Podcast Service FAQs
About Tansy Aster Audio
We strive to be more than a podcast production service to our clients - we want to help you grow as a business. Telling a damn good story is what gets us up in the morning. We are a small, neurodiverse team, a seasoned audio engineer and a branding expert coming together to help you produce the most impactful podcast possible. We perform most work in-house and limit the number of clients we take on. This allows us to give our clients' projects the attention they deserve. Tansy Aster Audio is a full-time business, not a side hustle. Our success depends on your success - it's that simple.
We can set up and engineer the recording sessions for you to ensure you get the best recordings possible. This is a service very few can offer and takes one more hassle off your plate.
With our experience in audio and video, we know how to use and operate all the tools available to us. We don't just run your audio through a bunch of presets and AI apps and call it done.
Our White Glove service allows our clients to spend more time on the content because they don’t have to deal with time-consuming post-production.
Tansy Aster Audio isn’t for everyone. We are a premium podcast boutique with an emphasis on quality and strategy. We use our extensive experience to help our clients produce podcasts with a clear purpose. We don't run from change - we embrace it.
You’ll have better options available to you if you are on a tight budget or routinely work on tight deadlines. We can recommend some other editors if we aren't a good fit.
Jesse is a certified podcast editor with 20 years experience in audio engineering and production. In addition to being a certified podcast editor, he coaches other editors on how to improve their skills and is a Riverside endorsed editor.
Tara has a BA in Film and Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz, a Brand Management Certificate from Cornell University, and over 10 years of experience developing brands and producing videos for a variety of organizations. In her career, she's worked with large nonprofits, such as The Humane Society and Developmental Pathways, healthcare organizations, and elected officials. She's also a multi-published, award-winning author with Macmillan who has taught workshops on creating more accessible content and storytelling.
Tansy Aster Audio does not outsource any of our primary podcast services. Your podcast will be handled by Jesse, our engineer. This ensures consistent results from episode to episode. Our goal is to build a long lasting relationship with our clients by working directly with them.
We may outsource some tasks for you to keep costs down. We will always let you know when something is being handled by someone outside Tansy Aster.
Our turnaround time is typically 4-5 business days, but can stretch out to 5-7 days if we have a lot of work land at the same time.
We offer rush work at an increased cost. Since rush jobs cost you more and impact our other clients, we advise maintaining a buffer and planning ahead. Our recommendation is to maintain a 2-4 week buffer between recording and publication.
We are based in Vancouver, Washington. Our business hours are Monday -Thursday 9:00-5:00 Pacific time. Friday by appointment only.
Podcast Production
Our White Glove package includes Jesse running each recording session to ensure the highest quality possible. He will sound check all participants and remain on the session until the end.
We also provide an audiogram, social media quote graphic and human-generated transcripts for each episode. As an added bonus, we provide a free annual podcast audit.
Our clients love this option because it frees them from the stress of being responsible for the recording process and eliminates the time you have to spend on post-production. It also saves time on producing content for social media.
Available options:
- Analog Mastering
- Custom Animated Audiograms
- Custom Social Media Graphics
We do a lot, and some of it gets technical, so we’ll give a brief overview. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of everything we do.
- We take your raw audio and make the content edits you request
- The edited audio is now cleaned up. This may include reduction of any or all of the following:
- System noise floor
- Ambient noise
- Room sound
- Mouth noise
- The cleaned up audio will now be edited to reduce the frequency of or remove the following when possible:
- Long pauses
- Filler words
- Coughs and sneezes
- False starts
- The edited audio will be mixed. This may involve any or all of the following:
- Compression
- EQ
- Other processing to make the audio sound it’s best
- Adjusting the levels of all audio tracks so they are similar in volume
- Master the episode. This can involve processing the master bus with additional compression, eq or other processing to enhance the final output. Each episode will be brought up to industry standard loudness of -16 LUFS.
A podcast editor is someone who focuses on editing, but usually lacks the experience and knowledge that an engineer brings to the table.
A podcast engineer is a person who has extensive, well rounded knowledge of all aspects of audio production, recording, editing, mixing and mastering. This includes:
- A technical understanding of sound
- Acoustics
- Equipment selection, setup & settings
- Recording techniques
- Editing
- Mixing
- Audio processing tools
- Mastering
Jesse is certified as a Podcast Engineer and has 20 years of audio engineering and mixing experience.
It is your responsibility to store your files. Wav files are large. We will store the master wav and mp3 files for up to 90 days on the cloud. It’s our recommendation to save the wav file for your archives.
If you'd like us to store your files, we charge $10 per episode to store your episodes. They will be stored on a dedicated hard drive and will be sent to you once it is full.
Launch & Brand Strategy
We offer two launch packages for new podcasts.
Launch with Purpose: If you don't have a brand strategy in place, we highly recommend going this route to help you best position your podcast in the market. This package starts at $3995 and includes:
- Brand strategy (see what this includes below)
- Equipment consultation and selection
- Podcast asset development
- Podcast setup
- Podcast distribution
Essential Launch Package: We'll meet with you for one hour to gain a better understanding of your podcast brand and help point you in the right direction in terms of developing your own strategy. Our essential launch package includes everything above but the brand strategy and starts at $1995.
Do you have a strong sense of purpose (what you want to communicate and why)? Do you know what your audience wants and responds best to? Have you identified potential competitors and figured out how to position your podcast? Are you reaching an underserved market and/or have you identified opportunities to stand out?
