Modern Life - Comments on 'Modern Life: The Podcast?'

Imar wrote:

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:26:04 +0100

Oh, and Des is right, tell a little about yourself, that's always more entertaining.

Imar wrote:

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:23:14 +0100

Hi Stuart. Podcasting could be a good idea. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I just don't know how rewarding it would be for you - what would you get out of it other than satisfaction, maybe? Anyway, as a suggestion for podcast content I think you should stick to your recipe of explaining technical things in a simple way - like you do in your blog. For example: Interpreting stats, Copyright laws - how do they affect blogging? Are internet laws global or country-specific? Tips on hosting. How to use tools like Feedburner. Ethics. Stuff like that...

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Matt Newboult wrote:

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:51:36 +0100

What subject areas would you like to cover? I think a good UK vodcast (to pinch a phrase from Mark Kermode's film review podcast) is much needed. I'd be interested to know what you'd like to tackle? Prepared to lend a hand doing a techy 'how-to' or two. Have iMovie, Garageband and a Samson USB Condenser mic at the ready.

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Stuart Brown wrote:

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:58:51 +0100

@Matt - I had a rough idea for the podcast first, with a general notion of topic & sensibility - bear with me while I work out the details!

I'm thinking a presentational style may work - I'll perhaps sync audio to video / graphics - less of a podcast/radio style production, and more of a presentation. I'll experiment, see what works :-)

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Matt Newboult wrote:

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:46:39 +0100

.net magazine do a good podcast, also hosted by Paul Boag (he gets around). It's part monologue, part round-table discussion. I think it works well with the people they get involved in the discussion. Personally I find podcast monologues rather dull unless the presenter is very, very good. This is especially true of web dev podcasts, where the material is better dealt with through discussion anyway.

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Matt Newboult wrote:

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:13:22 +0100

Shouldn't you get the idea for the podcast first and then think about the microphone? P.S. How do you get a picture when posting comments?

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Stuart wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:25:13 +0100

I also listen to the Boagworld.com podcast. The dialogue between the two presenters (Paul and Marcus) makes that one good to listen to.

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Stuart Brown wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:13:44 +0100

@Barry - Have no fears, I'm a closet audiophile with a penchant for the odd spot of production (although I'm out of practice...), so I should be OK on the production front.

@Arjun - I'd love to take a round-table style approach, but the logistics of it mean it might be on the difficult side. I'm working on some ideas, so I'll see what can be done.

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Barry Bloye wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:44:12 +0100

Compression, compression, compression!

Dunno how versed you are in recording technique, but it's vital to get good levels in your audio. Do a soundcheck and set the initial input level as high as you can without it clipping, and then turn it down another notch to leave some extra headroom -- you'll inevitably get louder as you get more in to the discussion!

After you've finished recording, use a compressor plug-in to smooth out the peaks in your recording, and this will in turn let you raise the overall level.

I've found quite a few podcasts unlistenable because they've been quiet recordings punctuated with sudden peaks, which some liberal compression could have fixed -- doesn't make for comfortable iPod listening on the bus.

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Arjun Muralidharan wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:18:56 +0100

I think if you're going to do a podcast, make it a round-table. You already have your blog, which is your own, research-filled, entertaining round-up we all love.

A podcast would be a great place for discussion, as we can quickly change speakers and interact much more.

Think not?

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Andras wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:05:46 +0100

Would be great to hear Your opinion about whether you can make a living blogging without advertising? :)

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Des Traynor wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:54:20 +0100

As someone who has been reading this site from the start, I'd like to know where you came from :)
As in how did you get started in this area, what made you start MLIR, what was your first big hit, all that stuff.

But even if its a show about gerbils I'd say it'd still be interesting

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heri wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:30:16 +0100

I listen to the boagworld podcast. As they say it's a "podcast for people involved in web design and web development". great show. it's a duo and the topics are quite diversified. I learn a lot too. so you might get some inspiration from there.

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Stuart Brown wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:01:13 +0100

The 'howto' aspect intrigues me - I might do some screencasts in the near future. Still undecided on the topic, though!

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Adam Griffiths wrote:

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:49:59 +0100

It seems like a good idea. A podcast isn't really 30 minutes of talking about one subject, its loads of little points etc arranged into one file. This would be a good idea if the podcasts were regular. The idea of interviews would be excellent so long as the subject is based around the web. Maybe even a "howto" or a chat about maintaining a website would be good ideas. Overall, a podcats on ModernLife would be interesting to say the least.

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