Matt Alvarez (Sound Shed Studios) Building Joe Rogan's New Podcast Studio

[00:00:00] And you know, everybody has those moments of inspiration, and sometimes you work with what you got and you create something great.

[00:00:10] And if people don't love it, you know, that's OK, too. People have that old adage, like "F" the haters and all that.

[00:00:16] But the haters or what, keep us moving forward, you know.

[00:00:20] And for me, you know, I, I generally did see a lot of the negative response.

[00:00:26] But, you know, Joe has so many followers and just because one percent of them, hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, whatever, said that they didn't like it.. like again. Nothing against them, it is what it is.

[00:00:39] Hey, you're listening to the Friends in Austin podcast. I'm your host, Justin Talent, and every week I bring you the stories of the people of Austin.

[00:00:46] Thank you for listening.

[00:00:57] Hey, welcome back to friends in Austin today, I have Matt Alvarez on the podcast. He has a company called Sound Shed Studios. You may have heard of them because he built Joe Rogan's new Austin podcast studio. And it's crazy that you're here man. I highly appreciate you coming in. Yeah, for sure. So we talked a little bit before the podcast. I figured we'd just kick right into the whole Joe Rogan thing and get it out of the way. And then we'll talk about your business, about podcasting and, you know, what goes behind building podcast studios. And then just maybe talk a little bit about Austin, since it's an Austin podcast and you live here. I saw that you did an interview with Austonia. So I know a little bit of the details, but like. Can we just start from the beginning of, like, how did you get the gig to build a studio? Because that's pretty crazy.

[00:01:39] Yeah, so so my career has been like kind of based around audio visual in my whole life. Musician, audio engineer, you know, network, it just kind of multifaceted. So like over the years I just built relationships, have a lot of people in my network and yeah, I lost my job last year or what was it right. During covid with twenty twenty like me, it was something like that, you know. And so we all, we all like grinding out well trying to figure out what are we going to do next, you know, like do I want to go for another company. You know, nobody was hiring at the time. And I also felt like man, like I just I have too many things I'm involved in that. Like, it just made more sense to start working for myself, you know, if that makes sense and, you know, started going back to doing like like home of installs, you know, I had sold my studio the year before, so I was kind of getting away from, like, recording studio work.

[00:02:34] Um, and then just a buddy of mine who's connected with Joe introduced me. And that was pretty much it. You know, Joe needed a studio. I had built him in the past and just.

[00:02:45] Turned into what it is, and I think, yeah, I mean, it's kind of a funny story because it's like one of those underdog stories, right?

[00:02:52] You know, like who's this dude? Like, who's this dude from the you know, the inner city area. That's what I love about it. Yeah. And and that's cool. Yeah.

[00:03:00] I mean, I think it's I think it's inspirational for anybody who's looking to do something with their own business and take that leap of faith is like my wife and I were talking about this last night and it was it was really an integral moment in my career.

[00:03:14] And I think something that, like we as humans don't necessarily get around to giving much thought or like introspection to is like you can kind of do whatever you want and you can be super skilled. But there's like a couple of different facets of like where success comes from, like just blatant, like relentless, like work ethic. Right. And then there's just general, like talent, you know, being able to do something that you're interested in and just, you know, be proficient in it. And then there's just luck, you know. And I consider myself to be one of those, like relentless work ethic. You know, I gain the talents as I go because, like, I just want to. And then I just got lucky, man, you know, like just knowing the right people and keeping my network open.

[00:03:59] I think it's something to think about. And I thought about that, too, is like I have another friend who was on the podcast and he mixed record players and he makes really awesome German restored record players.

[00:04:09] And he did it for a long time, hardly made any money. And then, you know, Jesse James caught on to one of his record players. He messaged them. But luckily, Jesse James replied, he bought a record player from him and then he helped him.

[00:04:20] Mavericks basically put up an Instagram and then his company blew up. So it's like doing all that hard work for no recognition, really for a long time. And then something happens that, you know, gets you that exposure. Right. And some people, you know, you got the exposure and that's awesome. But I think about that's like some people just never get the exposure. There's a lot of people doing cool shit. Yeah, for sure. And what's cool about being someone like Joe Rogan? I'd love to be in a position someday to where it's like I would even like seek out those underdogs to try to find people that are like working hard or do so cool. And it's like I need something from in that category.

[00:04:50] Let me find somebody that hasn't been noticed yet. You know what I mean?

[00:04:54] Most definitely. Yeah. I mean, and that's kind of monumental and like history, right? Like you're the guy who discovered so-and-so and and then from there, you know, you have that relationship and it it becomes something to where, like, you almost feel not responsible, but you feel like it was like a huge help in, like helping, you know, getting them to where where they need to be like at least mentally, you know, for for me, obviously, like Joe had was a monumental accelerant to my business. You know, there was no doubt about whether or not I was going to continue doing what I was doing as a sole proprietor of my company and whatnot. But it was more or less, you know, you get those opportunities, just like you said with your with your friend and Jesse James. And funny story. It was like I met Jesse, I don't know, like seven years ago. I did work at his house or a company I was working for. And, um, but, you know, at that point in time, I was just one of the lowly W2 technician workers, you know, so like to you know, I'm not I'm not the face of the company. So, you know, whatever relationship he had with our company owner was what it was.

[00:06:01] But, um, but to be able to take somebody who's really, like, hustling and has the grind and they have the work ethic and noticed that talent and put them out in the ether like that, you know, whether Joe realizes it or not, like it's been huge for for me moving forward since that project. And and I think. You know, there's so many people out there who who are I would say, you know better than me at their own craft and you're right, you know, they don't get that notoriety or that recognition just because they weren't in the right place at the right time, you know? And the other thing is, you know, we tend to get tunnel vision. You know, when we're when we're working and honing in that craft, we're not looking at the opportunities outside of like, I need to get better at this and then I'm going to get the recognition. You know, it's it's kind of like we'll take, for example, like a band. Right. There's so many bands out there who are like unsigned, unnoticed, and and they're really good at what they do and their music's phenomenal. But there's a way to supplement that talent with other things like building the network and just generally just interacting with more and more people.

[00:07:17] And like it kind of becomes it's like big like exoskeleton, like a like a like a mesh network where now all of a sudden, you know, so, so and so, so and so just someone happens to be somebody who listens to your music and then you blow up, you know, like and that's generally what we're seeing before. The times of like, you know, YouTube and and Spotify, you know, it's it's it's really important to be able to take those risks and like invest in yourself, but also understand that, like, your network is an extension of, you know, your possible success.

[00:07:52] I think about that all the time because, you know, this podcast is still pretty small, which is even more why I appreciate you coming on. I don't know why people come. I think it's like maybe the production quality and stuff like that and that I try to professionally I don't know if you looked at any of the stuff before you guys, so it looks good.

[00:08:05] Yeah.

[00:08:05] Um, but I think about that and I try to I'm not I'm a programmer and I'm very used to just basically working by myself, not talking to people very much, which is odd.

[00:08:14] I'm doing a podcast. I like talking to people one on one, but it's still weird for me to start reaching out and making posts on social media. I don't really enjoy doing that, you know, but it's it's a I love doing the podcast, but if you're going to make a podcast and you want to make money on it because it needs to be sustainable, you have to start learning to network with people like that to open up opportunities and get known. It's just a necessary thing.

[00:08:36] You that's what that's what I've seen with my my career in particular has been.

