More Podcasting Tips

     *Throws podcasting tips in your face and runs away*

1.  Record in the same room if at all possible

     When you don't have millions of dollars to throw at private recording studios and sound-proof walls, sound quality and background noise can be an issue.  If you can find a room to record in that's relatively impenetrable (windows shut, if you can't find a room with no windows), without fans, heaters, or air conditions, then you have your recording room right there!

     For me, this is difficult--at school all the rooms have air conditioning at all times of the year, and at home the walls are very thin.  My solution?  Try to find the room with the least sound, or sound you can best explain away, and stay there for at least the duration of that episode.

     Usually, I try to fit the episode's environment to the room--air conditioning and loud refrigerators can be an issue, but if your character lives in an abandoned carpet warehouse that runs on home-built generators and you have robots running around everywhere, the sound of air blowing and motors whirring makes sense.  But if the character is a teenage girl in her room, recording where you can hear wind chimes and birdsong might make the most sense.

     But really, people will tune anything out if it doesn't cause too much brain function--if birds are chirping when you're in a volcano, there might be some cognitive dissonance going on, but as for white noise, people will come to block it out if it doesn't interfere as long as it remains constant, and if you have that white-noise room, you can always add necessary sound effects in post.

2.  Kill your darlings (there can only be one)

   Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration--you can have plenty of darlings.  Just not all of them.
   
     You've probably heard this phrase used in relation to writing before; it's one of those little tidbits of artistic life that apply to pretty much every medium.  If you're writing a podcast script, you obviously need to slay some darlings in the script writing process, but even once you record it, you'll sometimes come across bits that just don't fit.  Maybe the line isn't as funny spoken as it is written, or it throws the pacing off, or it's just not important or entertaining enough to warrant taking up the audience's precious time.

     You may have worked very hard on this darling little line; it may, on its own, be pure gold!  But if it doesn't work with the rest of the piece, it might as well be a show pony at a racetrack; at best it'll look pretty while it loses.

      At any and every step of the process you have to know when something adds value, and when it detracts; when it detracts, you have to cut, cut, cut.

     My experience is with story podcasting, of course, which means I don't know if this is true for interview or conversational podcasts, but if anyone with experience wants to drop a comment below, it would be nice to know!

3.  Print out a physical copy of the script

     It's only recently that I've had the good sense to start actually printing out my scripts--because I have two laptops (I use the much older one for recording and the newer one for school and writing), I've been in the bad habit of reading my script off my laptop.  On the few occasions that I did think to print out a copy, it was necessary to lend it to a co-actor that had forgotten to bring their own.

     Why is this important?

     It's cumbersome. first of all--either your laptop (or phone, as the case may be) is so small you have to squint, or so big it's a pain to transport.  If you do have something in between, the tapping of keys or glass often makes more noise than paper, which isn't great when you're trying to record.

     It's also easier to lose your place on a computer--not only can you lose your place on the page, but with one accidental flick of the mousepad or press of a button, you could lose the entire page itself, which is a huge pain in the ass.  The risk increases if you're skipping around, and it's harder to find the next place you need to record, because highlighting doesn't have the same effect on a computer that it does on paper.

     To remedy this, I would CTRL+F it and type the desired character name followed by a colon.  The thing is, this worked only when the character name wasn't separated from the colon by a parenthetical (since I write my scripts in the British format), which meant there were times when I would skip important lines by accident.  When they were just my lines it was fine, and I could record again later, but when it was someone else's lines, it became an ORDEAL.  I would either have to work around the omission, or call them in for another session, neither of which was desirable.

     All in all, it's beneficial to have a physical paper copy of the script in your hand, highlighted, pen-marked, hell, post-it-noted if you need it, ahead of time.

4.  Never throw out old scripts (digitally, at least)

     Much like with other writing projects, it's important to keep all your old drafts filed away somewhere; you never know when you'll need to check back to make sure you're staying on point with the continuity or character executions.

     Even when you scrap a script, keep what you've got filed somewhere--you might use the pieces again in the future, bit-by-bit, general ideas, or even chunks torn out wholesale.

     The worst that happens when you keep old scripts around is using up a few extra MilliBytes that never see the light of day again.  But chances are good that they will.

Podcast Tips

     I've posted before about the things I've learned podcasting, but when it comes to the arts, there's always more to learn, so here are a few more tips to help you on your auditory journey.