If you don't know the answer to these questions, you may benefit from a clear roadmap, one that will help you attract the right listeners--and ultimately--better serve your customers and community. Another reason to do a brand strategy is if your current podcast isn't performing well and you need to consider a rebrand. We might be able to diagnose the root cause and help you re-invent your podcast. If you don't have a good sense of what you're communicating and who you're communicating to, it will be challenging to reach the people you want to reach.
A brand strategy might not be necessary for everyone. If you're looking for a few adjustments to improve growth or identify problem areas, a podcast audit and consultation might be best.
Possibly! If you didn't do a strategy initially or you aren't getting the response you were hoping for, we can dive into what may be going on. Maybe you are in a crowded space and need to re-position the podcast or your topics aren't resonating with your ideal listeners. We can build a roadmap together to help you get more engagement.
If a brand strategy isn't in order, you may benefit from a podcast audit where we focus on specific areas that can be improved.
Our brand strategy services start at $1995. This includes four 1-hour consultation sessions where we build or assess your foundation, create audience profiles, and identify opportunities or gaps in your space. You'll receive a roadmap that outlines the strategy we developed together and actionable steps you can take to better engage your audience.
You're completely right - a strategy is a large investment. The intent of a strategy is to help your podcast perform better than it would without one. How much is that worth to you?
Getting results requires more than a cursory understanding your audience. It means connecting with and relating to them as you would a friend. A list of demographic characteristics doesn't help you connect with them -- that's just data. You want to be able to put yourself in the shoes of your listeners. Who are they beyond a gender identity and an age? What are they struggling with? Where are they when they listen to your show and why do they need to listen? How can your podcast make a difference in their lives? How can you make them feel that you understand them as well as they understand themselves?
A good strategy also requires gaining an understanding of how to best position your podcast in a crowded market. Where are the gaps you can fill?
If a strategy is something you'd like to tackle on your own, we are happy to offer guidance on how to build your own strategy. You can schedule a coaching call with us and we'll walk you through some tips.
Sure thing. In cases where you have a brand strategy and cover art in place, we can help you with equipment, setup and distribution.
Podcast Audit
A podcast audit is a great idea if:
- You're struggling to grow your audience
- The podcast isn't giving you the results you'd hoped for, whether that's expanding your reach, increasing leads or donations, or driving more visitors to your website
- You're receiving negative feedback from listeners or nobody is talking about it at all
- The return on investment isn't matching the level of time and energy you're putting into it
Producing an engaging podcast is like managing a mini-brand. It requires a diverse skillset and often more than one person to handle it all. We can help you identify your biggest areas of need and set manageable goals.
That depends on the concern you have and how in-depth you want to go.
With our Essential Audit, we'll review your podcast episodes, take notes, and we'll hop on a 45-minute call to go over any questions you have and some general areas for improvement.
Our Advanced Audit would tackle more areas, including your digital presence and brand outside your podcast, and we'd provide you with a findings report.
Our Audit & Roadmap goes even more in-depth with an audience persona analysis (or help building those important personas), competitor research to help you with positioning/standing out, and a strategic roadmap to help you get your podcast back on track.
Feel free to schedule a free discovery call and we can chat through which options might be best for you.
An audit is best when you have an established podcast and audience, but you're not getting the results or listeners you want. You're looking for areas to improve - but the heart and foundation of your brand and vision will stay intact.
A brand strategy is best before you launch a podcast or if your current podcast is performing poorly (e.g. it never got off the ground or gained listeners, etc) and potentially needs a rebrand to better establish your positioning.
We can help you identify areas for improvement and opportunities you may not be aware of. For example, a hearing person may be able to detect poor audio quality right away. If you've spent time on a video chat, you know what we mean. But an audio engineer knows what to listen for and can help you tackle more subtle audio quality issues that can have a big impact on a listener's experience.
You know your business and your podcast best, but you might not be an expert in every area. We're an objective third party that can help you see any blind spots and produce a more impactful podcast.
Payment & Invoicing
We use Melio Payments for payments in the US. Melio allows you to pay directly from your checking account for free or credit card for a fee. If you are a business, we will accept checks if that is your preferred method. We do not accept PayPal, Venmo or other payment methods.
For international clients, we take payments via wire transfers or Wise.com
Work will not start until payment has been received.
We invoice based on the type of agreement you sign. Monthly clients will be invoice monthly while episode to episode clients will be invoiced for each episode individually.
Equipment & Software
The only AI technology we use is to create the first draft of our transcripts and captions.
We don't use any AI technology or stock presets in our audio production. All of our work is customized for your specific needs.
As lifelong musicians, we have a fully featured home studio. We work entirely with high end digital tools for easy recall and workflow. Here’s what we use:
- Mac Pro
- Universal Audio Apollo X8 Audio Interface
- Rupert Neve Portico II Master Buss Processor
- Focal Twin6 BE monitors
- Audio Technica ATH M50X headphones
- Sony MDR7506 headphones
- Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones
- Hindenburg Journalist Pro
- Logic Pro
- Universal Audio Luna
- Izotope RX Advanced
- Izotope Ozone Advanced
- Izotope Neutron Advanced
- Plugins
- Universal Audio
- FabFilter
- Plugin-Alliance
- Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Premiere
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
It’s impossible to recommend a specific mic for you without knowing the specifics of your show, budget and where you are recording. It’s not necessary to spend a lot to get good results. You can find decent mics for $100 or you can spend $300-500 for a nice broadcast mic. Schedule a consultation and we can help you find the right mic for you.
Soundproofing is the process of isolating a room from all outside sound. This is what you would expect in a recording studio and is difficult to address on small budgets.
Sound treatment is the process of treating a room to reduce or eliminate sound reflections inside a room. You can think of this as reducing the echo or reverb in a room.