[00:08:42] Always keeping in touch with people, regardless of how. Maybe my new relationship seems like maybe I bought an instrumentality from Craigslist and it's like, you know, cool, like this is another human being, I think we tend to when we leave certain social situations, we almost we almost kind of block that out the moment we leave. Right. Like you and I are talking now.

[00:09:07] But the moment I leave, you know, how often are we going to think about this conversation moving forward? You know, because you're going to get busy. I'm going to get busy. Things are going to happen.

[00:09:14] Well, why do you think that is, though? Because I think about that a lot, too. And and I like me and I should be following up this with these people, and I should. But part of it is, like I've talked to friends about it, I feel it's like you get your core group of friends and you can you just get nestled into that and you're like, do I want to start building and like maintaining a new relationship because you don't really get the reward of the relationship and the friendship until you've done the work, too. Like if we if we hang out after this, when we see each other four or five times, that's when we really start like becoming friends. Right. But the work to get there is like, well, if you already have like three or four good friends, it feels like you don't have a great incentive to do that other than what we just talked about. It's smart. It's a good thing to do.

[00:09:50] And I've had this conversation recently. It's there's two words I use said reward and incentive. Right. It's human nature to go into any interaction with the expectation of reward and incentive. And by doing so, we're limiting ourselves to the opportunities for growth and unfortunately, you know, if I went into Joe's project or any project thinking I was going to get rewarded by it rather than just generally wanted to do it. I don't think that the outcome would have been the same, you know, because the perception of it is, you know, I'm doing this service for you, you owe me this.

[00:10:28] And then from there, you know, there's this kind of you stifled in the conversations and like the growth you're going to have, like on a one, on one, on one level, because you're looking at it as as that, you know, product money, you know, interaction, same thing when you interact with people. And that's that's how I feel about it, is it doesn't matter what that interaction may be. And you're not always going to see eye to eye other people. But as you start to follow up with them more often, as you start to talk to people and as you start to get to know them and genuinely care about what they have to say, it's almost like what we're doing right now. Like, why do people have podcast? They want to they want to get to know somebody. Right? They want to talk. They want they want to get inside someone's head and understand why they do the things they do.

[00:11:12] And for me.

[00:11:15] As I move forward with what I'm doing, I the irony is I don't listen to a podcast at all, and now I've become somebody who is like sought out to build and design podcast studios. But I think there's a level person ability and anything you do that will be the most pivotal point in your career as a person, how you treat people following up with them like taking an interest in who they are. And it's almost like sales 101. But sales is nothing more than just building relationships, you know, and if you're genuine about that, like that's where the success comes from. So hopefully that's not a roundabout way of saying, you know, like, hey, you know, anything you do is is really rooted in relationships, you know?

[00:11:58] No, you're totally right. There's a woman that came on the podcast, Ciani Major, that has a company called Will to click that helps people easily, like assign their assets to their loved ones just by taking pictures of it and stuff like that, because the process is complicated and they're trying to streamline it just like, hey, take pictures, put a name on it. She's really good at that. And she's made a really conscious effort to like she came on the podcast. She's gotten me several guys. And it's like she's just doing like, you know, she's not getting anything for that know. But I notice that I'm like, wow, you're really going out of your way. And then that makes me want to help her a lot more. And it's like I want to put up a friends of the podcast page on the website to feature people UNsponsored, you know, that I just think are really cool or, you know, it goes a long way.

00:12:39] Yeah, it's definitely cool. Yeah. So hopefully I know with with with Johs, you know, studio that was. Definitely a labor of love, you know, and the funny thing is, and people ask me all the time about it, you know, how did you get linked up? And like, what did you think? And like, what is he like? And it's so many loaded statements only because of the fact that, you know, again, everybody's expectation of what it is, is different. For me. It's it's like, you know, Joe's Joe's a guy Joe's. And he happens to be a very famous and very well off and, you know, integral part of our the online community culture.

[00:13:16] Right.

[00:13:17] But at the end of the day, you know, I kind of did more of the project just because, a, it was really a cool challenge, to be honest. You know, to have two and a half weeks to do that podcast studio was I mean, I think for a lot of people would have been scary.

[00:13:35] Yeah, I was going to that's what I was going to ask you. So I know the timeline was short, so let's get in. Were you nervous?

[00:13:40] No, not really, to be honest. Like, you know, I had worked on projects in the past, you know, my own recording studio and other projects that were not necessarily so construction based, but just like really stringent timelines working with we work and a couple of other companies part of that. So it was kind of one one of those opportunities where I didn't see it for who the client was, I just saw it for the fact that it was like, oh, this could be something really big for my portfolio, you know? And this is something I don't have any other big clients in terms of just like big projects right now. So, like, let me just dove in, you know, and I know how to manage a project. I know how to procure materials and and do construction. And also, you know, that's all just one little piece of building a studio. Right. Like, my whole background is in audio and video. So I was like, oh, it just makes sense. But when you say scary, it wasn't really a scary moment, it was more of a like settle in reality moment for me, because after we had discussed everything, I was like, oh, like crap.

[00:14:43] I guess I'm really doing this now, you know, like there was no turning back.

[00:14:47] And so it really just reaching out to people I knew who were going to be super helpful, people who could get through the project with me. And yeah, I mean, just kind of delegating and being like the front runner for everything, you know, and I think generally I wanted to be held accountable for anything that went wrong. So I didn't want to put that on anybody else. And I knew that, you know, that two and a half week timeline was going to be hard to meet. But if I just made sure, like, OK, I know I'm going to be working 16 hours almost every single day and some days like straight 20 hours. But, you know, when we talked about reward for me, the reward was going to be seeing what I had in my head and then bringing it to fruition, you know, like being able to see the final product and be like, oh, crap.

[00:15:36] And that didn't settle in. And so actually, we until after we finished it, my buddy Christopher, who was with me on the job, he he had to stop me because I was so in my head about all the details and little things that I kind of wanted to fix here and there. And he was like, Matt, like, I need you to just stop thinking, stand in this room right now. And just like, look what we just did.

[00:16:01] And that was the moment I realized, you know, what we had accomplished and thinking about everybody who was part of that project and being like super, I don't know, like kind of emotional about it, mainly because, you know, a lot of these people were like friends of mine.

[00:16:18] And it's cool to get your friends involved in something so neat, like so big like that. Right.

[00:16:23] And that that was kind of a testament to my support system and knowing that I had so many people in my life that were like willing to sacrifice a lot of time and be there to help us like accomplice's. So, yeah, I mean, it was it was a great project. It was awesome. Obviously, it's it's helps the business as a whole. But I think for me it was that leap of faith. I needed to just jump into it and say, I'm going to start working for myself. I'm going to have a company. And I want to create opportunities for like people around me who, like, believe in the mission of what I'm doing.

[00:16:58] So can we get into the specifics of kind of how you engineered it and the soundproofing and stuff like that?

[00:17:05] Yeah, I mean I mean, generally, you know, the structure, if you read the article with Stone in, you know, the structure was existing. It was serving as a room, so. I had basically treated it just like any other studio I would have built, you know, without going into detail of material and stuff, you know, it's just a matter of just making sure there's enough isolation and then acoustically treating the room to, you know, negate any weird reflections and things of that nature.

[00:17:32] You know, just like you have foam here on the walls. Um, there are there are definitely very important aspects and nuances of, you know, treating a studio in terms of getting it, you know, ready for, you know, any source audio, whether it's dialog. And I think, you know, if any podcast, studio, it's a little bit easier. Right. We're just talking we're not playing drums. We're not like wanking on guitar.