1.  Speak Slowly

     If you've ever acted before, you've probably received a note from your director at some point or another that you need to speak slowly and clearly--if not, then this is your Temporary Self-Appointed Mentor-Director here to tell you that when you're acting, you need to speak slowly and clearly.

     Of course, you don't want to take it too slow, or people might fall asleep, but when we know our material we tend to talk waaaayyyyyy too fast (especially if we're nervous), which makes it more difficult for others to understand what we're saying.

     In film and on audio recordings this is less of a problem than on stage, because in a recorded performance the audience can rewind as many times as they need, but the more they have to do this, the less invested in the story they become--and the more irritated, which is never good.

     There are times when your characters may need to speak extremely quickly, of course, but avoid fast speech in narration where you can, and make sure that, unless unintelligibility is a conscious choice, you're speaking slow enough for most people to catch the meaning.  Speaking clearly, without slurring your words (except where characteristically necessary), will help with that, too.

2.  Always take multiple takes

      The underrated beauty of a live performance is that anything can happen.  Everyone on a set will become obsessed with doing everything perfectly every single night, but some of the most perfect moments and wonderful ad-libs happen because something went wrong or just differently than expected.  It happens in film on occasion, too--look at Heath Ledger's "smack the remote" moment during the hospital explosion in The Dark Knight.

     But the beauty of film or audio recordings is that things can go right--or wrong--but it's all captured on your recording devices and synced to your computer for as long as you decide to keep it.  The beauty of film or audio is that you can pick and choose the pieces you want from any take, cut and paste, and no one can stop you.  You can reap the harvest and serve the best crop from every row.

     So never shortchange yourself; take multiples.  Any time you record, take at least two takes, more if you can, and try to change it up every time--it doesn't do you any good to have two or three identical recordings.  Variety is the spice of life!  Variety is life!  Exogamy is how we've survived this long as a species, and interbreeding is the reason the cheetah is on a path to extinction!

     Take the best and leave the rest on the cutting room floor.

3.   Put in the time or get in the line

      As I mentioned previously (double-linking is a dangerous game, but I'm feeling brave tonight), you end up putting far more hours into podcasting than you'll get out of it--hours writing and editing the script, hours recording, hours editing, just to distill it all into a 'cast that's 20-50 minutes long.

     It's a big job, but if you want to have a quality cast you have to do it.  You can always half-ass it, of course, that's an option, but chances are really, really good that if you half-ass it, you're going to drown.  Even really good podcasts that people pour their hearts and souls into will drown in the sea due purely to circumstance, so if you want to stand out, you have to put everything you've got into it.

     Podcasting is an art, and art takes work.

Podcast Starter Pack

     Want to start a podcast?  Not sure quite how to get yourself set up?  Here's a quick guide to getting yourself set up with the basic necessities!



1.  Idea

     This is the most important thing, absolutely 100%, and I'll tell you why; without a good idea, the rest of it doesn't matter.  You can have the best recording and editing equipment in the world, but if what you produce isn't fully thought out and you aren't passionate about it, no one's going to want to listen.

     In fact, passion for the idea is more important than it even being well thought-out or logical or easy to follow, etc., etc., because if you're passionate about it, the rest will come--someone will be interested in your work if you're passionate enough, because people are attracted to passion.  Don't half-ass something generically cool, guys, whole-ass something you really really care about.

2.  Audacity

     If you're looking for a cheap high-quality in-compute recording studio, look no further than audacity (downloadable here).  Audacity is free to download and use, it allows you to record, mix, match, sync, add effects, and even synthesize some simple tones.  With an easy-to-find guide or a little experimenting, you can do all kinds of cool stuff with your audio, and it's really easy to add music or sound effects off other aud. tracks or MP3s.  Plus, provided you have the right installments, you can easily export your work as MP3 tracks as well.

      Basically, if recording studios were stores, Audacity would be Walmart.

3.  Recording Device

     Also extremely important; the podcast just doesn't happen if there's no way to get your audio onto the internet.  You can record with a simple mic plug-in, your iPhone, probably (I don't own one, so I've just taken to assuming that smart phones can do everything), a mic headset, etc, but if you're looking to do this right, and for the long-term, I recommend investing in a nice standing mic and a pop filter.

     I use a Snowball myself, and I'm super happy with it; it was much cheaper than most recording devices of like quality, and it fits my needs perfectly, with a range of hearing that allows you to record at a distance, without having to worry about picking up your next-door neighbor shuffling across their floor.

