In this episode, Carel chats with Steve Porter from PorterHouse Media. Steve explains the role of multimedia content in AV projects. From dynamic video mashups to audio editing and music remixing, this production studio is an AV powerhouse!
Learn how to master digital media production with their insider insights and a bit of AI info, too, as Steve discusses how he uses AI tools in AV production.
Need a voice actor to bring your AV project to life?
Sign up for free and search for the best vocal pros! Or book a free call with a Key Account Manager to get project advice & learn about A-to-Z project management, curated voices, translation, and more!
In this episode, Carel chats with Steve Porter from PorterHouse Media. Steve explains the role of multimedia content in AV projects. From dynamic video mashups to audio editing and music remixing, this production studio is an AV powerhouse!
Learn how to master digital media production with their insider insights and a bit of AI info, too, as Steve discusses how he uses AI tools in AV production.
Need a voice actor to bring your AV project to life?
Sign up for free and search for the best vocal pros! Or book a free call with a Key Account Manager to get project advice & learn about A-to-Z project management, curated voices, translation, and more!
Yes, you better believe it. Hi, I'm Carl, host of AV123, an audio visual show powered by Voice123, the largest and most trusted voiceover network where you can hire any voice actor for any AV project. And in this episode, we're chatting to Steve Porter who's an award winning music video producer, DJ, and remixer, and has found success in pushing boundaries in the area of viral digital video, as well as immersive podcast scoring at his production company, PorterHouse Media.
Steve:
The only reason I knew how to do that stuff is because I was willing to jump into somebody else's theater and learn things that they learned, and we collaborated on those things.
Carel:
So let's find out a little bit more about what he does and how he does it, shall we? Steve Porter of PorterHouse Media, welcome to AV123. Thank you It's great to have you on the show. Stalking you on Google tells me that you're a music video producer, you're a remixer, you're a DJ, you're in fact, according to Wikipedia, best known for your pop culture mashup remixes, and studio work as a progressive house producer. Is that accurate?
Steve:
That is accurate as I've been kind of a very windy, road to get here. But yes, that is all accurate.
Carel:
Now, tell me, here's the question. How did that lead you to establishing a multimedia company and an advertising agency?
Steve:
It's a great question. I always kind of, attribute it to boredom. I was an international yeah, as you said, international sort of progressive house producer and DJ and, still consider myself a semi retired version of that, but it was probably like the late 2000s where I, just felt like I wanted to experiment in different fields, get into video. And so I started applying,, the techniques that I would use to create a dance track or, you know, electronic house music track. I would apply those techniques to actual video editing. And that's, when I started making some very, , I would say pretty creatively intense video remixes that I was putting up on YouTube and those became viral, through different channels. I made a couple of different variations of these things, some were in the sports arena, some were in the advertising arena. Yeah, but nonetheless, immediately, advertising agencies and networks from all over were like, Hey, can you do that for us? And I was like, Hey, maybe maybe we have something here. And so started PorterHouse media around that time.
Carel:
Now, here's, here's, here's a good one for you. Let me create a bit of context. Let me ask you in a maxed out world where there is so much competition within, the creative industries in a world of pretty mundane samishness, originality is actually very hard to come by. In fact, we can go back to the previous century when John Lennon told us in the 60s that there's nothing original anymore. Everything is just rehash. It may have been creative skepticism in the Vietnam era, and because we're well into the 21st century now, what PorterHouse Media does strikes me as pretty original. Now, to what extent does the pursuit of originality drive you as a company, and what is it that makes you different?
Steve:
Well, I mean, that is certainly like what we try to provide every single time is not just a boilerplate production, not just something that is, something that you would just find in a library house or something that could be done quickly and easily. And that is sort of combining, the world of music with the work, well, especially in our, especially in our video productions, the work combining the world of music with the video production, the video editing and it really stemmed from those first spots that I was putting together where it was basically like an audio visual remix, but we've since branched out and we still are, I think I would say are sort of like our secret sauce is still the ability to intertwine audio with video in a unique way that nobody else is doing it and a lot of that time, a lot of those things can be how it's rhythmically, rhythmically synced. And yeah, so, but it is, it is something we always think about when we work with a new client is like, what is, what is the where's the edge? And it's hard to, it's hard to tell a new client those things because, you know, they've probably heard it all, they've heard every pitch and so you're, you know, for us, it's like, well, what, how do we, how do we actually show to them that we're doing something different that's like going to cut through, say, cut through the noise, if you will. And so, a lot of the times that ends up being like a demo. Sometimes we'll just say, Hey, let us just, let's, let's just take a crack at this and show you what we think. And then, then you can kind of open up their ears and their eyes to what, might be different about what we do versus what the rest of the, the rest of the ether is offering.
