Interview with LadyWreck on Podcast Journey and Production

Hey, this is Samantha New York, and you're listening

to the truly outrageous podcasters of the Geekcast

Radio Network. Hello and welcome to our studio.

This is Studio 2009. I'm, of course, TF2 and

Mike. Joining me, as always, Steve Megatron.

Hello. Hello. And this is episode 15. Every episode

of The Fives here at Studio 2009, we do a podcast

approach with a special guest. And this time

around, we get Amy, AKA Lady Rack. Hello. Woohoo.

Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm here. I'm good.

Yep. Do all the podcasting things. Absolutely.

For those of you who may not know who Lady Rek

is, she is the former Queen of the Underbase

over at Moonbase too. And she has done numerous

Transformers comics episodes with me over on

the pull bag here at the GCR. And to get started,

we have 27 questions. Getting started as podcasters.

When did you discover podcasts and what was the

first one you listened to? Okay. Ooh, this is

really going old school for me. Um, so I was

probably, let's see. I usually remember it in

terms of transformers, what I was watching at

the time. Of course. Because that's what kind

of, that's what started it all. It was May, it

was the May that they had just wrapped up animated,

Transformers animated, like the last episode

come out. And I was like, I don't remember if

I watched it, but there was a lot of talk about

it on a podcast that I found for the first time.

It was probably 2009, I think. Yeah, it was something

2009. Yeah, I want to say it was maybe 2008,

2009, something like that. I don't remember.

I could go look it up, but then you would hear

me clicking and clacking and there'd be more

editing involved. And at the time I had my first

cell phone. I know this sounds really bad because

it's like, I, you know, this is 2000s, you know,

I, I'd been married for a couple of years. I

had a kid, I had two kids. and they were both

little and I wanted to get like another technology

thing and I wanted to get a little, the iPod

Nano, something like that so I could listen to

audiobooks and put audiobooks on that and listen

to that while I was doing stuff with the kids

and doing stuff around and so my husband got

me an iPod and I can't remember what happened.

So one thing led to another and I looked into

something called podcasts and I thought, oh,

there's got to be some, maybe there's some transformer

podcasts out there. So the first one that I listened

to, um, was TF wire. And it was about those guys.

So this was about when they were winding down,

when they just kind of like, they really hated

transformers. Which is funny. It's like they

just, they had a lot of rage and I just happened

to jump on the bandwagon at that point and going,

wow, these guys, they were hilarious, but they

were very against Transformers. And so I thought,

okay, maybe I should go find another podcast

that maybe is a little more positive. And that's

when I found Moonbase 2 and the rest, as they

say, is history. How long after you started listening

did you want to start your own show or be a part

of a podcast? Okay, so I started listening to

moon base 2 and I got on their their forum They

had just started a new I can't remember if they

started a new forum or whatnot No, they hadn't

started the new one yet. So I started lurking

and started interacting a little bit with people

online for the moon base to forum that they had

and Then they had an auto assembly and everybody,

of course, had an amazing time. And the podcast

content that came out from that was just like,

it made me want to be there, even though I was

on the other side of the planet. About six months

after that, it was like, this happened in August.

So I was like, okay, so animated ended in May.

Yeah. Found TF Wire, listened to it for a couple

of months, found Moonbase to listen to it for

a couple of months. But by August, they had their

auto assembly. So fast forward to the next January,

there was a call put out on the forums that they

were looking for reviewers to review the comics.

And I and one of me, I and myself and somebody

else who ended up being my podcasting host partner.

His name was Matt Kinggrimmy. Both of us answered

the call. And so we're like, okay, sure. I could

read a story and write a review on it. That's

easy. And I did. I wrote my first review. They

sent me a comic. I wrote my first review. I did

not know this at the time, but Matt was also

doing the same exact thing. And then after I

turned that in, I think Dave Wallace, who was

running Moonbase 2 at the time, Uh, he contacted

me and say, Hey, now you have to be on the podcast

with us. And I was like, what? Really? It's like,

there's no way I'm going to do that. But then

I thought, okay, I'll just try it out. It's going

to be only a one shot thing. So whatever. And

so I got on it. I was super nervous, but I had

a blast. And then after that, um, Dave messaged

me and say, okay, now we have to have you on

all the time. And I was like, No way And it just

kind of took off from there I was kind of like

I didn't approach it as I wanted to do that It

was more like Dave said now you're gonna have

to be a part of the podcast and I was like, uh,

okay I don't know how to do that. He's like just

just come on to talk to us. I was like, okay

I'll do that. And then of course Dave was notorious.

I love him, but he is notorious for not doing

any editing He'll just put it out raw At the

time, that's how he was. And there were so many

things that got put into those rough, early podcasts

of me that just, I facepalmed every single time

I heard it, that I started taking my hand at

doing a little bit of editing and sending it

to him and saying, hey, I'll edit this time.

He was like, oh, okay, sure. And so one thing

led to another. And eventually I took over all

the editing duties. And then after a few months

of doing that, I think the June after this, I

think my first one was like, I think in February,

and then we did a couple of weeks where we podcasted.

And I think by June, he said, okay, now you guys

have to have your own podcast. You and Matt are

in charge of doing comic reviews from now on

here. Go. And I was like, okay. So I literally

was just a fish out of water, just, you know,

try to figure out how to make it work. Um, editing

and. having fun doing it and it got really addictive

really quick. So what was your plan in getting

the underbase off the ground? What was my plan?

Yeah, like as in my my model for making it successful.

Sure. Just follow what Dave said. I mean, that

does sound like, you know, I didn't have a plan.

I kind of didn't have a plan. I had no idea what

I was doing. But you know, we kind of took the

moon base to and how they were doing things and

kind of tried to wrap that into something. And

of course, I think our vision started becoming

more. When Matt and I were able to take over

the podcast, we just made it our own. We did

things our way. We had an intro where we would

just talk a little bit, then we would bring up

the news, and then we would go straight into

a review and we'd always have a guest on so that

we would have three people that we could talk

to. I was always the positive one and Matt was

always the negative one, so we balanced each

other out really well. Very cool. Very cool.

Which do you prefer audio or video podcasting

as both a fan and a producer? Um, I wouldn't,

I'm going to go for the audio just because video

adds a whole new layer. And I think that as a

person that listens to audio books, um, and other

podcasts now, I tend to gravitate more toward

the audio because I'm usually doing other things

while I'm listening. And so I have done little

podcast segments for the Radio Free Cybertron

crew. Back in the day, I did that. And I had

to do video with that. And so it just adds another

layer and I have to use something else. And I'm

like, okay, I did kind of get a little crazy

with some of the, the, the video options that

I had, but for the most part, you know, it was

kind of fun, but it's just a whole new layer.

And so I tend just me, I tend to go for audio.

Take it away, Steve with the next set of questions.

