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~