I’ve always been a fan of podcasts. I check out This American Life, The Moth, and others. I’ve enjoyed The Tonebenders and the Beards, Cats and Indie Game Audio pro sound podcasts, too. A few times I’ve appeared on the Tonebenders as well as the A Sound Effect podcast as well. Just the same, I had never really thought about creating a podcast of my own.
Until recently…
I sometimes write sound-related articles for other websites. During one of these assignments last month, I began writing a series about podcasting. As I wrote the posts, the idea began to intrigue me. So, on a whim, I asked people on Twitter and Facebook what they thought about a Creative Field Recording podcast:
Hey folks, I was thinking about making a Creative Field Recording podcast. Nothing fancy, just a reading of each blog post for those who prefer listening instead of reading. Any interest in this?
— Paul Virostek (@paulvirostek) June 10, 2019
I was quite surprised by the response. Thank you everyone for your vote of confidence.
Keeping it Simple
The idea got me charged up. Also, a lot of people were quite interested in a podcast. After I thought about it, it made sense. The articles sometimes are deep and can be long. Not everyone has free time to read them while they’re busy at work. For some, listening to an audio version is easier while at the gym, driving, and so on.
Now, I’m still learning dialogue editing and mixing as well as public speaking. I’ve never produced a podcast before. I was excited to learn more about these things, improve my skills, and share blog posts in a new way.
All the same, I knew that if I got tangled up with the finest details and most minute tweaks I’d never be able to produce episodes regularly with the crazy schedule I currently have. The only way I could get something like this done was to keep it simple and get episodes out there with few frills. My goal was to record and get an episode on the Web in 2 hours.
Guided by that scope, I was up for the challenge.
The Creative Field Recording Podcast
For now, the podcast will be readings of selected articles on the blog.
It’s recorded simply to a DPA 4060 microphone a MixPre-6 recorder. I cut out the mouth clicks and the more obnoxious breaths in Pro Tools, then laid in a compressor, de-esser, and mouth de-clicker, and called it a day. I hired a composer to bang out an intro tune to emphasize the more contemplative feel I was going for.
It was pretty exciting to make the first podcast and get it up on the Web. Here it is:
If you like, you can download a full-resolution version of the podcast from the player above, or from the SoundCloud page.
You can follow the podcast on Soundcloud here. I’ll also mention here on the blog, Twitter, and Facebook when new episodes arrive.
Your Feedback
Let me know what you think. I’d like to give a bit more attention to plosives and more consistent dialogue tone. I could probably tweak the de-clickers a bit more. It’s always a risk to read off a page, so I’d like to ensure performances aren’t wooden or flat. For now though, getting something out at all was the goal.
In the long term, I’d also like to feature other field recordists and their work on the podcast. I have some ideas for some weekly features, too. We will see.
Let me know what you think! Any criticism, comments, or suggestions are always welcomed.
And thank you for listening.
Paul Virostek
Creative Field Recording
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