Blog Azeroth

I keep playing around with the idea of trying to get some kind of weekly podcast going, where three bloggers from our community get together to BS for an hour.

And I don't mean "Big Bear Butt, Phaelia and Matticus are back again for the 15th week running to bring you...."

I mean a "Three bloggers from among the community get together and talk WoW and blogging.... and this week the three are....."

I think it would be fun, and I'd love to see every blogger that wants to, and some that don't, get into it and have fun.

We all blog... and that means that we all have strong opinions that we are happy to share.

Maybe someday I'll find some free time to devote to figuring out how to get one done from the 'producing' side insteasd of just sitting down and being on it.

I think that it would be fine not to be live for the first few, and see how you submit it to iTunes for download when done. It would give a chance to get the process down and a show out there.

I know that there are many shows on www.wcradio.com. That website might ahve some 'how to' I'll do some more research... but don't expect any action for the next few weeks from me. I'm focusing on Wordpress right now.

I'm very much interested in the idea. I just don't have the equipment or the programs or the knowhow to pull off something like this.

But something like WoW Talks would be a pretty neat idea.

Well, using WoW Insider as fledgling inspiration;

You could use Skype (free) for the conversation...

and do like WI and everyone run Audacity as a recording software (free)....

and each person hits record on Audactiy at the same time as you chat....

And at the end of the show, everyone hits 'stop' generally at teh same time.

using Audacity, it is EASY to simply bring every seperate audio mp3 into a single project as seperate channels, and then move them about to get the timing between them right.

Audacity has built in hiss reduction. To make it easier, having 5 seconds of 'dead space' at the start of your recording lets you grab the white noise sample so you can apply a filter based off of it. If I can figure it out, anyone can. Honest.

So you can remove the hiss, then adjust audio levels on each channel so they seem even, and then you can make sure they are synced. Then add an intro song track or goofy thing at the front end as yet another channel, and output the final thing as a single .mp3... podcast done.

The only real thing that takes a bit more info, is using a web based large file upload method. Some are free, some aren't. But you ahve to have some way of moving a 100mb (give or take) file from one person to another.

Oh, it's doable Matticus... it's doable.

I just don't know offhand how to make intro tracks... I'm not a DJ. Or a musician.

And I don't know how you add a podcast to iTunes.

I listen to Girl Genius podcast, Penny Arcade podcast, and WoW Insider on iTunes, and they are all free, so I know it's avaiable. I just don't know how.

*Google's*

This site: http://www.mypodcast.com/index.html - It seems to offer free podcasting, though there's not a lot of information available without signing up (and I'm a little crunched for time at the moment so I'll have to check it out later), and I'm not sure if it supports more than one person, but I think it might be worth looking into!

http://www.podbean.com/start-podcast?sourceid=goog_69 - Another one that claims free podcast hosting. Once again, limited time, so I haven't completely checked it out.

http://radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a.htm - Podcasting tutorial! Talks about Audacity, which I believe BBB mentioned.

http://radio.about.com/od/podcastingand ... 50105a.htm - Podcasting for "DumbDumbs"

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11293_7-6246557-1.html - one more for luck.

BBB, I've taken part in 3 podcasts already on a Starcraft 2 related community (http://www.campaigncreations.org). They usually get me to host and keynote the entire thing (bastards), but the trade off is fair because the other guy tech monkey's the entire thing.

How we've done it there is we would use Ventrilo to record ourselves on vent while we were chatting with one another. Clicks and enter/leave notifications would always be disabled to help remove additional unwanted sounds. Our casts get recorded into a .vrf file for future playblack on Ventrilo which allows us to convert it to an MP3.

And then of course, there is the post processing stuff which I don't know a whole lot about.

Sounds very interesting, and I think almost all of us are egotistical enough (where IS Vonya?) to be willing to do this at least occasionally.

Matticus, Skype's fidelity is at least an order of magnitude better than Ventrilo: Think AM vs. FM, or even AM vs. CD. Skype's only true limitation (in free mode) is that it's currently restricted to 9 people in a group voice chat.

