Runester

OPEN LETTER TO PODCASTERS

Hello, podcaster. I really appreciate the work you do, honestly. If I’m listening to your podcast, then it means that I’m spending my most valuable commodity on something you’ve produced – time. More then time, I’m spending attention, memory, and even a measure of involvement. Those that know me, also know that I tend to get involved in the communities I care about and join. It’s not enough to listen – I’ll join your forums and post and write emails or send in voicemails or any of a number of things to help support you and the community you’ve created.

That’s the kind of guy I am – I’m a joiner.

I’m also a little hard-of-hearing. My hearing isn’t so great, and I need to turn things up. I’m not deaf (yet) and I don’t know why my hearing is poor. It could be the tinittus in my ears, or the years of listening to Simon and Garfunkel on my Sony Walkman … or more likely it’s just a genetic condition I inherited from my mother, who also has to turn the volume way up on TV’s and radios. Just one more less-then-pleasant aspect of aging and genetics that I have to deal with. You know, like the hair growing out of my nose.

So, I’m writing to ask you to PLEASE check and correctly set the levels of your podcasts. I’ve had a hard time recently with certain podcasts having extremely low sound levels. By low, I mean that if I turn the volume on my iPod all the way up to max, and then turn the sound of my car stereo all the way up to max – all I hear are quiet mutterings that are just barely above the background noise and static that also gets amplified. This is incredibly frustrating. I may really want to hear what you have to say. I may be really, really interested in the subject you’re discussing. But, I cannot listen for an hour while straining to make out your words above the static and background noise while driving to work. At some point I give up, and just turn you off.

That’s not what you wanted, is it? I mean, you didn’t put all that effort into recording your content, editing it, adding bumpers, and then uploading it just to have someone shut it off five minutes in and never return … did you? Because if that’s not what you had in mind when you began all that work, then perhaps it would be best for both of us if you adjusted your volume levels.

Now, before someone mentions my crappy listening equipment (and I’m not talking about my ears, this time) I’d like to point out that: 1) I use a good condition 5th gen iPod, 2) an excellent quality FM re-transmitter, and 3) a great car stereo. Further, the majority of podcasts I listen to are correctly levelled and I have no problem listening to them at all. Week after week, I enjoy their content because I can comfortably hear them. Even when I have to turn my stereo volume waaaay up, as long as I can hear them I can learn something and enjoy them.

So, what are you doing wrong?

While we’re on this subject, let me please point out that some of the damage to my hearing may well be from the massively unbalanced sound levels some of you produce. One person is either using Skype or sitting too far away from their microphone, or is whispering – and I can barely make out what they’re saying. So, I turn up the volume. Then, the next person in your round-table-discussion formatted podcast is sitting right in front of their mic and is speaking loudly. Guess what? My speakers start popping! So, I have to either turn down the volume to comfortably hear Mister Loud, and then miss entirely what Mister Mumble is saying, or I turn the volume up to catch Missus Whispery and then get my speakers blown when Miss Bellows starts up. Or, I can just throw up my hands and turn you off.

Now, I know that being a sound mixer is it’s own technology / art and that people go to school to become sound engineers and that you’re free-to-the-masses podcast cannot afford anything like that. I got it. This is a labor of love. Even so, I’d like you to know that your skill and ability to balance and level your recordings, as unsexy as that is, makes a HUGE impact on my ability to hear much less enjoy the work you’ve done.

Please, give a care and try to do it right. Listen to it afterwards, the way we do; we don’t all listen with high quality headphones. Listen in a car or over a home stereo. Can you hear everything? How are the different people speaking, balanced? How high do you have to turn your stereo before you can hear what they’re saying? While content remains king, technique and quality are queen and knight errant.

Thank you, Sincerely;

~runester~

On my way into work I saw a turkey, on the street, picking a fight with a delivery van. The turkey was standing in the road and the delivery driver was getting exasperated waiting for the turkey to move. So, the driver climbed out and started waving his arms to scare the bird away. The turkey just walked around the corner of the van, and as soon as the driver climbed back into the drivers side, walked back in front of the van!

So, the driver climbs out again and waves his arms and starts shouting to scare the bird away. The turkey walks over to the side of the van and starts hissing and pecking at it’s tires. Honestly. The damn bird is pissed and attacking the back-end of a delivery van. The cars nearby are honking their horns – probably to try and help shew the bird away, and in frustration at having to wait at the light. The turkey ignores everyone and keeps hissing and striking at the van’s tires.

Eventually the van just drives away, and the rest of the cars make a careful circumlocution around the turkey. What an interesting commute it’s been!

Watching Frontline’s special, Ten Trillion and Counting, about the ever growing national debt & the current economic crisis. It’s fascinating & totally disheartening. Summary: we’re screwed. Start storing canned food in a remote cabin or get eaten by the zombies.

And by ‘zombie’ I mean all of your friends and neighbors that are desperate, losing their jobs, cars, and homes … and looking to cling to or take what they need to survive. Prepare for a zombie apocolypse and you’ve prepared for most disaster situations. It just makes good sense.