So what kind of setup did you have when you started

podcasting and what do you use now? The first

computer that I started podcasting on was about

to die. It was a Mac. I don't remember what it

was called. It was just a small Mac and I still

have it. It still boots up and everything, but

it's like the fan is constantly running so it

makes this really, really yucky noise in the

background, and it sounds kind of crappy. Then

I got a new computer. When I got the new computer,

everything improved, obviously. I started out

with just having a headset. Actually, I take

it back. It was just the Apple iPod, the wired

ones that came with my headset that for my Apple

iPod Nano that I used. It had like a microphone

on it. And so I use that for like the first,

I don't know, six, seven months before I actually

got a headset that was a little nicer. Um, I

got one that had a boom mic on it and it popped

a lot because I didn't know what I was doing

until I figured, Oh, I have to get a little thing

on there to keep it from popping. And so I got

that. And then it was just kind of an evolution

of trying to find the right mic and making it

work. And now I use just a really nice earphone

stereo headset with a blue Snowball omnidirectional

mic. With the editing, I used GarageBand. Let's

see, what else did I use? And I think that was

pretty much it, just GarageBand. And I would

just throw things into that and start editing.

I didn't use Audacity a lot, although I knew

it was free. When you have a Mac, it comes with

GarageBand already. So it was like, hey, I'll

just use this. And I learned how to use that

before I learned how to use Audacity. So I stuck

with what I knew. And then I think that was pretty

much it. Like even for the video editing that

I did, I just used iMovie, I think. Whatever

was on the Mac. I didn't know how to use it.

I'd just have to watch a couple YouTube videos

and play around with it and see what I could

do until I finally figured that out. There you

go. I didn't take any classes or anything. I

just had to figure it out. Yeah, I can definitely

relate to that. If your headphones or your mic

breaks down, do you buy the exact same thing

or do you try and upgrade to something different?

Right now I haven't ever had anything actually

break on me yet So I know I'm really lucky yeah,

I've had headphones go on me, but not my microphone

Well the headphones that I had like this like

I said the I had had headphones at first Eventually

they did like you know the the ones that I was

using the iPod Whatever ones that I was using

they had the microphone eventually those did

give out But I had a backup at the time, so I

just wouldn't use that until I figured it out.

Trying to find what you want in the terms of

headset and boom mic and all of this, there's

so many choices that it's overwhelming. The fact

that I had a Macintosh computer kind of limited

what I was going to use because of the operating

system and everything that I was using. and then

trying to research to find, hey, will this work

with the Mac was kind of tough because most everything

works with a PC, but not everything works with

a Mac. And even now, I mean, I have a new laptop

that's probably six or seven years old and one

of the first microphone, microphone, microphone,

uh, headsets that I, that I bought doesn't work

through. Like the last time I tried to use it

I tried to use it look about two or three weeks

ago when I was talking to a friend on Discord

and it wouldn't even recognize the microphone.

So I was like, ah crap So it just There's so

many different choices. I can't really recommend

I definitely like the the blue snowball Omni

directionals, but they also make one. That's

just just a regular for podcasting. This one's

actually rated for music as well because there's

people that record and do like, you know, guitar

and different things. They use the Blue Snowball

and they recommended it. And my husband plays

a lot of guitar, just classical. He just just

strums and does his thing. And The original time

I say that now, I'm thinking about Mike going,

ah! Sorry. I bought it so that we could use it

with other things as well as podcasting. I've

had it pretty much for a while. I've taken this

to conventions. I wrap it really nice so that

it's nice and padded so it doesn't ever fall

and break. It doesn't get banged around because...

It's not good for the solenoid for you to do

that. Things will just disintegrate if you do

not treat them correctly and keep them away from

my kids. That's been a challenge on its own.

But yeah, I haven't ever had anything that's...

If it broke, the blue snowball, I would absolutely

replace it with another blue snowball. In terms

of headsets, there's so many out there. I probably

would go with a new one that my husband uses

for work. He works for a company that has a lot

of technology stuff and what they would recommend.

I would probably go with one of those. Nice.

Yeah, I've replaced my headphones at least twice

since I started podcasting. Now, I went with

Logitech for a while, and now I have a Mackie

headset. Nice. Yeah. I think Logitech was the

one that I had. I had a whole bunch of different

setups in the beginning, and then back in, I

think, 2014. One of our other podcasting friends,

Dustin Miss Prime, Dustin Van Coor, showed me

these JVC cans and I'm like, okay, I'm sold.

I've only had to replace them once so far. I'm

on my second pair of JVC cans at this point.

Nice. Nice. Yeah. Did you think that you'd be

podcasting for as long as you have? Nope. When

I started that, I did not expect that. I did

not expect to podcast for five years. When I

say podcasts for five years, because some only

come out monthly. Ours was weekly. It was every

Tuesday we recorded, every Wednesday it was published.

That was that way for five years. There was actually

a time where we split the podcast. I would take

two people and we would review a comic and Matt

would take two different people and they would

review a comic and I got to do all the editing

on both of them. Oh, fun. Yeah. So we would be

putting out like, you know, podcasts like crazy.

I mean, it would it would definitely be like

we would still go out once a week, but instead

of having. Like one of them would get published

one one week and the next week could be something

else But we would still be recording so I would

have footage to kind of go over and do things

with we also did interviews we interviewed a

lot of artists writers and I think we even got

Andy Schmidt one time too. So Yeah, we just we

just did a lot of different things. So we just

as we did the podcasting we just got an idea

and we pitched it to each other and figured it

out what we wanted to do and just went and did

it so It was you know, we could do anything we

wanted like I said Dave said here go have fun

And so we did Nice. So how have your podcasting

goals changed since you started compared to now?

I still want to do it Like I I would absolutely

sit down and start another podcast if I had the

time to do it I would absolutely do that again

My goals definitely would revolve around editing

because I prefer to do it myself. I don't want

to pay somebody else to do it. Yep. And so it

would probably be, I would try to keep it more

concise and less. As long as it takes. Thank

God we're in the same time zone now. I don't

have to stay up till 3 AM anymore. Yeah, I know.

I'm getting older. You guys are getting older.

I'm sure you guys figured this out too. I have

a family. I have kids. It was great when they

were younger, but now it's like I've got so many

moving pieces I can't even keep my brain straight.

enough to be able to do my own podcasts. But

I have ideas. I have lots of ideas that I've

started writing down and going, oh, what if I

did this? If I was to start another podcast again,

I would definitely have a vision. What do we

want to overall arching stuff? I'd have to be

able to come up with enough content to fill a

month, a couple of months, several months. of

just content, even if it's brief and concise,

concise and to the point. At least, you know,

we'd have that. And I'd also have to come up

with like a new jingle and maybe like a new,

like one of those things that, you know, you

listen to some podcasts where they just have

this little thing that they do that's just unique

to them. And every podcast has their own and

they're all unique to the subject that they're

talking about. Like I've listened to a couple

of writing podcasts and they, you know, make

it short because blah, blah, blah, blah. Or another

one where I listened to a hacker, a hacker podcast.

