Taking the Podcast to the Next Level

Here are my “top secret” plans for the podcast!

Here’s a little bit about what I’ve been working on since arriving here in San Francisco. I realized a few months back that I was sitting on this treasure trove of content from major figures in the music world. The back catalog for my podcast is about 8 or 9 solid days of listening. That’s fantastic… but how do you even begin to tackle that?

I decided to go through everything I’d ever put out and take detailed notes about what I talked about with everybody, making sure to timestamp each one of these topics. With 229 episodes in the back catalog, that’s no small feat.

I would wake up in the morning, brew a pot of coffee, and listen through podcasts until the sun set. I did this for about three weeks straight. The result: an “index of topics” that’s 37,000 words long.
OK–now I have this content all time-stamped and organized. Great! Now what?
As I began to listen to the older material, ideas for thematic episodes began to form. I quickly realized the value of being able to hear 10 major figures in the bass world each describe how they practice spiccato strokes, what they to 20 minutes before an audition, the biggest pitfalls their students face, stories of grit, inspiration, persistence…

I began sketching out the flow of some of these episodes, and a few days later, I started working on my first series of new thematic episodes. Here are details:

Winning the Audition

• Episode 1: Preparing for Audition Success
• Episode 2: Practicing Techniques for Peak Auditions
• Episode 3: Preparation Routines That Work
• Episode 4: Sealing the Deal

The first part will launch this Monday, and you’ll be hearing advice from dozens of major figures in the bass world, including Lawrence Hurst, Michael Hovnanian, Ranaan Meyer, Ian Hallas, Brandon Mclean, Robin Kesselman, Ira Gold, Max Dimoff, Jack Budrow, Andrew Anderson, Rob Kassinger, Peter Tambroni, Greg Sarchet, Andrew Raciti, Marc Ramírez, Gaelen McCormick, Joseph Conyers, Colin Corner, Ju-Fang Liu, Jeffrey Turner, Owen Lee, Brad Opland, Alex Hanna, and Ed Barker.

These episodes are drawn from a decade worth of interviews, and I think that you’ll find these both inspiring and useful. Look for episode 1 on Monday, and download the free Contrabass Conversations app to get these delivered directly to you!