Just a handful of editions in, and we’re already breaking the rules…

Not a podcast; a podcast company. That’s what we have on-deck for you today. Meet Multitude! A small group of creators coming together to make original shows, build community, shake up the ad sales model, and deliver some great audio experiences for some of the largest brands in audio.

I hope you enjoy their story!

Summarize your show for us

Multitude is a podcast company made up of passionate people creating shows you can count on. Since 2017, our shows have tens of millions of downloads and hundreds of thousands of people who love them (and more than a few logo tattoos). Alongside the six (and growing) member shows we produce from our studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, we teach people and companies how to build shows that communities gather around.  

Multitude currently supports 25 independent creators in making a living, and we are constantly adding to that number.

Why do listeners subscribe to your podcast?

Multitude’s shows are beacons for community. We always hear how podcasting is so intimate and it’s right your ears so it’s like your podcasters are your friends right next to you. We treat that incredibly seriously, and excitedly tell our listeners what we love in the hopes that they love it too.

Whether it’s Dungeons and Dragons (Join the Party), mythology (Spirits), planets and worldbuilding (Exolore), the queer movie canon (Queer Movie Podcast), or games of all stripes (Games and Feelings), we are here with open arms.

What makes your approach to podcasting different from others?

There is a ton of work that goes into a podcast that feels like a few friends talking. We collectively have decades of experience in audio from all sides: development and pre-production, editing and mixing, and the ability to make money for creators while maintaining the trust and respect of our audience.

Our hard work makes for really easy listening, and we pride ourselves on showing up for community week after week after week.

What do you hope listeners gains from listening to your show?

Community! Acceptance! Welcomeness! Honesty! Humor! Information!

What does your podcast legacy look like?

I didn’t know it was radical to make a living in audio independently and not be incredibly toxic or unprincipled. And yet, here we are, trying to show folks that this is something they can do.

What’s the best piece of advice you have for other podcasters?

Just because something is successful doesn’t mean it’s good. There are no real rules in podcasting; if someone says so, they’re trying to sell you something or justify a purchase they already made.

Make the choices that make sense for you and hold yourself to those standards.

The software you use for your podcast:

• ProTools (Various plugins like: Ozone 10 Advanced, Neutron 4, Nectar 3, Tonal Balance Control 2, Eiosis E^2 De-esser, Tokyo Don Labs Kotelnikov Compressor, Fabfilter, Slapper 2, Audio Ease, Speakerphone, Indoor, Altiverb 7, Brainworks bx_digitalv3)
• iZotope RX 10 Advanced
• Conferencing software like Zoom and Google Meet
• Piezo and Audiohijack to sync audio.

The hardware you use for your podcast:

• RME Fireface UFX+ interface
• RME OctaMic XTC preamp
• (4) Shure SM7b
• (5) Warm Audio WA-87
• (1) Zoom H3-VR Ambisonic and Binaural Recorder
• (8) Stedman Proscreen Pop Filters
• (4) Rode Professional Studio Boom Arm
• (4) Audio-Technica ATH-M20x headphones

What makes your podcast setup work for you?

We wanted a podcast studio for working audio creators: people who worked professionally in the field but didn’t have a big company office to go to where they were recording. Also we had a lot of experience and were tired of recording in closets and under blankets, so we built our own thing. We got the Multitude office in the middle of 2019 which had a surprisingly large walk-in closet, and retrofitted it to become our studio. We covered the existing floor with Acoustik underlay, we dropped the ceiling, covered the wall with acoustic paneling and diffusers, and installed a window in the wall to serve as our engineer station. (If you want to read how we did it, we wrote about it here.

Our Head of Production Brandon left New York City in February 2020 (yes, we know). Before that, he taught everyone how to use the studio and best practices for remote recording.

So when March 2020 rolled around and companies were struggling with Zoom and USB microphones, Multitude had been prepared for months. Now in 2022, we record almost all of our shows with someone remote. The key is getting everyone’s sound not necessarily as perfect as the studio, but to be as similar as possible. When differences arise, we have incredible engineers use iZotope to smooth it out! Since everyone knows how to use a DAW and a microphone, there is no need for anything fancier than Zoom/Google Meet and recording locally.

Having a dedicated recording space is incredibly important to treating our jobs as Real Jobs. We made a space for ourselves when, classically, podcasters are required to record at home and deal with the random sounds your mic picks up. That shouldn’t be the case for auido professionals people, and shouldn’t be the case for our listeners.

The studio is open for anyone in Multitude at any time, and welcomes anyone in the NYC area who wants a podcast-first space.

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter featuring Multitude! If you enjoyed it and think others will too, please share on social media. Follow us on Twitter. Thank you!