Metapost: Request for info
Hey, kids, stupid real work is going to push back any new comics until late this evening, but I do have a question for all the smart people I know read this blog. What do you all know about podcasting? I’m specifically interested in finding out more about (a) equipment you use, particularly gadgets for recording phone conversations and (b) companies that help do advertising sales on podcasts. Feel free to email me at bio@jfruh.com with information, or just put it in the comments if you’re so inclined.
Oh, and also: Coming soon, the Comics Curmudgeon podcast! Assuming I can figure out how to record phone interviews and sell advertising on it.
Dingo
May 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Real work? What’s real work?
Vakar
May 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Pod… cast?
Perky Bird
May 15th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Well, Josh, a Plugger’s Podcast involves two or more people having a discussion while shelling peas on their front porch. But I wouldn’t advise that approach for you.
Shermy Glamrocker
May 15th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
“Pod: The Musical” has a cast of thousands.
Vyola
May 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Aw, man! Another “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” remake?
150
May 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I don’t know anything about Podcast, and am therefore completely off-topic, but you should come to Pittsburgh for this.
Dick Tracy Broke into My Oddball Sanctuary
May 15th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
3. Perky Bird – I salute you.
Al of the Christian Single Jungle Patrol
May 15th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
On a semi-serious note (semi, only because I laugh at how ghetto my setup is)…
http://gracecomm.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=50
My church records each week’s service and Sunday School to CD. The CDR is tapped directly into the voice compressor on our audio system; we actually have a good setup but the recordings are not a good indicator of that.
Some lucky sucker (usually me) runs the CD through AudioGrabber to convert the CD to one or more MP3 files at mono voice quality (any better, and it takes too long for the file to buffer on the client end, especially at the dial-up speeds where most of our listeners are). At the settings we use, we can convert 79:59 of CD audio to a 4KB MP3 in 5 minutes.
I ftp the file(s) to the church web site. Our provider has given us 1TB storage, http, mail, DNS, and (most important for this) mp3 streaming. It is generic so that users with QuickTime and WindowsMediaPlayer don’t have to download new clients or codecs (again, to save me the hassle of visiting everybody and upgrading computers).
The challenges I have now are (1) converting the tapes from before 2003 (when we switched to CD), and (2) improving the volume on some of the mp3s (probably will have to run them through AudioGrabber again with normalization turned on, but that increases the conversion time dramatically).
Amber
May 15th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I just want to say that a comics curmudgeon podcast is going to be much more entertaining than an entire filing cabinet of “dope.”
Also, I know that my brother used talkshoe.com for his podcast and it seemed to work well. That’s about the extent of my knowledge on the subject. Good luck! Can’t wait to listen.
Krazy Kat
May 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
And while you’re at it think of something for me to invent.
Cyhip
May 15th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I don’t know much about podcasting, but here’s a link that looks helpful: http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/
Greenbean
May 15th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I am one of the original pod people from the fifties. oooooooooo eeeeeeeeee ooooowwwwwwwww.
Fear me.
We’re here already! You’re next! You’re next, You’re next…!
Anon
May 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Here’s a starting package : microphone and audio recording SW. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C01USBPak/
Joe
May 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
You can use Skype (plus a headset w/ a microphone) to make phone calls on your computer and, depending on your OS, either WireTap Studio or TotalRecorder to grab the audio.
Looking forward to the podcast!
fluffy
May 15th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I don’t podcast but I record music and vocals and such, so much of the gear will be similar, although scaled-back. If you want really good-quality recordings you should probably get a decent recording interface and microphone. Musician’s Friend has plenty of both. My current favorite microphone is the MXL V63m, although as a condenser mic it requires a phantom power source and an XLR cable. There are also condenser mics which take a battery, and you can also probably find a decent dynamic mic for not too much money.
If you just want an all-in-one solution, the Blue Snowball is a very nice condenser mic, preamp, and recording interface in a single USB-connectible sphere. You can get one for around $100.