Carel:
Because there is a, there is a hell of a lot of noise out there and obviously clients are going to suffer from noise fatigue. So what do you do? The client sits down in front of you, you want to win him over. What do you tell him?
Steve:
Yeah It's a good question. And again, I think we, you just have to do your homework. You can't just show up, especially if you're trying to win a new client or, on the advertising space or in the, you're trying to get into a new field, you, you have to do your homework, whether that means like you're put the sweat equity into, the art, the creative side, whether it's editing or your music, just learning, to be great at those crafts, but also if you're trying to get into another sector, you should be, you know, listening to and watching everything that they do and have some, something creative and productive to say, when you do actually talk to somebody at a certain level. I guess what I'm saying is just, you don't want to wing it. If you will.
Carel:
So in other words, it would be fair to say that there is nothing that sounds as spontaneous as well rehearsed spontaneity.
Steve:
Yeah, that is very true. Well rehearsed spontaneity is what it's all about. I think that's what we try to shoot for. Not try to be too over manufactured when we're talking to a new client or trying to win a, make an introduction with, with a new entity that we'd love to work with is keep it organic, keep it simple, but also have a couple of bites that are like, okay, like, they listened, or they, they watched, or they know what, or, and a compliment doesn't go, a compliment doesn't hurt either they love compliments.
Carel:
Let me, alright, well let me move on to some, asking you some nitty gritties. You focus on producing mashup music and promo videos, you do sizzle reels, you do ads, and you do video games. You do docu series as well, right?
Steve:
Yes.
Carel:
Now, from your perspective, what are the key elements that would make an audiovisual narrative truly captivating? For an audience?
Steve:
The, the audio visual, captivating elements that we kind of focus on are obviously the story. I mean, the story is number one, the writing and the story are, especially if you're doing something on a docu series level, the writing and the story is number one, but the edit and the scoring is, and the sound effects and the use of sound effects and the immersion that you can create with those extra. Whether it is the combination of scoring or just the, or the actual the subtlety of what you use sound effects to drive home a scene, those are all, I think, right there at the top as far as the most important elements. And, one of my one of my best colleagues that I'm working with right now mentioned that, you know, everything lives and dies in edit. And, so you can have a great story, but if it's, you know, it's not kind of like stitched together, in a sound way or doesn't capture your attention that can also, you know, that potentially lose the listener or the viewer
Carel:
With specific reference to editing what are the biggest challenges in maintaining viewer interest across, say, if you have multiple episodes of a docuseries, how do you maintain it?
Steve:
Number one would be, I think if we're talking about say like a long form or an episodic podcast or a docuseries, especially on that, on that front is something different at the top. Something different right at the, at the beginning. So something that it doesn't sound like the same, the same sound, the same music, like something different. So you know, you're starting on the next episode, you know you're starting on the next spot. So capturing their attention right at the top, and they know they're not gonna be checking out something they've already heard before. That's probably number one. And number two is just adding value throughout and unique value throughout each episode, which would be like, you know, making sure you're not reusing. Reusing the same elements and you're, you're putting a, you're having a totally original approach for each episode. And pacing, I would also add to pacing is, is an art to itself. Having enough pause and enough knowing when to speed it up and slow it down. Is, is also, an art to itself, especially in a VO driven world.
Carel:
Tell me something. Do beats play as big a role in video as they do in audio, especially in voiceover?
Steve:
Yeah. You're talking about beats as far as like pauses?
Carel:
Yeah.
Steve:
Yes, it does. And I think I've been guilty of cutting video way too tightly, when I'm editing it, and I think there is an editing style that goes in and out of style, depending on where, which area you're in. But, there is certainly a limit to what the eyeballs can digest and also what the eyeballs prefer. And that goes down to, the editing cuts that you make, whether it's like, you're going, you know, if it's out of frame, the next, the next cut is way out of frame, versus, or the next cut is , too quick or you're staying on a shot for too long. So I would say, yes, beats matter just as much, just just it's an editing is an art form, especially on a video level as well.
Carel:
Now you mentioned score and you mentioned sound effects just now. So let me cut back to that quickly and ask you how important is the selection of music and sound design in enhancing the impact of your visual narrative?
