Perfect Media Productions, LLC is a media production and digital marketing service. We produce audio for radio, podcasts, and voice-overs. We also record and/or edit video for websites and social media.
This is the production home of the Billy Dees Podcast and other great podcasts.
Our blog section features a variety of topics including media, business, and pop culture.
As we head into the fall season, I’m encouraged by where The Billy Dees Podcast stands. The past year has been one of our strongest in terms of audience growth, and it’s been rewarding to see the results of a deliberate, long-term strategy.
From the beginning, I’ve approached the podcast much like a traditional radio program. It isn’t a content marketing vehicle for another product or service—it is the product. That perspective has shaped every decision we’ve made over the past decade.
Several factors have contributed to our recent growth:
• Building on a decade of consistency. With more than 10 years of publishing episodes, we’ve established a reputation for dependable, high-quality content and professional conversations.
• Investing in podcast SEO. We’ve placed a greater emphasis on search optimization within the major podcast platforms, making it easier for new listeners to discover the show organically.
• Prioritizing the audience experience. The podcast remains free across all major listening platforms and social media channels, including Substack. We also avoid interrupting the conversation with mid-roll advertising. Sponsor messages are limited to the beginning of each episode, allowing listeners to enjoy an uninterrupted discussion.
• Respecting our audience’s time. Episodes average approximately 38 minutes and rarely exceed an hour, making them well-suited for commutes, workouts, and busy schedules.
• Maintaining a professional editorial approach. The focus has always been on thoughtful interviews and informed commentary rather than outrage, personal attacks, or performative debate.
Growth in podcasting rarely happens overnight. It comes from consistently delivering value, refining your strategy, investing in discoverability, and respecting your audience.
I’m grateful to every guest who has shared their expertise and to every listener who has subscribed, shared an episode, or recommended the show to others. Thank you for being part of the journey. I’m looking forward to what we’ll accomplish together this fall.
I’ve been following the ongoing debate about audio podcasts versus video podcasts, and I have to admit, some of the arguments are interesting—and some of them are downright amusing.
One point that keeps coming up is that most podcasts are still consumed as audio. People listen while driving, exercising, working around the house, or doing just about anything else. That’s absolutely true.
The other common argument is that audio is easier for creators. You don’t have to worry about lighting, camera angles, editing visuals, or even what you’re wearing. If video stresses you out, the advice is often simple: skip it and just record audio.
From a practical standpoint, I understand that advice.
But I think something important gets lost when we reduce audio to simply being the easier option.
To me, spoken-word audio is an art form.
I can’t imagine legendary voices like Paul Harvey treating audio as the format they chose because they didn’t have to get dressed for the camera. Their voices carried emotion, personality, and imagination. They understood that the human voice has a unique ability to connect with people in a way that’s difficult to replicate anywhere else.
When someone listens to an audio podcast, your voice travels just a few inches into a microphone and ends up directly in their ears. It’s an incredibly personal experience. There are no visual distractions. The listener is focused entirely on your words, your pacing, your emotion, and your delivery.
That’s powerful.
As creators, I think we should approach audio differently than we often do. Instead of thinking, “At least I don’t have to be on camera,” we should ask ourselves:
How can I make this audio experience memorable?
How can I communicate genuine passion?
How can I paint pictures with nothing more than my voice?
How can I create a story that lives in the listener’s imagination?
Even subtle vocal inflection can completely change the way a story is experienced. A simple sentence can become suspenseful, emotional, humorous, or dramatic depending entirely on how it’s delivered.
That’s the beauty of audio.
Now, don’t misunderstand me—video absolutely has its place.
On The Billy Dees Podcast, many of the authors and guests I interview appreciate having professionally produced video. It gives them content they can share on YouTube, embed on their websites, and use across social media. That’s an important part of today’s content marketing landscape, and I understand why it matters.
But I don’t think audio should be viewed as the consolation prize.
Audio deserves its own creative approach.
When I record an audio-only episode, I want to think about rhythm, pacing, tone, pauses, and emotion. I want listeners to hear the enthusiasm in my voice and visualize what I’m describing. If they can build the scene in their own imagination, then the audio has done something video can’t always accomplish.
The next time you’re deciding between an audio podcast and a video podcast, don’t simply ask which one is easier.
Ask yourself which format best serves your message.
And if you choose audio, embrace it for what it is—not just a practical alternative, but a storytelling medium with a unique ability to connect, inspire, and leave a lasting impression.
If you’ve spent any time looking at microphones lately, you’ve probably noticed that wireless models are everywhere. One microphone that’s been getting a lot of attention is the Maono PD200W, and after spending some time with it, I can honestly say it’s a solid microphone for the money. (About $119.00) It delivers surprisingly good sound quality, and its wireless connection performs well at short distances. If you’re looking for an affordable option for creating content on your phone or other mobile devices, it’s certainly worth considering.