Software-wise, it depends on what platform you’re on. On Windows I’d say Audacity is pretty good for basic recording and editing (and is free). On Mac, GarageBand is even better (and comes with newer systems, or is part of iLife) and even has some podcast-specific functionality which makes the whole recording/background music/post-processing/mastering workflow very easy.
Ukulele Ike
May 15th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Josh –
I have an Ivy degree in comparative literature, studied with Derrida and Eco and Bloom and J. Hillis Miller and De Man-Before-They-Found-Out-He-Was-a-Nazi. You wanna chat about Yeats’s Gyres and Wordsworth’s Daffodils and Deconstruction and stuff, I’m your man!
Dunno nothin about castin no pods, tho.
C. Havoc
May 15th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Had an ipod for years…
NEVER subscribed to a Podcast…
Until now.
Tim
May 15th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
The few podcasts I listen to are all at talkshoe.com. It might be worth checking out, I’ve never hosted one, but I believe they record all the shows for you, allow live podcasts, and provide a number for people to call into.
VonRoach
May 15th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
No, no no no no no PLEASE NO PODCAST!!!
You can’t listen to a podcast while at work
You can skim a podcast for your favorite snarky comments
You can’t speed through a podcast to get to the good parts.
And the worst?
You probably don’t sound like Mark Trail!
You probably sound like Tommy the Tweaker!!!
nononononoNONONONONO!
Von (so sad to be me) Roach
teegee
May 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
particularly gadgets for recording phone conversations
Getting that is as simple as submitting a Freedom Of Information Act request. It may take a year or too, but the government has recordings of all of your phone calls.
Is the podcast going to made up of you describing the comic strip, then making comments? “ok, ok, picture this … in panel 1, the pitcher looks like he’s throwing behind the batter, who’s apparently facing away from the plate …”
teegee
May 15th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
“too”? D’OH. sweet jeebus. It’s two early to be this wasted.
Dingo
May 15th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
First, you get the t-shirts.
Then, you get a Baltimore stage show.
Next comes the sycophants and the anti- crowds.
Then, you become a summer replacement series.
Afterward, you’re picked up for the next season.
Then, there’s the stadium show where Mrs. Josh is replaced with a younger, blonder-maned version.
Suddenly, there’s cocaine, lesbians, European chocolates, and a shady manager named Clef.
Soon, you’re Lynn Johnston making rabbits out of your vaginal walls for spare change on the subway.
No podcast, Josh. NO!
Death to the FOOBS!
May 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Completely OT, as this seems a kind of freewheelin’ discussion, I was unable to resist the awful urge to “Explore More” on the Official FOOB site; in addition to excruciating brain-damaged detailed character studies of obscure Foobiverse extras, there was a blurb about Grandpa Chin Nuts folk combo “the New Bentwood Rockers – a band Jim put together when he lived in Vancouver. Two of the original five members are still living, and they all keep in touch with one another.”
So most of them are dead and they all still keep in touch, eh? Is that part of Verizon’s Long Distance Package?
bats :[
May 15th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
24. I think it’s the “My Circle” program offered by Alltel Wireless. For all the commercials the company hammers at us, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that places a restriction on one’s inner circle members having to be among the living.
Condolences on “Exploring More,” BTW.
Oh, and on the Sally Forth yesterthread (that is what is known as a “smooth segue”): Dang you, Josh! Dang you all to heck! Invoking the Snark Side of the Force and making me give into it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/2495314440/sizes/o/
PeterW
May 15th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Phone calls: it’s best to use Skype, with a headset turned down as low as you can muster. You probably know you’ll need to buy a SkypeIn number and Skype minutes for calls outside Skype.
Can’t help you on ad brokering.
Lolsworth
May 15th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
The equipment I use is a crappy desktop microphone which records my voice ok, and Adobe Audition to save the recordings to MP3s. The host I use is Podbean. It’s really, really easy.
Sorako-chan
May 15th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
No idea how you record phone calls. If you just wanted to do it solo, all you need is a computer with Quicktime, I think.
