Welcome to Podcasting Tech, a podcast that equips busy entrepreneurs engaged in podcasting with proven and cost effective solutions for achieving a professional sound and appearance. I'm Mattew Passy, your host and a 15 year veteran in the podcasting space. We'll help you cut through the noise and offer guidance on software and hardware that can elevate the quality of your show. Tune in weekly for insightful interviews with tech creators, behind the scenes studio tours, and
strategies for podcasting success. Head to podcastingtech.com to subscribe to this show on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform and join us on this exciting journey to unlock the full potential of your podcast. Well, here on Podcasting Tech, we love talking about equipment and how to improve your home studio, and who better to bring on than one of the home studio experts in the space. We are chatting with Junaeid Ahmed. He is a home
studio architect at hacks and hobbies podcast. He also runs home studio mastery.com. Janaed, thank you so much for joining me today. Matthew, I'm so excited to be here. You know, I'm talking about tech, like, day and night inside my head to people. And, you know, what better way to talk about it than here on podcasting tech? I I have to ask, how did you find yourself becoming an expert in home studio creation and advice for people who are trying to do podcasts and
video content? Like, what was your journey to get to this spot where you are today with your beautiful home studio mastery polo shirt with the logo and everything on it? It looks great. Well well, it all started when I was a young child at, like, probably 11, 12 years old, and my uncle gave me a film camera. And I was, like, fascinated. I'm like, oh my god. I get my own get to have my
own camera. And since that day back in 89, I've been taking photos and and been fascinated by the technology that photography and then comes through. Fast forward, we are in the era of smartphones, cameras. Like, they're they're everywhere. So not only was I taking photos on film cameras and film videos cassettes where you had to actually put VHS tapes in there or 8 millimeter tapes. I've been recording video that far away. Now in the past 15 years, I was awarded or I was given as a gift
for my anniversary. My wife got me a DSLR camera, and I'm like, oh my god. This is the real deal. This has everything, the larger sensor. So I took my time and I studied over 15 different courses on understanding the tech behind camera, framing, composing, the lenses, the sensor. Like, what do all of these terms mean? And as I learned all of this stuff, how to use these cameras for video, interviews, for you know, shooting video. Like putting all of that together, I got more acclimated.
Now as the pandemic hit, I had already been shooting short films, short videos, interviews with people for other people being behind the camera. But as the pandemic hit, we were all, you know, in our home offices working in front of a little webcam. And as I continue to, you know, do my work and, learn about technology, I had stuff sitting around, and I see Pat Flynn do these live streams every single day on YouTube. I'm like, woah, dude.
What's going on? Why is this so clean? Why is this so sharp? And he shares that you a blog post on all the tech that he was using in it. And as I read that blog blog post, I was like, wait. I have all of the gear that he's talking about. Like, what? So I started putting this stuff together. And as as people saw me on video on these Zoom calls, they kept asking me, dude, your video quality just went from a webcam to this highest quality like we'd never seen
before. Like, what's going on? So I was like, well, I'm using this camera. I'm using this. I'm using these lights, blah blah blah. I'd I'd started telling people what I was using. And so they're like, dude, would you consult me? Would you help me? So that integrated into it's like, okay. I'm I'm gonna do this now. I'm I'm gonna help people set up their studios. So for the past 3 years, I've been helping people set up their podcast spaces because we're still working from
home. You could be an entrepreneur. You could be a podcast guest, podcast host. You could be a virtual speaker. We're all are confined in our homes, and we have the ability to now level up and add the proper, gear in this space so that we look and shine on camera. Because, again, first impressions matter. Right? This is our first impression in a lot of different places. I'm part of these, amazing
group, Connected Leaders Academy. They have these weekly calls, and I could see people's videos and, like, oh, you need some help. You need some help. Or they have these virtual events every, every quarter where they're creating a piece of content, they're creating a speaker reel, or they're creating a talk that is now going to be evergreen.
Right? So your content is going to live on forever. And as I have guests on my own podcast being interviewed, you know, viewing over 304 100 guests on the podcast, I'm, like, telling them, dude, you're going to you're creating this content to elevate your own brand. So that's what basically the journey looks like, and that's what inspired me to, you know, make it a formality and put this together. And as a probably you've probably seen, I wrote the book on 7 stages of home studio
evolution because not everybody's gonna go and be like, hey. I wanna go be a broadcast master. There every every single one of us are at a different stage of our studio setup. Maybe you start with a smartphone, maybe with a nice microphone, and that gets you to the hobbyist stage. So I get I have different stages that say, hey. Here's what's going on, and here's, how far you can go.
Yeah. It's true. I mean, you you will have folks who see that Pat Flynn post and go out and buy all that stuff, spend a few $1,000 only to find out that, you know, their podcast strategy isn't all that, you know, fruitful. They don't enjoy doing it. They don't have the time for it. And, you know, having spent all that money or they're not performing, the frustration is just that much higher. And so, you know, it's always better to start smaller. Right? Like, you can
always evolve. Your your audience is going to enjoy seeing your quality get better. Your studio look nicer. Your picture get crisper. Your lighting be better. So I like that you, you know, it's not just everybody needs to sound like they're on NPR right now. Like, there's a there's a step in a stage for where everybody has to be. What would you say is the thing that most podcasters get wrong with
their home studio? Like, what's that one spot that 9 times out of 10, you know, somebody even somebody who hasn't looked at your stuff or, you know, following all the other advice, like, what are they gonna get wrong? So the first thing they're gonna get that wrong is the lighting element, because if people can't see you, well, guess what? They're not gonna connect with you. And the second thing, the second thing is the most important investment in any podcasting journey.
