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 reflect on Memorial Day Weekend, join me for a deeply personal episode of the Billy Dees Podcast titled “C’mon Jake, Give Me a Break – Also My Personal Connection to Memorial Day.” This episode goes beyond the holiday; it delves into the heart of media accountability and the poignant memories of my father, a proud veteran.
In this episode, I’ll unpack Jake Tapper’s new book, “Original Sin,” and expose the troubling truths behind President Biden’s declining public perception. It’s not just a commentary on politics; it’s about the media’s complicity in shaping narratives that affect real lives. Why did it take so long for many to recognize those warning signs about Biden’s capabilities? Spoiler alert: curiosity and in-depth understanding come from more than just headlines.
You’ll also hear compelling personal stories that bring Memorial Day to life, especially my father’s lasting message about honor and remembrance. His life, marked by sacrifice and strength, has shaped my views on the importance of our military and the everyday heroes among us.
What’s in it for you? Expect thoughts that challenge the status quo, emotional reflections on personal loss, and insights that remind us of the values that Memorial Day embodies. This episode is perfect for anyone looking to engage critically with current events while honoring the spirit of those who served.
Listen to the episode and don’t forget to share your thoughts! Comment below or follow us on social media. Links Here
00:02 – Kickoff to summer reflections 08:04 – Media’s role in Biden’s decline 15:56 – Accountability and medical privacy 23:21 – Personal memories of Memorial Day 36:44 – Honoring my father’s legacy
Times reflect the final podcast version. The live version below on YouTube may be slightly different.
Our relationship with social media has continually evolved. Over the past year, two significant shifts have reshaped the landscape.
First, feeds are no longer primarily driven by user follows. Instead, algorithms now prioritize “for you” content based on user behavior. As a result, many of your followers may not see your posts, depending on the platform.
Second, social media business models have diversified. Subscription-based services and political influences have altered user bases across platforms. Where most users once engaged with two or three major platforms, new apps emerge constantly, demanding attention.
For The Billy Dees Podcast, podcast listens have increased across platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and Goodpods. We attribute this to digital media consumers actively searching for content on dedicated podcast platforms. With a well-established 10-year presence, we benefit from this shift, driven by the decline of legacy media, particularly cable news.
Our priority remains creating high-quality content for our loyal listeners rather than chasing social media followers. The connection between social media engagement and podcast listens is not as strong as it once was.
That said, we still value a social media presence but are refining our approach. Moving forward, we will focus on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Facebook allows for more detailed discussions, while X keeps us engaged with real-time trends—this combination feels right for 2025.
Meanwhile, platforms like TikTok, Bluesky, and Clapper will take a backseat. Managing multiple platforms demands significant resources, and our audience shouldn’t have to monitor too many.
If you’d like to follow us on social media, Facebook and X@BillyDees are the best places. More importantly, we encourage you to subscribe to The Billy Dees Podcast on your favorite podcast platform—it’s free, and you won’t miss an episode.
We are entering a new era regarding news and information gathering and processing.
As the 2024 election looms, it is increasingly harder to trust traditional sources of news which are increasingly backed by large conglomerates with political agendas. Moreover, as AI advances and becomes more accessible, what is real and what isn’t is much more difficult to distinguish.
Celebrity culture is crumbling. Although there are rich and famous people who are well intentioned, it is becoming more transparent to the masses that many influential people are either driving an agenda of their own or are simply just morons.
Over the past 10 years and certainly since 2020, podcasters and other independent creators on what may be termed “new media,” have become increasingly important in terms of how we gather information and process it.
The recent changes to X, formerly known as Twitter, such as much less suppressed posts and the ability to post long-form content, have opened a revamped and accessible platform to many voices who don’t necessarily have technical or media-based skills. I would argue even if you are not a fan of X, the newly opened up platform has pressured other social media platforms to alter their restrictive algorithms and manage the free flow of information better for everyone.
Regarding podcasts, according to Backlinko, there are over 464 million podcast listeners worldwide. The average listener spends about 7 hours per week on podcast apps. Episodes between 20 and 40 minutes seem to dominate the field. Listenership transcends gender, with women slightly edging out men 48% vs. 43%.
