Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Return of the Curse! Halloween Edition

The curse lives on. I recorded this special Halloween edition of the show a week ago. It involved the very first interview on the show, my old friend James McKenney, the scary movie maker. Since that night, my spare evenings have been filled with conversion software, screaming, and frustration, which is, I suppose, perfect for the halloween version...

So, in the end, after all kinds of software and 2 different computers and all kinds of codecs, we finally got a 1/2 decent...okay 1/4 decent WAV copy that would play only on actual cd players, not computers. And ladies an gentlemen, after being shoved through thousands of dollars worth of equipment, this doncast was finally made possible by taking my headset mike and snapping it with a rubber band onto the left earphone of a cd walkman.

{The sound file itself has still been reallllly finicky, so I haven't messed with it more than absolutely neccessary. There is no music and not as much compression, etc., so be be careful turning it up to high, especially with headphones.}

The result is less than fabulous, as you'll see...or hear, or whatever. Bad recording, bad copy...just bad all around. Expect drop outs, spikes, all sorts of audio nonsense. If I can, in the future, find a better copy, I'll put it up.

Worst of all, I am barely getting it out before the trick-or-treaters appear on the block. Strike that. These days, as I write this, at 4:15 pm, the trick-or-treating to all the pre-approved houses on the neighborhood watch list is usually half done. God forbid kids get caught trying to walk around the block in costumes after, say, early dusk...

A sad state of affairs. We used to run wild...

So here are some links we discuss and my apologies to both you listeners and the little kids of today:
Hot as Love
Monsterpants.net
Larry Fessenden

ps: there is also the chance this is all a problem with my soundcard. Drop me a line at don@donwoodonline.com if the whole thing works great for you...

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:29 PM EST

    Partying while podcasting...refreshing!

    It's mindboggling how softspoken JFM is, especially knowing his penchant for gore!

    Feng Shui? I'm also glad you didn't get the job!

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  2. It turns out this may all have been due to my soundcard crapping out, and that the original file may be good after all. I have changed the source file to an "original" on JFM's server, so ou might want to reload it if you had problems originally.

    Again, it has not been compressed or edited, so careful with the volume please...

    I have a new, fancy soundcard on the way, but until than I won't know what's up, so post here if you can/can't hear it. Thanks,
    Don

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  3. The curse is an understatement! The podcast was enjoyable, but difficult to listen to, and I mean DIF...E...CULT! The volume would go up and down like a rollercoaster. Funny thing-I like rollercoasters but not this one. Better luck next podcast. Maybe one more beer would have helped?!lol

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  4. Anonymous11:57 PM EST

    I agree, it was pretty unlistenable this time. But the sound of cracking open another beer was clear as a bell!

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