And what makes his unique is just how he starts

it and how he ends it is like really he does

these little jingle things. So it's you kind

of have to do that because it's part of you are

doing something that's supposed to be entertaining

people. And so my vision of podcasting is to

you know, fit that bill and to be interesting,

entertaining, and something that people would

like to listen to for however long it is. Hopefully

not three to four hours. I don't know. We'll

see. It depends on the topic. If it's Transformers,

I don't think I've ever heard anybody say, oh,

it was just too long. Usually it's not long enough.

Are you gonna do this one in this one of this

one? I was like, no, no, no So it just and it

also depends on your audience. I mean, that's

definitely something that you have to think about

is your audience How how they how much they can

it, you know take yeah, I Think for me it's more

of a thing of how much can I sit here and record?

If they're not entertaining that's like That's

kind of thing. I've listened to quite a few Quite

a few like really rough. Hey, I'm a Transformers

fan and I want to start a podcast and then they

record for four hours and you're like Okay, what

did I just listen to because there's a lot of

swearing a lot of aches and hate And they didn't

even like Transformers. Why do they want to bring

podcasting into this? And then there was maybe,

maybe 10 minutes where it was ultra hilarious,

where they just got in this little groove. They

didn't talk over each other and they like said

something coherent that made me laugh. That was

like honestly funny, but that was only 10 minutes

out of four hours. Yeah. So All right. So that

totally we've grown out of that. Yes. I mean,

I still curse, but that's just me. I meant like

the four hour podcast talking about nothing.

It's like I said off air. I mean, you know, I

go and I edit things and be like nine minutes

of all fair stuff. And I'm like, Oh, that's why

I use edit points. All right. As far as your

podcast listenership, you kind of already started

talking about these questions as a listener.

What defines a good podcast for you as a listener?

Okay. Knowledgeable content. Like there has to

be like one of the ones that I listened to it's

called the dark night diaries. I'm I know I'm

totally plugging them. But okay, we'll check

them out. Yeah. So it's it's a hacker podcast.

And it's quite fascinating because everything

he does his own investigation, he interviews

people, but it's like he breaks out of the interview

to kind of summarize certain parts. But how he

does it is just so interesting. And what he has

to say, he has a lot of passion because this

is his livelihood. This is what he does. He works

in the industry in different parts of the industry.

He's hacked himself, but he's in the technology

biz. But he's doing this on the side for just

himself. And I like it because it's just... He

has a different take that I don't think I've

heard from any other podcast. And so that's why

I keep coming back is because it's genuinely

interesting and listening to him talk about things

that get him psyched is I like that passion that

that passion will I will keep coming back. I

literally in the last See, when I first started

listening, I was instantly hooked. I thought,

Oh, I really like how this guy has a setup. You

know, sometimes it I don't think we've ever had

a podcast with him that's over an hour and a

half long. So it's pretty to the point, but it's

also very well. He's very good at researching

all of the information that he puts out there

because he'll like talk about like a specific

situation or a specific person or this thing

that is new that maybe you haven't heard of.

And it's just, it's really interesting. And so

that's what I really like about that. When it

comes to sad run things, I think it's really

important that you get a group of people, maybe

not like all of them at the same time. But I

think that three is a really good number for

podcasting because it's just It's one of those

things where if there's two people that run the

show and they have a guest then you guys have

the you've worked out how to Talk and not talk

over each other right you pause enough to be

able to Have an interaction when you get more

than four people it sometimes can get a little

awkward and so Some of that can be fixed in editing,

but not all of it Sometimes when people are talking

over each other or there it gets really heated

and you're like, ah, I don't know how to go I

don't know how to fix this you can't sometimes

you just can't but you know, I think that really

helps when people have something interesting

to say so that not everybody agrees with the

same thing. So that they're like, Hey, I'm going

to take this point of view and I'm going to take

this point of view. And they both kind of fit

together, but they're just different. And I think

that the interest in the words and the way that

you describe things is really important. As a

listener, what does a podcast have to have to

draw you in? These are hard questions. They're

not easy answer questions either. Nope. And you're

only our second podcast approach guest. As a

listener, what does a podcast have to have to

draw you in? I think this one kind of works a

little bit with the previous question because

it has to have a topic. If you're going to talk

about writing, then the podcast has to be about

writing. If you're going to talk about blah blah

blah blah, you're gonna have to stay on that

topic. I think it's okay every once in a while

to kind of go off topic, but I've also edited

a lot of things where they've gone off topic,

and it might be funny, it might be relevant,

but if you're, again, get back to the time length

here, you're like, ah, eh. Do you, I really want

to listen to four hours of this. And that's funny

because we did not, I did not send you these

questions and you're pretty much answering them

as we go. Cause question 11 is as a listener,

do you prefer short 30 minutes to an hour and

30 minutes shows or do you prefer longer podcast

episodes as in two hours or more? Depends on

the podcast. It really does. It depends on the

podcast and it depends on the topic. Absolutely,

yeah. As a listener, do you start at the beginning

of a podcast, the most recent episode, or do

you jump around? I mean, obviously, if it's like

a cartoon review podcast, you probably should

start at the beginning, but if it's something

where they're reviewing Fahrenheit 451 in one

episode, but they're reviewing A Light in the

Attic in another episode, you don't necessarily

have to have had listened to. The Fahrenheit

451 episode before listening to a light in the

attic. Yeah. So with this one, it depends on

whether or not I've been introduced to the podcasts

like early. Um, and it also depends on how far

back it is. When I first started listening to

moon base two, they had been on the air for like

four years. And there was no way that I was going

to go back and listen to all of it. I listened.

to the stuff that had just recently come out,

which was actually in a good way, the right thing

to do, because they talked about the news and

they talked about stuff that's coming out right

now, stuff that they liked, stuff that they hated,

stuff and how it works. And, oh, I got this new

thing. I unwrapped it. And, you know, this this

new transformer transforms this way. And they

were reviewing that like live. So. A lot of the

content was specific to the time to make sure

that you were actually, you know, in the day,

like right now, if I'd gone back to stuff that

they had had before, it would have been interesting

to see what had happened before, but it was a

little it kind of dated it to a point where it

might not be relevant. Whereas the podcast that

I listened to about hacking. It was when i first

started it only had a year's worth of content

and we're talking about two episodes a month

that he's come out with so it wasn't too hard.

To go through and like listen to the whole thing

and i quite literally did within a month. I kind

of finished on it like a big deal. So because.

