Zencastr is how I record all of my podcasts! Big thanks to Zencastr for featuring my episode with Joseph Wooten on their home page and social media!

My experience with Zencastr has been nothing short of incredible. Being the audio nerd that I am, it is super important to have great-sounding conversations and a great remote recording experience with my guests.  Worrying about things outside my control like Wifi speeds, someone's laptop dying, or someone's microphone being too quiet can really have me on edge during an important recording. Once I started using Zencastr and knowing that your recordings are being saved locally to Google Chrome was a breath of fresh air! Zencastr is everything I was looking for, recording a lossless16-bit 48k WAV audio track per guest, regardless of internet connection (local recording), with no time limits. 

I found myself instantly spending more time on the quality of my conversations, knowing that the quality of my audio tracks is instantly covered with Zencastr. 

Check out Zencastr here

 

 

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A SEAT AT THE TABLE WITH MIKE ZABRIN 

The art of authentic conversation, resilience and opening up a new world of connection via podcasting.

By Tricia Scott 

Musician, podcaster and businessman, Mike Zabrin is a whole world of audience connection and collaboration. 

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Mike Zabrin found himself, like many musicians, wondering how to navigate this unknown period of forced separation and loss of the work he loved so much. Who would he be in the world without his beloved bass, his band and an audience to play to?

 

 

 

 

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LIGHTING THE FIRE WITHIN 

A musician of 14 years, Mike started in the world of bass playing by trying out for his school Jazz band, which led to a love affair that would last for the next fifteen years. Living in downtown Chicago and graduating from Columbia College, Mike developed a love for blues and played in bands around the area until they began getting requests to play at weddings. A brand new adventure began with awards and a growing list of bookings until one day; he was fired. 

Just like that. 

Mike knew he had a decision to make; he could either shrink back to local bands and clubs or use his experience as the fire to start again, bigger and stronger than before. He knew that his reputation in the wedding arena was exceptional, people loved his music, and most of all, he had the drive to succeed. So he decided to start an all-new wedding band and take over the Chicago wedding scene. The fire was LIT, and Funktastic productions LLC was born. 

Today Funktastic productions are regarded as the midwest's premier events band with awards such as WeddingWire's Couples Choice Awards & The Knot Hall of Fame under their belt; I guess you could say that Mike's old boss did him a favour! When Mike talks about this period of his life, he speaks of his biggest lessons: he realised his inner determination to succeed and never to treat another how he was treated. Something he carries with him to this day. 

THE PANDEMIC COMES TO TOWN 

Things were going great for Funktastic Productions LLC; they were loved, respected, requested and booked out months in advance, that is until the day the world shut down. Everything was canceled; all bookings, events, parties, you name it, it was off. Mike knew he had reached another pivoting point in his career, and no stranger to resilience, he got to work on looking for another way to fill his time if he couldn't play. 

Mike started with what he knew for sure. He couldn't sit in his emails all day; that would drive him crazy. But, on the other hand, Mike also knew that he needed connection and stimulation; who knew how long this pandemic would last? So he started looking at his interests. What did he love that he didn't have time for before when he was busy all the time? 

Over the years, being at the helm of the midwest's premier events band, he had to learn about running a business. It wasn't enough to love the music; he had people to take care of and events to manage all across Chicago and beyond, but what if this period could give him the edge? What if being away from the live band life for some time could give him the tools and knowledge to take the business end of Funktastic Productions LLC to another level? He decided to look for a way to combine learning new business skills with the connection and stimulation he was missing. He came up with the perfect solution; he started a podcast interviewing creatives and people in the business world about their experiences! READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Get your digital magazine copy here!

COMING MAY 11th: The first of a 2 part series with Joseph Wooten. We had an amazing two-hour conversation.

A grammy nominated artist, songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist. Since 1993, Joseph has been an integral member of roll hall of fame inductee The Steve Miller Band. He is a producer speaker, and he fronts his own band Joseph Wooten and the Hands of Soul. Joseph also serves as the keyboardist to his brother Victor Wooten. On top of that, he's an author of It All Matters from which there’s a Ted Talk delivered in Memphis Tennessee called Why it All Matters.

COMING MAY 4th, 2021: I had the amazing pleasure of chatting with Michael Ray, who has been a member of Kool & The Gang and Sun Ra since the late 70s. He's recorded on 7 platinum and gold albums, and on 7 out of Kool & The Gang's top 10 hits. 

I was geeking out through this WHOLE hour as he chatted about stories playing with Patti Labelle, Stylistics, Big Ol Nasty Getdown, Kool & The Gang, Sun Ra, Barenaked Ladies, Jimmy Cliff, and more

In an instant—new friends were made during the pandemic. 

At the beginning of December 2020, I was getting drinks with a friend. The conversation about Podcasts came up and she suggested I start one. A light bulb lit up in my head - maybe this is the key to a formal business education I always wanted after graduating from music school. Talking to CEOs who are leaders of the events industry and startup tech companies who scaled their business to the masses excites me more than the Super Bowl (don't judge). I knew that If I could lock in the right guests and have recorded back and forth dialogues (not interviews), I would be sure to learn a lot and apply these teachings to Funktastic. In turn, my colleagues might benefit as well. All of this went through my head at a million miles an hour as I'm sitting at a bar. 

Literally the next day I started reaching out to companies that I felt played a role in making my company, Funktastic Productions, happen. I was DM'ing CEOs, VPs, and Marketing Directors of companies that provided a platform for Funktastic to expand our digital presence over the years. And GUESS WHAT…..Everyone I reached out to said YES!! I found that people are always excited to tell their story, especially in how they got to the point of making a living doing their passion. Nothing was an overnight success, but rather a common theme was leaving their comfort zone to pursue the unknown. Whether that comfort zone is a corporate job with a six-figure salary or a 9-5 job that they were good at, asking friends and family to invest.... Hitting the reset button is scary, even after years of considering it. For me, it was leaving a GM role at School of Rock and other similar roles that slowly began to consume me. 

I hope that this podcast inspires you to look at the big picture at whatever you want to do in your career & life. If it's something that isn't profitable for a long time, most people will quit. There are people in your circle waiting to help that you just don't know about yet ❤️