10cc Had it Right: I’m Not in Love (with Your Podcast)
For many, the first time you heard the 10cc song I’m Not in Love was on a Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. Volume 1, to be exact.
Not me.
The first time I heard it was on AM radio in Chicago, probably on WLS radio.
When the song was released, in 1975.
Instant classic, instant hit. Different, memorable sound. And it would sound no better to me today if you played it on an HD Radio.
AM radio. Car radio. Mono. One speaker.
That’s all it took to deliver that tune.
10cc broke through the noise, clutter and competition of the day.
And in order for your podcast to break through in a similar fashion, you’ll need to do the same.
But I’m not in love with your podcast…not even close.
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There’s no mistaking the 10cc song I’m Not in Love. When you hear it, you know it.
One night, while I was wondering ‘how did they do that’ — some late night Wiki reading was in order. Because ‘it’ reminded me of your business podcast. Your business or media or entertainment interview podcast.
You know you have one of those podcasts. Or…up until this very moment, you know you wanted one of those interview podcasts.
Everybody over 50 years old (and Guardians movie-goers, maybe) knows exactly what I mean when I say ‘how did they do that’ on that song.
Or, ‘how did they do it’ on that song.
’It’ is the backing, surreal, angelic, ever-present, daydream-inducing vocal harmony on I’m Not in Love. It’s hypnotic. AM-broadcast quality be damned, the song’s sound laid-waste to AM’s narrow bandwidth and punched through. You know it when you hear it.
An audio branding lesson from 1975. A sonic branding lesson in 2019.
No digital engineering required. No standard musical instruments required.
Not for that portion of the song.
Just vocals. Something in your possession, and in your audio and podcast arsenal, free of change, right now.
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I won’t, I can’t, and I’m not gonna get into the analog, studio, musical engineering technologies of 1975. Your can read more about the production details on the song’s Wiki page.
But from that page I can summarize… and tell you that 10cc recorded a range of voices for three weeks to get that backing sound. The band looped the voices on tape to create 12 different vocal tracks. The tape loops had to be long enough to support the entire song. (Remember, it was 1975.) The tape loops were 12-feet long, and run through a sound mixer — which could then be played like an instrument.
All of that is on the Wiki page, here.
The end result was a priceless sound which resonates 44 years later.
The connection?
The connection is in your podcast. Your vocal, run-of-the-mill interview podcast can serve like backing vocals on a 2019 remix of I’m Not in Love.
The remix I have in mind.
I’m just gonna orchestrate, and run all of the available vocal podcasts together. Hell, I’ll do it on tape, too, and run it through an old reel-to-reel machine — just for fun. Just to show that it can be done. And I’ve a hunch all of my radio, audio and engineering friends may want to get in on that action. For fun.
Not to bust any copyrights, but I’m making a point.
Day after day, I’m reading and hearing about the debut of a new podcast from this business and that business. And 99.8% of them are interview podcasts. Vocal, dry, produced in the back office quality audio productions. No doubt okay work, with good intentions, by good people. But in the mad rush to ‘also have a podcast’ — differentiation, uniqueness, creativity, sales enablement and a dose of radio-industry competitiveness is comprehensively absent from the stampede generation of podcast.
Time to ‘10cc’ your podcasts.
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If I used modern digital audio recording equipment, I could create endless backing vocal tracks out of existing podcasts to create cutting-edge surreal noise on my own record. Or my own podcast. And it won’t be a one hit wonder. I could create and release a double-debut-album filled with chart-topping hits.
(Note: 10cc was not a one-hit wonder.)
I could imagine how vocals on the first single could be about how I’m not in love with any one particular podcast, so I created my own. And just like the original 1975 tune, I could get the job done with just a few musical instruments. All I would need is a female secretary to voice over the choir-driven, not-so-instrumental bridge. And it would sound great on AM radio.
The point is that you can do whatever you want on your podcasts. Imagine the creativity, dedication and patience it took to create those backing sounds that 10cc offered on just that one song in ‘75. Accomplishing it with voices only.
For the less marketing fortunate or podcast challenged, your CEO or CMO may say, “Yeah, Tony, but that would take way too much work, time, money — and I’m just not that interested.”
But those are the same CEOs and CMOs who will get upset when their podcasts show no audience, no brand impression and no longevity in the competitive, now bursting at the seams podcasting marketplace.
They’ll cry when a competitor’s podcast attains industry and customer recognition. They’ll have no idea how such a dynamic podcast — one that was recorded with the full range of audio and digital tools but could be played back in mono — has the ability to capture the market’s mindshare, attention and imagination. To them, something like that is incomprehensible.
When that happens, just tell the CEO and CMO to be quiet.
Big boys (and girls) don’t cry about bad podcasts.
Tony Compton holds two degrees from Loyola University Chicago: a 1987 B.A. in Communication and a 1995 MBA. He has held a number of marketing and business leadership positions over the past three decades.