It's funny because one of the ones that I listened

to I just found it I think last year the year

before and it started in 2018 and I'm like I

got to start at the beginning because it was

more of a thing of at the time they were going

through what was going on in their lives and

at the time both of the the guys wives were pregnant

So okay, you kind of have to keep up with that

Yeah, kind of a thing. But yeah I guess it just

depends because you have to evaluate. Like I

said, I was able to sit down and listen to the

hacking podcast without any problems. Literally

just, and it was, it was entertaining enough

that it just felt like, Oh, I want more. Ooh,

I'd like to really hear more. I'd like to hear

what he says about this. Ooh, this is how this

topic looks interesting. I don't know anything

about it, but he always just. Has this it factor

that sounds he has something interesting to say

and how he describes things and Talks about the

topic is quite Interesting, so I can't not listen

But that being said I also like I said and with

a couple other podcasts radio free Cybertron

They had so much content and some of it was on

the interline Sometimes some of it was on the

YouTube on YouTube and some of it wasn't And

so I didn't really go back and listen to all

of the stuff that they have, but I stayed up

to date. No one wants to go back to 1999. No,

no. Yeah. But again, it just, it depends on what

you're looking at and what the podcast is. For

me, when I find something new, I just look and

see, one, how long is it? Two, do they include

anything that has like up to current dated stuff

that's going on like right now? Which means maybe

I might want to be listening to the stuff now

and then going back and listening to stuff later,

depending on how many episodes there are and

how long they are. Because if there are only

20 minutes, okay, sure. I'll go back and listen

to a whole two, three years worth of, of podcasts.

I can do that. But if it's, if it's up to, if

it's, you need to be up to date on stuff, then

I'm going to be listening while that. And I don't

know if I can, if I don't have enough time to

be able to. Do both, then I probably won't. I

also started out when I started listening to

podcasts, taking notes, detailed notes. So I

do have the first six to eight months of all

of the podcasts that I listened to with Moonbase

2. I have notes, very extensive ones, and sometimes

they would reference stuff. And I would go back

and find that podcast and re -listen to it sometimes

when they would reference things. So I was a

little crazy. The only other person that I know

of that has done something like that was Charles

from Transmissions. Yes. He used to be like one

of our listen to the underbase. We'd get notes

from him and I would just go, Oh, he's doing

what I'm doing. Or what I did back in the day.

That was really surreal is to be like, Oh, I

used to do that. And now I have a fan of our

podcast doing that over our podcast. And I just

went, wow, that is just so surreal. Very much

so. So you you kind of answered the you know,

how many hosts, you know aspects So when do you

decide to kind of just stop listening to a podcast

altogether? Um That's a good question. I don't

think I've ever gotten to the end. I think most

of the time when I've stopped listening it's

because My life is kind of busy and I just got

out of the habit It's nothing against them, it's

everything against me. Or the podcast just ends,

they just stop recording. Like TF Wire, they

literally just stopped recording and left this

void and I had to fill it. Yeah, that kind of

happened with me and that's why I started All

Things Transformers in the first place. Tformers

used to have a podcast Ender and Anthony Yep,

and they I started listening I started listening

their last like two or three episodes before

they ended and I was so sad because They ended

the podcast and I had just started again. So

it was like I found TF wire. I found this I found

moon base to I found the the Tformers one And

two of them in the matter of just listening to

a couple episodes ended. So I was like, oh, but

I will always remember what Anthony said in the

last episode that they had. And he said this

and it really stuck with me because it's probably

the reason why I decided to go. Okay, sure. I'll

do a podcast. So when we end something like this,

he was talking about how, yeah, we're ending

the podcast, but this gives an opportunity for

somebody else to kind of fill that. Some other

fan out there is going to listen and hear my

voice and say, hey, I can do something for my

community and I'm going to do this. And they

will fill the void. And he was absolutely right.

I actually reached out to him after that. You're

probably the reason why I got into podcasting

is because you said that on your podcast, your

last podcast. There you go. Speaking of podcasters

getting into podcasting, what podcasts are you

currently listening to? I'm currently listening

to... the Darknet Diaries, and they actually,

let me see, I think there's another one on there.

I've been so swamped with my audiobooks that

I haven't really been, that's pretty much the

only one I'm listening to right now. But every

once in a while, I'll bring up an oldie that

I haven't heard in a while. Somebody will say

something online or something and reference something.

I'll be like, oh, that's right. And then I'll

go back and listen to a couple other things.

I did start, Looking at bots and panels, but

it only went a couple episodes. So it didn't

really get off the ground very well And then

I've got a I've got lists of podcasts that I

want to check out I just haven't had the time

See, so the only one really that I'm making time

for right now is Darknet Diaries Nice and anything

that you know Mike sends my way Nobody listens

to my stuff. I would listen to your stuff. It

sucks. All right. As a podcast producer, do you

find yourself listening to podcasts less and

less? So when you were doing the under base,

did you, cause that's where I found myself now

where because I'm producing more and more, I'm

listening to less and less. I mean, yes, we just

came out of a. whole year where I didn't have

my computer so I spent a whole year listening

to shows and discovering new shows and getting

into old shows and that kind of thing but now

that I'm producing them again I keep up with

maybe seven podcasts at this point yeah luckily

they only release weekly if not monthly or bi

-weekly but yeah hands full hands like full stop

once I start a podcasting I stopped listening

to podcasts I would listen, I tried to listen

to a little while. Um, I did keep up on the ones

like, uh, Radar Fuse, Cybertron, usually were

ones that I was with. Um, I stopped listening

to Moonbase too. That's an evil confession right

there. Um, cause they were our sister podcasts.

They, I mean, they're like, they're, they're,

they were the one that started it all. And I

stopped listening to them once I started podcasting.

Um, I did listen to TFW 2005 one for a while,

but also ended up stopping to listening to them

because sometimes it was just too long. Um, I

can't think of any of the other ones. There were

other ones I know of, but I've been just notoriously

bad at listening to podcasts. Like since my life

has gotten busy and since I've been You know,

I had a baby. That's why I stopped doing podcasts,

to be honest. So I'm like, I, I've been busy.

There's, it's. And it's like, I say, I say this

all the time. I've said this for 12, 13, 14 years

now. Life comes before podcasting. It does just

the way it is. Yeah. Until life is just so overwhelming

that you need an escape and then you go to podcasting.

You got to listen to one. And that's why I got

back into podcast, listening to podcasts is because

I just wanted a little bit of something different

that I didn't think a book could cover for me.

And the good thing is, is that, like I said,

the Darknet Diaries, they've actually recommended

a couple of books and I've gone out and gotten

them because they sounded interesting. And they

were absolutely interesting. So yeah, I stopped

the, the more I, the more I produced as a producer,

the less I listened to, to be honest. Yes. Yeah.

I think everybody does that. And once you start

producing your own content, it's not that you

don't want to keep up with the content that you

enjoy or the people that you started listening

to. It's that you have to put all your time into

doing what you're doing. Yeah, that kind of thing.

The other thing is when you're producing, after

you do things for a certain way for a little

while, you want to come up with new content because

you're interested and you're like, hey, I did

this, this and this. Well, what if we did this?

Like I said, after a year of podcasting and reviewing

Transformer comics, we started getting people

on for interviews and we did that for a while.

We did comics then interviews. And then I was

going to a couple of conventions and decided

to do in -person interviews. And it just like,

so we just add you, you're in your creative mode,

producing your podcasts. You're going to want

to do more. You're going to want to get better

at things. You're going to, Hey, I was always

interested in this thing. What if we did more?