Steve:
Very important. And it's, it's, and that's also, it's an art. If, if it actually needs it. Or it doesn't need it if sometimes the, you can, the drama is in the silence and sometimes the drama is, can be enhanced. So it's a case by case situation, if it will make an impact or not. I mean, I would say my style of production or my style of editing is to put too much in and then shave it down, and then figure out like where the medium is, whether, , like it really needed a score. Right there in that spot. Or if it was like the drama was in the, in the pause or the beats, if you will.
Carel:
What they like to say in jazz, and I've heard it more than once, is it's not the music that matters, it's the pauses in between. It's not the notes, it's the pauses.
Steve:
True.
Carel:
It's the, does the same thing apply?
Steve:
Yes. And if anything, I guess one thing I've been guilty of is not having enough pause, you know?
Carel:
Okay.
Steve:
In my edits, . But that's what I've learned in the podcast space is, is really the art of the pause, the art of adding breaths, beats, and all that stuff, I think, It's something I had to learn because I mean, especially in the short form video stuff that I was doing with those remix mashups, there was really no pausing. It's just this one, it's like a brick wall of media coming right at you, you know? So yes, it is. It's, that is an art form to itself. It's just the, is the art of the pause. It's something that I'm still getting the hang of.
Carel:
Nice way of putting it. The art of the pause.
Steve:
Yeah, exactly.
Carel:
How do you deal with the shortening of people's attention spans?
Steve:
Yeah. I mean, it comes back to the right off the top thing especially if you're putting together a short form social media or promos for your podcast or whatever it is, trying to get people's attention. I mean, it is hard. I, I, it has to be something that they immediately, they immediately recognize visually right off the top.
Carel:
How do you determine that though? What makes you decide that this is going to have the kind of impact I want?
Steve:
I mean, you can take calculated measures where you, you kind of know, , what's going on in the, in the pop culture world. I mean, that doesn't, that is sort of like the, the sort of bait and switch element to it, where you just, you keep your eye on what's you try to pull pop culture somehow into what you're doing. And whether that's making social media, but it's, it's very, it is very hard and it is, it is hard to get people's attention, , especially if you're trying to, especially if you're trying to promote your own podcast or, or whatnot. You know, there's so much money involved now that, , you can just be, your, your algorithm doesn't really do much, there might, there, there's, you know, all these media corporations or whatever, they have all the money to, to bump their stuff right on, you know, on top of yours, so, But yeah, the first, the first second, literally the first second, should be something that's like, Whoa, you know, like, something that will capture their attention. Really depends on what you're doing, but you know, if you lose people in that first second, like, you've probably lost a lot of people, so.
Carel:
Because of your approach, your sizzle reels are certainly reflective of what you suggest. Now, let me ask you this. When you create a sizzle reel, what strategies do you use to ensure that it leaves a lasting impression on the viewer?
Steve:
Yeah, for sizzle reels, it's, it's like, it is the most concentrated version of the story that you need to get across about yourself or your company.
Carel:
Is that where you remove the pauses?
Steve:
Yeah, that's, I mean, there, there are certainly micro pauses in there. And, and, you know, not, not trying to make it like painful, but at the same time trying to get everything of importance in there. And you're really focused on, I think when I'm putting together sort of a short, a shorter piece, which I've done many of is just really honing in on the hot buttons of the subject matter. So, if it's, if it's about these five things, those five things are going to get covered and, and try to like, in a way, kind of end the story the way you started in some cases, like you might try to have a very short and narrow story arc within your reel.
Carel:
How do you, how do you determine which moments to highlight?
Steve:
The ones for ours, I would be using, , press clips and videos that had the most traction in the public, , and, or, , grab the most, , weight if you saw them visually or have the most weight if you heard them from an audio standpoint. So that's how I would pick out the stuff that if I was making a new sizzle reel right now, I would be focusing on the stuff that people know. If it was your most popular episode, I would take clips from that. And I would join them with if you have press, if you have anybody talking about you you know, if we're doing a podcast like this and you have a couple, we have a couple of bites, we take a couple of bites from this podcast and we put it into our sizzle reel. And you know but more or less something that will tell the story, but grab people's attention.
Carel:
And now for our listeners, are you an audio producer? Did you know Voice123 has an AV resource center with everything from filmmaking hacks to video game guides visit www.voice123.com/blog or click the link in the description. And with that it's back to you Steve There are so many different platforms these days that one has to cater for. How do you adapt your storytelling techniques for different platforms?