Established podcasts are poised to be a major factor in the American 2024 election. Podcasts can be listened to “on demand” to fit the listener’s schedule and do not require the audience’s complete attention. You can listen to a podcast while you are pretty much doing anything.
This may be why certain campaigns are getting their candidates on podcasts and new media. The RFKjr campaign has been very aggressive in this regard. This may explain why his numbers are weaker with older age groups who still get their information almost exclusively from legacy media such as cable news.
Trump has been on podcasts although what might have been his true participation level is hard to gauge since much of his time has been occupied with legal entanglements. Biden, who needs to reach younger demographics, has been seemingly hesitant to the idea of making the podcast rounds. Some of his critics would argue that he has tried to avoid engaging with any type of media.
My opinion and analysis of this is that currently, a mix of new and old media is necessary to help a campaign. Older demographics may not spend much time with new media, but they most certainly vote. That being the case, marketing and advertising efforts needs to include legacy media.
Also, as with traditional advertising such as radio, I am still a believer that it can be effective although the strategy has changed. Radio and TV are good for branding and getting your name out there.
Once the name recognition begins to kick in and people start doing searches, that is when the role of a solid plan for online content is of paramount importance. The digital media needs to be abundant and engaging and this need is easily filled with well produced podcasts.
I would only add that I would not limit myself to any type of media or news source. Listen to various opinions and analysis, don’t limit yourself to what fits your own disposition.
A great way to widen your information horizon is with a podcast. This is especially true of podcasts produced by independent creators. They are the ones who built the medium. It may be well worth your while to find some good ones.
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.
Audio platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and Goodpods continue to be strong places for listeners heading into the fall of 2022 for the Billy Dees Podcast. We continue to incorporate video, when possible, mostly for the benefit of guests who wish to be able to share links where they appear onscreen. We also have been posting audio only podcasts on YouTube because that platform is the second largest search engine available. However, our efforts have focused on audio media.
This brings us to the emergence of what has been termed “social audio,” which has also been a large contributing factor to the podcast. There are various formats but in essence a “room” or “space” consists of a host, speakers, and listeners in an audio forum. The content can be basically any genre or category although mental wellness, motivation, and creativity are among the many favorites. So far, we have been focusing on Twitter Spaces and the Wisdom app. We have recently been accepted as a creator on Fireside (co-founded by Falon Fatemi and Mark Cuban) which has some great production features including video and the ability to live-stream to YouTube. High up on our list is to begin producing some content on Fireside.
You can find Billy Dees on Wisdom and please be aware this is not a place to find the regular podcast episodes listed. The app is free and will give you the capability to listen to creators on the app and interact with them if you wish. We will at times repurpose our content created on social audio into a podcast episode. If you have a Twitter account, you do not need a separate app to engage a Twitter Space.
We have begun researching the blockchain and NFT marketplace for the best content posting options for podcasts and media in general. This has the makings for an exciting new era of content creation. More to come on this but simply put, Web3 and the related technology is on our radar.
Please follow and subscribe to the Billy Dees Podcast, you can find us on your favorite podcasting platform. Here are our podcast links and various social media Billy Dees Linktree.
We don’t always highlight each episode here on the website but here are a few you may have missed.
Laurisha Fant Talks Art, Poetry, Entrepreneurship, and Web3
Laurisha Fant is a visionary with a background in entrepreneurship consulting, who entered being a creative during the pandemic when her commercial painting business slowed down.
Laurisha began to paint in an artistic expression and eventually began creating poetry to unpack her thoughts on life and her past. Laurisha eventually created a live class for organizations to help them to understand the basics of crypto and Web3.
During this podcast episode we discuss entrepreneurship, ideas for entrepreneurs, creativity, web3, and poetry/art. Laurisha enjoys participating in discussions such as this because it’s a great way to hopefully help someone else go for their dreams as well.
Angie Berrett Intuitive Movement Coach – Releasing Stored Trauma
Angie Berrett (she/they) is an Intuitive Movement Coach, Registered Nurse, Advanced Trauma Informed Yoga Instructor and Stand-Up Paddleboard Yoga Instructor who understands the human body and how it works.
