcasting into educational settings without breaking the bank.
- The importance of recognizing and categorizing educational podcasts for broader visibility.
- Jeff’s current setup from the Rodecaster DUO, Shure SM7B, to other essential gear for creating professional-quality podcasts.
Subscribe to Jeff’s TeacherCast YouTube Channel
Follow TeacherCast on Twitter
Follow Jeff Bradburry on Twitter
**As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases of podcasting gear from Amazon.com. We also participate in affiliate programs with many of the software services mentioned on our website. If you purchase something through the links we provide, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The team at Podcasting Tech only recommends products and services that we would use ourselves and that we believe will provide value to our viewers and readers.**
For additional resources and insights visit podcastingtech.com or follow us on social media:
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PODCASTING TECH IS POWERED BY:
- Captivate - Easy, professional podcast hosting to create, grow and make money from your podcasts
- Podpage - Build a beautiful podcast website in 5 minutes
- Riverside.fm - Record Podcasts And Videos From Anywhere
- Castmagic - 10x Audio Content With AI
- Podgagement - Engage your audience and grow your podcast!
EQUIPMENT IN USE:
- Rodecaster Pro 1st Gen (No longer available). Consider the Rodecaster Duo or Rodecaster Pro II
- EV RE20 with 309a Shockmount
- Rode PSA1+
- iPhone continuity camera but previously the Logitech Brio 4k
- DCMEKA In-Ear Monitors
- BusyBox Smart Sign
Transcript
Mathew Passy
Welcome to Podcasting Tech, a podcast that equips busy
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entrepreneurs engaged in podcasting with proven and cost effective
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solutions for achieving a professional sound and appearance. I'm
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Matthew Passy, your host and a 15 year veteran in the podcasting space.
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We'll help you cut through the noise and offer guidance on software and hardware that
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can elevate the quality of your show. Tune in weekly for insightful
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interviews with tech creators, behind the scenes studio tours, and strategies for
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podcasting success. Head to podcastingtech.com to subscribe
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to this show on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform and join us on this
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exciting journey to unlock the full potential of your podcast.
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Chatting today with Jeff Bradbury. He's the creator of TeacherCast,
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and he has been doing the TeacherCast Educational Network for quite some time. I've known
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him for, gosh, close to 10 years now, but it is always a pleasure to
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chat with him. Jeff, thanks for being on the show. Great to see you, man.
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How's everything? Everything is going well. How about yourself? Doing well. Happy
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to be here. Excellent. So for those folks listening who aren't
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familiar, tell us what TeacherCast is all about and what you podcast about
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primarily. TeacherCast this year is celebrating its
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13th anniversary. It's a it's a huge number right there.
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But, essentially, we are an educational channel. We service teachers, administrators, and instructional
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coaches trying to basically be that conduit between the educational
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technology world and the classroom. I have an opportunity to help
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teachers, create amazing digital learning lessons and also
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interact with the educational companies that create the applications
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that enable teachers to help their students meet those standards.
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And how did you get started doing this 13 years ago, or why did you
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get started? You know, I listened to a podcast,
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actually. I found this podcast talking about, you know,
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Apple products. It was called Your Mac Show. I met the guy just like
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you and I talking. And next thing I know, he and I were doing a
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show called AppleAid, you know, 2 guys talking about their phones.
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This is back 2010. And I said to him, look. I'd
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love to do something like this, but for teachers. And he says,
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great, this is the last episode we're doing together. Go off
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on your own. And it was just basically that, you know, mama bird throwing the
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baby bird off the tree and saying, go fly. So
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July 11, 2001, I said, alright. We're gonna do this. And I came up with
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the logo, the first version of the website and,
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a couple days later, you know, let's record the 1st TeacherCast
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Podcast and the rest is history. So cool. So what were
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some of the early issues that you dealt with more from the the tech side
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of things that, you know, you had some help, it sounded like, in the
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beginning, but, you know, what were some of the big hurdles you tried to overcome
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at first? My 13 years of doing this happens
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to coincide with Final Cut's 13 years of
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doing this. So when I first got started here,
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I tried to use imovie, but that
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was back when Final Cut Studio was in its, you know, death days.
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We didn't know it at the time, but that was the ending of that. And
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I remember buying Final Cut Studio on disc, and then next thing
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I know, Final Cut 10.0 comes along. And you
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know, was it a $150 or whatever the price was? I've
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never looked back. Every single thing that I've always done has been on Final
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Cut. And I guess to say a
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true answer to your question, the biggest
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hurdles technological was that, number 1, I've been using the same application,
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but number 2, kinda wish some of that application would grow up more.