[00:17:54] You're going to master all in all this stuff as long as it's not reverberating too much. Yeah.

[00:17:58] I mean, you don't have to go into the weeds of, like, crazy compression, eliminating gating and all that stuff. You can you can generally get away with having close proximity mikes. So, you know, it was when it came down to building it out, treating it, it was just, OK, what can we do in this amount of time that's like proper practice for doing this, you know, getting the materials and then and basically creating a space that was going to be really interesting to do like a podcast. And and that was. For better or for worse, you know, what you see in the videos was, in my mind, what I thought would look cool. And, you know, Joe and I obviously discussed, you know, the design. And it was really just such a rapid project that we were just like, you know, do let's just do something. Let's go. Like, let's let's do something that looks cool. All I'll take care of handling it.

[00:18:56] Being a functioning studio, I was going to ask you it like so for the design. You did all that yourself. Did you put it on a computer first or you just kind of built it as you went? Yeah. Here's here's how I have it in my head.

[00:19:09] Yeah, exactly. So and that's generally, you know, we'll we'll we'll get to that aspect of, like the business moving forward after this. OK, but essentially with with that project, you know, when you're doing construction, right. If you're if you're doing any project, generally, you get an architect involved. Right.

[00:19:29] And we're just going to take basic, you know, like building.

[00:19:35] Processes, right, so you get an architect involved, you know, you you go through the bid process, you essentially have your proposals, you say, hey, you gather what the client wants, and then from there, you have a team of people who can basically orchestrate, you know, every. Every facet of what that project needs, an architect designed, you know, how are we going to implement this? You know, how are we going to do cabling and low voltage electrical? You know, you don't have that type of time and two and a half weeks, you just don't you know, and I remember thinking about, OK, let me start trying to mark this up and start modeling this. I realized I was just taking too much time to, like, get what was in my head onto SketchUp and in, like, make it a, you know, a 3D model. So it's like, no, no, no, no. Like the structures there. I'm just going to go for it, you know, like we've talked about the the like some of the design elements. I'm just going for it, you know, and and it was just cool because. Joe was cool about it, you know, everything just fell into place, you know, and I think I think there's something to be said about processes like that that are really organic and that just things just happen, because if we go into the final product and we go into everything that happened after that, you know, like. We knew that not everybody was going to love it, you know, and not really knowing. Prior to that, you know, a lot of like this show in the history, you know, again, I was just doing what the client wanted to do and we just kind of got it done.

[00:21:13] I'll tell you, I think it looks dope, man, but I love red lighting at my house, my house in my house. My neighbors are like, what are your red lights for? And I'm like, those are just my lights. Like, I like red lighting. So maybe I'm biased towards that. But like, I think it's what you said. People are just so nostalgic about. Like the podcast was the same for so long.

00:21:29] No one likes change. But I mean, and it was it was quite a change. But I think it looks fucking cool and I think it reflects Rogan's personality and and the style, too. So, I mean.

:21:40] Yeah. And, you know, everybody everybody has those moments of inspiration, you know, and sometimes you work with what you got and you create something great.

:21:50] And if people don't love it, you know, that's OK, too. You know, there's you know, people have that old adage, like f the haters and all that.

[00:21:57] It's like but like the haters or what, like keep us moving forward, you know.

[00:22:01] And for me, you know, I, I generally did see a lot of the negative response. But, you know, Joe has so many followers. And just because one percent of them, hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, whatever, said that they didn't like it like again. Nothing against them, it's just like it is what it is, you know, and I will say that being in the space is a lot more impactful than seeing it on camera. OK, and so and that's why I'm circling back. You know, that moment when you're standing there and you're seeing what you created, you know, like, is it perfect? No, like nothing's going to be perfect in two and a half weeks. But are we proud of what we accomplished? Yeah. Oh, yeah, we are. And was so happy with it. Oh yeah, he was. So at that point in time, you know, like why does it really matter, you know, like something's going to change anyways. You know something, something's always going to change. And I get it. You know, there's certain things that we we grasp on because we're comfortable with it. But, you know, I'm not saying embrace the change, but I can't give it give it a chance.

00:23:05] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I, I'd give it a chance.

[00:23:07] And I know that Jamie has.

[00:23:09] So what's Jamie's role like. Did he does he set up the cameras and all that stuff and he makes those decisions. Yes.

[00:23:15] I mean, Jamie's the producer and you know, he's you know, he's pretty much the man behind, you know, all the technology, you know, he needs. Joe's right hand guy, and, you know, I don't get too much into Jamie's role just because, you know, I know Jamie, I respect his privacy and everything like that.

[00:23:33] So, hey, everyone, this is your host, Justin. I just wanted to thank everyone for listening and give those that are new to the podcast a reminder to please subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast player. If you're on YouTube, please like the video share with the friend that helps us out. Thank you.

[00:23:47] I was going to say he seems like a pretty low key guy. You never see him on a podcast. You never see. Doesn't really like he's not real public.

[00:23:52] He's just kind of like I said, I don't really know, you know, like his whole anything like that in terms of, like, personal life and stuff. But, yeah, he's low key and he's he's a cool guy and it's just. Again, just trying to create a space for them that Jamie could work with and then, you know, that Joe was happy with and, you know, they just kind of take it and run with it. You know, it's just like this dynamic duo and it's like, awesome, just being able to interact with them.

[00:24:19] And I, like the Rogan keeps his podcast, seems to be like really close to home like that. Like he doesn't he could hire a bunch of people. He could do all this stuff. But like, no, he's he's just been rolling with Jamie for a really long time and just keeps it really personal.

[00:24:35] And that's a testament to, you know, how there's two sides of the coin. Right? You have these huge like productions where you have all these like people on stage and key grips and lighting guys. And, you know, you've got the audio guys and then you've got the talent and then you've got something that's that's massive. Right. It's a monumental, like podcast where it's just just really two dudes to do this show.

[00:24:58] And that's that's cool, right? Like, it is cool. Yeah. This could turn into that someday, like two dudes to make it seem like.

[00:25:07] Yeah. I mean that's that's kind of all I really have to say about it.

[00:25:09] I mean, yeah I, I think that we covered quite a bit of it. Yeah. So I wanted to get into, you know, your work history and you said that you'd worked other for other companies before and you got laid off like are you were you into music yourself personally. Do you record.

[00:25:23] Yeah. Yeah. So I would say like 2010, 2011, I had built my own personal recording studio in Cedar Park and. I had been, you know, playing in bands since I was like 15 and I was going on the road, we played a couple of tours and like played a bunch of shows. And I kind of burnt out on that, you know, kind of music.

[00:25:44] Did you play Havanas like metal? Hardcore, not like metal. Yeah, it was just, you know, just super out there. Nothing that was going to pay the bills.

[00:25:51] I think that's what I realized early on. I was like, oh, crap. Like not making any money doing this.

[00:25:56] I'm spending like two hundred dollars to go play a show out in like Louisiana or something crazy like that.

[00:26:01] It's a passion thing. And you're like, I can't really scale this. I've got, you know, riot responsibilities.

[00:26:05] Oh, for sure. I mean, at that time I didn't really have any responsibilities. I just I was like, oh, I think I would like some responsibility. So, like, let me figure out how I can, you know, you have kids.

[00:26:14] No, no, no kids yet. But yeah, at that time I just kind of determined I was didn't really want to play in bands is too much to try and create like a band. And then, you know, it's like a it's like a relationship. You have to really like work at it. And I just got kind of burnt out.

