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Introducing The Infinite Creative, a newsletter for those who are creative, curious and constantly looking for opportunities to learn and grow. Read what I’m learning and thinking about when it comes to being more intentional, productive and impactful as a creative - one idea per day.
Halle Mastroberadino is the host of the brand new podcast “Let’s Take It From The Top.”
If you’ve listened to Studio Time previously, you’ll find the format of this episode is a bit different.
Recorded over the course of 6 weeks, this episode documents Halle’s journey from being someone with an idea for a podcast through to the launch of her very first episode. I was able to check in with her at a number of points along the way to follow her progress and discover the questions she was asking.
I was able to reach out to some colleagues who host their own podcasts, and tap into their collective insight and experience to get Halle some really helpful advice and useful answers. I’m proud to welcome back to Studio Time the voices of Drew Alexander Forde, Lili Torre, Peter Shepherd and introduce you to Molly Beck. I look up to all four of these podcasters and the way they show up for their own audiences and I’m grateful for their willingness to contribute here so generously. It’s a great reminder that the people in your network have an abundance of wisdom and experience to share - and there’s no prize for answering every answer on your own.
Find and follow Halle online:
Instagram: Halle | Let's Take It From The Top
Listen to the Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Featuring special guests:
[listen to their shows & reach out on instagram]
Lili Torre: The Dreaded Question | instagram
Drew Alexander Forde: Faking Notes | instagram
Molly Beck: messy.fm | instagram
Peter Shepherd: The Long and The Short Of It | instagram
SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
Matthew Carey
Hi, and welcome to a special episode of Studio Time. I'm Matthew Carey, and this is a podcast about the big and small ways in which artists can change the world. Join me to discover the unconventional approaches that creatives have developed to generate unique results in their lives and careers, and learn how you can apply these ideas to transform your own work.
My guest on this episode, Halle Mastroberardino is the host of the brand new podcast “Let’s Take It From The Top.” If you’ve listened to Studio Time previously, you’ll find the format of this episode is a bit different.
Recorded over the course of 6 weeks, this episode documents Halle’s journey from being someone with an idea for a podcast through to the launch of her very first episode. I was able to check in with her at a number of points along the way to follow her progress and discover the questions she was asking.
I was able to reach out to some colleagues who host their own podcasts, and tap into their collective insight and experience to get Halle some really helpful advice and useful answers. I’m proud to welcome back to Studio Time the voices of Drew Alexander Forde, Lili Torre, Peter Shepherd and introduce you to Molly Beck. I look up to all four of these podcasters and the way they show up for their own audiences and I’m grateful for their willingness to contribute here so generously. It’s a great reminder that the people in your network have an abundance of wisdom and experience to share - and there’s no prize for answering every answer on your own.
We begin by getting to know Halle and her podcast idea.
Hi, Halle and welcome to Studio time.
Halle Mastroberardino
Hi, Matthew. Thank you.
Matthew Carey
It's a pleasure to have you on my podcast, as we talk about you starting your podcast. Let's begin by talking about what introduced you to the idea of podcasts? What was your introduction to podcasts?
Halle Mastroberardino
Analisa Lemming runs this podcast called A Balancing Act. She had Gavin Creel on as a guest. And I saw a bunch of my friends posting like “You need to listen to this. You need to listen to this.” And finally, I was like, “Okay.” But I didn't want to just jump in on that episode. I started at the beginning. Her podcast changed my life. I became a different person. I was going into audition rooms so differently. My whole mindset changed. And last October, I got this idea— What can I create that's going to do the same for someone else?
Matthew Carey
It's exciting to know that it's changed you so much. What it was about Annalise that affected you, and what was it about the podcast medium?
Halle Mastroberardino
Analisa brought in actors. In her intro episode, she talks about how she's been in a bunch of Broadway shows, but she was feeling kind of down and out. She met a friend and they were like, “I know how you're feeling.” She had this realization of “Wow, I never realized that someone else could feel the way I did.”
Her whole podcast is encouraging people to talk about the times that are not the best in terms of being an actor and being a creative person. The times where there is no work, and we're not doing anything. She not only spoke to actors, but also brought her therapist on her podcast. Those were the episodes that really changed me. She was using this platform to bring all these different kinds of people in to teach people different ways of coping with the life that we've chosen. It was really fascinating and just something I had never thought about before.
I live in Harrison, New York, which is in Westchester County, so I take the train into the city for auditions and rehearsals. Podcasts were an awesome way for me to pass time as I was traveling around. A lot of people often are on the subway listening to the podcast, or, like in transit going somewhere else. So that was me, and that's how I kind of used it. So that was definitely appealing.