What if we did this? And so it's like, that's,

that's usually what you do because you're in

a, as a producer, you're creative. and you're

creating content. Absolutely. So speaking of

the creating content part, are you a podcast

planner or are you just throwing stuff at the

mic to see what sticks? Please don't throw anything

at me. I'm totally a planner. I'm totally a planner.

Me too. Even more so, Mike, every single time

we did a comic review. I probably wrote a full

sheet of notes on every single panel. So I would

be fully knowledgeable what I was doing and that

I wouldn't miss pieces that I needed to point

out or other people pointed out. So I was like,

okay, I don't need to cover that. Um, it was

just like, I, and I would write down almost everything

I say. Which is only adds to the pain of preparing

and then editing afterwards. See, I blame you

for this. I blame you for this. You blame me?

Oh yes. When I was listening to the underbass,

you had said... Oh, we're using Comixology Guided

View. We are going panel by panel, page by page.

That's why there are some episodes of The Bullbag

that are like two and a half, three hours long,

because I'm having myself and whatever co -host

go through the entire comic as we're talking

about it. We don't always do that now, but it

started because that's what you said you were

doing. And you had to what? Follow what we were

doing. Why lead by example when you can follow

a better one. And most of that actually came

and evolved from the fact that we wanted to do

a deep dive into a lot of the work that was being

put out. Um, and to be honest, when we did that,

there were a lot of, uh, there was a lot of,

um, Artists that would listen to what we said

because they come back after it's a i've been

listening to your podcast that you actually go

panel to panel because so often. They just critique

the story and they never talk about the art never

talk about the color and they never talk about

the letter and it's like just they talk about

the full content but they never get any feedback

as an artist on their specific. like panels and

things that they did. Hey, did this panel read

right to you? Did this, you know? And so for

us to actually do a deep dive like that, the

artists loved it. The colorists loved it because

they're like, oh, they figured out what I was

doing. Oh, they did this or we'd get excited.

And then we'd come back with the artist saying,

oh, yeah, that's exactly what I was going for.

Even, you know, and then sometimes I'm like,

yeah, just go with that. We just liked what you

said. Because being a colorist, being a letterer,

being an artist, and even being a writer is such

a solitary thing. You don't get to interact at

that level with a lot of people and a lot of

reviews. A lot of the comic review sites, they

just get a little blurb, that's it. actually

have a podcast that goes into each and every

panel and talks about, Hey, did this work? Or

it kind of read a little weird to me, or, Ooh,

I think it means this or that, you know, the

foreshortening is a little weird or something

like that. To be able to have, and it was mostly

constructive to have that is like for an artist

is like, it's the thing you want. But you can

never have because not often do you have somebody

do a deep dive or a review like that. So that's

what made our, that's what made the underbase

unique is because we did actually try to go and

do that. And I still try to go and do that. It

just depends on what it is. I don't always do

it. It depends on the host. It depends on the

co -host. It depends on the time that we have

somebody like, you know, Me, you, Nicole and

Heather, we're already going to talk for four

hours. We might as well record the thing. Very

true. We can't be held responsible what happens

after midnight. No, no, we can't. As a producer,

are you kind of a one -person show kind of host

or do you prefer working with co -hosts? I've

always worked with co -hosts. So I prefer that

but I have had at times where I've had to Record

content like a news bit or rerecord something

or I have recorded intros and outros to two shows

and Just little little bits But I do prefer to

have somebody to talk with because when you're

talking yourself and you're like, it's just you

which I just don't have an idea how I would do

that. I would really keep it concise. Of course,

I take that back. It depends on the topic, because

on the reviews, you definitely have to have more

than one person. But when I was doing stuff for

Redorphy Cybertron, I would do like short reviews,

like five or ten minutes. It would just be like

a comic corner with Lady Rack and anybody out

there that anybody out there that will like oh

that's right you used to do that right they're

on YouTube you can find them they're usually

in right smack dab in the middle of something

but yeah I have all of those still but they were

usually I kept them really really short because

I knew that it was going to be just part of a

greater whole and so it's quite literally me

for like eight to ten minutes doing a quick review

of a comic until And I did that for, I'd say,

a good year and a half, I think. I don't know.

It was kind of like one of those things where

I did it, and then I suddenly stopped doing it.

And they had other people start doing their own

reviews. And so I kind of helped change their

mind about what they were going to read in terms

of comics. And once they started getting that

bug, then I was like, OK, my job here is done.

Uh, and then they just ran with it. So, and I

think they're still doing it now. I just, I don't

check in often, but the, the videos that I did

were just me just talking for like, like I said,

anywhere from eight to 10 minutes, just a brief,

this is what's going on. You know, this, this

is what's going on. Then it was quite literally

a version of the underbase except slammed into

10 minutes. So it would be like hey i just put

out like news content in the comic world and

then a quick review of the comic and go get it

at your local comic shop and that would be the

end and so it because of. And it was just me.

It was like I would record them sometimes at

home. Sometimes I recorded them in my car in

video form because I was there for therapy for

my kids. So I had literally about 15 -20 minutes

to myself where I didn't have anybody asking

me for anything and I didn't have to go into

a room and lock the door. I just like, hey, I'm

in a car and I'm going to do a comic review.

And it was in my car. And that usually would

say, Hey, it's Leigh Rick here in my car. Was

so, so weird. I'm sorry, but that was what I

did, because that's all I had time for. But I

think it was like, Oh yeah, this is it kind of

added to the motif of she's a busy mom. And she's

still doing comic reviews for all of us out here.

And so I kind of just leaned into that. But if

I was to start another podcast, I would absolutely

have a host. I would have somebody that I co

-host with, I would have somebody that would

be on to talk, whatever it is the topic is. Because

I just, I would rather listen, I would rather

have a discussion type podcast than just somebody

talking at me. That being said, the Darknet Diaries,

most of that quite literally is just Jack Reciter.

He... talks through at least 50 % of it where

it's just him and nobody else. Yeah. Some people

can do the one person show. Other people can't.

Yeah. I think it just depends on the person.

If they're really, they have something really

passionate to say and they can really say something

that resonates with the person that's listening.

Absolutely. Um, I prefer to have a guest. I prefer

to have that, but like, After having to record

myself by myself, it's hard. It seems like it

should be really easy, but it is harder than

you expect it to be. Oh, yeah, totally. As a

producer, are you, well, you've kind of answered

that you're a planner, but some of the aspects

of, do you feel that you need all the fancy equipment?

to go along with it. Mixing board and all that

kind of stuff. Oh, no, no, no. We are totally

amateur here. Yeah, I personally don't see the

need for it. I know there's a lot of uppity podcasters

that are like, well, you have to have the board.