[00:26:29] Um, so I just determined at the time I was working in health care of all things like I just I worked at this doctor's office and I kind of slowly moved in from, like doing this general like chart room work to moving into it.

[00:26:45] But it was the story is pretty funny because I had done audio like running sound and things like that. I always been like interested in it just by nature of being a musician.

[00:26:56] And then when I was working at this doctor's office, I kept collecting this like insulation foam that we used for like packing materials for like the pharmaceutical drugs. And this foam came in like these blocks like one foot by like maybe ten inches or some of them were like twenty four inches by like 20 inches is really thick. It's like what you see on their walls. It's just polyurethane.

[00:27:18] That shit is so hard to keep on the wall, by the way.

[00:27:20] Yeah. It's fucking nightmare. I can show you some ways to make that happen. Please. Please.

[00:27:27] So I collected so much foam and I had all of my, my equipment and it's going to be funny, like people will watch this episode. But like, I had moved back home, I was like twenty one or something like that, obviously, because I didn't come as a musician and but I needed someone to store all my equipment, like might have stacks, my drums, all that stuff.

[00:27:49] So I put it all in the storage unit and I just stacked up all this foam that I had collected over like a couple of years.

[00:27:57] You're just collecting this phone for two years. Did you know what you were going to do with it? I know I was going to do it.

[00:28:01] That was the funny part of it. I was like like I was thinking like, oh, here's hoarding phone. Yeah.

[00:28:06] It's like this phone is valuable for some reason or another, but I got to give it know and and I had it in the storage and I remember after the band broke up, you know, I had a buddy of mine, I said, hey, do like I've been collecting this phone forever.

[00:28:19] And he's like, hey dude, I know therapists.

[00:28:22] Yeah.

[00:28:23] It's like I don't know what you're going to say, but I and then I was like, I had this wild idea, like, you know, the storage we're collecting in it. Like, what if we built a recording studio into the storage is like, what do you mean. Like we put the phone on the wall was like, no, like what if we actually build like like we frame it out, like we build an isolation booth, we build like a control room. Like at this time I had no idea how to do this. I had just the idea in my head. I was like, OK, like this would be a cool thing to do. I still want to do music, but this is a different like way to do it. And he was excited about it. I was excited about it. It started like buying a ton of like random gear. I don't even know what I was really doing is like I knew I would need a mechanic, I needed an interface. And and then we just kind of went to town and we started we had like a power drill. And then we would go to Home Depot, pick up the wood we needed, but we would have them cut it at Home Depot for us.

[00:29:19] Yeah. Yeah, they'll cut it for it. Yeah. It's a simple cut. Yeah.

[00:29:22] If it's a simple cut, they'll cut it. So we just like framed it out the best we thought we could. Built this like wall on the ground, stuffed it with the foam which is about four inches thick. And so that's how we built it. We built multiple walls freestanding and then we we joined them with these little L Brackett's. But I'll tell you, this man like those walls are like 400, 500 pounds apiece. Oh, my God. Because they were four eight by eight foot walls. So we had to get friends and a bunch of people to help us lift this thing up. And so, yeah, by the end of it, we had one storage unit. It was like a 10 by 12 foot storage unit with this like eight by eight foot box in the back of it.

[00:29:59] And that was our isolation room, and then we did it wasn't very effective.

[00:30:05] It was insanely if I bet it was like it was insane because you could hear people like opening, you wouldn't be able to hear people opening their, like, storage room doors, those big metal doors.

[00:30:14] Like if you were inside that room, how hot was that thing, though?

[00:30:18] It actually think that hot. You know, it was crazy because it's climate controlled. Oh, climate controls inside a climate controlled unit.

[00:30:24] So, you know, it would really like seal in, you know, even insulated, insulated, even better.

[00:30:30] So as long as we left the door open during like like when we weren't using it, you know, we would have cool air in there and we double door to, you know, whether sealed everything. And so the outside the rest of the space in that room was our control room. You know, I had I had a studio desk. I had like an all in one PC at the time. I started collecting gear. And and then from there, you know, I just kind of kept growing and growing. And then we went into another storage unit and we ran cabling from one storage unit all the way to the other one down the hall. And it just kind of grew.

[00:31:00] And then from there, I realized that. You know, there are a lot of things that people do in this life and they're apprehensive about doing it because they're kind of afraid of failure or they don't know where to start. I don't have a college degree and I knew that that was something important to my parents. But for me, I just wanted to figure things out on my own. But the beauty of the age we're living in is that information is readily available. So knowing that that was there and having help from friends and family to accomplish things, you know, like I'm fortunate enough to, like, have that privilege to be able to, like, ask people for help.

[00:31:40] And I will attribute that to, like, a lot of my success as well. You know, like I'm not I am humbled by the fact that, like, I have a good network of people, but also knowing that I can find all the information I needed. You know, I started learning how to engineer and, you know, obviously building this room. And as I as I learned and I and I grew, the second room was even better. And we built like an ISO room with, like, actual glass that you could see into the room. And like, we offset the glass and we had double pane. We had all the cables, like, routed through the wall. So we renting them. Yeah, we were just renting until we spent four hundred fifty dollars a month on the storage units, on two storage units.

[00:32:18] Like that's insane. Like the overhead was so cheap. Yeah. And what were you getting. Renting them.

[00:32:26] What were you getting like renting them over the top. Like Oh you're 50 like you.

[00:32:30] Yeah. So like I was working a full time job still at the time. I was still with that doctor's office. And I think, like on a good month I'd be making like fifteen hundred two thousand dollars. That's like on the side like recording. That's awesome. And getting paid to like figure this stuff out.

[00:32:45] Right. And you know, I got more and more proficient in it. And, you know, so my career kind of just was really rooted in pro audio and studio audio, but constantly and even in it and then constantly wanting to learn more. I was like at a certain point I started not losing interest in it, but realizing I was like, oh, this is interconnected with like low voltage in it.

[00:33:10] And like there's new technology coming out. So we're like, I can integrate it in everyday life or like maybe I just want to like, remodel the whole studio and add a couple cool things, cameras and things like that. And then I got let go from my job. At that time I had just gotten married and moved into home automation.

[00:33:30] Oh, automations, funnymen, home automation is a whole nother world. It was it wasn't intimidating, but it was it was so different, like having to learn how to like, you know, build the infrastructure cable wise for like a smart home. And this was before the time, like Philips, he was out. And all these like wi fi and zigi connected devices.

[00:33:50] Yeah, that's made it a lot easier. It's made it so much easier now. But back then, everything had to be hard wired.

[00:33:55] Yeah. And the people would have like this huge central hub that you'd have to hide somewhere pretty and then run all the way to have a whole avy rack in a closet hiding somewhere in the house.

[00:34:05] And that was pretty cool because that was another aspect of avy, like I never considered. So I started working in that and then, you know, from there just started moving to other places, you know, going back and forth from design and and implementation to being the client and and kind of. Generally learning how both sides were done right, understanding what the client's needs are from being the client and like, you know, managing projects that we needed and hired out for and then the opposite side, like selling to the client and like getting like figure out what their needs are and then designing the system for them. And so I did that, you know, moving into commercial avy and then working in a like a school districts and then, you know, working for we work was my most recent career path.

[00:34:55] And then they were blown up building all over the dam. So there's probably plenty of work there.