Matthew Carey
That's an interesting thing, too, that you listen to the podcast as you're on a journey, and it helped you in your journey. As you have been listening to Analisa's show, have you noticed any evolution from the first episode you listen to through to the more recent ones
Halle Mastroberardino
Definitely. In the beginning, it was much more of people telling stories about what they've experienced and ways to figure out that balancing act that as actors we need to develop in order to live a full life, that's going to keep us motivated and to keep us going. And it turned into she brought on her therapist and she brought on actors, not just from Broadway. She has Jack Plotnik on as a guest, and he has created affirmations that he's come up with for auditions, for performances, and just for everyday life. Those are something that I implemented into my life. So it sort of started off as just conversations with people. And I feel like as time went on, it became sharing resources and people's practices. Those were the things that for me stuck with me and changed the way that I was living my life.
Matthew Carey
Analisa realized that the things that she was concerned about were also concerns for other people. You can take these conversations that are interesting and helpful for you and then share them with a whole audience of people who might also learn from them.
Halle Mastroberardino
Absolutely. If I'm curious about this, other people must be curious about it as well.
Matthew Carey
Great. What's going to be the title of your podcast?
Halle Mastroberardino
The title is “Let's Take It From The Top.”
Matthew Carey
And why is now the time for you to start Let's Take It From The Top?
Halle Mastroberardino
That's a great question. I came up with this idea in October of 2019, and I didn't follow through, and recently, actually in the Reach Out Party, which is how we know each other, we were discussing the time is now the time to do what you want to do is today, what have I dropped the ball on? And what can I pick back up and really get on its feet and let's take it from the top was the first thing that popped in my head. When I decided that I was gonna start it. I did have to reflect a little bit and be like, “Okay, now is a very different time than when I came up with this idea. So how is it different now? And what do I have to craft to make it appropriate for now?”
I want people to come and tell truthful experiences of theatrical performance opportunities that they've experienced and how they change their lives. And I think that now, it is going to be a great way for us as artists and for even someone who's not an actor who is someone who enjoys the theater to kind of remember why we love it so much. The times during this quarantine when I felt down and out and unmotivated to hear someone tell their experience from first audition to closing night of a performance opportunity that they had would be that thing to ignite the fire in me again. So that's definitely what I hope that the podcast is going to be able to do
Matthew Carey
As you have been planning it, have you thought about it from those design thinking questions? If I asked you, “Who's the podcast for?” - what would you say?
Halle Mastroberardino
The podcast is for that young theatre-lover who wants to know what it's really like. I envision myself in middle school and high school, where I would be scouring YouTube for any behind the scenes interview (like Broadway.com vlog) that would give me the inside scoop of what it was like to be in a Broadway show. So I think it's definitely for the younger generation to get that insight, but it's also for people who have been in 100 Broadway shows or who are so close to being at that level, to really understand all that goes into the process. The good stuff and the bad stuff.
Matthew Carey
Great. I think you've answered the next question, which was going to be, “What's it for?” - we've covered that. Another question that I certainly asked myself when I was creating Studio Time was, “How will I know when it's working?” They might change over time - but what are some goals that you've got in mind that if you were able to check those boxes, you think to yourself, “Okay, I'm on target. This is doing what I set out to achieve.”
Halle Mastroberardino
A super goal would be for it to live on a platform like broadway.com. But I think that closer to now, I kind of just want it to be for friends to be like, “Wow, I didn't know that before.”
I'd hear stories from my friends who were just making their Broadway debut. “I learned so much from that episode.” “I heard something I never knew actually happened before.” That's going to be the mark I want to hit.
Matthew Carey
I'd like that idea of shedding light on something new, or even perhaps surprising your listener?
Halle Mastroberardino
Mm hmm. Yeah.
Matthew Carey
You've got a launch date in mind for the podcast. We're recording this first part of our conversation right at the beginning of August. When do you plan to launch it at this point?
Halle Mastroberardino
I've only been working on this for a couple of weeks. At first my mind was like “As soon as possible!” But I'm realizing I need to get a few episodes ready, then I can start to launch them in a timespan that makes sense. I would love for it to be by the end of this month, but I also feel as though I don't necessarily know. And so where before I definitely was like, “In the month of August, I will be putting out this podcast, and as soon as it's done, I'll get it out there.” I had to take a couple steps back. And now I feel like I don't want to rush it, either. So, I guess my answer is, I don't know. But definitely, by the end of this month - maybe into September.
Matthew Carey
I certainly think that you can change your mind. But having an idea is good, it gives you something to work towards. Whereabouts are you in your planning phase now, and what sort of questions or obstacles do you see between here and launching that first episode?