Angie helps people relieve stress, anxiety, depression and trauma through play, movements and fun so they can have healing and peace in their lives.
After going from child abuse survivor to registered nurse to yoga instructor, she has spent much of her life caring for others. In 2017 she hit rock bottom and started on a journey to heal. Discovering playful ways of using movements helped her learn to listen to her body, overcoming her suffering in ways traditional modalities could not. Now, she helps others heal their pain, transforming their lives.
Angie is the Owner and Creator of Angie Berrett Movement, coaching people how to release stored trauma in their bodies while increasing energy, strength, and flexibility.
This installment of our Twitter interviews is with Jeanné Giddens, otherwise known as @TuneTalks to her Twitter followers. Jeanné is a talented song writer, voiceover artist, and host.
As an old school radio and audio recording guy, I have always felt the best way to record an interview is with the guest in the recording studio. The benefits of this are obvious. You can interact with your guest one on one and have complete control of the recording. However, there are times when this is just not practical. For example, in this case Jeanné is based in Florida and I am in Ohio.
Recording options in these types of cases vary and a lot depends on the guest. Many interview subjects do not have any audio gear. Others have busy schedules promoting their work and do not have the patience to be walked through a technical process of some kind. In these cases phone signals may be the most expedient choice and other times maybe a VOIP service will work just fine at getting the job done.
With Jeanné, however, there were better options available. She is in the audio production business and has good tools at her disposal. So, we decided to use Zencastr for this interview. In simple terms this type of technology does not record “over” the internet per say. Both subjects are recorded locally and then those two audio tracks are combined in post.
The results are terrific but there are also other important steps to take.
For one, use the most dependable connections with your gear. I would avoid using WiFi with your computer or using any type of wireless microphone or headset. Also, close all of the programs on your computer.
Let me throw in some information about microphones. There is a lot of confusion about USB microphones in particular.
There are basically four types of microphones in terms of how they capture sound; dynamic, condenser, ribbon, and contact. There are variations of each but those are the basic groups.
Many of the widely popular USB microphones are condenser microphones. I have heard them referred to as “digital” microphones and that term is as overused as “pro” is in the audio and video equipment industry. The key difference between a USB condenser microphone and a standalone XLR condenser is that the USB microphone has a USB interface built into it. Combination units in general are designed to hit a price point and as plug and play devices for their ease of use.
I have used USB microphones to have my clients record audio into their PowerPoint presentations. They are also good for gaming, YouTube, and for basic podcasting. I would stop short, however, of considering any USB microphone truly a professional’s first choice.
I have been in many radio stations, media production studios in advertising agencies, and music recording studios. I have never run across a USB microphone being used as a primary recording tool in any of these applications. An entry level pro audio interface alone costs more than the average USB microphone. Many voiceover agencies will ask what microphone that you are using and if the answer is a USB microphone that might be a missing check mark on your credentials list.
The sky is the limit in terms of what you can pay for pro audio gear but there are cost effective options. Yes, separates do cost more but come with some practical benefits in addition to better quality, namely interchangeability. That professional XLR microphone that you bought for your podcast will plug into a USB interface, a digital recorder, a mixing board and so on. You can also upgrade your interface or microphone without replacing both or purchase more microphones to use with the same interface.
For the interview with Jeanné I used a (XLR) Golden Age D2 dynamic microphone. I happen to like dynamic microphones for voiceovers but that is largely my preference. My favorite is probably the (XLR) Shure SM7B and my runner up would be the (XLR) Electro-Voice RE20. Jeanné used her (XLR) RODE NT1 which is a condenser microphone. Both the Golden Age D2 and the RODE NT1 are not “cheap” when compared to most USB microphones, however, in the professional ranks these microphones are extremely cost effective and for anyone considering getting started doing voice work these are good choices. For this particular interview we both also used Focusrite interfaces.
To sample the sound quality captured with these microphones and Zencastr here is an excerpt. Notice how it sounds almost as if both of us were in the same studio.
For your convenience the entire interview is available at the bottom of this post. The Billy Dees Podcast is also available on your favorite podcasting service including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.
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