[00:34:59] Yeah, yeah, it was nuts. And I was I was the North American Navy engineer. We had a bunch of people on our team. And so our job was to go out to sites that were being built because we were the employees and ensure that, like all the integrators and the vendors were like actually doing their job. So we were traveling everywhere, L.A., New York, Nashville, Miami, like this was a couple like this was like that August to like December before covid was a thing.

[00:35:29] And then we were kind of we were got a bunch of press and kind of crashed and there was like some I don't know, there was some kind of I don't know. Some people were saying some stuff about the owner of the company.

[00:35:39] Yeah. It was it was funny seeing it in real time like happening and saying it was very cultlike to like we work was.

[00:35:45] Yeah, I'll touch on that just like lightly. OK, OK. So I was speaking to somebody literally about this a couple of days ago.

[00:35:54] And for me, being an avid kind of it's a guy like our whole culture is very like cynical.

[00:36:01] You know, we're kind of. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm a programmer. I know. Right. Right. So you know how we are like we're just generally like, oh, like all this koolade around. We're not drinking at like what's why are people happy about it? You know, like that's just how it is.

[00:36:15] But the crazy thing is like moving to work was kind of the same initial thought process. I had gone into it because like every career, a job I had before that was mainly rooted in like other people determining my worth, you know, like this is what we're going to pay you because you have X amount of knowledge, because this is the value you bring to our company so we can be more profitable. And that was something that I've had to talk to some of my friends about because it's like. In every industry, it has a different effect on people, and I think in it in the industry, for us, it's like it's a lot of hard work, a lot of hours, a lot of like back, you know, we're doing stuff behind the scenes, but we never get that, like the notoriety or like the praise or anything.

[00:36:57] Everyone just wants it to work. They just want it to work. One thing that, like, isn't our fault doesn't work.

[00:37:02] Then we still the guys who, like, screwed, screwed the pooch on it. So we moving over to we work. It was a whole different culture. And I think that's why it was so successful, was not the fact that it wasn't it had like an identity crisis, like are we a tech company? Are we a real estate company? Like it was more or less the fact that, like, you felt like you were part of something bigger than just your role. And that, I think, was the I think that was the perspective of it being a cult. Right. Is the fact that, like, there's so many things going on, there's so many people talking about it, it's branded everywhere.

[00:37:37] You can't go anywhere without hearing about we work. Funnily enough, I never heard of a we work before I started working there and I had several friends are working and we worked before, you know, thing hit the fan.

[00:37:47] But we you know, I think the more I spent time there, the more I felt like what I was doing made a difference. Whether or not in the grand scheme of things anybody else agreed with that? It's just like internally the employees were always really like supportive of each other. I always felt like, hey, like we're in this together. And that was a really cool feeling. Like you don't it's kind of a unicorn. You don't always get that in your career path.

[00:38:11] You know, it's very true.

[00:38:12] A lot of the people you work for, it just you don't feel that connection to what they're doing. Exactly. It never lasts for when I know that that's the case. It's like, yeah, this isn't going to last.

[00:38:21] And then from there, you can't you can't invest yourself into an employer that doesn't make you feel like you're part of like the overall mission. And I think that's what they did very well, was create a mission. That mission was such a gray area that nobody knew what the hell it was. But that creates a really good like environment for at least the employees.

[00:38:41] That guy was so gung ho on that. And you're right, he even approached Elon Musk to try to get a we work on Mars. And Elon is just like, no, we need to get to Mars first.

[00:38:51] Let's forget about chill out, dude, but it's like keeping that momentum going, you know?

[00:38:56] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:38:57] And I think that's that's anything, you know, even with, you know, I'm going to kind of move in to where we are now and this will just be a little transition into it, but. Since the project, you know, with Joe and since leaving we work, it's given me. This like valuable insight into how to grow a business based on the culture, more so than the revenue.

[00:39:27] And maybe some people skewer me on that, maybe some people will say I'm ignorant, you know, because I'm not focusing on, like, how to maximize, you know, profitability. But for me. Being in the right place at the right time was a perfect opportunity to create other opportunities for people who wanted to feel like they were part of something bigger than themselves and. There is no way I could have gotten to this point without my whole column, you know, venture partners, you know, these guys are, you know, Drew, who did the custom desk for for Drew.

[00:40:02] Drew, Drew. Is that right, Smith? Yeah, with Ryan Smith.

[00:40:05] You know, as soon as that one as soon as that project was over, that was the first time I had met him. And I saw the work he did. And I was like, man, this guy's really good. I like the attention to detail. Everything was like super clean. And I looked at his social media. And I generally try to, you know, see what his what his core competency was, you know, and was it seemed to be like woodworking and modeling and stuff like 3D modeling and stuff. And so I reached out to him on the next project I landed, and it was for another gentleman who had a podcast studio here in Austin. And I asked him like, hey, man, how would you want to partner up on this next one? You know, like I'm not the most proficient at, you know, woodwork and millwork and, like, custom stuff like that. And I could use somebody who could take these designs and really help me bring them to life. And he was like, yeah, let's do it. And he was super cool. Like, it was crazy because, you know, I didn't know this guy other than our interaction here and there, like over at Joe's and turns out like, yeah, I mean, like we're both musicians, like we both listen to like Motown soul music. Like, that's kind of like the thing that we do. And and just working on the job, getting to know him was like, hey, this is really awesome. Like I've got some other opportunities, like let's start talking about what's going on there and.

[00:41:20] Then we brought on, I needed another kind of like tech guy, like a V engineer, so I brought I called up or somebody who had worked on one of my work projects hit me up after seeing, you know, the the Joe story. And he was like, hey, man, you know, congrats. You know, do you remember me? We worked on this new building. I was like, Yeah, dude, yeah, what's going on? And we sat down and we had discussed. Working together in some capacity and.

[00:41:48] At the time, and this will tie into the whole, you know, support system here at the time.

[00:41:54] I didn't know that I wanted to pursue what I was pursuing. You know, when you do when you put into 240 hours into two and a half week project. Like you are, you're like mentally almost broken at that point, and and it was just basically me doing it to myself saying like man like I overworked myself, I really wanted this to happen.

[00:42:21] And it's an intense thing. Yeah, for sure.

[00:42:23] And I was just super conflicted on the whole thing. So when I sat down with Andrew, his name's Andrew Lloyd. He has a company called Tech Savvy. I we had a conversation, I remember at that time I was told I was like, I don't know, like if I really want to pursue this, I'm really tired. Like, I don't know if I can go through that again. I told at the time I was doing videography work and I was my wife and I were doing a lot like a lot of wedding videography, music videos and stuff like that. I was really enjoying it. I was paying pretty well.

[00:42:52] And so, yeah, I was just into your start, was building foam things inside of storage containers, you considered to be done with this after that?

[00:43:00] Well, yeah, because it was you know, everybody there's so many things that happened after that accomplishment, you know, like just a general like hate I got online that really affected you emotionally.

[00:43:12] I think so. I think not.

[00:43:15] I guess emotionally in a sense. But for me, you know, like, again, I don't do things just because, like, I see the big payout from them. I do them because I genuinely want a challenge that, like, I can be proud of. I think that affirmation fuels me to fuels me as well. And I'm like, hey, like I just want to be able to say, like other people say, like, dude, like.

[00:43:35] I know it's not perfect, but like you did it, you know, I mean, like you got through it.

[00:43:39] But nobody sees that right, people take things at face value, and I think that's what beat me up was all like the comments on line day, like, yo, this sucks. This looks terrible.

[00:43:47] Take Joe's advice. No, never read the fucking comments. He says it all the time. But now I understand. But it's a passion project for people to be using saying that. Yeah, yeah.