Halle Mastroberardino
I have been reaching out to some of my friends who I want to have as guests on the show. I've been corresponding with them. I have a couple dates set up to record at I also took Lili Torre’s ‘Podcasting 101’. She sent me the workshop basically that she gave and so I've taken a lot from there. I have my podcast on Simplecast - that's how I'll publish it into the world. And I'm trying to get some music to put with my episode. I'm also trying to get some graphic design created for the logo of my episode. So there are definitely a few things that I've put out there and still need to come to fruition. But now it's getting all the logistical things in order,
Matthew Carey
Knowing where you're going to put the podcast, and having started reaching out - to get guests and get those other things like the music and the graphic design sorted out - are all elements that you want to have when you launch and what are some questions you have at this point, Holly or things that you would like some help with?
Halle Mastroberardino
I would love to know what the beginning stage look like for people? What was the first few steps that you took? And looking back on that? What would you have done differently?
I've also been realizing I want my podcast to be in a conversational format, but I'm not sure if I need to introduce myself first. So I guess my question is, how do you find the balance between talking about yourself and introducing yourself...and really putting the why and the purpose of your podcast first - keeping that a priority.
Lili did recommend different microphones and different software to use. That would definitely be something to pick people's brains on. What do they use to record the podcast? I would like to know what the setup looks like. Right now, I'm sitting at my desk which is at a window that's in the front of my house. Cars will drive by, that kind of thing. So if people have any, like tips or tricks on how to minimize the noise, right, that's not the part of the podcast that we want people to hear. That would definitely be something. What is the setup? Like when you record your podcast?
Matthew Carey
Great. Let me take those questions to the brains trust mm. And see if we can't get you some answers.
For this first round of questions, I spoke to Lili Torre of The Dreaded Question Podcast, Drew Alexander Forde from Faking Notes and Molly Beck, the founder of the private podcast company Messy.fm
Here’s Lili on what her first steps were as a podcaster and what she might have done differently.
Lili Torre
Personally, it was really accepting that what I was doing was a podcast. I had some weird mental block around the idea of actually creating a podcast. And so I toyed around with TDQ being a web talk show and it took me actually trying to record a web episode to realize that this is a podcast. I would say that the first thing that I had to do was really figure out what story I was trying to tell, how podcasting was the right format for that story, and then really just zero in on “Who's it for?” and “What's it for?” - some classic Seth Godin questions that have really kept me going when podcasting starts to feel a little overwhelming sometimes.
Matthew Carey
Drew Alexander Forde had been a youtuber and instagrammer of influence who had shared his experience as a classical viola player at the Juilliard School of Music. Not too long after he made the move to LA, Drew teamed up with Trevor Bumgarner to create the podcast Faking Notes. I asked Drew if he had to start over what he might do differently.
Drew Alexander Forde
I honestly probably would have tried to hone in on like all the best practices and do more research. I'm so incredibly anxious when it comes to putting out content that I like to rip the band aid off. As soon as like we had about six episodes. I told my co host, bro, let's just drop it. Let's drop it right now. He's like, are you sure I'm like, dude. You're never gonna learn how to swim. If you don't almost drown. The earlier stages were us just joking around, talking off The top of our heads just figuring out what came to mind talking about things we'd liked. And then we just started asking our friends to come on the podcast and just talk with us. Then we were like, “Oh, wait, what if we invited somebody who's like, doing actual business in the music industry?” And then we started asking a couple of people using my connections through social media.
Now, we've dropped 59 episodes, we've been doing it for over a year. It's still very, very small. But I have friends of mine that honestly didn't care about the podcast that now reach back out and say, “Hey, I listened to the recent episode. That was dope.” The biggest advice I can give you to start out is just to start and get it going and show people that you're not playing around. Because as soon as they realize you're serious about it, they'll give you a try. And if you've been doing your reps and putting in the work and making the best content you possibly can, they're not going to be disappointed by what they hear.
Matthew Carey
Molly Beck created the private podcast platform Messy.fm specifically designed for companies who want to create internal podcasts to share within their employees. Before that, Molly helped launch Forbes podcasts As someone who’s had a lot of experience with creating new podcasts, I knew Molly would have some great tips to share.
Molly Beck
This is a tip that I wish I had followed. Pretty much every time I start a new podcast, I think about this tip and then I don't follow it. Really the best practice is - when you launch a new show to have recorded a few episodes before you go live with the first one. Sometimes the first episode that you record chronologically isn't the strongest episode that you want to publish as your first one, because you're still getting your feet wet. The trick is, usually you're so excited to be recording an episode for your podcast, that in the audio clip, you say, “Hey, this is the first episode of my new show.” Or “This is the very first one I'm doing,” and then it's not actually the episode that you publish first. So my first tip is when you record that first interview or first conversation for your podcast, don't say anything about the time in it - in case it's not the very first episode that you publish,
Matthew Carey
There’s a good chance that you're going to get better at this, the more conversations you have, and the more episodes you record. So if you want to have a bit of a fanfare about the launch of your podcast, you might not want to direct everyone's attention to the very first conversation that you recorded. You might choose the third or the fourth one because it's stronger. And you can come out of the gate with a really strong episode.