You might be a guest. You might be a host. You wanna get a good microphone so people can actually hear you. You know, we communicate with language, with speaking. So if they can hear you properly, guess what? Your messaging is getting across, and there might stay a little longer to hear that story, to hear what you're gonna talk about, to hear what you have to say, and then they might live, with bad
audio later on. But that first impression, you know, good lighting, good audio, is super, super important. And the third thing that I always mention, and you even if you don't focus on the first two thing, make sure that you're framed in properly in the shot. If you've seen television, if we've seen television, you know, news agencies and whatnot, they have the shot set up where your face is towards the top of the frame, and then you can see the rest of the body or, you know, the bust
or whatever. That's gonna set the standard because our eyes are much up much higher than the rest of our bodies. So, again, having you in the top of the frame, framing yourself properly is probably the number one thing that anybody can do without having to spend any money. Yeah. You know, it's funny when you do watch television, when you watch new shows, any any talking head, any panel, you could probably put, like, a stencil on your television and that person, they're, like, they'll all
be in the same spot. Their head will all start here. Right? We'll all get to about this line on them. When they, you know, are putting graphics on the screen, they'll shift over to the right and, right, the graphics will always be up here. So, yeah, it's it's it it it does make a big difference when it's when it's not correct, the the viewer and the listener, like, just subconsciously is uncomfortable.
They don't know why, but it just it it's not right. And and I am a 1000% guilty of this, especially now with this new setup that I'm working with trying to get my framing right and and shifting. So, you know, so look at Janae's setup, not mine while you're watching this video. It's looking very clean. It's looking very nice. With lighting, why is that so difficult? What what is it that we tend to either we're not thinking about or we're overthinking that messes us up?
So here in the US, we are used to using soft white light. Now this is yellowish in color. It's really good on your eyes, and it keeps you, you know, in a much more mellow mode. Right? So it's great for home. And so throughout our homes, we have much yellower lighting. And because of that, we tend to, you know, fall victim of this by using those same lights in
our studio spaces. Now there's nothing wrong with these lights, but the thing is these lights are designed for ambient look ambiance and more for, you know, just hanging out. But when you're in studio, you want to use lighting that's designed for studio. And the light coloring for that is mainly similar to what you would get from the outside, the daylight lighting. Right? So it's it's cooler in color, and you can actually tell the difference of what
kind of light is coming in. As you turn on the lights in your room and as you have light coming from the outside, you'll see 2 different tones of white. So one is bluer, one is yellower. So you wanna make sure that you have the bluer lighting set up in your space because that's going to, help make you stand out the more you know, in more accurate ways, how you show up, on camera. It's so interesting you mentioned that. We we moved into a new house
a few years ago, and, you know, you're doing all these things. And one of the thing first things I had to do was I had to go through and change a bunch of light bulbs. And, you know, you look at the branding in the GE box, and it's like, oh, this is refreshing. This is revealing. This is and they all look super nice. And then you put it in, and you realize it's wrong. It's just wrong. And and my wife was like, nope. Gotta go back and find the other ones.
And, yes, having that softer light just changes the way the house looks. It just feels warmer and more comfortable. And, you know, with your with your video content, you wanna go for that more professional look, that that better, that better look. So once again, for anybody who is curious or anybody who has a thinking about doing, podcasting, thinking about, you know, revamping their home studio,
what's the process like for working with you? So the the number one thing I have, a 4 point assessment on my website, home studio mastery.com. Click on the booking link or click on the 4 point assessment. The first thing that I ask you is, hey. Where are you going to be recording your videos? So ask, you know, home the dimensions of your room. So we're doing analysis of your room to understand, hey,
what your room look like. And, you know, I ask for some photos. And then once I have that information, then I can give you a better idea of what it's like or what you can do to level up your space and and build out that space. So the way people work with me, either they're, you know, you're reading the book, 7 stages of home studio evolution, going through the the 5 day challenge that I've put together, which
helps you, you know, teach you all of those 5 things. I also have a 8 week course that, again, goes in deeper. But if you don't want any of that, you wanna work with me, then, you know, we go through the 5 day sorry. We go through the 4 point, studio inspection assessment, and we figure out, hey. Which way do you wanna work and give you a list of gear? There's a few downloadables as well I have, provided that you know, you're as somebody who's thinking about a studio or somebody
who's already creating content, it's already on top of your mind. Okay. I need to do this. I need to do this. So you're already in that buyer's journey of, okay. I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking about this. So the things that I offer, you know, are in line with where you might be on the journey, and it might actually get you closer to getting better at, putting those things together.
