I first came to Steemit on July 17th, so just a bit over 2 months ago, and just that short amount of time has been one hell of a ride. Crazy fun. What started as a community that was basically just trying to figure out what this Steemit thing was and how it worked, posting their content and making money, has turned (is turning) into a huge community of people who have developed guilds and initiatives and mentoring groups.
As much as some people tend to dig for the negatives, it has also come with a large array of amazing positives.
As for myself, it's gotten me to dig for what I consider to be the absolute best of the projects I've taken on, the many forms artwork I've created over the years, and also it has motivated me to create new artwork. My free time is few and far between these days, but the fire is there again.
It has also gotten me to do things I never thought I'd be a part of, such as co-hosting the Steemit Talk Podcast.
Never in my life did I think I would be involved with a podcast or talk show at all, let alone hosting one. But now after 10 episodes (9 posted, 1 en route), it's probably one of the more satisfying endeavors I've ever taken on since being a DJ, and I don't see it slowing down. I believe @giftedgaia has expressed a similar sentiment being a DJ himself.
Boy that start was rocky, though. When I go back to listen to our very first episode with just myself and @sykochica , knowing we recorded this 15-minute long thing on the Voice Memo app of my iPhone in my home office... it definitely did not feel professional, but we were excited about what we had.
We were overcome with that "lightning in a bottle" feeling.
The following day, we decided to go ahead and record episode 002. We added @giftedgaia as another host, as well as 2 more recording devices so that all 3 of us would have our own mics. This consisted of an iPod, an iPhone, a Tascam handheld audio recorder, 2 speaker stands, a camera tripod, and twisty ties. Okay, so not a huge improvement, but it was a step in the right direction. We were thinking bigger and the sound was getting better. By the way, I don't recommend recording a podcast this way because matching up and editing 3 different sound sources is a huge pain in the ass.
It wasn't until we got to episode 003 that we really took it a step up, and you can hear the difference right from the start. We also added our 4th and final host to the mix, @quantumanomaly, making us the quad we've been to this day. We went through our audio gear inventory and scrounged up some traditional handheld mics, got a quality mixer lined up, and cranked out our best podcast to that point. I wore headphones that week, but no one else did, so I could absolutely hear the quality we were getting right then and there, but we were still sub-par as far as a comprehensive and quality sound setup was involved. It was Frankensteined together, but it worked. We were still using my Tascam audio recorder, but this time we had all our mics feeding into it with the mixer. No more P.I.T.A. editing, just a bit of levels adjustments.
So with 003 under our belt, we knew exactly what we needed. Those of us who had some Steem Dollars threw it into the podcast that week. We ordered 4 brand new (matching) mics, mic stands, windscreens, and we were ready to rock. Episode 004 was when we truly found our sweet spot. What started with an iPhone grew into a bonafide talk show setup. In fact, we were one piece of gear away from being able to include remote guests with our particular audio setup and our Discord Voice Chat.
Suddenly things felt like they were getting very official.
The ramp-up took us a mere 4 episodes to get where we needed to be, and we still use the formula we were able to figure out to this day. Steemit Talk Podcast is about to walk into its second month of existence, and we're still ramping up. We've branded ourselves with logos, we've chosen the very distinct image of the vintage cassette tape to be our sort of mascot, and we've linked ourselves up to a huge array of podcast platforms by connecting our RSS feed to iTunes. We've got ideas on deck, guests we'll eventually be bringing in, and I believe the consensus among the 4 of us hosts is that we're having more fun with this project than almost anything else we've got going on right now.
The dynamic we 4 have when we're together and casting is awesome, too. My co-hosts and I have been relatively close for a long time - 10 years or more, in fact - but this is opening us up to each other in a way that is bringing us even closer, which for what we're doing is important. We're able to pull conversations out of each other that may otherwise not happen. It works so well. And the postcasts we've started releasing - the happenings after the show - are hilarious!
The most important point about everything I've written in this post, however, is that I'm pretty sure all 4 of us could tell you that it wouldn't have happened at all if it hadn't been for Steemit.com. The community that exists here far outweighs all other social networks that I, personally, have ever had any experience with. It has the power to motivate people in such amazing ways I've never seen before.
People here are force-extracting content from their creativity en mass - like wringing out a towel for every last drop of water they can get from it. Some have even mentioned in their own posts how much more creative they have been in their lives just by joining up to Steemit.
That's where we come in. 
We wouldn't have a show without you, our followers, our audience. It's your content and the happenings on Steemit that give us the ability to have a show at all. Our motto is and always will be:
Your content fuels our content. 
Without a doubt, this show is for you. If you weren't here, we wouldn't be either. At the very least, we'd still be hobbling along on one iPhone. Your upvotes have helped make STP a project that can support itself. The technical advancements we've made were funded by Steem. So on behalf of Steemit Talk Podcast, I'd like to say thank you.
And by all means, stay tuned. There's definitely more to come.
Below is our episode archive thus far. Feel free to dive in.