Molly Beck
Exactly. Take that first episode that you recorded that maybe isn't your strongest and hide it as like your third or fourth. That's exactly what I'm saying.
Matthew Carey
On to Halle’s second question - How do you find the balance between how much you let it be about the guest? And how much of yourself do you try and insert into the conversation?
Lili Torre
Yes, Oh, I love this. When you're first starting podcasting, something that you need to decide for yourself, do you want your podcast to be more of an interview where you're really featuring the Guest and what they're about and it's really all about them? Or do you want your podcast to be more of a conversation where it's slightly more equal, but probably not 50/50 in the amount of time that you spend talking versus your guests spends talking, and where you're really contributing to their ideas. I like to think of The Dreaded Question podcast as a conversation, letting them steer where the conversation goes, based on their answer to my question. I just like to “plus one” whatever they're talking about, and let that navigate where the next question will go. Rather than showing up with a prescribed list of questions. I like to let the conversation flow organically. With me talking, I would say probably 35% of the time and the guests talking the rest of the time. That's not necessarily a ratio that I'm aiming for. It's more about engaging in a conversation with them not giving them the full responsibility of just answering my questions and moving on and staying open to where the conversation can flow organically.
Drew Alexander Forde
This is where a lot of personal growth has to come through. Because you'll quickly learn if you love to talk. Or if you like interrupt people.Being aware of what your mission is, I think it's very important. At first it was for Trevor and I (my co-host) to like try to make the funnier joke than the other person and just continue to try to make each other laugh. It's just how we are as friends. We just love making each other laugh. But when there's a guest, understand who the episode’s for. It's not for you to be charming as the host. Your job is to be an interesting guide of the conversation by doing due diligence on your guests, trying to create more interesting questions that are rare, that are based off of the conversation, based off of the context. It's about your guest and your audience delivering value to your audience.
Matthew Carey
I guess my perspective on it is that if you're not somebody that finds themselves super extroverted when it comes to conversation, then it doesn't hurt to practice speaking a little bit more. But I think we're playing the long game. And anyone that's listening to the podcast over a series of episodes, is going to get the chance to know us drip by drip and we don't have to give them everything in the very first episode. Mm hmm.
Drew talks about the interviews that he really enjoys…
Drew Alexander Forde
Sean Evans with Hot Ones is an incredible interviewer who doesn't only have a really well prepared, interesting questions for people who get asked the same questions all the time...he's a masterclass in that. But even more, he is so good at the improvisation of bringing up interesting follow up questions based off of the answers. He's just really good at listening. Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics Radio - another great example of a good question asker. I think that as a host, that is your number one, you got to come with some great questions.
Matthew Carey
Molly likes to follow the 80/20 rule for every conversation.
Molly Beck
Follow the 80/20 rule for every conversation. 80% of it is focused on the guest, but 20% of it is focused on you and your experience, new listeners will come to your podcast because they're excited about either the show's topic or a guest that you have on and you want to make sure that they stay with the podcast because they have fallen in love with you as the host. So sharing some of the insights from your own life or interesting stories and really having a be a true conversation with the guest will help your listeners fall in love with you and your story and is why they'll keep coming back.
Matthew Carey
Lili features great conversations with guests on most episodes of The Dreaded Question, but occasionally she’ll sit down on her own.
You take the opportunity to do solo episodes at the end of each series, or wrap up episode where it's just you reflecting on what’s happened over the course of the season? How do you approach those?
Lili Torre
At the end of each season or series, I do a solo episode, encapsulating what happened in the season, I take some time to really reflect and think about the key themes that came up and the key learnings, the big aha moments. Then I make an outline for myself of the things that I want to touch on and then I hit record and just start talking. For those solo episodes. Specifically, it's become much more about connecting and reflecting with my audience and with the people that I know are listening.
Matthew Carey
I like that idea that even though they're not speaking with you in real time, that's directly a conversation between you and the audience.
Lili Torre
Exactly. Yeah.
Matthew Carey
On to Halle’s question number three where we get down to some nuts and bolts about tools and processes.
Tell me Drew: What do you use to record your podcast? What does your setup look like and what does your workflow look like?
Drew Alexander Forde
It's a mess - COVID destroyed everything! So right now we're using zoom as a platform. I pay for a pro version of zoom, so that I can have more than two participants and record the call video wise we're looking to expand the content. Traditionally we would record in-person and that in-person conversation is unparalleled, the energy and the product. But now in COVID times we have the conversation through zoom. I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface, and I connected to my Shure SM7B microphone. It's a great dynamic microphone connected to a cloud lifter preamp that helps you get more gain, which is very important. That's my general setup.
Matthew Carey
While she’s taking some time out of New York City, Lili’s setup is very different.
