Hey there {contactfield=firstname},
I’ve noticed something strange about podcast advice lately. The longer people talk about “better production,” the easier it becomes to accidentally make a podcast worse.
- More cinematic intros.
- More layered sound design.
- More “immersive audio experiences.”
And eventually, someone adds duck sounds to a perfectly normal conversation. Which is more or less what happened in the latest episode of Monetize This! with voice actor and audio branding specialist Jodi Krangle.
What started as a thoughtful discussion about sound, emotion, and listener connection slowly drifted into complete audio nonsense.
- Rain effects.
- Overdramatic transitions.
- Bacon sizzling for no defensible reason.
Somewhere underneath everything, there was a point that felt surprisingly real:
- Good production supports the conversation.
- Bad production wants to be the conversation.
And most podcasts probably don’t need more polish nearly as much as they need more personality.
That was the interesting part to me.
Because the more exaggerated the production became, the more obvious it was why people actually listen in the first place.
- Not for seemless edits.
- Not for cinematic sound beds.
- Usually, it’s the host.
- The perspective.
The sense that there’s a real person behind the microphone instead of a content machine trying to sound important.
Jodi had some genuinely smart insights throughout the episode about how sound quietly shapes memory, emotion, and trust.
Even if the duck effects occasionally tried to overpower them.
If podcast “best practices” have started feeling a little overcooked lately, you’d probably have a laugh out of this one.
David Beckemeyer
P.S. We still haven’t fully ruled out the strategic use of duck sounds…But we’re close.
