I've been spending my extra time by slowly replacing old crappy audio - recorded with a mic I repaired and then convinced myself was 'warm sounding' because I was so happy it worked - on my oldest episodes. Some parts, where I have scripted the narrative, are fairly easy and straightforward to work with. Others, where I have adlibbed stuff (combat mostly) is a painstaking process of listen, repeat, replace. I am trying to alter very little because my only goal is to improve audio quality. I have trimmed a couple of cringe-worthy bits along the way though.
Speaking of cringe... why didn't anyone tell me I sound like McLovin in eps 0-4? Ugh.
Doing this work, I have come to appreciate a couple of things. The first is that podcasts which are fully adlibbed/improvised (as are most) would be impossible to 'repair' in this way. I'm grateful that I even have the option to tidy up the lobby, so to speak. The second is that I had lost sight of just how... basic (forgive the pun) my podcast was when I started out. The first few eps are just so plain. I had forgotten: when I started out I had no idea what I was doing, story-wise. It's equal parts: fascinating, humiliating, endearing... I dunno. My point is only that TOTM has come a long way in a year (it was exactly one year ago that I started work on the show even though I didn't publish until April). It's a bit like looking at old pictures of yourself from high school and going: oh dear.... but still.... OK.
I binged all your episodes one weekend afternoon last month and didn't notice any issues and was thoroughly entertained for each one. Thank you for making these and keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying, KingBrackish - it's that same thing that happens when you look in the mirror and your little flaws are exaggerated. Keeping this in mind as I worked, I limited myself to audio cleanup only and left many 'ugly bits' alone, resisting that urge to scrub everything. Most of all, thank you for listening!
ReplyDeleteI discovered your blog today and listened to the first episode... instantly hooked. Great stuff, you got yourself a new follower!
ReplyDeleteHey XmoonXhowlerx! Thanks very much for the listen! Your comment makes me feel it was definitely worth it to go back and fix the audio. I'm slowly working through the first few episodes to replace the voicing. Episode 2 is back on the workbench right now.
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