It’s a beautiful day, today and I’d been in the office non-stop since I got in. In fact, I’d spent six (6) on the same floor of the same building. I needed to get out! So, I went for a little walk, down the street to the next major intersection, picked up an indie news paper The Boston Phoenix, and then walked back.

Crossing the road right in front of me, and walking to the same parking lot I had to enter, were five (5) turkeys. They must have been domesticated, because they didn’t mind walking in front of cars or beside me. Here are a few snaps I took. Nice way to wrap up a walk!

Have you ever had one of those days? You know, where everything seems to be harder then it needs to be, where you drop your keys into a mud puddle while running late or forget your lunch at home, or remember – once you do get to work – that you had that important meeting this morning and you’ve missed that as well? A million and one things seem to go wrong and as your frustration level rises, even more things begin to fail. Some days, you just wish you could stay in bed.

Then, there are the days quite the opposite. Things seem to work, you feel fine, and any small issue either gets resolved or passed over and you’re just happy to be alive. Yeah … I’ve been having a lot of days like this lately.

Not sure why … not sure it matters. Maybe because Spring has sprung and the weather is beautiful, day after day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear, and even with a cold nip in the air, at least there is no more snow on the ground. Maybe it’s because Lisa and I have jobs when many others are unemployed and looking – and we’re thankful for what we have. Maybe it’s because my head is “in a good space” … but that’s sounds pretty left coast.

Or maybe, it’s because my new job is so different from my last one. As much as I liked my ex-coworkers, the constant drama placed a kind of oppressive stress on me and now that I don’t have to carry that around, everything feels lighter and easier. To be fair, I’ve had lots of jobs and none of them are “nirvana” … they all have their politics and problems and injustices and drama. But this job, here, now, is so refreshing that I’m going to enjoy it for as long as I can.

So, “Fear the Con 2″ is all over, and I’m heading home today.  I was able to upload the photo’s I took over the last two days and post them to Flickr – see them here.

Fear the Boot" hosts, during their "live recording" of an FtB episode. Chris, Dan, Chad, and Pat ... now joined by John at the far right side.

Gamers playing in the main room (Chris Hussey)

Examining the map and making a plan during "And a child shall eat them: one year later", an "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" game, Slot Three, Day One

In retrospect, I probably should have skipped “Watchmen” – it just took too much out of me and zonked me out during Day Two. Further, I wasn’t prepared for how hard I was going to be hit by allergies. Finally, I should have DEFINITELY volunteered to run at least one, if not two games during the convention. Not only would it have been easier then I assumed (especially based on the discussion topic of the FtB live recording) but also to get access to the amazing prize support table!

I did have a lot of fun, and the most amazing thing was how friendly, open, and congenial everyone was. If they ever read this, I want to send a very special thanks to Hyrum and Josh, up from Salt Lake City. They hauled my butt around in their rental van for three (3) days and were great company. Thanks, guys! Also, it was great playing Earth Dawn with you two.

I was pretty excited to attend FtC, and now that I have, I have some great memories. I’m also seeing some of my own limitations – of age and health and interest. Will I attend next year? I’m not sure. I’ve spent more then I planned and just couldn’t keep up with the young people. Even the sudden influx of caffeine into my system didn’t help much. If I do come back next year, it’ll be with a better plan, my own vehicle (probably a rental) and definitely my own games to run.

Now, though, I’m just looking forward to getting home and back into the routine of my own life with my own loved ones.

The meet-and-greet at Syberg’s last night was a lot of fun. It was mostly very relaxed; people were pretty calm, and talking in small groups. The food was pretty good, and there was some pretty good stuff other then wings.

Here’s a photo from our table. O’Keefe is in the foreground, and in the back is Chad showing off his cigar kit to Aaron. We’re in a banquet room, the bar and food are off to the left of this photo.

Here’s another shot of the room. It was quite large. My rough estimate was 30 to 35 people. That’s the bar off in the distance. The conversations were, for the most part, quite subdued. But, everyone was very outgoing and friendly and I’ve met a dozen people already, several I ‘know’ from the forums and many I did not.

Here’s dan sitting at our table, briefly. He was in an animated conversation about Battletech – no surprises there. In the background, the tall man in the orange tee-shirt, that’s “Noble Bear” on the forums. He did some of the artwork for the con (such as the printed programs) and turned out to be quite outgoing & friendly!

On the docket for today is the actual Fear the Con 2, Day One … about twelve solid hours of play and then we’re off to the theater to watch “Watchmen.” I’m not sure when I’ll be able to update the blog again … except perhaps with some quick missives sent from my phone. I will continue to add Tweets, so watch that for more immediate updates.

So, I’m checking in w/ American Airlines. I have one carry-on bag (laptop, iPod, etc.) & one bag to be checked (clothes, gaming supplies, etc.). They charge $15 for the FIRST checked bag! WTF?! So I slide my credit card in to pay, & they offer to bump me up to First Class for $90.
I think about it, hard, & figure “why not?” Then, bam! Luggage fee gets waived, & now I get an inflight meal & preferred boarding. I even get a special preferred line at the TSA checkpoint. Not bad for a $90 bump.
Of course, I get held up at the security checkpoint & need to be patted down. Still, took less then 10 minutes & now I’m early at the gate.
So far, every thing is going A-OK!