No, you don't. But I'm pure USB, so is that kind

of what you do? Yeah. I mean, I did think about

getting a small board thing. because when I got

my new laptop, I didn't realize that it wouldn't

actually work with a soundboard. I went to a

couple of conventions where I tried to actually

plug my laptop into a soundboard to record from

the microphone feed, and I found out through

the process of elimination that my computer just

doesn't handle that. But there is a little board

that I could go that would be the go -between

before... Between a big sound board and my computer

and I thought about buying it It was like a hundred

bucks and I thought if it's just to go to a convention

and record things I don't know if I want to do

that. So I never it ended up being that things

changed and But even the the convention that

I was going to kind of change things a little

bit So I just decided not to do it. I just Yeah,

but I have thought about it. I was researching

a little board that would be that go between

thing if I wanted to continue to do that and

I didn't. So it was all good. But that was more

like just because there was something that I

wanted to do, but I couldn't do. So I figured

out why it wasn't working. It took me a little

while, but I figured it out. So as a producer,

you Kind of already answered this one, but I

just want to know what the actual number is.

How much time do you actually put into the editing

of one podcast episode? Oh, jeez. I never thought,

you know, hey, five years from now, you're going

to be talking about your podcasting days. Remember

all of those hours that you spent making sure

it sounded right? So if I record an hour show,

it's probably going to take me anywhere from

double that to maybe an extra 30 minutes because

I like to listen when I edit to make it sound

as natural as possible. So I will take out every

little, um, and no sniff. And if there's a big

gap. I'll usually take that out and make it sound

like it was seamless. Like we paused for just

a moment, just long enough to feel like, okay,

now it feels too long. That's natural. And so

like, or sometimes if there's two people talking

too close together and I'm able to split those

tracks, I will have one person talk and then

make it sound natural. So that it goes from,

so it basically sounds seamless. So you'll hear

instead of two people overlapping, you'll hear

a seamless conversation that sounds like, Oh,

okay. That, that was like completely perfectly

planned. It wasn't, it just made that way because

you were able to go through and make it sound

natural. Yeah. That's the funny thing. I've been

editing the shows since. Late 2009, early 2010.

And for me, I need everything on one track. However,

there have been times actually with this episode,

I will actually be editing this as each each

of our tracks, because that's how Zencaster records.

They record each of us on its own track. So that's

cool. That takes me four times as long as what

it would take me on a normal track You know,

I prefer that it probably would take me the same

amount of time but I prefer it that way just

because There are just so many moments where

there's overlap that I've had over the years

that I almost just prefer everybody to be on

their own separate track. And then the other

thing on top of that is that not everybody has

like, I've only podcasted with amateur podcasters.

So everybody's mileage on sound is different.

True. There were a time, there was a time, a

couple of times where Nicole had a really bad

noise in the background on hers or she was really,

really quiet. And so I'd have to go through and

boost in places, her noise so that you could

actually hear it so that it would sound like

the same level as the other two people that were

podcasting. So it's like, I prefer it just because

it gives me the ultimate control of being able

to make somebody that's maybe too loud. Turn

them down or to go through in certain areas where

maybe somebody laughed and they got a little

too close to the mic and there was the reverb

that should get in your ear. Um, I don't like

that because it hurts. Oh yeah. And so like I

will specifically take that. that little, little

section and tone it down so that it doesn't sound

so loud. Even if it kind of sounds a little weird,

your ears will thank you. Yep. Absolutely. As

a producer, do you prefer, and this is funny

because I actually made you do one of these.

Do you prefer in -person recordings or over the

internet recordings via Skype? Now this is funny

because Five V. Oh God, it has been five years

since the last. Holy crap. Holy crap. Five years

this April. Wow. So BotCon 2016 was in Louisville,

Kentucky. Yep. You were coming up and I was like,

Hey, let's hang out. We went to the free Stan

Bush concert and all that and everything else.

I was like, let's do a BotCon recap the next

day or something. And you're like, I'm so tired.

Can we just do it? I'm like, no, you're here.

You have to come to my apartment because it's

not going to be as cool as it would be as if

you weren't here kind of thing. So it was Amy

and I in my apartment at the time. And then Nicole

was on Skype and that's how we recorded that.

that BotCon 2016 over on all things Transformers.

So which do you prefer? Do you prefer the in

-person recordings or do you prefer what we're

doing currently? It depends on, of course, how

close you are. I think both are completely valid.

I like both. They both kind of pull out different

things. When you're across the computer, it can

be very solitary. But it's also interesting to

also podcast in person because things stand out

differently when you podcast in person. And so

for me, I always kind of liked the idea of having

those type of communications, those conversations.

Both are completely valid, both completely work

for me. The downside is that sometimes it's harder

to get technology to work the same way. Um, and

when you're in, cause I've also done interviews

where I was in a hotel room and everybody was

sitting around and it works. You can hear it,

but then when you go back and you listen to the

footage and go, Oh crap, you can barely hear

us that then you're, you know, your heart just

drops. Cause you're like, Oh, the editing on

this is going to kill me. I'll be doing this

forever. Um, So, you know, there's, there's good

and bad to both. And I think it's good to have

experience with both because it just, you find

out where your strengths and your weaknesses

are as you jump in with both feet and see if

it'll work. Absolutely. You know, it's just one

of those things where I think I like the experience

of doing both. As both a listener and a producer,

do you prefer one feed have everything or should

each type of show have its own feed? So let's

say I want to do a cartoon podcast, but I want

to focus on every episode of Transformers Animated.

Should that have its own feed or should that

be in with everything else that's on all things

Transformers? I think that depends on how your

setup is. You know, because I know that you do

a vast amount of content over shows. I am a podcast

machine. You are a podcasting machine. That cannot

be challenged. You totally are. I think it just

depends because like, obviously you don't want,

if you've got people that are interested in just

comics. Then you have to, you know, keep that

feed apart from the ones that are like, Hey,

I like just transformers. And so I don't know.

It's just one of those things that I guess it

just depends on your vision as a producer. That

being said, um, if we always with the underbase,

we just threw all of the episodes in together

because just as many people were cool with reviews

as they were with the artists interviews. So

it was like, Hey, instead of doing. a review

this week, we are going to have an interview."

That would come on and I never got any complaints.

Nobody ever said, oh, this should be put in a

different place. That being said, the place where

we produced and published the podcast, I would

just tag the different things. If you went to

the website and said, I only want to see all

the interviews, you click on interviews, And

all of the interviews are going to come up. If

you click on, I want to see the reviews, you

can have all the reviews come up. I want to see

robots in disguise reviews and not more than

meets the eye reviews. And you can do that too.

So I guess it just depends on what you want to

do for your show. I mean, you, you put out so

much more content than I've ever done. So I'd

say I can absolutely see the reason why you'd

want to go, Hey, I want to put all of this here

and this here and this here and keep them separate.

Well, you know, once all your kids are in college,

we'll be talking like this is old people podcasting

in a podcast. Maybe. What are you talking about?

What are you talking about? Get off my lawn.

Get off my lawn. Honestly, you'd be surprised

because I listened. There's a lady on NPR. I

don't remember her name. She's an interviewer

and she's been working on NPR for years and I

don't remember what her name is. I think it's

something gross, Debbie Gross. But she actually

is a really old woman. I mean, mature woman maybe,

it would be a better thing to say. her voice

does not sound that old. So you'd be surprised.

