The Ready Room Mircocast

Rico · February 07, 2008, 10:40:50 AM

I've played around with different background sounds, music and so forth on the podcast. You really need to be careful with it. I eventually decided it's just a lot more trouble than it's worth - at least for me. One suggestion I do have though for the Microcast. I would suggest trying to balance the voice soundtrack first before adding any background music. What I mean is normalize it. Garage Band should have a function to pass over the track and average the voices out so they sound closer in level. Then I would amplify the whole voice track a little before adding any background sound. Just some suggestions. Completely up to you guys on what you decide to do.

billybob476 · February 07, 2008, 10:46:08 AM

What if, instead of using music throughout, you just used some clips as bumpers between topics?

Jen · February 07, 2008, 11:23:45 AM

Sometimes I tune out when there's nothing to peak my ears. I've found that bed music keeps the conversation lively. I think using the slide sound effect works well between segments, but I turned it down too much. I stayed up until 1 am three nights in a row working on it and I over looked some things that I wouldn't ordinarily do because I was tired.

I have set the track volume on the music tracks to lower itself when we speak. The problem is that some parts of the First Contact theme are much louder than others. If I turn it down manually, you can't hear the softer part. So, by simply using music that remains consistently quiet, I can keep it from overpowering our voices.

The other factor is that our mics are different. Kenny's is quieter than mine. We're working on fixing that. It's easier to to turn down a voice than turn it up that can distort it.

KingIsaacLinksr · February 07, 2008, 11:24:54 AM

I personally prefer the way that Jen and Kenny have the music going. If they used it as a bumper...its....too much used in podcasts. Although its always successful, I prefer the way they have it. However, you do need to figure out a way to prevent the music becoming too loud.

Great Microcast.

King

billybob476 · February 07, 2008, 11:32:03 AM

I like it too, just offering alternatives. I haven't done much audio work in my life but from what I understand it does take awhile to dial everything in properly!

Geekyfanboy · February 07, 2008, 11:35:32 AM

Thanks guys for your feedback.. we are still tweaking the show.. it's only our second one. We soon have a standard of how to do things.. may take us a few more shows to get it all right.

Keep the suggestions coming.

Geekyfanboy · February 07, 2008, 11:42:01 AM

Hey guys.. Jen posted this a few weeks ago

"We would like to add a Trek monologue to the beginning of the microcast. Something that sounds Trekish without borrowing from the all to familiar: "Space... The final frontier. These are the voyages..." If our fellow RPG writers have the itch to write one please PM Kenny and I with your submission. We'll pick our favorite and announce the winner on the podcast."

Anybody have any suggestions???

KingIsaacLinksr · February 07, 2008, 11:48:05 AM

Hmm....I'd make one, but I'm not sure if my voice would sound right....

But I could think up the dialouge for it.

King

Geekyfanboy · February 07, 2008, 11:53:15 AM

Yeah you don't have to record it.. just write something up... that would be great.

KingIsaacLinksr · February 07, 2008, 12:04:10 PM

Hmm, something that doesn't use "Space the final frontier" but sounds trekish.....

This will take a while.

King

X · February 07, 2008, 01:11:21 PM

Knowledge, the life's blood of the Federation. These are the voyages of the Starship Tiberius. Our mission: To explore uncharted space, to serve as ambassadors to new lifeforms and new civilations, to unlock the secrets of the universe around us.

That's very rough and based on an exploration/scientific mission profile.

I'm not sure I like it, but I'll try to clean it up anyway.

Geekyfanboy · February 07, 2008, 03:19:24 PM

Nice job X... that is a good start and workable.

Geekyfanboy · February 12, 2008, 03:47:18 PM

Hey All... let me know what you think of #3. I wanted to give Jen a break so I edited this one and had so much fun.. I'm still working on my audio, something is up with my computer and mic. I boosted my voice where I could but when everyone was talking I could not. Anyways let me know what works and what didn't work for the editing... as usual the content of great..

I'm having a great time doing these Jen.

Bryancd · February 12, 2008, 04:06:10 PM

I think you guys are doing an awesome job, Kenny!

wraith1701 · February 12, 2008, 06:19:04 PM

What Bryan said.

It's hard to believe that this is only the third podcast; the format and production value rival a lot of other podcasts cluttering up the internet. Once again; great job, guys!
:) :thumbsup