Podcast Day 2016 episode 4

FINAL EDIT: I am admitting defeat. I keep trying to work on this instead of doing other things, which makes me not want to do other things, which starts up the Spiral of Defeat and Failure and Other Bullshit™. I will keep around those episodes that I have already created, but I’m not going to finish. Maybe I’ll do a new year’s thing. I probably should have planned way far in advance, anyways. Current plan is to get out an episode of Nerd Fort #1 ASAP, which I think will be on Friday.

This was supposed to be where I would have the next episode, but I don’t yet.

This will be rectified soon.

Edit from my phone: the fan on my power supply in my computer has died, so I don’t want to use computer for anything to serious, like editing audio. It may be a few days before this gets figured out. Hopefully i can just clean it out really well.

Edit again: holy crap. While fixing my computer my household came down with the plague. I’m already very lucky that I’ve been able to work like this, and i haven’t been able to record or edit anything for quite a while

I plan to release the remaining podcast-focused episodes all on Friday. Certainly everything that I can get done by then.

But of course I know how plans go.

Hopefully the final edit: Plans did not go well. I got some serious food poisoning and I didn’t even know what day it was for a little while there. Planning on recording the next time I have time away from both job and toddler at the same moment. Might be tonight, 10/20/2016. I’m going to post the audio from it ASAP after I record.

Podcast Day 2016, Episode 3

Ok, here is episode 3, all about the hardware needs that you will have. (links to products here give me a kickback, btw)

1. Space.

Literally. You need space to do this. It needs to be quiet, it needs to be free of pets and children. It should not have bare walls.

2. A computer.

I assume that most people have one that will suffice for recording and editing – if you’re not sure, trying playing a modern video game on it. Can it handle it at default levels? awesome. it works.

3. Actual podcaster-specific stuff: a microphone.

The one that you will use comes in 2 major types: Dynamic and Condenser. Here is a Wikipedia page about it.

If you are going to be in a group setting and you don’t want another mic for each person, go with condenser, as it will pick up all the audio in the room. I use a Blue Snowball for recording my D&D sessions.

If you are going to be by yourself, or you can afford one for each person, then use a dynamic mic, as it tends to not pick up audio that is far away from it, and it has a more impressive range that it can pick up. When I am recording by myself, I use the ubiquitous ATR-2100.

Other things, in no particular order:

If you don’t want to build a blanket for around your computer every time that you record, get some acoustic panels.

If you don’t want to find the very limits of your listener’s patience, get a pop filter. There’s also another style.

If you’ve got money to burn and hate taking time to put your microphone away, then get the thing I incorrectly called a boom. It’s actually a scissor arm stand. A boom is the long pole that sticks out the back of a ‘normal’ mic stand.

If you want to be able to do anything on your desk without pausing your recording, then a shock mount is for you.

If you want to hear what you sound like to your audience while you are editing, then some decent headphones are in order.

International Podcast Day 2016, Episode 2

There are some things that are very important to podcasting that can’t be bought or acquired in how we normally think of it, but are still pretty important.

1. A support network

Most people have some kind of support network, but many people rarely think about it. Taking some time to figure out who in your life is going to help you with your podcast – often in ways that you might not expect – is very valuable. To learn who would be in your podcast support network, the best advice is to talk about it and see what people have to say.

2. Time

Many people feel like they don’t have enough time, which is a problem for podcasters because it is a hobby that does take a significant amount of time. Making a decision to carve time out of your other activities is usually what it’s going to take to be able to have time to podcast. Definitely don’t sacrifice time with your family, or time at your job. Maybe consider sacrificing time asleep or time doing other games and hobbies.

3. Attitude

I still don’t really have this one well defined, even for myself, but I know it’s important. Staying motivated and disciplined is important. Also important is sticking to your decision to do it. When I’ve got a bad attitude, I can’t make good episodes. When I have a good attitude, I am capable of making the best episodes.

4. Passion

Everyone is passionate about something. Some people have a humanitarian cause – like raising money for researching a disease, or raising political awareness about an important issue. Other people have a personal passion – perhaps the music industry, movies, woodcarving, or sun tanning. Perhaps your passion is simply having fun with your friends or enjoying board games.

The great thing about podcasting is that you don’t need to be passionate about podcasting. But you do need to be passionate about something. When you get in front of a microphone with a passion about anything, youve got a good start to be able to podcast well.

5. Technical understanding

A lot less important than you might think, it is nonetheless important to have a basic understanding of the tools that you are using to podcast. You don’t need to have college-level knowledge about the broadcast industry, or how microphones work, or anything like that. But you do need to know how all of your stuff fits together, and how to make it work.

There are some people that are capable of tearing apart and rebuilding a car’s engine. Then there are people who are afraid to open the hood of their car at all. But both of these people can drive their car down the road. They both know the gas, the brake, how to unlock the doors, and how to roll the windows up. Very similarly, most podcasters won’t be able to safely take a soldering iron to the inside of a microphone, but practically anyone can hook up a microphone to the computer and make a recording.

International Podcast Day 2016 – Episode 1 of 7

So, today is International Podcast Day 2016, and I am doing a kinda off-the-cuff mini series about podcasting. This episode is how I started a podcast and a really rough bare minimum that you would need to get started. Since this podcast is 75% about my story, I won’t include that in the show notes, but I can give you the links for the podcasts that I mentioned, and the very basic things you need for a podcast.

Welcome to Night Vale is at http://www.welcometonightvale.com/listen

The 3.5 private sanctuary has changed since i first started listening to it, and can be found under a new name at  http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/

The Audacity to Podcast can be found here: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

The four basic things that I mentioned that you need for a podcast:

Thing 1: a recording device. To start, I suggest a USB mic attached to a computer. You can use things like your phone but I don’t suggest it. You can also go crazy and start with sound boards and professional-level microphones at first but if you don’t already have experience with them, then it’s a really bad idea.

