Dan Benjamin of 5by5 talks about his equipment, business [audio]

by arrogant • 15 years ago

70 11 15 years ago

arrogant2• 15 years ago

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.

jakewalker2• 15 years ago

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.

mcav• 15 years ago

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.

sj4nz• 15 years ago

I appreciate that Dan's able to "retire" shows that aren't working or lose interest, but he keeps them online and available for those who are interested. TWiT did get repetitive and too much like a personality-cult circle-jerk and... too long. Haven't really been able to watch it much.

"Back to Work" and "Latest in Paleo" most certainly have secured themselves a spot in my gPodder.

frou_dh• 15 years ago

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).

johnohara• 15 years ago

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.

juddlyon• 15 years ago

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

arrogant2• 15 years ago

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).

AndrewWarner• 15 years ago

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.

jakewalker2• 15 years ago

Why not buy a few high quality microphones and have kits and instructions that you send out to interviewees with return shipping (or direct shipping to the next interviewee)?

randall• 15 years ago

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.

Dan Benjamin of 5by5 talks about his equipment, business [audio]

Related Stories