Nice. So once again, it's it's jinead Ahmed at home studio mastery.com, or you can check out the hacks and hobbies podcast through the end, hacksandhobbies.com. As you mentioned, there's also the book, 7 stages of home studio evolution. We'll have links to all of those in the show notes so you can easily find and click through and, engage with Janae if you need a better home studio. So before we let you go, we do have a couple of questions that we
like to ask everybody who comes on the show. And I'm excited to get your the second question answered, but I'll the first one is always, is there a a place within podcasting, listening, creation, dish whatever? It's like, is there something you'd like to see improve just in the podcasting industry in general right now? You know, podcasting have come a long way, and it's an evolution. And if if we can look at the past 4 years, podcasting has blown up because it's it's you know, number 1,
it's been around for 19 plus years. In the past 4 years, it's grown exponentially to, you know, almost 5,000,000 podcasts at one time. And what's what's amazing is that what I love to see is more people jumping in to create a podcast because not only is it a personal development thing. You know, when when I was going to English class, English composition, my teacher told me, you got a free write. Like, what is free writing? Like,
just write. Like, but I don't I don't know what to write. Like, just write. Just just get things out of your mind. Just get things out of your head, and put it on paper. And that's what podcasting has done for me. You I started documenting my journey. It made me a better person because not only am I learning from the people around me, but I'm also clearing my head of all the blocks that it might have.
So, anybody starting podcasting is a good place because you're growing yourself and you're helping, develop your mental ability as well. You know, I've never heard of or thought of podcasting like that. It's a opportunity to clear your head. And I'm gonna I'm gonna really sit on that and think about that, and and I think that's gonna help me a lot in some of the other things that I'm working on. So I appreciate that answer. This one is probably gonna be tough
one to to, you know, stay concise on. But is there a piece of technology out there, whether it's out there and you just haven't bought it yet, or somebody hasn't created it yet that you would like to see or you'd like to get your hands on?
You know, that's a really good question because for the past few years as I've been running my own podcast and trained my producer to do all the things that I don't wanna do, there's always technology that can speed up that process, and I'm looking to build that technology myself to not only help you in the preproduction process but also in the postproduction process because production is where you come in and we're having this conversation. So this is production.
This is the shortest amount of time you're gonna spend in podcasting. The smallest, the least. Right? 15 to 20 minutes, 30 minutes is all you're gonna spend in the production phase. And it's true for literally everything. Film, TV, like postproduction, and preproduction is where it takes the most time. So podcasting is in in the same boat. Now depending on how higher a quality you want that podcast to have, you're gonna have to spend that much more mind energy
in the beginning of it. And once you have those things figured out, you could then spend more time in spending you know, doing the production where you can now batch produce 10 episodes. You know, you spend 50 minutes to, you know, 4 hours. Now you've you've recorded 10 episodes. And because the system is so streamlined, you can spend more time in then, you know, post production. So the technology that I'm looking for is that helps me
create that workflow that automatically tells me, okay. Here's the next step that we need to do. Here's the next step that you need to do. Here's the next step that your guest needs to do. Here's right? So it's basically taking you along the journey. Now PodMatch has recently added, something called workflows that kind of walks you through step by step of which stage of the podcast episode you're in or which state of the post production you're in. So it
kind of helps you. But if it was more automated, that's something that I wanna build and enable more and more podcasts or to jump in and and, you know, utilize that utility because it's gonna help them, create a more higher quality podcast. Well, when you do that, not if, when you do that, because I'm confident you can and will, you let us know. We'll have you come right back on here so we can talk about it and share with the audience. And I'm glad you brought up pod
match. We do have sometimes kiddled with Alex to come on the show here in the coming weeks. So, definitely good to see what they're up to. They've been really growing that platform and adding a ton of fun stuff. So, excited to dive deep into that. Alright. The last question, and and sometimes the hardest one is, is there a podcast or a few that, you know, are on your playlist that you have to listen to when they drop or, you know, you stop listening to something else the day they come out?
Is there anything, right, that just you you always gotta check out? You know, I'm one of the and you're right. You're just, this is a very hard question because I don't listen to that many podcasts, but the one that I do pay attention to is one by Tim Ferris because, he's not only does he have the depth of understanding around a lot of different things, but he also brings in some really cool guests, that are in the, the tech space, the entrepreneurship space, the space that is
around personal development. And being somebody who is a huge proponent behind personal development, you know, I love listening to his stuff. Alright. Tim Ferris. Yeah. He's been around a while. He does it as well or better than anybody else in the space. So that's a definitely a a great suggestion and one that we would encourage people to check out. And once again, while we have you, please, please go and check out hacksandhobbies.com, home studio
mastery.com. Look for the 7 stages of home studio evolution where you buy books. Junaid Ahmed, thank you so much for joining us. And, as I'm sure you're not surprised here. Looking great. Matthew, thank you so much for this opportunity. Thanks for joining us today on Podcasting Tech. There are links to all the hardware and software that help power our guest content and podcasting tech available in the show notes and on our website at
podcastingtech.com. You can also subscribe to the show on your favorite platform, connect with us on social media, and even leave a rating and review while you're there. Thanks, and we'll see you next time on Podcasting Tech.