Lili Torre
As we're recording this, my setup is very different. I'm in my parents' home in South Carolina. So I have my blue Yeti microphone, plopped up on a table here and plugged into my beautiful new MacBook when I'm at home, I typically record at my desk, and I have a little sort of shield that goes around my microphone to sort of dampen any echo or anything like that, which helps a lot. But before Coronavirus, I was typically recording in my guests’ space so I would go to people's apartments or we would meet somewhere neutral in Midtown and we recorded it In person I had to be pretty adaptable about setting up wherever I was, again, I was still using my blue Yeti, which allows me to pick up multiple speakers and I would definitely try to look for a space that wasn't too echoey. But other than that, I definitely had to just kind of adapt on the fly and make it work with whatever I ended up having. As far as what my workflow looks like, I tend to go through phases where I'm just really, really focused on recording and I'm just cranking out episodes as far as getting the material recorded.
Then I have little moments where I focus on the editing which takes a very long time and then I kind of oscillate back and forth. The recording, obviously, is the part that I really love. So it's sort of the reward that I get for getting through all of the editing. At any given moment, I like to have at least five episodes in the can. If you're first starting out, I usually recommend people have eight episodes in the can. Those are episodes that are completely recorded, edited, ready to go. So that if something comes up and a wrench gets thrown in your plans, which it will, you have something and you're not scrambling and panicking.
Matthew Carey
This question is from me - for Halle. I think that most of us are going to feel like we reach a point with our show, with our podcast, where we slump into the dip. It suddenly feels a lot harder and we're not as sure that we're doing the right thing. Molly, I wonder whether you've ever felt that in your journey as a podcast or in business and what you tend to do to help yourself get out of the dip.
Molly Beck
Oh my goodness, have I ever felt that, of course, all the time. I feel like if you're any creative person, then you probably have a copy of Seth Godin’s book, “The DIp” somewhere in your life and I feel the dip constantly. I feel like when you're generating new content for either podcasts or doing or something you're writing, occasionally you just hit that wall, you know, like 60 or 70% of the way through it where it feels like the part that was easy or fun or effortless is behind you.
The key to the dip is just recognizing that you're in the dip and it will get better. Also - I think it’s lucky to be in the dip because it means that you've had the willpower to stay with something long enough to get to the dip. It's one thing to have enough willpower to plow through a honeymoon period, but it's another thing to stay with the project as it morphs and shapes and the shine of it wears off. That's something to be proud of. So if you make it to the dip, feel proud of yourself for getting that far and know that if you stick with it, that every dip comes out on the other side as long as you don't quit.
Lili Torre
Oh, yeah. I'm like almost always in the dip with my podcast. I love doing TDQ so much, but there are definitely times where it is a lot of work. I won't pretend that it's not. I tell anyone who asks me about podcasting that it is a ton of work and you really have to be ready to commit to the amount of work that it's going to be.
Really zoning in on a) Who's it for? b) What's it for? Because if you have a clear purpose about why you're doing this, and the greater change that you seek to make through your podcast, then it becomes a lot easier to stick with it even when it gets tough.
I entered a dip recently because I was trying to create all these new episodes that I hadn't originally intended to create and it got to the point where I was feeling more an obligation to create episodes then an inspiration to do so. That was just a good sign for me that it was a great time to take a break, refresh my love for this, my spirit, my reason for doing this, take care of myself and delve into some things I'm interested in and then get back to it. Now that I've had, you know, what, two weeks of a break even that has done it for me.
Something that we forget about the dip is you have options in the dip and one of the options is to quit. Quitting doesn't have to look like any one thing. It doesn't mean I'm never creating my podcast again, it just means that I can take a little break for right now. And I think that we can get really caught up in having to release an episode every single week. And instead, being generous with yourself and giving yourself a break can actually be the best thing for you and for your listeners.
Matthew Carey
I think the way that you do that - the way that you say this is the season and that you wrap it up. And you put a bow on it by having that episode at the end where you reflect on the season that was - is really great. I think that's good for you and I think it is good for the listener as well. It makes sense. We can understand what the end of the season means and that you're going to go on a break for a little bit while you recharge. You have a bit of rest. You start preparing for the next season, then we'll see when you're ready.
Lili Torre
Yeah, exactly.
Matthew Carey
Speaking from experience, I know it can be easy to get fixated on your show’s analytics page - constantly looking to see how many times the show has been downloaded. I asked Molly how much attention a new podcaster should be paying to those metrics.