Mm, I see. Last time I had Skype, we were limited to 5 only. So they must've raised the cap.

I was wondering about Vonya as well. Looks like she's still busy with school.

This idea is pretty amazing. I'm loving the "three members of the community" and "some who do and some who don't" parts, =P.

I've worked with sound hardware and audio programs a bit and the Skype+Audacity method seems to have a solid backing, though it would be a bit of work on the back-end.

Were you thinking a live podcast in addition to the downloadable version? That'd be a lot of bandwidth if there were any sizable population listening in.

live streaming opens a whole different set of problems... you need a mixer, lots of bandwidth, some form of live processing for the sound...

Podcasting shouldn't be too hard, as has already been said here

@Matticus - With the sheer number of WoW players/bloggers, there's absolutely GOT to be a tech monkey that's willing to help out with this project. The trick is to convince them to do it for free.

And I'm vain enough to love the sound of my own voice, so should this project get rolling past the theory stage, count me in.

This is a great idea and I would love to be a part of it. Unfortunately, I have never done any recording before so I can’t contribute to the technical conversation, but I am quick learner!

Personally, I hate the sound of my voice, but I think it would be wonderful for have a conversation with two talented writers and bring different perspectives to the table; also, the idea of rotation is wonderful.

Awesome light blub moment, BBB!

I think a lot of people have this problem. I'm under the impression you're your own worst critic! I feel the same way, but I'm assured I'm not as annoying-sounding as I think I am.

'Course, they may just be trying to spare the healer's feelings...

We already play off one other with our blog topics, so to have a couple of folks get together each week for a round table discussion would be a great addition to this. (I'm always looking for more podcasts to listen to, too... )

What a fun idea!

Oh, what a fun idea! Not that I feel worthy of participating in such a discussion yet, but I'd love to have another podcast to listen to at work. Nothing drowns out the absurdly-loud undergraduates in the lab like my trusty iPod.

If y'all would have me that is. I've begun listening recently to The Instance and World of Warcast from ITUNES. I'd be willing to join in the conversation as often or as infrequently as needed. It might be interesting to set up groups so that we don't overlap specialities of speakers too much. I.E. If Vonya, Galadria & Matticus were chosen for a cast, it'd be much less interesting (IMNSHO) than say, if it were Matticus, Kestrel & BBB were the three. Less overlap I think would lead to more lively discussion.

BBB

Where do I sign up? This sounds like a lot of fun, I'll be absolutely no help on the technical side but I'd love to participate! Hopefully we can find some RTF student who plays WoW to handle the technical side

@BBBB

I am so there just let me know what do download.. I think it would be fun to do a blogger podcast. Hey we might even make headlines on Fark... lol

This is a brilliant idea.

And guess what? I have a radio/TV degree and all the required equipment and software.

You've got your geek!

Thank God for Geeks!

That's good news, Game Dame. What would be your suggestion on getting started?

You know what the secret is to self criticism? You have to act like bad weather and just not care what other people think =).

Actually, the 3 podcasts I've done, I don't even download and listen to myself. I let my castmates tell me how to improve myself.

BBB, do you ever get jitters before going on air? Or DURING the cast? How on earth do you deal with that? Everytime I do my Starcraft shoots, I get the shakes.

Sorting out a Podcast for iTunes is pretty easy, particularly if you pass the podcast feed through Feedburner.

I'd be more than happy to help out - and to participate - as long as we can work around the transatlantic time difference.

Well, we need to work out the following:

- Air Schedule (how often to do it, when to start)
- Topics, format
- Hosts, guests
- Technical process (e.g., recording convos via the web, recording each segment separately, etc.)


I suggest we assign some folks to work out each part above. I can work on the last part (with anyone else who wants to help out) but before we start that part, we need to know about the format and air schedule.

I'm a journalist, and have some radio experience, so i am more than willing to help with this now that we got a us a techie

I like "The Instance" as well. I have been reading MyExtraLife for quite some time now. When he started that, it was that much better.

It would be fun. I had thought about recording myself at some point. Perhaps having a discussion with guildies about topics, but just never took the initiative.