Chop Shop Show Podcast

One recording, weeks of content

I began producing the Chop Shop Show after Michael Trigg referred me based on my ongoing work with Konan BBQ’s No Losses, Just Lessons podcast. The first production, Episode 151, was recorded on July 27, 2026.

The goal is larger than delivering a single podcast episode. I am building a complete production and publishing system that gives the Chop Shop team a polished long-form show, a consistent social media presence, and a growing library of content from every recording session.

Full-service podcast production

The episode was livestreamed while being recorded in 4K at a 17:9 aspect ratio. Post-production included camera matching, color grading, noise reduction, dialogue EQ, compression, editing, and final delivery. This gives the client one production partner across capture, post-production, publishing, and ongoing content distribution.

I introduced a Zoom F8n Pro to the production workflow so isolated microphones can be captured in 32-bit float on future episodes. That added recording latitude will make the dialogue more resilient when voices move from quiet conversation to excited debate.

Solving a live production problem

During the first episode, OBS was connected through the recorder’s standard stereo driver instead of the multi-track driver needed for the intended simultaneous workflow. As a result, I could not capture the isolated 32-bit-float microphone files while also sending the audio to the livestream.

The finished episode was still delivered. I recovered the audio from the livestream, synchronized it with the original 4K camera recordings, and completed the full edit and audio treatment. The workflow has now been corrected so future productions can combine the livestream with isolated 32-bit-float recording.

AI-assisted and human-reviewed

AI speeds up the repetitive parts of post-production, but it does not make the final editorial decisions. Each episode receives an AI-assisted transcript, YouTube chapter markers, thumbnail development, and short-form clip discovery. I review and refine the output before anything is published so titles, chapters, visuals, and selected moments accurately represent the conversation.

After the full episode is delivered, I upload the video to OpusClip. Its AI analyzes the long-form recording and produces short-form clips from the strongest moments. I review the clips, correct framing and captions where needed, select the best material, and organize the release schedule across the client’s connected social channels.

More than 40 short-form clips are prepared from each episode. OpusClip lets us choose a publishing cadence that fits the client’s goals, including multiple posts per day, every other day, or a longer weekly schedule. For the Chop Shop Show, clips are scheduled twice daily across YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Once approved and scheduled, they publish automatically, allowing one recording to support weeks of consistent content without requiring the client to upload each clip manually.

YouTube results: July 26–September 3, 2026

The YouTube Studio summary for this period reports 84,085 views, 354.8 watch hours, and 28 net new subscribers. The channel had 581 subscribers as of September 3. These are channel-wide results during the production engagement, including content beyond the episodes and clips shown here.

The audience breakdown was still processing some late-August and early-September data when the summary was prepared. New and returning viewer counts may change as that processing finishes.

Most-viewed Shorts

The four leading videos in the July 26–September 3 summary were Shorts about NBA debates, sports broadcasting, and NCAA rules.

These results give the team a starting point for choosing future clips. The next step is to track whether viewers who discover a Short return for more clips or watch a full episode.

Reporting context

The figures above come from a YouTube Studio summary supplied on September 3, 2026. A separate Studio screenshot covers June 5–September 2, 2026, and shows 84,691 views, 484.3 watch hours, and 47 net new subscribers. That 90-day window includes time before my first recording on July 27 and is separate from the production-period summary.

YouTube also flagged a change in how views are counted, which limits comparisons with earlier periods. These figures cover YouTube only; they do not include Instagram or Facebook results.