**TNE Podcast Discussion**

Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
We're back, and bigger than ever!

This is the thread for all things podcast. A place to discuss the content, format, and future of the the show.

The first episode has aired, it can be "viewed" here: https://soundcloud.com/cubits1/the-nintendo-enthusiast-17-2

Future episodes are planned to be done every two weeks. It shouldn't be a problem to keep it too regular, i feel like i could knock one out every day! I've used soundcloud as the host, but only because i couldn't find one which allowed to skip to timestamps ala YouTube. If you find a solution, let me know!

Here's some stuff we discussed for the future of the show:
  • We will DEFINITELY be rotating the participants. We have many incredibly knowledgable people in this community, and it would be stupid to not leverage that!
  • Though the show might be recorded every two weeks, it would still leave room for the occassional "mini-cast" on a single, larger topic. Perfect opportunity to get one of our genre "experts" in to discuss things in depth!A musical introduction is on the cards. Runninginjam told me of one he did up a while ago, but i really didn't have enough time to splice it into the show. Also, we forgot to do the introduction at the start.... The next show will have some music!The format will be fiddled with a lot. We're just learning, and although i am getting better at flowing a conversation, there's still some way to go.
Youtube links (view on YT for clickable timestamps!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDOHfJMkLKc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uksQGh_Vv_k
 
Aki

Aki

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
I'm listening to the podcast right now and it's pretty good. You guys are dissing Skyrim way too much! Also, why are you guys randomly screaming in the background? How do I get in on this?
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
Just realised that soundcloud's free accounts have a maximum of 100 listens before files go down. We're up to 60! I'll have to redouble my efforts to find a new host.
 
Juegos

Juegos

All mods go to heaven.
Moderator
#4
#4
Just realised that soundcloud's free accounts have a maximum of 100 listens before files go down. We're up to 60! I'll have to redouble my efforts to find a new host.
Click to expand...
Well, if we need to pitch in I'm sure it won't be much of a problem. I think we hit something good here, so it's worth pursuing.
 
solitanze

solitanze

RoboPoster™
#6
#6
Thanks for the surprise mention at the 39 mattavelle1!
Although it might be a while before I play the Wii U again to try and better those scores after somehow scratching the touchscreen on my Gamepad. :|
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
That's a pretty good idea, and was something we were going to investigate.

If anyone wants to, i'll be in the chat in 10 hours or so for quite a while. If a couple of people want to go over the ps4 "reveal", we could see how that pans out over skype. :p
 
sknygy

sknygy

Member
#10
#10
What can I say? Not just a pretty face!
I'm generally always around for Nintendo Directs as i live blog them for the site, and have to deal with two hours of media and news stories afterwards so consider me up for the mini direct podcasts!
 
running_in_jam

running_in_jam

Videogame Sound Designer and Composer
#11
#11
Just realised that soundcloud's free accounts have a maximum of 100 listens before files go down. We're up to 60! I'll have to redouble my efforts to find a new host.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I'd been meaning to reply to this for a while. I'd be interested to know where you heard this, Cubits, because I currently have a free account with tracks that have +100 plays, and they're still there without a problem. Premium accounts are also super cheap.

On the subject of music, if you'd like to use the intro I wrote then send me an email and I'll give you the file. To be honest the intro I've written is kind of grating on me, and I think we could definitely have something better and more fitting. I'm happy to give it another go if you like, but let me know your thoughts first.
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#12
#12
I was looking at the accounts page when i signed up, and it was showing the limitations of the different upgrades. Maybe i read it incorrectly, but it had a limit for each track on free accounts. Clearly we're not limited to that, as the podcast went past it... so i have no idea and it doesn't matter.