We could be doing this all the way up into our

60s. I plan to do it till I die. I think that

will definitely sound a little bit different

as you age because as voice actors will be the

first to tell you, your voice doesn't stay the

same. Some people can stay the same, but not

a lot. And that's interesting. Cause I just,

I'm actually, there's a comic that came out from

a friend of mine who used to be a radio DJ in

Louisville. And I want to do the show by myself

because I don't know if I share it with other

people. If I share the comic with other people

that they'll be as, I don't want to say as kind.

I mean, I'm still going to critique it, but it's

one of those things where it is the first show

inside the pull bag. that I've done solo since

2013, the very first episode. Episode one I did

solo by myself and I just recently listened to

that and I'm like, who's that guy? I don't sound

like that anymore. It's ridiculous. Take it away,

Steve. Was there ever a moment when you were

done with podcasting? Nope. There was absolutely

a time where I had to step away from it, but

I can tell you right now, I have missed it every

day since. I miss a lot. Maybe not the editing

so much. Yeah, I don't miss that. I just give

it to Mike and then I say, hey, here you go.

This is what I'm here for. I have gone through

and edited a few things since then. I'm like,

oh gosh, this is the one thing I do not remember.

This is this one thing I do not. Do not miss

this because this this is the part where it's

hard and you just it's tedious You have to sit

there and you're like, uh but I do miss having

the conversations and Being kind of in the know

because I was doing that all the time and you

made it your business to know everything Like

not everything like you major made it your business

to know what's going on in the world of Transformers

today in comics And so it was like, who's this?

Who's that? What are they talking about? Like,

you know, hey - Why does it matter? Yeah, why

does it matter? And hey, this new person is in

IDW. We need to get him on for an interview.

You know? And that was - I am so late to that

party, but that's going to be rectified in a

few weeks, which I will tell you about off air.

Okay. And that's the thing, you get to know stuff.

And not only that is that sometimes They reach

out to you too. So like, Hey, just to let you

know, or to say, Oh, are you going to the convention?

Blah, blah, blah. And it's just, it was really

kind of nice to be able to, to be in the know

on some of those things. And then there's also

the times where, you know, Hey, they put out

that news report on that website and we need

to have the website, take it down. Cause that

happened a lot when I was over at Tformers. Just

saying. Uh -oh. Yeah. Somehow that doesn't surprise

me. Because they had my contact information,

because I've always been really like, hey, sure.

Here's my contact information. Here's how you

can get a hold of me. You can call my cell phone.

I did have Andy Schmidt from IDW call me up one

day and say, hey, this is Andy Schmidt. I just

went, I dropped my phone. I bet you did. What

can I do for you, Mr. Andy Schmidt?" And he's

like, yeah, so you're associated with T -formers,

right? And I was like, uh, yes. I thought, oh

crap, who am I going to have to kill? But it

wasn't that bad. It actually turned out that

somebody else had put a news report out that

they were trying to squash. You remember the

whole Amazon go -paw where they pretty much took

the Transformers, what was it? Revenge? No, it

was Dark at the Moon. They put the comic book

out on the Amazon website and it pretty much

spoiled the whole damn movie. Yeah, there was

some people scrambling around at that point to

try to get that taken out. And Andy was one of

them. I felt bad for him because he had a really

huge job on his hands. Yes, I can imagine he

would have yeah being in being in contact and

having that type of Interaction that you don't

see out that doesn't get put out there Those

are moments that I kind of missed because it

was kind of nice to to feel important Okay, so

What do you see is the differences in podcasting

versus being on the radio? Oh No, none of us

have really, I mean, I know none of us have really

been on the radio unless we actually call in.

I mean, I've got several friends who are DJs,

but I mean, as a listener, kind of a thing, the

differences of doing the whole podcast thing

versus radio. Yeah, I'm still giggling about

the paycheck thing. It's true. It is true. All

of this is volunteer. As a podcaster, I do it

for fun, and I do it for free, and I do it for

myself. Sometimes I even do it for just the listening

enjoyment for everybody else and the listening

enjoyment for the artists that would sit and

listen and be entertained. For the sense of community,

that's what I would do it for. The difference,

I think... There's a little bit more pressure,

I think, because they're the expectation of having

a little bit more professionalism, I guess. But

that being said, I've often flipped on the radio

and listened to DJs DJing and talking about the

content, like the Bill and Dave in the morning,

and the stuff that they have to just pull out

of their arses. Put on the radio and, and not

only that is on top of that, it can't be too

edgy, but it also be really boring either. So

if you're really boring, you're going to get

replaced really quick. That being said, I also

grew up in a small town, um, where we had a DJ

night where there was this lady that would do

the DJ dedication line and she was shit. And

I had, we all listened to it for years and we

all wondered how was it that she still has a

job because she sounds like crap. She's not entertaining.

The only thing that's good is that she goes ahead

and puts the stuff out there. It got to the point

where people would start calling in and being

really rude to her and embarrassing her. And

so, and she still kept the job and there were

so many rumors flying. And I was like, you know,

small towns, they can really suck. That being

said, my BFF at the time, her sister also worked

at the radio station. And one time this lady

came in late or not late. She was sick. She couldn't

do it because she'd lost her voice and her sister

covered the show for her and she rocked it. It

was like, Oh my gosh, please hire her. She's

so amazing. She was younger. She was. The dedication

line was a lot for like kids and teens and people

calling in. And, you know, this is way eighties.

I don't know if they still do this anymore, but.

You know, it's just those things that all of

the teenagers in this small town would always

listen and they wanted to be able to, you know,

have somebody that was more like them. Well,

my my friend's sister. Was that she was very

much the age group. She got the content. She

did a couple of things that were new, that were

interesting. And we all loved it. And she didn't

get the job. So radio is just so different. I

think there there's so much. There's politics

that are involved. The good thing about being

an amateur and having the internet as easily

accessible as it is, is that anybody that's out

there can get on a mic, record something, put

it out there, and it can be amazing. And you

can create your own content, and you can have

your own listenership and actually do really

well doing it. Easily overnight. You can have

it. You could be an overnight sensation. The

downside of that is that there's a Lot out there

and sometimes it's hard to find the really good

stuff and even then sometimes when you find the

really good stuff Sometimes it's you know out

of all of the listings of stuff, you know You

just kind of get lost in in the pack. So there's

good and bad pros and cons I wouldn't want the

radio job to be honest. Nope. Ever since I started

podcasting, I was like, nope, I'm good right

where I'm at. I'm good. I'm good. Have you done

any interviews and if you have, what were your

favorite ones? She's done a ton of them. I'd

say probably all the ones I've done have actually

been right here on this show. No, no, no. You've

done plenty of convention interviews. There was

a whole thing with you, Josh and Josh. Oh, okay.

You're talking about other people that I've interviewed.