Good luck with the podcast! I hope it’s as funny as the blog. Well, when I say “I,” I mean “We, the commentators,” and when I say “hope,” I mean
“think you know it better be, or we’ll eat your skin and feed your bones to a group of rabid Pluggers beasts.“can’t wait to see if it’s.” :DSorako-chan
May 15th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Oh, we both know I don’t mean that.
Dick Tracy Broke into My Oddball Sanctuary
May 15th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
19 – Bollocks. Josh had a lovely voice. Perhaps not Mark Trail-esque, but manly enough, dammit.
Josh, though, seriously. I’ve had an iPod for years as well and have never listened to a pod cast. I’m even supposed to start my OWN for my site, and I don’t WANNA.
Podcasts are like RSS for me. Interesting feature of teh interwebz that I just can’t get into.
GarrisonSkunk
May 15th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I realize Ziggy isn’t exactly the most logical strip around, but usually one can make some bit of sense out of the situation. Can someone please explain why Ziggy’s toliet A) Is talking to him and B) Is saying “You’ve got e-mail”? Is there a pun here I’m missing or something? Or is this just random wackyness? I showed the comic to my co-workers and the best they could come up with was that it was somekind of obscure spam reference/joke.
http://www.gocomics.com/ziggy/2008/05/12/
ralph
May 15th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I know this isn’t about podcasts, but FOOB today and yesterday really was aggravating. Thank you.
LITTLE A. OF THE GRAND CONCOURSE JUNGLE PATROL
May 15th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Nancy: No one knows Nancy’s last name. Or cares to tell me if they do.
Well….
CURTIS: Why doesn’t Gunk invite Curtis to Flyspeck Island for a few weeks during the summer? It will broaden his horizons. Or something.
Zac
May 15th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I’ll third the talk about talkshoe.com . You can have live podcasts if you so wish, and it has built in ways to dial in to the conversation via VoIP. It doesn’t have the advertisement capabilities you’re looking for, but talkshoe itself pays you based on the number of podcast downloads you have.
Mountain Mama
May 15th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Josh, darling, if you want to podcast, podcast all you want. Just as long as this site NEVER GOES AWAY, EVER. Thank you.
Ahem.
I interrupt the tech talk/snark to announce that I’m hopelessly behind, but still around and reading, until now.
I’m leaving for a few days to West (by God) Virginia. I’ll be back in a week and look forward to hopefully, maybe, finally catching up and seeing a plot resolution.
Comics? Oh, yeah, um…..
I hated today’s FOOB muchly. Of course she wouldn’t go with him. Please.
Grrrrr……STB!!
Diamond Joe
May 15th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
#30 GarrisonSkunk:
Many Mudgeons puzzled over it the other day.
I think the point of it is that with increasing computerization and gathering together of disparate functions (e.g., a telephone that’s also an MP3 player, GPS locator, and Internet browser), a toilet that checks your e-mail is only a matter of time.
Of course, this panel was done by people so out of the technology loop that they think eHarmony is an actual place you have to physically go to, so, really, all bets about what they thought they meant with the toilet are off.
Gold-Digging Nanny
May 15th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
31 ralph — And the day before that, too.
I know the point has been made time and time again that this is just about trotting out Liz’s old suitors so she can reject them again, but has anyone used the word “emasculating” yet?
Gold-Digging Nanny
May 15th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
And Josh, I listened to your interview with those morning show guys, and I think you’ve got a great voice. If you want to do a podcast, go for it. Hopefully it won’t cut into your writing time…?
kippetje2000
May 15th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Josh, I think you could be bigger than Ricky Gervais.
Bats: sometimes the snarker becomes the snarked…
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/03/28/darth-vader-attacks-welsh-jedi
as
May 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
http://www.podcast411.com/mixer.pdf
PeterW
May 15th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I’ve never owned an mp3 player, but I’ve been listening to podcasts for months now. They’re extra incentive to get one, but I can’t afford it.
Dean Booth of the Affect Ad Patrol
May 15th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Here’s a site that will draw a comic of your dream. Pretty cool. (Sorry if this has been commented on about already.)
keri
May 15th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
No matter what, if you do a podcast PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE provide a transcript! It drives me batty that some people do podcasts or video blogging but don’t provide transcripts for those of us who can’t listen, for whatever reason (deaf, inability to understand spoken language, no speakers…)
There’s this video game reviewer that a lot of my friends love, but I’ve never been able to find out why because there’s no transcript I’ve been able to find. And it sucks.