We can go with your current intro, but if you want to mess around with something new then that's up for consideration too! If you want to throw something softer, slower, and more apt for looping together, we could even give using background music a go! :p

A "test run" is up for our youtube podcasts, made by editing a whole bunch of relevant footage together to spice up the audio track. I'd like to also give recording the video feeds from our skype sessions a go, possibly with gameplay in the background. We'll see. It's good to finally have clickable timestamps, so people can jump to the topics they want. It makes a big podcast much more accessible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDOHfJMkLKc

I also had a look around at the other big podcasts available on the youtubes, to see how they do things. The TGS podcast is up to the 46th episode, tends to run very long, and is seemingly less focused than ours! Their mics are more clear, but we're working with headsets against their broadcast quality microphones, and i think in general ours sounds pretty damned clear considering that difference! I do have a nice mic, but my apartment suffers from unpredictable background noise, so i might try to figure out some way to get better results.
 
running_in_jam

running_in_jam

Videogame Sound Designer and Composer
#13
#13
Ah, I see. That refers to downloads, rather than plays. It's optional if you want to make it available for download, but you can have as many plays as you like. :) Anyway, I think YouTube is probably better for a number of reasons.

Re: music. I'll pm you a dropbox link sometime soon with the existing intro. Soft background tracks & looping is no problem, but I'm a little overworked right now so it might take me a little while. See how it goes, but we might find that background music could get a bit annoying for 1 hour+, so we could either have a few different tracks and swap them occasionally, or fade the music out after a while. :p

I think the clarity is pretty great considering you're only using headsets. I can hear everything each of you say consistently. Regarding background noise, I can remove noise pretty easily, so I could help you out with that if you want, but I think that it would sound more natural with you all recording in the same way (like you are now).
 
Menashe

Menashe

Moderator
Moderator
#14
#14
We just finished recording the first Gaming Enthusiast podcast last night. It had four people in it and that seemed to work very well.
Also, we made a shared Dropbox folder for the site so we can easily share files. I can invite anyone in who wants access.
 
mattavelle1

mattavelle1

IT’S GOT A DEATH RAY!
Moderator
#17
#17
We were going to do one last Saturday, but there is a lack of news as of late so were kinda stockpiling things to speak about.
 
mattavelle1

mattavelle1

IT’S GOT A DEATH RAY!
Moderator
#21
#21
I'll see if we can't hook up with Jueg today and see if he would be down to hook up. Cubits just write back here and let me know what your thoughts.
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#22
#22
I'll be in the chat from around 4pm your time. If we can wrangle Jueg in the several hours after that, we'll get it sorted.
 
Jacesonnall

Jacesonnall

Bruh
#25
#25
Cubits I'll be jumping in on the next couple of podcasts if its not a problem!
Click to expand...
I think that'd actually be a great way for you to relieve some stress considering your issues. Who knows, you might even receive random acts of kindness too. (*)
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#26
#26
Just finishing up the second podcast here, and there's something i can't decide on. Let's put it down to a vote!

This example clip has the 60Hz "hum" intact. It's not as clear as possible, but the warmth feels easy to listen to. It also sounds more like a few people in the same room as the listener.

https://soundcloud.com/cubits1/podcast-clarity-test-1-60hz

The second example is with that part of the spectrum cleaned out. It's clear but sounds like a telephone call to me, a bit sterile and detached.

https://soundcloud.com/cubits1/podcast-clarity-test-2-60hz

What say you?
 
running_in_jam

running_in_jam

Videogame Sound Designer and Composer
#27
#27
Keep the one with the "Hum". The other one sounds like you've cut way more than 60Hz (perhaps no fault of your own mind you), and it brings out the digital noise from the recordings which sounds 'clipped' like you say, and not as nice on the ears in general! I think you're fine with the 'hum' in tact :)
 
mattavelle1

mattavelle1

IT’S GOT A DEATH RAY!
Moderator
#28
#28
Keep the one with the "Hum". The other one sounds like you've cut way more than 60Hz (perhaps no fault of your own mind you), and it brings out the digital noise from the recordings which sounds 'clipped' like you say, and not as nice on the ears in general! I think you're fine with the 'hum' in tact :)
Click to expand...
Just listened to them both and I agree with Running
 