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There's a lot of you know, Adobe's got their things, and StreamYard's got their things,
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and Riverside's got their things. But Final Cut's kinda stayed the same
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with here's where we are. So, I mean, my my biggest hurdle is myself.
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I just don't wanna change platforms at this point. Yeah. I mean, you get so
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comfortable doing something. It's muscle memory. You just instinctually know how to do
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it. When you try and switch programs, it's it's such a you feel
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so clumsy, and it's so difficult, and you never take
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the time. So you just revert back to old habits because you don't wanna waste
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too much time. Well, people always ask what's, you know, what's the best program for
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this and what's the best program for that, my answer is always simple. Which
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one can you memorize the keyboard shortcuts for? It's ingrained in my
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hand of you know, here's the blade tool and the cut tool and the
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it okay. Fine. It's I'm using Final Cut.
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(laughs) Well, and even today, the nice thing is you can kinda multistage your
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production. Right? You can have your final cut for your basic editing
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and then bring it into another program to maybe add some pizzazz or some jazz
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or maybe do preliminary editing in somewhere else and then bring it over to Final
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Cut for adding in transitions and different effects and, you know, lower thirds
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and things like that. So it doesn't just have to be the one program that
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you work with anymore. No. It doesn't. And many programs right now
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are offering a lot of, you know, plugins and variations and things like that.
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So, you know, I'm starting to figure out where to build your shorts
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and where to build your other clips and audio, things and stuff like that. So
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So after doing this for 13 years, what is the preliminary tech stack that
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you're working with right now? Well, I upgraded recently to the
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Rodecaster DUO after being an original RODECaster for a while.
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I've got my Shure SM7B. I just upgraded to the
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PSA what is it called? One plus.
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I got 2 giant 47 inch force k
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monitors, in front of me that I'm using. I've got 2,
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Elgato cam lights, I think, is what they call them here.
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And, of course, I've got my Logitech stuff. I got the MX,
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MX 3 keyboard and mouse. And,
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can't forget your stream deck in front of you, which I honestly, it stares at
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me the entire day. I can't remember the last time that I even used it,
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but it's right it's right there. It's kinda fun to look at. Yeah. It is
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it is a fantastic device, but you really have to have a lot of shortcuts
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in your life programmed into it, or you have to be doing, like, a lot
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of live switching in production to really get the most out of it. Fair. Right?
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I forget that it's even existing half the time. Yeah. I
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sometimes feel the same way. What about for your camera? Currently, I'm using
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a Logitech BRIO. It's a 4 k camera. And even with that, it's
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you know, I I'm not recording in 4 k. I I was
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cleaning up the the room today. I think I've got 3, c 9
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twenties. I have a couple AI cameras. And
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so, and then, my friends at Logitech just sent me a Mevo,
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so I'm looking forward to trying that out. Those Mevos are really it's a fantastic
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unit, especially if you're trying to capture ISO recordings
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because each one of those cameras has its own SD card built into it.
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Plus you have the, you know, iPhone or iPad app for controlling what's
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going on in those cameras. So if you wanna do live switching during a stream,
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it's super easy. The only downside I find is that because they're only
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Tech 80, the minute you have to zoom in whether it's
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on the camera itself or when you're doing your editing, it it just like it
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pixelates quickly. So you gotta be real up close and personal with those cameras.
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And for me, you know, the majority of the stuff I do is audio.
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So, you know, I'm gonna be moving more towards video this
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year now that I'm up in my new studio, is all looking nice and things
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like that. But, I mean, most of my stuff is primary audio. And
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so for me, just get in, get the audio done. Final Cut is
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my audio editor because it's all got the, you know, the Apple Logic back
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end and stuff like that. So, you know what? We're having fun here. Like I
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mentioned, I just got done today, in fact, finalizing what
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the studio is gonna look like, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the
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year. Nice. So take us through that duo real quickly. What made you go with
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the Rodecaster duo versus something else? $200 less.
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(Mathew breaks out laughing) That was the answer. Right? Like, you know, I knew that
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I was gonna go for the RODECaster 2. When I was using the RODECaster
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1 for the last many years, it was the Shure into the
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DBX286s, which, you know, it's a nice
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machine, but number 1, it doesn't have an off switch. And number 2, so
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many knobs and switches. How do you know you've got the thing dialed
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in? So I knew that when the Rodecaster switched over, it
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was just a matter of time. And now it's I mean, how
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does it sound? Right? Like, it's just a matter of plugging everything in, hitting the
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right buttons, and running with it. It's literally as plug and play as you possibly
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can get. Yeah. I mean, I tried that Rodecaster 2 for a while when it
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first came out, and my my struggle with it was is that it was so
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much better or so much more advanced that it became so complicated.