Lady Esmerelda
May 15th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I know that audible.com and godaddy.com sponsor podcasts that I currently listen to. And Skype is also a great way to record phone conversations, since you’re having them over the internet. I also think Audacity is a good opensource software editing program that podcasts use for…editing purposes^_^
Anyway, that’s all I know about podcasting!
A CC podcast sounds like an awesome idea!
Justafoob
May 15th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Sure Josh, go ahead and start podcasting.
Next thing you know, you will snarking for some big oil company overseas and we will be left here married to Granthony.
Thanks a lot.
Ben
May 15th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Al of the Christian Single Jungle Patrol, you may want to take a look at MP3DirectCut, it does some basic editing on mp3’s without decompressing and recompressing them… so it can change the volume of an mp3 basically instantly, after the fact. “Non-destructive cut, copy, paste, volume change, fade, normalize, pause detection… etc” link here:
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html
I’ve used it lots, and it seems perfect for your project.
True Fable
May 15th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I have no idea about podcasts. Don’t know the pros or cons of it or NUTHIN’. I know goats, though. Ask me about goats, Josh. I’ll tell you a thing about goats.
Just as long as the snark goes on, you do whatever you feel moved to do!
Anna Nimity of the Podcasting Jungle Patrol
May 15th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Podcasting — doesn’t that have to do with knitting? Anna is confused.
Mr. O'Malley
May 16th, 2008 at 12:33 am
My suggestion is that you not record directly in MP3. I’m assuming you’re planning to edit. You should record in an uncompressed format, do your editing and then output to MP3 as the last step.
There are a whole lot of free audio editors around, most of which work pretty well assuming you only want to do simple editing. I’ve used Audacity and it works pretty well. (I mostly use it for digitizing my LPs.)
Some people don’t bother to edit, as with the church example above. Quite a few universities provide lectures as podcasts, and I believe these are set up to be generated automatically.
PeterW
May 16th, 2008 at 1:18 am
When I record stuff (and have access to a computer mic), I record to Audacity, edit out the more distracting vocal stumbles, then export to mp3 (finally downloaded the codec after 8 months).
When I don’t have a computer mic, I talk to my DV camera and split off the audio (MediaCoder, free). It’s messy, and I don’t like to do it, but now that I think of it, it’s been recommended for video dubs.
man behind the curtain
May 16th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Don’t know anything about podcasts but for a long time now I’ve thought this would make a great radio call-in show.
Calico
May 16th, 2008 at 8:24 am
#46 – Could we also have a Goatcast from Roopville?
I know how to use Skype, and listen to FLAC files preferably, but that’s about it. No Pod experience here, except in the garden.
Good luck with this Josh! : )
Calico
May 16th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Plus, FTP is a cinch. You’ll do fine.
will
May 16th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Look at Podtrac for the ads. That’s the biggest advertising outfit, as far as I know. It’s what Leo Laporte uses for the TWiT podcasts.
And yes, skype is the way to go for interviews.
Kevin Moore
May 16th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Since you are using Wordpress, there is a plug-in that might help you:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/podpress/
Kevin Moore
May 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Oh, and: Don’t forget to browse the tags, there is a lot of good stuff there, too.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tags/podcast
Fnarf
May 17th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Just in case you care, the only podcasts I’ve ever been remotely interested in were transcribed. Into text. The human brain can absorb far more information in far less time when it’s printed words than it can listening to spoken word.
CHA5NCE
May 17th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Hi Josh. When I started podcasting, I didn’t know where to start. So I picked up “Podcasting for Dummies.” Really. I read it cover-to-cover and it pretty much got me started and answered all my questions. I highly recommend it. Or you can always ask me any questions you might have. I’m on a Mac, so that took me on a slightly different route in terms of hardware and software. But now recording phone calls, editing audio and posting podcasts are a breeze. Good luck!