That said, I always try to evaluate new technology with one simple question: Does it actually improve the final product? If the answer is no, I’m usually hesitant to recommend it.
Wireless technology is a perfect example.
The biggest advantage of going wireless isn’t better sound—it’s convenience. There are absolutely situations where wireless microphones are the right choice. If I’m covering a news event in the field, I’m going to use a wireless lavalier microphone. If I’m running sound for a live event and the lead singer wants to move freely around the stage, a wireless microphone is almost essential.
But those situations are the exception, not the rule.
For most studio recordings, podcasts, livestreams, or YouTube videos, a microphone is sitting on a boom arm or desktop stand. Once it’s in place, it doesn’t move. In that case, I have to ask: why add another layer of technology that doesn’t improve the audio?
Throughout my career in broadcasting and live sound, I’ve learned to appreciate simple, dependable equipment. Take the legendary Shure SM57, for example. It’s been trusted everywhere from presidential podiums to rock concerts for decades. It’s versatile, durable, sounds great, and with a wired connection, it’s incredibly reliable.
The more technology you introduce, the more potential points of failure you create.
With a wireless microphone, you now have to think about the transmitter, the receiver, battery life, charging, and possible wireless interference. During a live performance, troubleshooting those issues can become stressful in a hurry. That’s one reason professional wireless systems often cost close to $1,000—they’re engineered to minimize those risks.
Even then, experienced sound engineers often keep a wired microphone ready as a backup.
For content creators, the conversation is a little different. The Maono PD200W isn’t trying to compete with high-end broadcast microphones. It’s designed for people creating videos on their phones, recording social media content, or working away from a traditional desk setup. In that role, it does a very good job.
What I don’t buy into is the idea that wireless somehow makes a microphone more desirable simply because it is wireless.
Many demonstrations compare a wireless microphone held close to someone’s mouth against a phone’s built-in microphone several feet away. Of course the dedicated microphone sounds better. That’s largely because of microphone placement and something called the proximity effect—the closer a quality microphone is to your mouth, the richer and fuller your voice will sound. You don’t need wireless technology to achieve that.
In fact, one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing podcast guests trying to do interviews using only the microphone built into their laptop. Even an inexpensive external microphone—wired or wireless—is going to make a dramatic difference.
At the end of the day, I think the Maono PD200W is a good microphone. It sounds better than I expected, the wireless performance is stable, and it’s an affordable option for mobile content creators. If that’s how you plan to use it, I think you’ll be pleased.
But if you’re recording at a desk, behind a microphone that’s already mounted on a stand, I’d encourage you to ask the same question I always do: What am I really gaining by going wireless?
Sometimes convenience is worth it. Sometimes it isn’t.
This video is a quick and practical overview of the Zoom PodTrak P2. This unit is an interface, mini-mixer, and an onboard recorder for USB microphones.
You may find this very interesting if you use USB microphones for your content creation.
For more information about this device please visit Zoom.
Is a video a podcast? Should podcasters produce video? Is the emphasis on video damaging podcasting?
These are some of the questions I have noticed swirling about in media discussions. Technically, most of the veteran podcast purists out there point out that a podcast should be available on podcast networks driven via a RSS feed.
I am mostly is the camp that individual creators should be able to present their content in any form that they choose. However, I would concede that the term “podcast” is often over-used and people will slap the term on anything.
Our history with podcasting is with major podcasting platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which are audio only. The verbiage has mostly always been that podcasts are essentially on-demand audio programs. We always put an emphasis on audio for everything we do. At the same time, video can also be a very functional tool regarding the distribution of podcasts to a wider audience.
As a side note, much of our programming has begun to cover current events and politics. Recently, we have started a channel for the Billy Dees Podcast on Rumble.
I have been a user of Twitter for a long time. I believe it is going on 14 years. This period covers the two full terms of Barack Obama, the term of Trump, and now the presidential cycle of President Biden.
As someone who, to one degree or another, has been involved with media since the mid-eighties, this period has been the most transformative, not only in terms of how we regard legacy media, but also how we get and process information. The striking rise and changing role of social media, especially in the pandemic laden last few years, has been a game changer.
Twitter has always been a great source for trending topics. In the early days, tweets were short. This had the platform termed as “micro blogging.” This combination of trending and short blasts of information made the platform fast and interesting. As my podcasting grew, it became my platform of choice.
However, for most of its history Twitter was not a huge financial success, especially when compared to the Facebook giant. Simultaneously, let’s say during the past five years, the old social media models began to change. Setting up the user base of a given platform to be targets of advertising was starting to become too familiar. Users had few rights to the service as “consumers” and popular creators were getting little recognition for playing a large role in the success of certain platforms.