Steve:
Well, there, there is, that's where music scoring comes into play, I think. You know, that is where your, your video, yeah, I mean, that, especially music and how you score it and your pacing if you're, if you're, I mean, we, we are currently working on a podcast that is, kind of a darker theme and it is a sad, sad and tragic theme, and so, yeah, I mean, as far as creating promos for this or working on this, podcast that we are , we have right now, it is that's where we create the aesthetic is in the music. And it, it helps you I guess it helps us create sort of a, a geography and a feeling of where we are, what, you know, what time period we're at, and more or less instruct the listener in this case how to feel as well. So I think it really starts with the music and the scoring. If you're trying to, depending on what genre you're in and what you're trying to achieve, whether it's action or sadness or whatnot. And then from there, I mean, yeah, of course, like, you know, if you're working with something in the visual matter, like, you know, you're not going to be doing quick cuts on something that's tragic. It's going to be some more, you know, drawn out, drawn out and serious, you know, visual scenes. But yeah, that, that, I think it really starts with music as far as setting the aesthetic and the tone.
Carel:
So how does your creative process work? You have the story, or do you have a tune in mind? Do you have a melody? Do you have an underscore in mind? Or is that dictated by the content that you're dealing with?
Steve:
Yeah. I, you know, when we start off a project with a client, I try not to take too many assumptions. I want to get as much information as possible. I want to, I really want to talk about it and figure out exactly what the vision is from, from everybody's standpoint. And then in, in many cases they will have like some sort of mood board, if you will, where we'll sort of say You know, we love these things. We love these three podcasts, or we love these three docuseries, or whatever, and from there, that gives me a little bit of a, I would say, soft target?
Carel:
Yeah.
Steve:
As far as okay, like, I, I can see those three things on my wall, in my head, and be like, oh, okay, like, I, I can see definitely a general direction we're headed in. And then that helps me out a lot, is that first conversation, it's just sort of like, what's or if we're doing something musically, it'll be like, what's your top ten, give me your top five, and okay, cool, like, you want to make something like those things, I think we're, like, our, our bread and butter, or our sweet spot is sort of like being able to distill people's general ideas into something great that encapsulates those general ideas.
Carel:
One of the things that I've constantly found, especially when chatting to voice actors, is that they say that the way the client briefs them is the problem 90 percent of the time. And I know that for a fact as a voice actor once when I was doing a read for a video for an ad, a television ad, and, the moment came up and the numbers came up and I had to read the line and I read it and the producer looked at me and he said, Carel, that was a nice read, but it was a little too blue. I wanted more orange.
Steve:
Yes. Yep.
Carel:
How do you, how do you deal with that? How do you deal with that problem?
Steve:
So that, that problem with dealing with different creative lingo with executives and, or anybody you're working with that might have a different idea about how to describe something. And it is, I have been in that situation where I've had to figure out how to, how to translate what they are talking about where you say, where you say blue sometimes they will say we're not responding, you know, some of us are not responding to this right now. And I'll be like, I'm like, what, what part of this are you not responding to? So you know, it is very vague and you have to almost like use different, like telepathy to to understand it. But yeah, it happens a lot, especially if you're dealing with executives high up. Where they don't necessarily have all the lingo installed with you know, whether it's musical lingo or they'll, you just have to kind of read them. So that is, it's, that is an art in itself. Sometimes fortunately I tend to work with a lot of people or we kind of like jive or like, okay, we understand what you're, I understand what you're saying, even if it's not the way I speak, I understand what you're saying. But I have been in a couple of quagmires where, and especially in the early days when PorterHouse Media first started, there was a couple quagmires where I didn't know what the client was saying to me. I didn't know if they wanted me to start over or or work with what we had.
Carel:
So how did you figure that out?
Steve:
Took the long way and continued to dig and dig and throw, keep throwing mud at the wall until it stuck. But yeah, like took, just kept digging and digging and digging and, probably made three different versions of something before we all came around to figuring out which one we liked because I, you know, through not understanding what some sort of vague lingo coming from my client or person you're working with My, at least from my angle is just try to drill, teach, just keep drilling until you figure it out.
Carel:
Yeah, no, because, because Voice123 is in the audio and in the voiceover business, what role does voiceover play in what you do?
Steve:
Voiceover plays a really big version, a really big deal in what we do because most of the podcasts that we work on depend on high quality voiceover from hosts or from interview subjects. So I would say it's huge. And especially sometimes we might use a voiceover for promos for sizzles that we're making for the podcasts or other things. But I would say most of the podcasts that I work on depend, you know, the anchor is the voiceover.
