Two Brothers, Mediocre At Video Games, Good At Talking About Them

My cohost Troy and I were always each other's "Player 2". Growing up, playing video games was certainly a bonding experience that we shared, and so it became the biggest piece of common ground for us. Having an entire brotherhood with video games as its focal point makes talking about them almost second nature. Not to mention, having 50+ years of video game experience between the two of us gives us a lot of material to draw from! The Brothers Greif is a podcast that is more a love letter to the world of video games than it is a podcast. On our podcast we "show-and-tell" our favorite games and even grill each other on gaming trivia. Our listeners are hopefully people like us. They are nostalgic about their history with video games, and giddy with excitement about the future.
 

Troy and I started dreaming about podcasts when our friends (who we partied up with in various video games) said that we should start a podcast. You see, Troy lives in Seattle and I live in the vast desert wasteland of Washington State's "far east", so meeting each other in person is certainly not a viable option. As a result of this, Troy and I would use our online video game time as a way to catch up (usually geeking out about new video games about to release, or lamenting our poor performance in whatever we were playing at the time). After about a month of coming up with the structure/format of our show and picking out the subject matter for our first episodes, we released our first episode in December of 2020. We were so thankful for taking the internet's advice to record a backlog of 5-10 episodes before launching. This gave us a nice safety net in case anything went wrong during one episode's recording session e.g. failure to save the audio file, corrupted files, even simply "not feeling it" on one particular day.
 

Funding. Ha! Our funding came directly from whatever we were able to scrape together after the bills were paid (that includes PlayStation Plus and Xbox GamePass). Thankfully, we edit everything ourselves, and use a free audio editing software. The only costs have been a couple of $100 microphones and a podcast hosting service. Both of us work full time in other jobs so finding the time to record is a daunting balancing act. One thing that caught us off guard is having to postpone recording on occasion due to simply being too exhausted to record. Having an "on-air" mentality can be draining and keeping the conversation going is a skill we are still trying to hone.

We wanted to release the best quality product possible, but without having to completely break the bank open. That meant being smart about audio quality, which meant doing meaningful sound checks, following a plethora of online tutorials on Audacity, and being absolutely persnickety during editing.
 

As a super small podcast just getting its foot in the door, we don't have any sponsors yet. The road to the top is long, but some day we hope to monetize. The perspective of a podcaster looking up from the bottom rung of the ladder is often discouraging, and at times intimidating. The thing that keeps us publishing is simply the drive to do better; to make every next episode better than the last. So far, I think we've accomplished that goal. Of course, having a co-host you're very close to, and subject matter you're extremely passionate about helps. Weekly podcasting has its side effects, some good some bad, the most welcome of which is a closer relationship to my "bro-host" Troy.
 

Troy and I podcast remotely, each recording into Audacity on our own computers. Then, we send the audio file through Google Drive to whoever is doing the editing that week. So far, this method has proven to be quite nice. Our initial fears of internet connectivity issues and lag causing discrepancies in the timing of the audio were dispelled completely. Being the budget podcasters that we are, our microphones are of high enough quality to not drive our listeners crazy for the hour or so we have their attention. Troy uses an Audio-Technica AT2100 USB mic; I use a Sennheiser e835 with a Mackie Onyx Artist 1-2 interface.

We prepare each episode by meeting up on Discord prior to recording and walking each other through our talking points, and drafting a vague outline for the episode. Having at least some kind of episode roadmap is a huge help in keeping the conversation on topic and giving the episode some "flow" from point to point.
 

Right now, the vast majority of our listenership has been friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of...you get the point. We are just starting to dip our pinky toe into the vast sea called Internet Marketing. Facebook and Google Ads are both things we use, but measuring cost vs. benefit vs. whether or not rent gets paid on time is a delicate balance to maintain. Right now roughly 40% of our listeners are from Spotify, and 60% are from iTunes and other services that use Apple's servers. It's exciting to see these ad services track the ad clicks, and how they translate into new listeners. I think it's going to be our main strategy for breaking down the wall that stands between us and new audience growth.
 

Having only had 8 months in the podcasting world, the advice we could give is unique in that we aren't that far off the launch pad. I read somewhere that there is a ten episode wall that new podcasts tend to hit before they burn out, either from frustration due to small audience, or the struggle to come up with new material consistently. Troy and I had our struggles those first few months where our audience was a small but mighty crowd of friends and familiars. All we can say is that it gets easier; at some point you will find your stride. Every podcast out there has its own "rhythm", so-to-speak, in that those podcasters have developed a structure, a voice, or a recording routine that works for them, and they are comfortable with it. It is distinctly theirs. The only way to find yours is to record again and again. Eventually you find your groove.

On a more tangible level, we use Buzzsprout's hosting service and frequently tap into the wealth of podcast advice they feature on their website. Any podcaster trying to keep the pod-train on the cast-tracks should pay them a visit.
 

Troy and I are constantly finding new ways to reach out to our fans and give them ways to interact with us as well.

Right now the best ways to do that are at www.thebrothersgreif.com or on our Facebook page The Brothers Greif.

www.thebrothersgreif.com is powered by Podpage.com, which has a feature to record a voicemail on our website, which we can then feature on our show. Drop us a line!