If you miss the old Twitter, let me just say that its days were likely numbered had it stayed the old Twitter. Something had to change. TikTok was taking the world by storm. YouTube started “Shorts,” Instagram kicked off “Reels,” and so on. Facebook rebranded itself to Meta. Twitter was starting to lose its shine and was loaded with bots.
Enter Elon Musk. Twitter is now “X” and there is much talk of an “everything app.” I won’t go over “everything” but there are a few key changes that has me very hopeful for the future of the platform.
The following is from my perspective.
X is still very much real time regarding what may be termed as “breaking news.” There is a great deal of latency with other platforms. If your thing is showing pictures of your backyard barbecue this doesn’t matter and X is likely not the place for you. However, if you follow trending topics, X is a great place to be.
If you blog, podcast, or create video your audience is there. Authors, artists, musicians are all there in force. Do you have something you would like to raise awareness about? Influencers are there. I could go on.
Tweets, or posts as they are called now, can be much longer. For me, another big change is that long-form video content is also now possible on X. This is a very recent development.
Although I help others produce video and love the medium, for me and as a creator I have concentrated on podcast/radio styled content. Audio has been a passion of mine for my entire career.
When my podcast became successful enough for guests, especially authors and publishers, to start seeking me out, a common request was that they wanted to be seen in a professional forum and could share those links to their fans. YouTube was the obvious choice. I found the best software and developed techniques to facilitate good video interviews. However, I always made sure that audio quality remained a constant for the podcast platforms. That is where the listens happen for me after years of building a reputation. A quality shift can be a problem for multi-format creators.
My attitude was that YouTube was good supplement to the podcast. It is a search engine as well. This is all good, but it was never a strategy of mine to grow my YouTube channel.
In the past with Twitter, I would tweet out my episode YouTube link with all the appropriate hashtags and window dressing. Anyone interested in checking out the episode would have to click on the link and go to YouTube.
Enter Tucker Carlson on X. Not your cup of tea? No worries keep reading. This has nothing to do with politics. What is relevant is that his entire interviews are posted on X in video form and the views bury all the cable news channels combined. More media figures are now joining the club. The trending audience has always been native to X and now do not have to go off-platform to view video. Better yet, the video is in pre-roll as they are scrolling and is not just sitting there as a pasted link.
Live video is highlighted at the top of the X app. Live content in the form of Spaces is also a popular feature. Spaces are live audio sessions and presentations. Spaces started being a feature during the old Twitter and have now grown with the news-driven content on X. Live Spaces are also listed separately. This is clearly designed to use live content as a driver of the platform.
As a verified user of X, I began posting video interviews in long form and was very happy with the results. Recently, an associate of mine, ShamanIsis, suggested that we do a live video podcast on X. On Thursday Oct 12, 2023, we went live with the show and the results blew away any live-stream I have ever done on YouTube. The views and audience reach were in the thousands. Now, keep in mind I have a presence on X and am established as a podcaster, so these results aren’t necessarily to be expected starting out. None the less, these results spoke volumes about the platform.
Produced as we were streaming live on X (Twitter) Thursday Oct 12, 2023 at 7:00pm EST
I don’t know what your social media needs or expectations happen to be. However, if you are dismissing X because you feel it is just a place for people to post stupid stuff, or you have been dissuaded by negative things that you have been told, you are missing a possible opportunity to shape your brand and build a community. X has become more of a hybrid of media and social media.
We had a great visit with Sam from Erie St. Vinyl in Massillon, Ohio.
Selfie time with Sam and Billy Dees on location at Erie St. Vinyl.
Do you remember the feel of old record stores back in the 1970s? In addition to vinyl record bins around the store, Erie St Vinyl is decorated with vintage audio gear and décor. They even burn incense so that the aroma of the store has a classic record store vibe.
During this interview we discuss how people’s listening habits to music has changed, and how a new generation of music fans are discovering vinyl. We also chat about the business aspect of opening a brick-and-mortar shop to cater to the vintage audio and vinyl music fan.
Regarding the production, this episode was recorded on location at Erie St. Vinyl. Since Covid, it has been difficult to do location recordings. Although online production tools have improved over the past several years, it is still a great experience to record guests in their own environment with a mobile system.
This can bring a set of technical challenges. Very often location settings are noisy, don’t have have treated environments, and will often have loud air conditioning or appliances running in the background. However, we have found it is worth it to enter someone else’s world. The audience certainly appreciates this aspect of the interview over any minor imperfection of sound or lighting.
The environment of Erie St. Vinyl itself was worth capturing. The space is absolutely loaded with charm and atmosphere. Sam deserves much credit for following her goal of creating this great place.
You can find the interview on your favorite podcasting platform including the Spotify player below. We also recorded a videocast which is also posted below. The video version contains footage of the shop.
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