Alright podcasters and vocalists alike, it's time to settle a score! Today, we're throwing down in a microphone brawl between two titans: the legendary Shure SM7B and the lesser-known but highly regarded sE Dynacaster DCM8.

By the end of this rumble, you'll know which microphone I prefer for females with similar vocal tones to my own, as well as vocalists looking for that extra bit of sparkle.

To set the scene, we’ve recorded this battle at Gasworks studio in Fortitude Valley with both mics plugged into a top-notch John Hardy M2 preamp. We're keeping things raw with no post-production on the sound, so you hear exactly how these microphones perform. All we’ve done is boosted the levels to ensure they’re the same.

I’ve seen so many new podcasts launch with next to no promotion behind them but today I’m talking to the podcaster who wants to make the most of their new podcast launch.

The podcaster who wants to make sure they squeeze as much out of their launch as possible, without spending money on ads or other paid strategies.

This is purely a strategy for those of you who want to use social media, email marketing and good ol’ fashioned word of mouth to help promote their new podcast.

So, here’s the exact strategy I recommend to our clients, and we use ourselves here at Bamby Media.

What makes a great podcast conversation?

Well, we all know the answer is nuanced, but after many years of producing podcasts I’ve certainly found the quality of the podcast has a lot to do with the quality of the questions being asked.

When I was thinking about who I could speak with to help podcasters craft better questions, Kendall Breitman came across my radar. A lot of you would know Kendall as the community manager for Riverside, but her role prior to Riverside was what piqued my interest.

Kendall knows implicitly how to craft quality questions, connect with your audience and build a sense of community around your show. She shared so much value in our recent conversation, and I’m delighted to share it with you all.

I received an Apple Watch for my birthday.

“Woop de doo,” I hear you say.

“People get Apple Watches all the time. What’s the big deal?”

Well, the big deal is that it has changed my life.

As a content creator and producer in the podcasting space, I am always on the hunt for the best microphones to make my voice and our client’s voices sound super fancy.

Introducing into the ring, the Electro-Voice RE20 and the Shure SM7B. Both microphones are similar in cost (around AU$800) and they are probably the microphones that you see used the most in podcasting and radio.

How would you promote your podcast without social media?

In fact, if we think more broadly about this; how would you promote your personal brand or business without social media?

This might leave you scratching your head. We have become so used to relying on social media to help promote ourselves and it feels hard to get off the train..

But as we all know, we don’t “own” these platforms. Well, unless you're Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk perhaps. But if you’re a normal person, you’re playing to the algorithm. You’re doing what you’re told to do, and you’re probably seeing decent enough results.

Or maybe you’re not.

It depends on how you define “results.

If you weren’t seeing results, you’d get off social media right?

Well, that sounds good in theory, but it doesn’t happen as often as we might like.