PES 155: Andrew Gelina

The Podcast Engineering Show

My guest is Andrew Gelina - host of Underserved (a podcast aimed at the tech industry) and CEO of the software consulting firm Syrinx.

We discussed so much:

• Shure SM7b (love/hate relationship)
• Shure SM58's
• All mics go through Cloudlifters, SM7B also goes through a dbx 286s
• Behringer Xenyx 1832 mostly just for mix minus to two dedicated Skype machines
• Zoom-Zoom setup (H6 as primary recorder of all vox on separate channels, H5 as a backup off the mixer/backup mode -12db as well)
• Copy 48K/24 bit WAVs off Zooms to a Dell Windows 10 PC (desktop, 4 monitors), import into Reaper
• WAVs rendered, converted to MP3, upload to Libsyn for distribution to everywhere, and use Libsyn for podcast website too.
• Backblaze for backups, Microsoft OneDrive for syncing, and a Macbook Pro laptop for working on editing mobile and experimenting with video.
• Started with Audacity for an episode, then learned Reaper
• Normalize each track separately to -23 LUFS with SWS Extension (free)
• Auto Trim / Split Silence 250 ms -32db (Reaper built-in) on all tracks
• Custom LUA script I had built by Raymond Radet (https://www.extremraym.com/) to do a Truncate Silence like Audacity, similar to Overcast’s Smart Speed
• Each track has iZotope RX 7 voice denoise, breath control, de-ess, mouth click, plosive, adjusted as needed (paid)
• Sonible Smart EQ – learn each track’s voice separately. (paid)
• AWESOME Dugan-style automixer script (free) https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=173289
• Master channel: Ozone 8 to add a little air, Tri-Leveler 2 (free) to get to -16 LUFS, Limiter, Loudness meter
• Render to 48K/24 bit mono wav, watch peaks.
• Custom Python script watches /renders directory, converts WAVs to MP3 using ffmpeg (yes, LAME encoder, I know) and copies out to my private www server for QA.
• Second pass of editing I work backwards using timestamped notes to avoid shifting things out from under myself.
• Libsyn – I think they update tags IN the mp3 FROM their data, not the other way around. I checked in VLC. Other Audacity holdover.
• I would love to help you make Reaper your home – no Sound Forge or separate RX 7 needed!
• Multi-platform Reaper editing is interesting – use OneDrive to allow bouncing back and forth between Windows and Mac editing the same episode/files. Relative paths turned on, copy to /Media. VST paths set for both Win/Mac. Export complete configuration from Reaper (Win) to Reaper (Mac).
• Andrew's Favorite PES episodes/guests: Mike Delgaudio, Dan Dugan, Dan Gonzalez
• My kids can now recite Barry lines when they hear them drop in the car

Thanks for being a great guest, Andrew!

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