Thing 2: Somewhere online to put the audio where your potential audience can find it. YouTube is the bare minimum for this, and is also a really bad idea. Don’t podcast on YouTube unless you are doing a video podcast, and don’t do a video podcast unless you really know how to edit video. I personally suggest Libsyn as a media host, but that’s just me.

Thing 3: a space to record. If you think you have a great place, then record total silence in that space for 2 minutes, and then listen to it. Now go back and turn off all the stuff that was making noise (AC, furnace, the dog, street, etc.) and then talk a little bit. just say your name and where you are from – and listen to that. You’ll notice little echoes and stuff. You want soft surfaces and zero machinery.

Thing 4: Something to say. This is probably the most important part. If you don’t have anything to say, then no one will listen to you. You need to be knowledgeable and passionate about your subject matter. You have no idea how many podcasts there are about knitting. Seriously. there are enough of them that some people have compiled a ‘top 5’ list of knitting podcasts. You know that there is someone that wants to hear what you have to say – and a podcast is a great way to reach them.

This Friday, International Podcast Day.

I don’t know what makes this Friday the international podcast day, but for some reason it is. To start off, you should go catch up on your favorite podcast. After that, find a new, interesting podcast and get caught up on that. With the remaining 3 minutes in your day, you should read this and get prepared to listen to my podcast every day next week.

For some reason I care about Podcast Day. I don’t usually care about national/international anything day. I don’t care about pancake day, or beer day, free slushies at 7/11 day, or even D&D day. But I care about Podcast Day. The funny thing about that is: I’m not entirely sure why I care about it. I just do.

One way or the other, I am going to write a podcast episode the moment that I am done with this post, and I am going to publish the episode in my normal feed (SORRY, all you D&D listeners. If you have subscribed for only D&D content, I will make sure that I will include a disclaimer at the very beginning about how you aren’t hearing anything D&D). And then I’m going to write and record a bunch more so that you’ve got the whole story of how I got where I am and how you can start a podcast as well – or at least appreciate the people who do podcasts that aren’t backed up by big media outlets or other sources of cash and labor.

The first episode (this Friday) is going to be about making podcasts, and it is going to start off a mini-series about how I have made mine, and how you can make yours. They will be a half hour or less and be accompanied by half-way decent show notes.

See you then, I hope.

Episode will be late.

The Episode of “==>” (pronounced “Equal Equal Greater Than”) that would normally go up Monday morning will be up later in the week.

I have the audio recorded but it needs editing, and this weekend was pretty busy.

I will probably have it finished by midnight Monday, but no promises – there is a reason I usually do this on the weekends.

In other news, I am going on vacation starting this coming Friday, and lasting for a week. I have no idea what this is going to do to my posting schedule, and it may even improve it as far as the blog posts go. But I am going to the same beach as a few hundred people that I have casual contact with….so writing and burying my face in a screen is probably not what I will want to do. I will probably be constantly showing off the newest addition to my family, swimming in the damn ocean and making a big goddamned sandcastle.

I’ve got a few posts just about ready in the “Lily Story” series, and a few ideas otherwise. Not sure how far that will get me. As always, let me know if you think of a great use for my website, a great idea for a post, or a great excuse to give me a million dollars. Seth.Kleinpaste@stumblestoryinn.com

Ep 3 Equal Equal Greater Than

This is episode 3 of Equal Equal Greater Than, which brings us to the end of Act 1 (ending on this page). This episode is a little bit shorter, because I didn’t really realize how close I was to such a good stopping point.

I realized that my method of editing was a little bit strange especially at the end of last week’s episode – but that is what this whole thing is about, right? Me figuring out what I am doing with recording and editing. I’ve changed my methods a little and I’m not editing out some of what I thought were “pointless pauses”.

I will have a text-only post up soon, and I am hoping to get a schedule established for those. This one will be in the series of “The Lily Story”. I finally added an element to the infrastructure of my website that allows me to do it in the way I wanted to. There is also a post that I want to put up about how I do things and things I want to do for you (and perhaps, with you).

Also this episode brought me above the data cap for the lowest level of LibSyn service, So now I am spending a little bit more money on that. Which means that I have more data than I can reasonably use. Which means that I am going to more easily find things to publish. Like a “what I am thinking about my website/podcast” episode. Or a “here is my wife making a Pathfinder character” episode.

Equal Equal Greater Than

I’ve come up with a name for this podcast, “Equal Equal Greater Than”, which is specifically a reference to an element in the meta of MSpaintadventures.

This is Episode 2, and has Lily crying and being observed acting out her addiction to pacifiers, as well as Amanda folding laundry and running machinery.

I plan to have another non-podcast post up before the next podcast episode, and I plan to continue publishing the podcast every monday. I will have an RSS page for it up soon.

Lily Homestuck Podcast

Here is the first episode of a new direction for my podcast (somewhat explained in the previous post).

The first 15 or so minutes talks generally about what this podcast will be (hopefully), as well as why and how I am changing direction – all mostly because I have a daughter now and she is an enormous time sink.

Then it gets into what I want this new podcast to be – Primarily (for me, secondarily for my listeners): An excuse to get behind the microphone, and using it. Primarily (for the listener, secondarily for me): A page-by-page description of the webcomic “Homestuck“, as if I am describing and reading it to my daughter.

If you want to download this to put on your listening device of choice, right-click the “download” link, and use “save as”. I have yet to get a solid RSS feed up for it, but I will be putting every episode in a feed once I get that all squared away.