00:43:55] And I think that's I think, you know, if anybody takes anything from this and like, if anybody watches this that had seen had posted those comments, you know, for me, I would just say, look, I get it, man. Like, it's not your thing. Right?

:44:10] But at the end of the day, you know, like put yourself in that individual's situation and be like, would I be able to deliver this better? And even if you say you could like, would you actually do it, you know, and so that, you know, going back to that meeting with Andrew, like, I had already kind of determined that, like, I wasn't sure whether or not I really want to, like, pursue it, but then, you know, more and more business kept trickling in.

[00:44:35] I think, like, hey, we saw what you did for Joe. Like, you know, we want to we wanted to talk to you about doing this and kind of realizing that, like, a lot of people have the same need.

[00:44:44] A lot of people needed somebody to not only just like get them where they needed to be to start a podcast, but really, like, design the space, integrate the audio visual, do some custom work to make it like really like just personalized. As I started talking to more people about whether or not they want to be involved. It started to kind of come together, you know, once we did this project for the Sky, Alex, and then we got another one from his friend that he had recommended, um. I I started to feel that it wasn't necessarily me that was being unmotivated to do it, I think it was the fact that I was kind of craving that collaboration that I had from companies like we work, um, and just the camaraderie I had during Joe's project as well. I was like, that's what's missing. It's not you know, the affirmation was nice, but I think it was more having a team of people who believed in the mission, who brought value to the table in their own regard.

[00:45:47] That brings a lot of spirit to the whole. Exactly. You know, because anybody doing something alone, even if you're in it and you're the guy sitting in the basement, like just coding or like. Do you like. That that affects you.

45:59] It wears on you. It wears on you, you know, and like even people who are super introverts still need some sort of interaction.

[00:46:06] And I guess that would be like a like a smaller version of what I think I was going through. And so. When the projects kept coming and I started bringing more people on board to help, like seeing their excitement and seeing their enthusiasm, I realized it's like, OK, like we're doing this now. Ball's rolling. We've got a ton of, like, people calling us up to do this work. Small projects, bigger projects. And we're delivering these, you know, products that like the clients super happy with. I was like, OK, like what what do I need to do now? You know, it's not even about me anymore. Like it's more about like how can I create enough opportunity and upside for everybody who's involved? Because, of course, like when you say Joe Rogan, anybody would like say, dude, I want to come work with you about a block, but. I think the most important thing about your team is like liking who you're working with, right? Like even if they don't like even if they're the best, you know, designer or engineer or architect or whatever it is we all know, somebody we work with was like, dude, I would never hang out with that guy at a bar.

[00:47:15] You know, even if they're really talented, it's like, yeah, you need to have a good rapport between everybody.

[00:47:20] Yeah. And most companies, they'll seek out the talent before they seek out the integrity because it's an easy fix. Right. It's like it can get you the result right away rather than investing in an individual who may not be proficient in anything but just seeing, like, the potential and saying, hey, like. I want to be around somebody who believes in me, so then I can also invest in them because I believe in like us growing this whole thing together. And that's what's kind of gotten us to this point, is everybody around me has brought something different to the table, but. Well, hang out outside of these projects and like, we really just want to, like, be around each other and collaborate and think about this stuff, you know, that's that's a great result that came out of that.

[00:48:11] I mean, you made some friends out of it for me. You've got this company moving forward and you got cool people to work with and you've got lower pressure projects to work on.

[00:48:20] Well, kind of. I mean, some of them are I'm sure some of them are big. I mean, well, we're working on Joe's new one right now. Oh, shit. You've got one in the works. Yeah, well, he's already he's mentioned it on the podcast. Oh, it's like a couple of podcasts already talked about.

[00:48:33] We're doing the new one. Um, and then we are currently getting contracts worked out with Tom Sagara as well. Nice dude.

[00:48:43] So yeah. I mean we've got these other high profile projects going on, but then, you know, we're getting calls, you know, weekly, at least two or three just from local guys like local people who want to either have like a music recording studio.

[00:48:58] That's also going to ask you, is it music, podcasts, music podcast?

[00:49:01] There's people, you know, I had spoken with like a mortgage company locally. They're like, hey, you know, we need we need to elevate our podcast production. You know, we don't know where to start. We're not sexy because nobody wants to talk about mortgage was like, dude, that is not true. Like we could totally make mortgage sexy. We just got to you know, we just got to kind of recreate, rebrand and. Yeah.

[00:49:25] So we've been really fortunate that we've seen an influx of different areas in the market. I would say what we do best, though, is the fact that we have everything in house now, we brought in a construction manager, GC, who who I've known for a long time and haven't interacted with in a long time.

[00:49:47] But he's a really great guy, Dylan Elm. And so that's really awesome to have on board, because when we have clients who want to build a recording studio from the ground up, the whole process is, you know, quality controlled in-house. So there's no, like, miscommunication. There's no hey, you didn't run my conduit here. Like, you know, why are these walls finished out when there's supposed to be open, stuff like that? It's the perfect opportunity for anybody to just call us and say, this is my vision. I don't want to call like four or five different vendors to make this happen. Yeah, and that's what we're going to be really doing that I don't think anybody else is doing.

[00:50:26] So, for example, it's like if I wanted to build a new structure outside, you could do the whole thing or instead of me having to call, like whatever these smaller builders or people add on to houses and then call you to come in and do everything, you guys are going to streamline the whole thing.

[00:50:41] The whole process is streamlined. So, you know, Dylan Dillon's background is, you know, residential and commercial construction. And so when we were going into it, I realized, you know, like I'm not the guy who should be doing the construction, you know, like this guy is way better than me. And it sometimes just takes me too long. So it's like I think every entrepreneur or any successful business owner says that. Right. They say like, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are, better than you at what you know, certain things and supplement those skill sets that you shouldn't be focused on. You know, find what you're good at your core competency and run with that and then build a team to, you know, expand from there.

[00:51:20] And so that was something that I saw as a need because every single studio we went into, we needed somebody to really knock it out of the park and, like, be able to manage time and be able to, like, get those things finished so we could focus on just making sure the client was happy with the product and then making sure it worked right. And a lot of instances, even without just the whole process of building and designing, most of the time the client is intimidated by the technology.

[00:51:48] Yeah, it's true.

[00:51:49] I mean, just getting all this stuff set up, like, I guarantee you, like someone who's never seen this is going to walk in here and be like, oh, I wouldn't know even what button to touch haha.

[00:51:57] Like I've I've had that a million times.

[00:51:59] People have come to my studio like, dude, this is like a spaceship, how do you know what, like buttons to turn and stuff. And it's like you know what, I'm, I don't expect you to know any of this. Like you're here to record. Let's, let's drive out.

[00:52:10] And that's, that's another thing I realized, you know, when when I come into a situation where someone's got a podcast studio and they don't know where to start. The last thing we should be talking about is the technology, the first thing that should be on the forefront of anybody's mind is creating a really cool space to have a conversation, because that's essentially what we're doing here, right? We're having a conversation. We're getting to know each other. And that's got to be a comfortable environment to do it in, or at least. Cohesive, so like maybe what your podcast is about, you know, if we're if we're talking about, like doing some cigarets or like we're like in the gym or something, I mean, like might be some iron behind us somewhere, right?

[00:52:50] Yeah, some like really industrial facade or maybe like some really cool and direct lighting and stuff like that.

