Podcast Breakdown: Green Room’s Steffany Gretzinger Interview

I’m one of the sound engineers for my church’s worship team. A worship pastor shared a snippet from this podcast to the team where Steffany Gretzinger of Bethel talks about the authenticity of worship writers today. It makes her sad because many are writing songs about what we get out of worship and not about God.

The video captured an authentic moment so I took a listen to the rest of the episode. I thought this would be a perfect episode to do the first breakdown on.

The whole conversation is worth listening to but I won’t be summarizing content. Rather, I’ll be looking at the episode with a podcasting producer’s perspective for three things I liked and three things I think need improvement. Let’s dive in.

Positives

1. Well Organized Shownotes – They start with a description of the episode. This is what people will see without clicking “see more” so this is your second chance to hook. They kinda just rehash the title with more words but I would use more synonyms or expand upon the title. Next is links for the guest. It’s always best to make your guest a priority and this reflects that.Then they link to the audio only version for the die hard fans. They don’t, however, link to the video version in the audio notes which I think would be smart. Just in case a listener wants to see a specific moment perhaps.Next they’ve got their organization links for the really curious folks. On YouTube, they wrap up with hashtags. Hashtags aren’t useful on the audio platforms though so that’s why it’s important to get those keywords into your initial episode description.
2. Sharp Hook – The audio starts off with a juicy line spoken by Steffany. This is great for a few reasons. It captures the listeners attention right off the bat with an intriguing comment that pulls us in to listen for more context. Thanks to Tiktok and the such, you’ve got 3-7 seconds to do that. They also used a soundbite from the guest even though the host said some great stuff too. But you’ll be back next week so focus on your guest!
3. Authentic Conversation – I gave you a snippet already but these are conversations worship pastors are probably dying to hear. It feels like you just walked into the kitchen to grab a snack, these two are sitting at the counter deep in conversation, and you decided to stay. This is what podcast’s were built on.

Needs Improvement

1. Unknown Host – Throughout the entire episode conversation (or even in the show notes for the episode), the male host didn’t introduce himself at all. I think this is because Steffany and the host have long history together. This caters well to long time fans who have watched from the start. These fans don’t even think about it. But for me, a new listener on the second season of the show, I had to bounce around find that guys name. It’s Will Hart btw.
2. Unbalanced Voices – Through out the episode, I was constantly cranking up the volume to hear Steffany and turning it right back down for Will. I didn’t miss any content but it was a bit annoying. The technical term for this is a wide dynamic range, or the difference between the loudest point and the quietest point. Make sure to check your levels at the start of your recording, have good mic technique, and know enough to educate your guests as well!
3. Plosive Problems – Your voice should not activate the subwoofers of my car when you say a “P” word. This is standard stuff and I’m surprised two worship artists of their caliber didn’t avoid these or they weren’t reduced in post production.

I had a couple other positive points but I wanted to keep it short. If you do listen to the interview, what’d you love about the episode? Was I spot on or too harsh? Message me on Twitter or Discord to let me know.