Molly Beck
A metric that I give almost everyone that asks me that question is in the very first week of your podcast, try to have 100 listens. If you can achieve that in the first week, I think it helps you as the podcaster to calm down a little bit. There's an audience and there's excitement for your work. After you hit those first hundred lessons, I actually advise you stop paying attention to analytics, you feel comforted that people are listening to your work. The beautiful thing about podcasts is that it's not like Instagram followers, those analytics are completely private to you. Whether you have 10, 100, or 1000 listeners, nobody needs to know and nobody can know that but you as the host. Put those analytics away and just focus on making great content that resonates with people.
Matthew Carey
That's great advice. It reminds us that we can't just create our show in a bubble and then upload it to our podcast distribution place, and then let it go. We have to let people know that it exists if we want them to find it. And I think that if we find a balance between the creation and the sharing, then you know we're on the right path.
Molly Beck
Yeah, push yourself hard enough to get that podcast in front of people. And then relax and enjoy creating the art. And then when you get to that dip, think, man, I pushed myself hard enough to make it to the dip. Look what I did.
Matthew Carey
I shared these pearls of wisdom from the Studio Time Brains Trust with Halle and a couple of weeks after we first spoke, I invited her to share how her podcast prep was going and asked if she had any new questions.
Halle Mastroberardino
As of today, August 14, I have four episodes recorded and edited, ready to go. I'm hoping to double that number before launching anything just like Lily suggested. I have my logo for my podcast finalized and all set up. So yesterday, I launched my Instagram page and started to officially follow people there to get the word out.
One aha moment I had was when Drew spoke about just getting started and getting things going and to show people that I'm not playing around,with the Instagram launch. I got a little bit of feedback of what is it about and my idea that I'm going with is that I don't want to give too much away, I want to keep people engaged and pulled in, which I'll do by utilizing different things on social media. But reminding myself that right now I'm putting in the work and just doing that and putting in the time and effort, they're not going to be disappointed. I have over 100 followers on Instagram in just a little over 24 hours. And the response has been really exciting.
So I guess I'm just gonna have to stay on top of keeping engaged which has already added to my workload, but it's stuff that is channeling my creativity and I really am enjoying that.
I am definitely going to follow Lili's advice of having eight episodes pre-recorded, edited, and ready to go before putting out my first official episode.
I really loved how Drew talked about being a guide of the conversation. It kind of had to go with Lili thinking of the role of the podcast hosts to contribute to the ideas of their guests, and I loved how she used the phrase plus one.
Another thing that I took away was making sure that I remember who I'm making this podcast for, and why I decided to do it in the first place. I put out a post on Instagram, explaining the purpose of the podcast and I wrote High School Halle would have loved this and I hope you do too. I viewed it through the eyes of high school Halle that theater nerd in high school who didn't have many people that related to that part of her and who thought that maybe that was a little weird, even if there's one person out there who sees it and connects to it that way, that absolutely makes it worth it to create it in the first place.
Something that Molly said, honestly scared the crap out of me. she said that in the first week to set a goal of having 100 listens of that first episode that you officially put out there. And it really scared me because well, what if I Don't get to 100 listens. And as I continued to listen to her speak about finding a balance between the creation of the podcast and the sharing of the podcast, I did a mental check to see how I was doing on that. even just in the last 24 hours, I am already finding that balance. I think that that balance is going to come from staying organized and coming up with the formula. If my episode is going out on Tuesday afternoon, I need to be sure to post something on Instagram on Sunday, on Monday, and then on Tuesday when it's out. instead of being scared and thinking that nobody's going to listen to my podcast, I have control over putting it out there to prepare people to listen to it. So not only will I have 100 listens on that first week, I'll have 200.
I didn't plan to say that out loud. But now I'm thinking we can make that a goal. Why not?
I have two questions that have popped up for me since the last time we spoke. One came up when I was listening to drew. He mentioned coming up with rare questions, great questions, unasked questions. I feel like it's hard for me to turn on that creative part of my brain while I am in conversation. So are there any questions that you love to ask every guest that would fall under the category of rare, great and unasked questions?
The second question that I have, has to do with leading the conversation. I have recorded the three episodes with a guest and one with myself. And they have gotten progressively longer each time I recorded. I want to keep things under an hour. So I guess my question is, how do you guide the conversation to be more specific? And is there a way that I can prompt my guests before we speak, to say I want to keep things as concise as possible without limiting what they're going to speak to you about?
Matthew Carey
Drew really liked Halle’s question about questions, and came back with this.
Drew Alexander Forde
I try to stay away from asking the same question of all my guests, mostly because I want to make sure that every episode is new and fresh, and there's a unique value proposition to tune in. But, I'm constantly learning and maybe I'll evolve on that stance, because even when I was daily vlogging, I used to ask all of my friends that would pop up in the vlog the same question, which was very helpful. I think it's your philosophy, and it comes down to style. My personal style tends to be to let curiosity run me wild, in a way. I love to let curiosity take me down the rabbit hole. It’s kind of like I'm embodying that little kid that I used to be. “Hey, why is the sky blue?...Whoa, wavelengths? What are wavelengths?...Woah, what do you mean there types of wavelengths that I can't see with my eyes?” Right? So I think that always trying to ask why, in contextualized ways. In any conversation, especially in an interview context, it's not about the questions. It's about what the questions elicit out of the human on the other side of the conversation. o trying to unlock your guest’s passion and trying to see if a certain question sparks joy in them and then following that rabbit hole when it does. I think that is the best way to find interesting questions that bring interesting content from your guests.
