EFTM is a popular Australian online magazine covering a
wide range of Lifestyle topics, from automotive news and reviews to technology,
entertainment, fitness, and more. The site, run by tech devotees Trevor Long
and Chris Bowen, and reaches more than 45,000 readers a month. Updated
regularly, EFTM delivers news, features, and opinion pieces, backed by regular
technology podcasts and video content.
The site\’s two regular podcasts, \”Your Tech
Life\” and \”Two Blokes Talking Tech,\” are among the most listened
to in Australia, and featured regularly on the iTunes podcast charts. As Long
explains, the shows are focused on technology for a not so tech savvy audience.
\”It\’s technology news and information but targeted
at everyday people – moms, dads, grandparents – as opposed to the geeks and
nerds who already know all this stuff,\” he observes. \”The focus is
consumer-oriented, not deep technical. People have questions about what
smartphone or computer to buy, why is their iPad not functioning the way it
should, those kinds of issues. Or you have a mom or dad with questions about
how they can engage in social media with their kids without stepping on their
toes. And we review products like wearable fitness bands, or big screen TVs, or
smartphones. It\’s tech talk for the non-technical.\”
The shows are recorded at Long\’s newly-built in-house
studio, equipped with Mackie\’s DL806 digital mixer with iPad control. \”We did the
shows out of my garage for four or five years, and it\’s grown immensely,\”
Long reports. \”When we moved into our new house, I built a purpose-built
studio for the podcasts. I had an older analog mixer and enough gear to run the
studio, but I wanted to do it a bit differently. I saw a Facebook post about
the new Mackie mixer, and I was fascinated. I had never seen anything like it.
I read and researched it, and I knew I just had to have one.\”
Not surprisingly, it was the iPad control that initially
caught his eye. \”Nobody, not even Steve Jobs, would have thought to turn
the iPad into a thing like this. But it was clear immediately that it was more
than just a toy. The ability to set up multiple control surfaces is something
you just cannot do with a traditional desk. Stephen Fenech, my co-host on \’Two
Blokes Talking Tech,\’ can be sitting across the desk from me at his microphone
and he can have microphone control, headphone control, mixer control, without
me having to install a control station for him. He can control it all via his
iPhone.\”
Long also cites the expandability factor that the DL806\’s
wireless control offers. \”If we\’ve got a guest in one week – even if we\’ve
got five guests one week – they can all have their own controls. I can just
give each of them their own fader, on their own phone. Done. And it\’s portable
enough that if we wanted to do a remote podcast, it\’s really easy to set
up.\”
Long is the first to admit, he\’s barely begun to scratch
the surface of the DL806\’s capabilities. \”I\’m not really an audio guy. I
don\’t play around much with EQs or compression during recording. I\’m sure
there\’s lots of things I could be doing with it, and if I sat down and took the
time I could probably learn 500 times more than what I know today. That said,
I\’m already light years ahead of where we were with our previous desk. It\’s a
really powerful little beast.\”