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And my fear was if that if clients had a problem with it, I wouldn't
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be able to walk them through because so many things can go wrong so
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easily. Whereas, with the original Rodecaster, somebody could call me. I could be driving. I
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don't even need it in front of me. I could tell you exactly where to
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go, exactly what the problem is. But, once I saw that duo, right, this
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little tiny box that you could fit on your desk with just the 2 inputs
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because, come on, most of the time we're podcasting from home. We don't need 4
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mics, right, in our in our offices or our basements and whatnot.
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It's just a great device, and I I am looking forward to getting my hands
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on one of those And the nice thing is is if you are working with
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clients, I mean, it's all into Rodecaster Connect or whatever they're calling
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that software. So in other words, you can do a screencast with a client,
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and all of the programming is on their desktop screen.
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Yeah. That is, that that's that's pretty nice.
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So since you work with teachers, since you work with educators, since
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usually, you know, there are budget constraints and budget issues, What's
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typically your recommendation for them as far as what kind of equipment to get
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to be able to do the job well?
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I'm glad you asked that. And for the last decade or so, it's
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always been how do you define the term Podcaster? I mean, I do work a
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lot with school districts who want to do live morning announcements. Right?
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And a live morning announcement could be as easy as just get
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on to StreamYard, and you're good. Right? A live
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morning announcement could be everybody get on to a Google Meet or a Microsoft Team
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or something to that effect. Right? I am the guy that comes around that
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says, you don't need any of this stuff. You have a Chromebook that's worth $200?
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You can make a podcast. You can use their editing. You can use their whatever
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it happens to be. If you are gonna go up a notch, yeah, get yourself
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a decent webcam. Even a couple years ago when I was teaching middle
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school and and starting this particular school district that had
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morning announcements, my camera was a Brio, and I had it on a
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tripod, and I had a a 15 foot extension USB cord
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so that way it could get farther back and and take a wide shot
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of everything. And you know what? That was perfectly fine.
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I think that the Podmegs are great. I
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think if you can afford a Rodecaster,
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fantastic, but you don't need to. You can look at
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all the stuff that Rode offers, Logitech offers, and for, like,
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$600, if that, you could have a nice little setup
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for a school to create anything.
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Incredible. You could definitely tell that Jeff is a podcaster because you asked him a
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question and he has a nice tight but full of information
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answer. You're extremely detailed and yet
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extremely concise in the way you talk. It's clear you've been behind the microphone
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for over a decade doing this kind of stuff. It's all fun.
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So as a reminder, check out the teachercast educational network at
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teachercast.net. Before we let you go, we have a few questions that we're asking
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everybody in the show. One is, is there a place in the podcasting
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world where you would like to see some improvement, not
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just from the technology side, but maybe software distribution?
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Like, what's what's the thing that you wanna see fixed ASAP?
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Recognition. I have seen so
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many I don't wanna say awards, but let's call it
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that. Right? You know? Nominate your favorite podcast
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in, and then they list a bunch of categories, or
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nominate your favorite pie you know, it's that kind of a thing.
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Right? When you're a teacher creating a
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podcast, naturally, you put yourself in education. But,
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Matt, you're doing a show teaching somebody about studio.
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Technically, you could call yourself an educational channel too.
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It's recognition. Right? We have
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a lot of teachers who are not in the
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studio sponsor me 100,000,000 downloads.
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You know? We've got teachers who are building professional
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development for other teachers. I would love to see some
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recognition for that. And, you know, I talk about this a lot with some
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of the, also, the bigger names that are out there. I don't wanna give out
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other names right now. But, you know, when can teachers
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start to be recognized for the work that they are doing? And I advocate
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that a lot with people who you and I both mutually know with each
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other. And how do we get teachers
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recognized beyond that? If I go into the educational
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channel on any platform, you're
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very hard pressed to find a teacher
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podcast, but there's hundreds of them out there.
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And so because of that, I created the educational podcast directory. I
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reached out to hundreds of teachers who are doing this, and they said, give
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me all your information. I stuck it on a big spreadsheet, made it visual,
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and I now have that over on Teachercast. It's, like, 400 different teachers.
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It's I always say it's the world's largest educational podcast
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directory because it's only teachers.