[00:52:55] Um, and that's, and that's really the exciting part about it, is taking the personality of the host and saying, you know, like what are you about. Like let's get to know you and figure out like how we can like encapsulate this room into like your like ideas and your personality. And then from there, you know, the technology is the easy stuff. Integrating it is I'll be honest, it's the easy stuff because we can figure that out. But nobody's going to generally see a podcast and say, oh, man, is he using some 70s like, man, that's crazy that he knew to use if your podcasts remain.

[00:53:31] Yeah, but yeah. But yeah, the vibe is everything. And I don't have to shout to my buddy Dave Leemon who did my studio. He's a really nice guy. Yeah. They did this wall Wallbanger. Yeah. He built that door to do he built it in the garage. We realized it was way too fucking heavy to get upstairs, so we had to deconstruct it piece by piece and reconstructed upstairs.

[00:53:49] That's nice. Yeah. Yeah. And that's and that's so, that's so vital. Right. Because this is like signature for you. Yeah, it is. It is. I mean, like people, people as you grow up you're going to see it like.

[00:53:59] Oh like they're going to scroll through like Facebook and Instagram and they're going to stop because they see this one thing. And that's what we're trying to create with our clients as well. You know, like what is it that's Eye-Catching? Because like, if you look at the metrics and you say, like, how many people were looking at your post and looking at, you know, your social media, like, most people are just scrolling, you know, like no one spending more than, you know, like. Three to 15 seconds looking at any post. It's just the nature of how we are nowadays. But can you imagine, like scrolling through your feed and then seeing some, like, crazy lighting or some crazy background, like backlit and then just like an elevated, you know, making sure that the focal length is right and the perspective of the camera. And then you click on it and the audio sounds really good, too, you know, like, um, this was kind of a shock value to that. You know, it's subconsciously draws your attention and you're like, whoa, this isn't just the everyday thing. I've just been scrolling past it for sure.

[00:54:51] And you're trying to get someone to click on two people talking, which, let's face it, isn't that exciting? Until it takes some investment, you have to stop and listen. It's exactly the context of what they're talking about. So exactly. Podcasts have a lot of work to do up front to get someone's attention and keep it.

[00:55:06] So the least the last thing you want to do is have bad production and bad quality and bad audio like you need to do everything you can to get that person to click on that.

[00:55:16] And, you know, there is there are still people who were like first to market with podcast writers, you know, like even let's say like Lex Friedman. People have asked me multiple times, like, hey, you're going to be shot election. He just has a black background and like a table. It's his style, but it's his style. Right. But it's really you. He has something super compelling to say that people are like listening to. And maybe, again, it was just like generally he knew the right people or like, you know, like it was the right place at the right time. But not everybody is going to be that lucky, so.

[00:55:48] Right. Well, it's really more about like, how do you set yourself apart?

[00:55:54] Just like anybody like a like a band or a model or company, you know, what are you doing differently that's going to compel people to want to listen first and foremost, um, you know, because we could be talking to we're blue in the face about something. You know, maybe we know the secret to black holes.

[00:56:10] Like we actually like we know somehow we went on like some crazy, like, shroom trip and we're like, do we figured it out?

[00:56:16] But no one's going to know because they're never going to click on that video if they see us sitting like, you know, the living room in a house or something. Yeah. So that's I guess that might be like marketing one on one.

[00:56:26] Right. Like, how do you you know, how do you get people to invest and how do you how do you quantify that metric as well?

[00:56:33] That's one thing that I'm hoping we can get to a certain point with, with our clients as we move forward, figuring out like the ahli on taking your podcast studio and really elevating the design and really elevating, like just the nature of the content.

[00:56:49] I'd be very interested to. Yeah, yeah. Find out more about that as you go forward on that.

[00:56:53] Yeah. So that would be cool because then we can justify and say, hey, you know, I know you invested, you know, forty or fifty thousand dollars in this bedroom of your house, but like you know how many more we like viewership have you garnered, you know, like what is you know, what's what's your engagement at right now and stuff like that. And so there are a couple, um, you know, with Alex and obviously Joe and another gentleman named Nick, basically, we've you know, we've finally finished out their studios and, you know, they have very high traffic, like the nature of their business is a very high traffic, like viewership, like a subscription based models. And so I'd like to go back and figure out what those like numbers have started looking like. And if it's changed, you know, because for some people, they just want a cool space, right?

[00:57:43] Yeah. I mean, because if you're going to be doing your podcasts, you want it to be fun. That makes it more fun, you know. Right. Right. For sure.

[00:57:48] But other people, you know, they're spending a lot of money. So they expect like, hey, I want to see what type of return I can make on really like, you know, taking you know, I'm hiring you to give me a product that I'm hoping will. Get more people to, like, be interested in what I'm saying. Mm hmm.

[00:58:04] So I feel like the burden is on them, though. It's like you build six spaces. It's on them to build their podcasts and get people to listen to it. But it would be nice if you could help with that.

[00:58:14] But well, and I don't think that will ever necessarily help with, you know, like, how do we build you just you want to show metrics, though, because it helps in marketing.

[00:58:23] Right? It's like I'm not a record label for a band. I'm not like the PR.

[00:58:27] Yeah. Yeah. You're not going to help them promote their stuff.

[00:58:29] Right, exactly. But at the end of the day, it would be nice to know that because I want to see because people have asked me this before, they like, you know, what is what do you see as the future of podcasts? And circling back to the beginning of this conversation? You know, I don't even listen to podcast, which is crazy.

[00:58:45] You know, it's ironic that I listen to this one if you send it to me. Yeah, I actually I listen to the last one I was on. I was like, man, do I really look like that is like that. That's terrible.

[00:58:55] But I would be curious to see, you know, the for me, the future of it is like, you know, investing more anything you do, if you invest more in yourself, you invest more into, like your production. If we even look at things like like videography. Right. My wife and I shoot these wedding videos and I'll go back and I'll look at videos from like the mid and early 2000s that people did, and it's just it's just crazy because even back then, people were spending like mad cash to get a wedding videographer. And I'm looking at it like that looks so antiquated. That looks so bad.

[00:59:29] It's crazy how fast that stuff changes.

[00:59:31] And even in cinema, you know, how many people are going to go watch, like a film that looks like it was shot on like 35 millimeter or something like that, you know? I mean, like they're going to then it's going to look like an old film I can watch, like a Clint Eastwood film that's old, like the good, bad, the Ugly all day.

[00:59:49] But some of them are.

[00:59:49] Yeah, well, it's not that it's bad, it's just that we're not used to seeing that anymore. And then the same things going on with podcast.

[00:59:57] Right. Everybody's really wising up is twitch streamers. Right. All everybody's really wising up to like, OK, if I have a much better camera, if I like really good key lighting, if I like really make something interesting. And my backdrop, you know, I think more people are going to be, you know, interested in what I'm doing and saying because it just it just generally looks more professional and production needs to be good.

[01:00:21] Podcasts have notoriously bad production. I'm amazed at how many podcasts I look at, even ones that are like pretty popular. I'm like, this looks like garbage. It sounds like garbage. Right? Like good on you for getting views. But like I mean, people expect higher production these days and they definitely do.

[01:00:34] And you're right, like they're getting like these big views. And I think it's almost like they've been grandfathered into it.

[01:00:39] Yeah, you're right. Yeah.

:00:41] But, uh, you know, I would say that the future looks like. Yes. Like let's start taking this more professional, like, let's take this seriously because, you know, then there's a marketplace for us to actually continue to grow revenue based on, you know, just content because digital content is not going anywhere.