Okay, good. Yeah, yeah. I was like, are you talking

about me? Famous people. No, no, no. Not us.

Not us. Famous people. The famous people. I've

done a lot of really interesting ones. I've pretty

much... interviewed all of the artists that were

working on Transformers comics, not the current

ones right now, because right now they're not

right. There's different ones. I think because

I've done like Casey Coller, Josh Perez, Josh

Burcham, like all of them. James Roberts. Alex

Malm. I mean, let's just go through the list.

There'd be like tons of them. And I, you know,

I'd probably have to go look up so Andrew Griffith,

Andy Schmidt, John Barber. Let's see who else.

The Robertson Barber era, I got all of those

guys on. And even some of them were even before

that, because when we first started out, you

know, you send out emails and you hope that people

contact you and, you know, sometimes they do,

sometimes they don't. Sometimes you wait for

a little while then come back again with another,

hey, we'd like to have you on for an interview.

And eventually they eventually you sync up. We

had Flint Dilley and Chris Metzen on too. That's

right. Yeah. So like, there's lots of lots of

one that we've done that were really, really

great. But I think the one that probably stands

out, and I don't remember what happened on this

one. I think the reason why I say I like this

one is because everything just worked perfectly

and I asked all the right questions and I didn't

like when I edited it was super, super clean

because I had not muffled up anything. I think

it was the Casey Collier interview. And it was,

it was just fantastic to talk with him. But I

think that's the reason why I liked that one

is because I didn't screw it up. Had absolutely

everything to do with the fact that I asked all

the questions. I was right on cue. I, you know,

everything he said and I followed it back up

with something else. Like it just, it just flowed

really well. And then even afterwards. My co

-host cause he was on that one too. He turned

to me and say, yep. It's like, that was your

favorite one. Wasn't it? It was like, yes. Cause

I didn't screw it up. He was like, I knew it.

Cause you sounded like you're right in your,

in your groove. And I was like, yes. So that

was more like, that was because I was confident.

I wasn't like super nervous. I felt like I knew

what I was asking and I had all the content.

I was like, everything just kind of boom in my

head. And it was just like, yes, I was in my

zone. Absolutely. But I also have done ones where

I was like, face palm every single time I think

about it. And I can tell you the one it was,

it was an in -person review of shadow play at

auto assembly. Oh, no. We spent like two and

a half hours and I got halfway through that and

I thought, oh my God, what did I do? What have

I done? I was like, this is so evil. And the

reason why it was is because it was the last

night of the convention. Everybody is super dead.

Alex Milne, James Roberts, they look like they

were just completely exhausted. And here I'm

asking these questions and I thought, I am the

worst jerk in the world. And I figured that out

like 45 to an hour into it when we were all just

kind of like, and I thought, I will never do

this ever again. And I didn't, I never did that

ever again. We did a deep dive into shadow play

and I thought, you know what, the fans might

like this. But this is, this is torture. I'm

never going to do this to another creative producer

or writer ever again. Never. This is torture.

Chain me to the wall. All right. So that ties

into one of the two final questions. What advice

do you have for new and or veteran podcasters

in the art of podcasting? Have a vision. If you

don't have a vision, you're just having a conversation

and it might not actually be entertaining. Have

to have a goal. I mean, I have listened to stuff

that's just kind of rambling and is like, you

know, it's okay to cut the ramble. If it took

you, you know, hey, we rambled for a few minutes

and you go back and you listen to it, you're

like, you know what, this doesn't really work.

Then take the rambling out. It's okay. You can

cut it. I have. As a producer, there were times

where I was getting podcasts from other people

for the UnderBase that I wasn't on the podcast

with them and they were doing a review and they

got off topic for 10 minutes. And I liked it.

It was hilarious. And I took some stuff out of

that for the outtakes. But I literally went through

there and cut it. And the thing is, you knew

it was happening because when they would come

back, The next time they say, Hey, we got to

be careful or else Amy will cut this. It was

like I knew I was doing a good job because they

noticed when half the conversation wasn't there,

when they took out all the stuff that was like,

you guys are going to get on a watch list over

this. And things are different in the UK than

they are in the United States. If you say something

really raunchy on something like that, you can

get put on a watch list. And so I was like, You

know, I made it. I took out the stuff that was

offensive. I did. I just took out the stuff that

was offensive. That was way off topic because,

you know, guys get together, they have a little

bit of, you know, beer or whatever and shooting

the shit. They would go wildly off topic a lot.

So as a producer, I'm like, if that's not the

vision, it's okay to cut it. Sometimes you have

to do it. And I have lots of blackmail. Don't

we all? So does Mike. Oh, yeah. I saved blackmail

for years. So do I. I still have stuff from Headshot.

Oh, yes, we do. All right. Where can the people

find your shows? Well, you can go just Google.

The under base podcast, it's on Libsyn .com or

a Libsyn something. I'd have to, I'd have to

Google it now. It's the under base dot Libsyn

.com. They're all there. I, I, I, they, all of

the stuff is, I guess still relevant because

you could still go out and get all the, you know,

comics. All the comics. Yeah. The, maybe the

first little bit of it, like the first 10 minutes.

when they talk about the news and what's being

released. Maybe that's not relevant. That's not

relevant. But usually it's maybe the first anywhere

from the first 10, 15 minutes. And then the rest

of it's definitely relevant. But all of the listening

material for all of the interviews, because we

ask questions that talk about like, hey, where

did you get your start? What got you into Transformers?

What is your What do you work in? You know, that

type of thing. Those things will never, I think,

ever really expire because as interviews, you

know, you can get to know an artist or a colorist

and how they started out. Like, Hey, I'm going

to go do that too. So, you know, it's good, at

least in that content so that you have access

to that, you know, all of that stuff is still

there. Absolutely. And obviously you have. Years

and years of content with us at GCRM. So between

gem and the pull bag and my little pony Yeah,

my little pony Yeah, when blade Alright we are

gonna close it out. I'm gonna run through the

outro Everybody will give it a chance to give

out their socials and all that good stuff Thank

you for joining us here inside the studio. If

you'd like to get in contact with us, we'll leave

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leave Studio 2009 a review. We've got 15 total

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Twitter. Wow, I cannot talk tonight. I am at

TFU and Mike. Amy, what is your Twitter? Follow

me, Lady of Rec. Steve, what's yours? At SCP

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check out Studio 2009 podcast over there. And

I think, I think Amy still has her The Lady of

Rec or The Lady Rec page over there as well.

Where? Which one? The Lady Rec page on Facebook.

Yeah, I think so. But I don't use it that often,

so it's better to just get me on Twitter. Probably.

Yeah. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Lady

Rek! Steve Megatron Phillips. You'll hear us

back in the studio soon. Oh my gosh, this is

so great! For now, I am TF2 and Mike with...

Lady Rek! Steve Megatron. Sorry, I just botched

that one. Ladies first. Okay, sorry. Crap, now

I don't know what to say. Okay fine, I'll redo

it.