

Dan Benjamin of 5by5 talks about his equipment, business [audio] - arrogant
http://5by5.tv/afterdark/75

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jakewalker
It's obvious that Dan puts a ton of care and time into the quality of his
broadcasts, and it shows. The 5by5 shows, both in sound quality and in
content, make you feel like you are sitting in a room with Dan and Host, and
could join the conversation if only you too had a microphone.

It's a hard dynamic to pull off, but Dan's pulled it off.

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mcav
A lot of radio shows online that I used to listen to (primarily on TwIT)
became dull and repetitive after a while. With so many tech podcasts already
around, I wasn't sure if Dan would be able to make 5by5 successful. Against my
expectations, he's managed to find hosts and topics that remain interesting
even after months and months on the air.

I have a slew of Back to Work and Hypercritical in my backlog that I intend to
get through; those are my favorites. I used to listen to The Talk Show and
Marco's show, but both of those started to rub me the wrong way after a while.

I hardly have time to do anything outside of work these days, but it says a
lot about 5by5 for me that I'm willing to listen to the old episodes even
after they're no longer the latest episodes. Keep aiming high, Dan. Keep it
interesting.

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frou_dh
I agree on all counts. Shows like Macbreak Weekly and TWiT itself became
insufferably tedious. They are like raucous dinner parties while the 5by5
shows (usually 1on1) are still conversations.

Back to Work is essential, Hypercritical is good, and Build & Analyze and The
Talk Show are decent if you don't mind a bit of Apple-club party-line
(Benjamin/Mann/Siracusa are also Apple-club, but not annoying about it).

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arrogant
Dan Benjamin, creator of 5by5 and host of various shows on the network, talks
about his home studio's past and current equipment, and then answers questions
from the chat room. If you're at all interested in producing podcasts, or in
what it takes to host a successful podcast network, this is worth a listen.

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johnohara
The setup Dan describes is high-quality, affordable over time but not over the
top, and sensible across the board (no pun intended).

I invested an hour and a half and saved countless hours of research.

Thank you for this post.

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AndrewWarner
The setup he's suggesting is cool, but it costs a lot of money is isn't easy
to set up.

If you want a less expensive & simple alternative, try this:

MAC \- Connect: Skype \- Record: Ecamm Call Recorder \- Mic: rode Podcaster or
Blue Yeti \- Edit: ScreenFlow (or iMovie) \- MP3: use the converter that comes
with Ecamm Call Recorder

PC Use the same thing, but try VodBurner for recording and editing.

What I love about Dan's programs is that he can get the people he has on to
_care_ about their sound because he has them on consistently. At Mixergy, the
entrepreneurs I interview don't seem to have the same appreciation.

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randall
My expectation when I was doing some of this stuff was to expect to have
flight kits for folks with a usb soundcard + mic + IFB with in-plastic tips.
Theoretically it'd be "plug in the USB soundcard" and go.

Points of failure and all of that... but it was a fun thought.

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juddlyon
Big fan of Dan, but he sure takes his time getting to what he uses. Fast
forward about 6 minutes in for the goods.

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arrogant
Yeah, it takes a while to get to the interesting stuff; he was also
interacting with the chat room during the show. There's good information in
the FAQ portion of the show as well, like his reasoning behind NOT doing
double-ended recording (anymore).