:00:58] It's grown at such an exponential rate over the course of like two decades and.

01:01:05] You know, that's going to kind of set the benchmark and hopefully what we're doing as a company will help set that benchmark for what like studios will look like, how they'll actually like work. Because, you know, profitability is also all about like having a good workflow.

:01:22] And I don't like to. Well, I say we don't like to complicate the process by throwing in unnecessary technology and like making it inaccessible for the everyday user.

[01:01:33] You know, for me, like, this thing is perfectly easy to use. Anybody could use this exactly the road Kastor.

[01:01:38] But those same people, when you say anybody are intimidated by that because it's new, it's scary. There's a lot of knobs and faders and, you know, and so if. If our job is to educate the client and if our job is to make the client feel comfortable in their space, you know, we don't need to exasperate that by adding more bells and whistles that don't really add much to the production or the workflow or tried and true rather than like you're not going to every time something new comes out and like, just get why.

[01:02:10] There's no reason. Wow.

01:02:12] Yeah, exactly. You know, and there's there's so much great equipment out there. We've partnered with certain companies as well as kind of our go to, you know, lights and, you know, acoustic panels and things like that just because it's like it's easier for us to be able to say, hey, you know, certain things that may not be on camera. Let's just let's like kind of standardize that. You know, there's there's so much stuff you can get lost in, like a flood of gear. Like I'm a gearhead myself. I've got like a million guitars and mikes and stuff sitting at home. But, you know, like at the end of the day, it's kind of funny because, like, I have all that stuff and I never use it. Like, even when I had my recording studio, I had, like, amps, a wall of amplifiers and like, I'd snare drums.

[01:02:53] You saw how many pedals I had. I got crazy with the pedals. I was almost just collecting them at some point because you can only use so many.

[01:03:00] You got two feet. Like you can't even use both at the same time unless you're sitting. Yeah.

[01:03:04] So um so yeah.

[01:03:06] The same thing's stands through with, with doing your podcast. It's like you've got a mic, you may or may not have headphones, you've got a way to uplink to, you know, whatever streaming service you want. And then you know a couple of things, you know, your camera and lens and everything. But then from there it's like the rest is all on, you know, the rest is all on, you know, as good as the studio could look, the the the the common denominator is the host, the person, the host and your ability to market and promote.

[01:03:37] Because honestly, I mean, I feel like a lot of people can have really good podcasts, but you've got to find a way to get it out there. And I feel like you have to do it for if you're not a celebrity because you're competing with celebrities, you know, I mean, that's the tough part. Most of people that are successful podcasting or a company like NPR or already have a name, you know. Yeah. The other other people can make their way up. But I feel like I mean, I talk to people about it. It's just like you have to do it for a long time, maybe years before you get any breakout. But that's the kind of investment you have to put into it.

[01:04:06] That's what you get for sure.

[01:04:08] And, you know, time I want to say time and success are mutually exclusive. Right? You know, there is if you're doing a podcast, it's like content that's been done over and over and over again. You're probably not going to see the same amount of success as somebody who's been doing it way longer that already has the viewership and like followers and they've got a fine tuned.

[01:04:29] They know what they're doing.

[01:04:29] Right, right. I mean, you can you can essentially have your own thing going on. But, you know, you're always going to be kind of trailing behind unless something magic happens and you're, you know, everybody just you steal all their viewers and like, hey, this guy is more interesting or he's funnier or I just I feel like I know him better. Um, you know, you'll generally see there's definitely other podcast out there that are coming up with information that people want to talk about, you know, whether it's nuanced towards like their personality or like a subset of a subset that no one's talking about.

[01:05:01] Yeah, like mine. I'm it's I just love Austin. I love the cities of this podcast. I only do people in Austin, you know, I mean, like, I might interview someone else who's in town visiting or whatever, but it's mostly just like your guy in Austin. You do work here. You have a company here. Yeah. Because I think it's cool. Keeps the local, you know.

[01:05:17] Yeah. I thought about doing a podcast myself, which is like.

[01:05:20] But you don't even listen to listen to a podcast so you could do a podcast. I was yeah. I was thinking about it as I was telling a buddy of mine is like, hey, would you be interested. He's not a videographer in town.

[01:05:29] I was like, what if we do nobody steal this please. But what if we do a podcast about like the people behind the scenes, like no one would be better that than the you and your team.

[01:05:40] So I don't think anyone can steal it.

[01:05:42] Right. Well, and I'm talking about like, you know, we have tons of podcast about musicians and artists and stuff like that. But like what about the people who were like behind the camera? Right. Like the people making the music videos or making the content feel like.

[01:05:55] Listen to that podcast. That's interesting.

[01:05:57] Right. Or even talk like having a podcast of our podcasters. Like, I just tell me, like your journey about getting into podcasting, like, you know, like when did you figure out you needed headphones?

[01:06:07] Like it was just like down on you, like, hey, I'm missing something here.

[01:06:11] Yeah. You know, so I don't know, maybe we'll do that when I have time, but I'm really working like 16 hours a day. This is actually a treat for me to be able to step away.

[01:06:19] Well, thank you so much, because we were texting like, too busy this week. Too much work, man. And then I was like a follow up next week. Yep. Still too busy, dude, but you made it, man. I'm glad you did that for sure.

[01:06:30] Is there anything we're adding now or did. The whole story is great. And I love your focus on, like, helping other people and kind of you have a passion behind your company, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, you're doing it for the right reasons. Is there anything else you want to cover? I mean. Well, one, how long you been in Austin?

[01:06:46] How. Man like 17 going on 18 years.

[01:06:50] Yeah, I mean, cities changed a lot, right?

[01:06:53] Oh, hell, yeah, did last podcast I was on, they were talking about that they were out of Nashville and like, you know, trying to get a sense of what Austin was and what it's turning into. And it's it's kind of hard. Like all I kind of compare it to this, like, you know, Austin is kind of like when you're like a chubby kid and then you just kind of grow up over time and like you don't realize, like, oh, wait, I've hit my growth spurt and all of a sudden I'm tall and skinny and, like, muscular, you know, like it just it happened over like the 18 years I've lived here.

[01:07:29] So it's not like I've seen I can't even fully remember what Austin was like 18 years ago. I remember like aspects of it. But look like now everything's so normalized. You know, you go downtown and you see all the like the new buildings and apartment high rises and all that stuff. So, like, it's all just kind of turned into, you know, what it is over time. I'm not that I'm you know, it's a lot of opportunity for everybody everywhere. Yeah. So, um, so anybody who's upset, you know, hey, you know, don't be like the guys who hated my red room like this change, you know?

[01:08:08] Yeah.

[01:08:09] I fully agree. There's change. You just got to embrace change. You make the best of it. I mean, you can look negatively anything if you get creative enough about your negative thinking. Yeah, for sure. So we'll wrap us wrap this up. But one more thing I'll ask you just kind of like what is some one of your favorite spots in Austin?

[01:08:22] If someone was out, they might run into you favorite spots and could be restaurants.

[01:08:27] Bars, could be a golf course, whatever.

[01:08:30] You know what? Like, usually my wife and I are hanging out over at, like, yard bar, OK?

[01:08:35] It's taking our dog out there, just hanging out, you know, just it's like they got food, they've got dogs, they got dogs. It's a bar. It's it's like three favorite things. Yeah. So, yeah. Check it out.

[01:08:45] Your advice out to the yard bar dude. Matt, thank you so much. This was awesome. I really appreciate it.

[01:08:50] Any time. And everybody on here. Thanks.