Matthew Carey
Peter Shepherd co-hosts The Long and The Short of It podcast with Jen Waldman. He offered the disclaimer that his show isn’t an interview podcast, but Pete and Jen are obsessed with asking better questions. Here are some quick thoughts or noodles that he shared:
Peter Shepherd
Some quick thoughts/noodles based on your great questions.
One question that comes to mind in terms of an unasked, but potentially powerful question is, “What was it like at the dinner table for you growing up?” I just think that's a really interesting question. It's interesting in the sense that everyone has an answer to that question.
Especially at the start of a podcast, you want to ask a question that everyone has an answer to. I know Krista Tippett from the ‘On Being’ podcast asks a version of that. She asks, “What role did faith have for you growing up?” and she asks every single guest the same question. The guest knows that question is coming, they can expect that question to come and they have an answer for it—because everyone has an answer for it. Think about a situation, a circumstance, a thing that everyone has experienced, and then ask that question.
In terms of leading the conversation, Halle, I would say - before each interview, before each episode: have a clear understanding of what success looks like for that episode. That might be a particular story that you want that guest to tell, that might be a particular topic that you'd like them to explore, that might be a particular question that you'd like them to answer. Just have some understanding of what success looks like for you and then get curious around that.
Matthew Carey
In the spirit of “plus one-ing” an idea. I really love this suggestion from Pete about setting your intention before beginning a conversation. I think it’s worthwhile not only to ask what would make this a success for you the host, but use your empathy skills and think about what would make your time together a success for your guest, and really worth their time. For me, this involves showing up to the interview with a line of questioning that shows I’ve done some research and preparation. This echoes what Drew said—when people can see that you’ve put in the work, they’ll start to take you more seriously. Then I listen as fully as I can. I can guide, I can nudge and I can ask questions, but (until I get to editing) I have no control over what the guest says. They might go to the same safe stories and talking points that they feel comfortable with. But what is unique to me, and can be unique to you, is the way we connect the dots. When I can hold up two things a guest has told me and fit those pieces of the puzzle together in a fresh way, two things happen. The guest feels seen - I’m validating what they’ve said and shown that it means something to me, and I’ve offered them a fresh perspective on a story they might have told a dozen times. Suddenly it’s going in a new direction, and that’s where things start to get juicy.
Now back to Pete.
Peter Shepherd
I honestly think having a scripted series of questions could be overrated. I think something that Matthew, for example, does really well, is asks questions based on what people have said, which is the opposite of having a list of scripted questions that he must ask. I think he probably has both, but he's really good at following up what the guest said, with a question related to that. Personally, I think that makes for a great conversation and as the listener, makes for a great listening experience.
So...having some clarity in what success looks like, making sure that you deliver on that, and then—around that—just being curious, following your nose, asking followup questions based on what the individual has said.
Matthew Carey
Here we fast forward through time again. Halle has published an intro episode or trailer for Let’s Take It From the Top where she outlined the premise of the show and talked about one of her own theatre experiences. As we step into the final act of this episode, it’s less than three hours before her official episode one is released and I ask Halle how she’s going and how she is feeling about the launch.
Halle Mastroberardino
I’m feeling excited. Something in general with this whole process is that I'm realizing all of the work I have to do to get it out there. All day today was finalizing all of the social media stuff I put out to promote the episode. It all kind of came together just within the last few hours of my day. So that's been really exciting.
Matthew Carey
I guess setting a launch date and working towards it has been helpful because you've managed to get an incredible amount of work done in a very short space of time.
Halle Mastroberardino
Mm hmm. For sure.
Matthew Carey
Thinking about some of the things that we talked about, and some of the advice you got: how many episodes have you got ‘in the can’ at this point?
Halle Mastroberardino
Including the intro that I did, I have nine episodes recorded. Eight are finalized, ready to go. I was actually just working on editing that ninth one tonight.
Matthew Carey
Great. What do you know now, having recorded and almost edited nine episodes that you didn't know before you did the first?
Halle Mastroberardino
Well, I definitely have more of an understanding of the time that it takes to do all of that editing. It's funny, I have a friend, Mark Tumminelli, who has his own podcast that he put out right at the beginning of quarantine. When I announced that I was doing mine, he kind of was like, “Buckle up! Get ready to put in the work.” I definitely have more of a grasp on the amount of time that I actually have to put into the editing process which I can say is more than I had initially anticipated. But I definitely feel more equipped to do it in a quicker and more efficient amount of time now than I did when I was doing the first couple of episodes.