ASuch

ASuch

The Salt Master
#34
#34
These podcasts are awesome, keep them up!! Definitely better than most podcasts I listen to. Are you guys planning for this to be a weekly event or something similar?
 
mattavelle1

mattavelle1

IT’S GOT A DEATH RAY!
Moderator
#35
#35
Actually we should have the next one to coming out very soon as we recorded Friday night, so basically anytime now. And we are shooting for every 2 weeks
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#38
#38
Can someone drop some links so I can listen to them? I love me some long, hour long discussions.
Click to expand...
https://soundcloud.com/cubits1/the-nintendo-enthusiast-17-2

Or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDOHfJMkLKc

The youtube version has clickable timestamps, which is super awesome for people who don't want to sit through a full podcast to hear the desirable topics. Of course, the file size is a little larger if you just care about the audio, but i do what i can to make it relevant.

The second episode would be up on soundcloud already, except i've run out of "minutes" on that account. If they're going to force limits like this on me in an age where youtube doesn't, we'll probably only see youtube versions from now on. I'm still grabbing a bit of footage for the video portion, but it will be up before the weekend.

Edit: I will start editing the original post to keep all the links together for y'all.
 
FriedShoes

FriedShoes

MLG
Moderator
#39
#39
awesome, I might take a listen to it tonight. I've seen a couple of podcasts take the YouTube approach, hell, IGN does it, so I'd be all for it.
 
Menashe

Menashe

Moderator
Moderator
#40
#40
Can't wait for this one. But it's too bad Youtube wouldn't let us monetize it just because there was some Rayman Legends footage Ubisoft was picky about.
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#41
#41
Yeah, I was running tests about which footage was tripping it, but couldn't bother re uploading a second edit. I put it down to a learning experience. This one should be good for that.
 
FriedShoes

FriedShoes

MLG
Moderator
#42
#42
That was a great listen, only a rare instance of people talking over each other. Matt kept on cutting out a bit, but the conversation was still able to be followed. The only way I could see making it better is if I was hosting and I was the only guest.
 
Cubits

Cubits

Well-Known Member
#43
#43
We've subsequently fixed up the audio issues (my track had a ridiculous bit of background noise), added an intro, and streamlined it a little.

Just listening back, there's one or two things to fix with the new episode which we'll catch next time.

1) I might go for a video call and record that. While we probably won't use the video (unless i look particularly handsome that day), we can use visual cues to absolutely eliminate interrupting each other (it's a problem of audio only communication).

2) I still have to bugger around with the mics. I have a selection of hardware available here, but it's tough to strike the balance between shielding background noise and getting great clarity. This week was significantly better than the first episode (matt doesn't cut out, and my apartment was fairly quiet), but it's the area i have to push the hardest.

3) I really want to get my hands on a gamepad video capture device. I might see what i can do with modifying a 3DS capture device for my purposes. It will really help with my efforts in several areas (and also be way cool).

The second episode is HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uksQGh_Vv_k

Watch it on youtube for the clickable timestamps if you must, but it's all good. :p
 
mattavelle1

mattavelle1

IT’S GOT A DEATH RAY!
Moderator
#45
#45
Really really really pleased with this one. I just got done listening and will hit it up again tonight and listen to it on the laptop instead of my iPhone.

But awesome job Cubits, and Jueg! This one was alot of fun. And I'm glad that we took the criticism and made it better.

Great job!
 
Jacesonnall

Jacesonnall

Bruh
#48
#48
Listening in, so far so good. I'll give my full comments when I finish it.
I will note though that these podcasts could be hard to listen to if you're not a member of the forums (People might not know why sknygy is for instance). Sometime the conversations can get a little too personal to the point where the viewer has no clue how to relate.
 
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