  4.  Soundcloud

     There are other podcasting stations you can use for free, of course, but I think soundcloud is an easy place to start--it's free to sign up, simple to use, simple to stream, simple to download.  Definitely look into other online venues too, but Soundcloud is always a safe place to start.

5.  Logo

     A logo is important--whether it's a photo with writing on it, a drawing you made yourself, something you commissioned from an artist friend, a stock photo or a collection of clipart, your logo is the first way that people will judge your podcast.  Make sure it fits the tone and theme of your work, and has something to do with what your podcast is going to be about.

     Maybe don't use a picture of the sky if it's about dogs, for example.


     Have all that together?  Have a script ready, if it's scripted, or friends together if it's a talk show, etc, etc?  Then you're ready to leap into the wonderful world of podcasting!

     Go, my friends!  Go forth and create.

Things I Learned Making My First Two Podcasts

1.  Websites are dicks

     Before I put up my podcast I tried to make a website, and I bought a one dollar domain from GoDaddy, because I'm a broke idiot with stars in my eyes who didn't realize that you had to pay extra money to attach that domain to a website, and since I have no steady income right now I basically can't use my own domain.  Lesson learned.

2.  No one cares

     As with any project placed into the public realm, it's an uphill battle to get anyone besides yourself to care.  My first podcast sat for an entire month before anyone deigned to listen to it once, and I didn't honestly expect much different--my writing persona is relatively new and no one is going to be as interested in your work as you are, at least not for a long time.  Sometimes you're an overnight hit, but much much more often, it'll take a lot of work to get yourself off the ground.
     (But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.  You just have to push harder.)

3.  You'll put in more hours than you'll get out

     I knew this going into it, of course, but I didn't realize quite how much time would go into it.  I figured I might have to spend two hours on a half hour episode, and I was wrong; between writing and rewriting the script, rehearsing and recording it, and editing it all together, I'm fairly certain I put somewhere between seven and fifteen hours into that first episode.  The second episode took me nearly ten hours, and it was only seven minutes long!
     The time you put into it will increase the quality, of course--if I didn't want to put in the time, I wouldn't have started the podcast in the first place.

4.  There's no need to be afraid to show your kith and kin

     In general, I feel better about sharing things I care about with strangers than with people I know.  Part of this is because, yes, I know, consciously, that we are allowed to ask for attention, but I grew up in a society (and environment) where it was frowned upon, and it's a lesson I've internalized very deeply, so I try not to talk too much about what I'm working on except in passing.
     Another part is that disapproval from people you care about hurts more than it does from strangers.  And, the biggest deterrent for me, I grew up in a small mostly-white farm town in upstate New York, which means I know a lot of conservatives, which, if you've spent a lot of time on my blog (or any time on my twitter), you know I'm not.  By a long shot.  To that end, I write a lot of not-conservative things, with a lot of liberal themes and characters.
     My mother's family is also extremely religious, so they frown on things like cursing, which I do often, both as a matter of neurology and as a conscious mood/character choice.  To that end, I'm often reluctant to share anything I write with them.
     But in order to show the podcast to one of my friends who wanted to listen to it (and who co-starred in the most recent episode), I had to post it on facebook, where all of those fears were just waiting to come screaming up to devour me!  ... and didn't.  Actually, I got a pretty positive response from my friends, both the ones I've made out here and the ones I left back home.  It's really nice to know that my efforts are appreciated, and no one's said anything negative at all.  Just goes to show that sometimes people can surprise you for the better!

5.  My voice is higher than I thought

     This makes sense, since I'm hearing my own voice as it sounds echoing inside my skull, but it's still jarring, and since my MC is supposed to have a deeper, more gruff voice, I have to keep that in mind whenever I record.  It helps to listen to do a test recording or listen to each take once its finished to remind myself that I need to go higher/lower.
     Basically, as a general tip when listening to yourself in recording, be prepared for your voice to sound different from the way it usually is.

6.  Screwing around with Audacity is sometimes the best way to get stuff done

     Honestly, sometimes tutorials won't give you what you need.  I found a number of tutorials for creating a robot voice effect when I went looking for it, and none of it worked--they all sounded like robots, to be sure, but they weren't clear enough, and I wanted the character to be well-understood, and also to retain some of the flavor of her voice--not too robotic, in other words, just robotic enough.  So I had to mess around with things until I did, and it turned out great!
     Never be afraid to mess with your equipment--just make sure you save the pre-editted version, just in case.

And that's some of the stuff I've learned podcasting so far!  It's an adventure.