Matthew Carey
Of course, it's something that you're going to fine tune as you go along and find new ways of doing things and decide that you want to make different choices. Interestingly, I find that the editing part of making a podcast is some of the most creative time I spend actually making the show.
Halle Mastroberardino
Mm hmm. Yeah.
Matthew Carey
What have you discovered in terms of hosting the podcast and having those conversations? What have you learned and experienced so far about the questions and directing the conversation and guiding the conversation?
Halle Mastroberardino
I have realized that those first couple of episodes, I wasn't necessarily listening to everything that the guest was saying. I had these questions listed out that I was planning on asking and sometimes would just throw them in, as opposed to letting the conversation lead its own way. In these later few episodes, I've sort of gotten used to really being present and really listening to the guest and to their story.
Matthew Carey
In terms of logistics, I know that Molly talked about aiming for a certain number of listens to that first episode that you release. How are you feeling about that, and how is your outreach and your marketing tying into all that?
Halle Mastroberardino
I put out the intro episode and I was definitely tuning in to the statistics of who was listening and how many listens it got. I think it was only six days since I had put it out and I already had surpassed that 100 mark that Molly had mentioned. And I took a deep breath. It was like, “Okay, I did that.”
When deciding who my first guest was going to be, and which episode I wanted to be my first, I chose someone who would expand my audience. You and I, we did the Reach Out Party together and something that Carly would say is “Reach outside of your own circle.” I'll be interested to see how that one does in comparison to the one that I put out that was just a little introduction episode with just myself.
Matthew Carey
What is interesting is whether we can convert the person that comes and listens to the podcast for the first time into somebody that comes back and or subscribes so that that podcast keeps dropping into their player routinely. That's something that that's something that I think about. What sort of call to action should we have to our listeners, encouraging them to come on back. Have you included anything like that in your episodes at the moment?
Halle Mastroberardino
That's a really interesting question. At the end of almost every episode, I do encourage the audience to feel free to reach out to me. I give them my Instagram. I have an email dedicated to the podcast. I encourage people to let me know what they thought. To let me know future guests that they want to see. In that way, I am trying to engage the audience. And I am using my social media to tag different organizations or if I have a guest that goes to a certain school, or a certain musical theater program, to tag them to get them interested. Maybe if they share, they'll attract other students that also go to that school. I am using social media to try to do that sort of engaging, and getting the collaborative and involved experience with the listener so that hopefully they will be more and more likely to tune in again.
Matthew Carey
You mentioned in the update that you'd started that Instagram page. How are the numbers looking there - is that something that you've been keeping track of?
Halle Mastroberardino
The numbers are looking good. I announced who my first guest was going to be. It's going to be Mackenzie Kurtz, who is a good friend of mine. And even just from announcing her, I gained 12 followers just today. So I'm just checking right now, on my Instagram we have 368 followers. I mean that number is pretty cool and is already big. it grow and grow and to reach out to more people.
Matthew Carey
Great for anyone that's holding their phone in their hands right now, where can they go to find that Instagram account?
Halle Mastroberardino
Yeah. So it's @letstakeitfromthetop It has all sorts of information on there, and even the link to listen to the podcast is right in the bio for the page.
Matthew Carey
Wonderful. As we get towards the end, are there any particular moments that you've recorded so far that sort of stand out that you're really excited about sharing with the audience? Any teasers you want to give us people can expect on the podcast?
Halle Mastroberardino
Something that has been sort of a common thread through all of the conversations that I've had is speaking about the way artists are being affected by this whole coronavirus, quarantine.
For people who are not theater people, it's a good way to sort of get into the reality for artists. For artists, it is a nice reminder that we are all experiencing sort of the same reality right now, and being able to share in the honesty from one person's point of view. And I know for me, and for many of my guests, we continue to thank each other for being honest and for sharing the way that we're actually feeling. It's a testament to artists of how vulnerable we are able to be, and I’m really excited for people to be able to get a taste of that.
Matthew Carey
Excellent. Well, Halle, I want to thank you for taking me and the listener through this process that you've been through to create and launch ‘Let's Take It From The Top’. I've listened to the intro that you dropped and it sounds great. I love the enthusiasm and the vibe that you’re bringing to it, and I'm really looking forward to hearing you speak with your guests. I'm going to my podcast app and subscribing right now. I want to wish you all the very, very best with the launch of the podcast and encourage everybody to go across and have a listen to the first episode.
Halle Mastroberardino
Thank you so much, Matthew. I'm so excited for you and for everyone to share in what ‘Let's Take It From The Top’ has to offer so thank you so much.