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And I wish that there was some kind of a way to be
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recognized as our own category. So you can call it education, but
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let's make one for K12. Apple used to have that, and then
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they took it away. Yeah. I feel like I don't know why the
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categories are so restrictive or why they
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are set up the way that they are set up. I feel like there's a
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lot of different types of podcasts out there that are hard to
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fit into the current boxes that are available in the podcasting world,
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and I don't understand why it has to be so narrowly
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defined, why they can't broaden out the categories and the niches and
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all that things. And I don't know what you categorize this
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particular show in. I would like to see it be a how
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to versus being, quote, education. That's my goal. That's
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that's the difference. Right? Like, there's a how to is how do you paint a
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wall, how do you make a website, how do you whatever it is. For
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me, education, I define that as K12 or K20.
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Coming out of an academic institution should have the education tag and not everybody else
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is just, you know, like I said, doing a how to. So since
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we're talking about podcast, I'm gonna skip one question, come back to in a second.
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What is the best podcast that you are listening to
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today? Right? Like, what is the show or a couple of shows that as
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soon as they hit your device, they are definitely getting
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listened to that day or or very quickly? I listen to a lot of
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wrestling podcasts. I love the storytelling. I
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love how they can capture an audience.
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Right? These are guys that are professionals at getting on a
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microphone. And as you just basically said, you have 2 minutes, get your
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point across, get off the window, and go. And I learn a
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lot from that. I kinda have a stand-up
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comics approach to podcasts, meaning I don't listen to
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other educational podcasts. I don't really listen to a lot of my friends'
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shows. I don't want my own
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show starting to sound like somebody else's. And
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and I picked that up from listening to stand up comics.
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You know? They of course wanna go to the club. They wanna support their friends
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and all that stuff, but they don't wanna listen to it because they don't
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want their own act sounding like somebody else's.
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And so where I support all of my friends and all my, you know, friends'
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Podcasting and your shows and all these other things, I'm listening
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to something completely different, but I'm
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listening to those shows to learn what does an intro sound like, what does
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a closing sound like, how do you do guests, And I'm trying to pick apart
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not just the context because I love wrestling, but how do you
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actually put together a promo? And I try to bring that into my show.
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Very interesting. Is there a particular wrestling podcast you'd want to, mention?
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I've been a something to wrestle with Bruce Pritchard for a long time. I
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just you know, it's all the nostalgic of what happens in the eighties with
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wrestling in early nineties and stuff. You know, the child of the eighties
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comes back out all the time. The glory days. The whole clothing,
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years. Alright. Well, since you just redid your studio, this might
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be a difficult question to ask, but I'm always curious. Is there a
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piece of tech that you really have on your wish list? Whether
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it's something that exists right now that you know you wanna purchase or
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even something that you would like to see created to solve a
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particular problem that you have. I need an editor.
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(Mathew breaks out laughing) And I know exactly what you're thinking, Matt. My editors are
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10 years old, and they're going to bed right now. But, I have
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been able to, for a budget, put
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together the setup that I need. And, yes,
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it's easy to go on to YouTube and look at the big setups
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and things. But the point is you and I are not
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having 5 or 6 professional guests in
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our living room. And so heavy lights,
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heavy scenery, chairs, boom arms out
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the lot, we don't need any of that stuff. We need to
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have the ability to sound good, and we need to have the ability
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to quickly turn around an episode. And, you
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know, we're recording this in the beginning of March. I've got
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shows lined up every single weeknight for the
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next 4 weeks. I need to be able to come in, record, turn
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around, and and dump it out as quickly as possible.
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So, you know, we were going back to final cut, and and, you know, what's
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my apps of choice? I need to have something that's gonna help me do
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that as quickly as possible, and that's that's why I've stuck with Final Cut. I
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can take an hour long show. And because I'm recording it for
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my editor, my editor being me,
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I'm recording it in a certain way so that way I can do 10 minutes
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and it's done. Very, very impressive. Well, if
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you wanna check out that work, it's at teachercast.net. You could check out Jeff's show
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in particular or any of the 400 plus shows or if you're a teacher, check
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out the Teachercast educational network. We've been chatting with the creator of
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the teacher cast network. He's also a dad of lovely triplets
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as he alluded to a little bit earlier. Jeff Bradbury, thank
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you so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much, my friend.
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Thanks for joining us today on Podcasting Tech. There are links to all
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the hardware and software that help power our guest content
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and podcasting tech available in the show notes and on our
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website at podcastingtech.com. You can also subscribe to
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the show on your favorite platform, connect with us on social media, and even leave
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a rating and review while you're there. Thanks, and we'll see you next
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time on Podcasting Tech.
Jeff Bradbury
CEO
Jeff Bradbury is the creative force behind the TeacherCast Educational Network. Apart from being a seasoned podcaster, Jeff is an ISTE Award-winning and globally recognized digital learning strategist, educational broadcaster, public speaker and entrepreneur who started his journey discussing Apple products on the show "AppleAid."