As part of a grad-school assignment, I’ve become embroiled with the world of podcasting. I spent Saturday morning shut in our mudroom, surrounded by Tom’s piles of junk (old clothes, grass-smeared sneakers and more shopping bags than any one family needs). I sat on a step I’d covered with a torn t-shirt while my laptop rested on top of a large plastic bin full of dog food. In other words, my first studio.
Our two cats were fascinated. They spent most of my recording session scratching at the closed door. Other than that, it worked out pretty well.
Play to your strengths. Advice for life and writing. My school friend J. M. McDermott kindly offered his story “Death’s Shed” for my first audio attempt. Other than that, I was on my own.
I love figuring things out. Yes, I’m one of those self-starter types, and, with the internet, there is always plenty of instruction available on whatever I’m trying to learn. Last summer, my daughter and I watched a series of eHow videos on knot tying, then she climbed the maple tree in our front yard. I held the laptop over my head with the video on replay while she attached her first rope swing. A moment made of “awesome sauce.” My first podcasting attempt had much the same flavor.
The recording of Joe’s story came out well, I think. (I’m hoping to have more on that topic in the near future.) The hardest part was figuring out the editing. I got the job done, but that’s about all I can say. It felt like I was trying to alter a digital image by adjusting the color one pixel at a time. Inelegant and rather ineffective. However, I stuck it out until the end.
Now with that first recording under my belt, I’ve decided to go ahead and purchase a real mic. I just ordered Blue Microphone’s Snowball mic along with a pop filter. Yep, I can see it already. I’m going to spend at least an hour figuring out how to attach the filter and playing with the various sound modes before I actually get any real content recorded.
Next on my list, figuring out how to record a phone interview.