Carel:
Here's a dinger for you. Let's talk about AI for a minute and its inevitable impact on the creative industries. To what extent does it worry you? How do you see yourselves dealing with it?
Steve:
I'm, I'm, I'm always on the team of if you can't beat it, join it. So I, I mean, I've been like following the AI stuff pretty closely and I have you know, I kind of know what's out there and where it's probably heading as far as what, as it pertains to what I do and what we do here. So as far as voice recreation, avatar recreation music, AI a lot of stuff. I'm like, well, I might as well be using this stuff. And not ignore. I should not be ignoring this stuff. I should be using this stuff because...
Carel:
There's not there's not the fear that so many creatives have that it's going to replace you or replace of you or team members that you feel it's a tool. It's not going to put you out of business.
Steve:
I think it's going to create a lot, technology tends to just create a lot of more mediocre things as well. So like I mean when when electronic dance music or when electronic music became easier to make you were of course, you're going to end up with more mediocre tracks out there. And the same I think the same goes for AI it's like everybody's gonna think they are some sort of genius by pressing generate on an AI and creating, something but I I don't think you know, this kind of taps into a deeper feeling I have about it where I don't think that people are going to really care when people are just creating things on with AI only, it's gonna people want to know that somebody put some sweat equity behind something.
Carel:
Yes.
Steve:
In my opinion, they want I, I personally will care if I know that you edited that thing over there, you know if you told me like, hey, I just pressed play and AI did the rest.
Carel:
Yeah.
Steve:
I I probably won't care. So, I mean, I, I, but if, as far as a tool, you know, go back to the original thing is like, as far as a tool and being able to use it as a utility, I'm all for it. I'm, I'm all for it. I, I love, I, I mean, I, I've been using AI like things for, since the beginning of, , my music production career, I used plugins.
Carel:
What, what sort of things do you use in your production?
Steve:
Oh, I use, yeah, I mean, I mean, I would, I would consider a lot of the stuff I use for a music, music production, like all the plugins and virtual synths and, even my my digital workstation, whether it was Pro Tools or Ableton, I would all consider that, like those are all utilities to me, you know? So honestly, AI is not much, this AI thing, it's just, it's just a level up from what we were already doing in, in that space. Especially as a, as an electronic music producer. I mean, we were at any tool that came out, I was getting it. I was like, Oh, this is cool. This turns my drums into like synthesized metal bleeps. Like I would always, I would get stuff like that. I'd be like, Oh, cool. This is awesome. It's making melodic drums and I'll pay a hundred bucks for this plugin that makes my drum sound like, like notes. And that's how I look at AI as well as like, as long as it's a utility that I can use that to make that, that I can use creatively I'm all for it. I just don't know. I think it's, we're also kind of against the wall here of I think it also has a chance to pollute. Our environment with too much crap, if you will. So I think it's going to be good and bad if you watch it.
Carel:
As a, as a, as a final question, Steve, what advice would you give to emerging AV directors and producers looking to create content that can consistently captivate and retain viewers? Because after all, that is what this is all about.
Steve:
Yeah well in order to create content that captivates and create great content in general with that you also have to have I hate to always say this but humility you have to be able to go into and learn and make mistakes and the only way to become good at anything is to just you know fall flat on your face and keep trying and keep creating and if you if you do get to a point where you think your skills are, you know, top shelf, you're still probably going to have to exercise humility and, and be able to work with somebody who is going to want some big changes in your stuff. You can't really go into it with a, on a high horse, if you will. So I always feel like that's always, it's always a social intelligence thing too. You got to just go into things prepared to change and prepared to be flexible, modular with your skill set. And that's how you learn. I mean, I've learned so many things along the way in becoming a person who knows how to, or has made content that has captivated people. The only reason I knew how to do that stuff is because I was willing to jump into somebody else's theater and learn learn things that they learned and we collaborated on those things. So it's, it's humility, really, I think going into something and and, and being willing to collaborate is, is how you're going to keep going and keep getting to the top of what you're trying to do.
Carel:
Steve Porter of PorterHouse Media. What a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much for spending time with us on AV123.
Steve:
My pleasure, sir.
Carel:
And to all our listeners, if you ever need a vocal maestro to bring your AV projects to life, remember that it's as easy as Voice123. So click the link in the description to sign up for free and hire voice actors that can bring any AV project to life. Or add a couple of hours to your day with our A to Z project management. We'll be back with another AV exploration soon, so don't forget to subscribe, comment, or let us know if you'd like to be featured on one of the episodes of AV123. Until next time.
