September 22, 2005

HiFAST FM Transmitter Review

Or Hi Fast???

Regardless, bought one of these FM transmitters off eBay.

It's a model HFM02C.

I bought this for use in my van and liked the idea of it being able to just plug in the 12V cigarette adaptor and power itself off that as batteries are an inconvenience to keep on top of.

It is apparently capable of 7 different frequencies although it will required opening the case to do so. I haven't attempted as the default 107.5 frequency seems to work just fine.

Audio quality was on par with a battery-powered iRock transmitter I had been using.

The only thing to keep an eye on is the audio input level and this is not something unique to the HiFAST. I use a Creative Zen Micro and the top roughly 20% of the volume seems to overdrive the input.

It seems to perform well (especially considering that the price I paid was very reasonable) so it has my recommendation as a cost effective yet also a quality FM transmitter.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 8:52 PM | Comments (1)

Compulsive Podcast Bookmark Disorder

Here's another podcast-related disorder (and the running joke runs on):

Compulsive Podcast Bookmark Disorder

I genuinely wish I was making this up, but much the same as the "podcast anxiety" phenomenon I identified a number of weeks ago, I can speak to this one from first-hand experience as it something that I suffer from...

CPBD results when a podcast listeners compulsively creates far-too-frequent bookmarks on their mp3 player while listening to a podcast. This condition results from a podcast listener experiencing a profound sense of anxiety, even abject terror, over the possibility that they may lose their place in their podcast due to an inadvertent pressing of a button on their mp3 player.

A positive diagnosis CPBD is arrived upon by observing a patient bookmark a podcast more frequently than every 5 minutes.

Common treatments include weekend visits to the podcast asylum, educating the patient about the use of the key lock feature on their mp3 player, or drops of coconut oil under the tongue, preferably administered by a dusky handmaiden.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 1:35 AM | Comments (3)

September 11, 2005

Podcast Anxiety

Well, a remark made in an audio comment to For Immediate Release seems to have brought a few smiles.

And kudos to my good man Lee Hopkins for his work in documenting this condition. Lee, how could we have known the service that we have done to the world in unmasking this indiscriminating affliction.

A menace to the already information overloaded and time-challenged modern-day professional, Podcast Anxiety Disorder (or PAD for short as coined by Heidi Miller) have been a scourge than many of us, until now, have had to suffer with in silence.

No more.

Podcast enabled professionals of the world ... stand tall, hold thy mp3 players within your firm grasp and repeat after me in a strong voice:

"I will be judicious in choosing the number of podcasts I subscribe to!"

"I will be a balanced individual and not create overwhelming time pressures due to an unbridled lust for knowledge and information!"

"I will delete podcasts I don't truly have time to listen to without even the slightest hint of guilt!"

Effective treatments to this are still emerging.

Two types of experimental surgeries to restrict the use of mp3 players in men and women have shown some promise in control groups, but neither has been approved by governing bodies. For men, the procedures consists of having your USB cable sliced open and the wires soldered together - effectively limiting the flow of audio to your mp3 player. For women, the equivalent procedure is known as having your "earbuds tied". While both are proving to be effective in preventing unintended podcast utilization, it is expected that it will be several years before these therapies are widely adopted.

In the meantime, we suggest using a blend of resolution and willpower as well as a healthy dose of your favourite music to keep PAD under control.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 10:13 AM | Comments (1)

August 31, 2005

CBC Employees Podcasting

And I'm not talking about just CBC Radio 3, which has adopted podcasts whole-heartedly, I'm talking about striking CBC employees who have decided that in some form or another the show must go on. Employees in various regions (although I must admit I haven't listened to all of the podcasts) are doing elements of shows that they would normally do on the air. Except, not on the air.

Being objective, some may say that this is a PR move by employees. That's not beyond the realm of possibility. What I find more compelling is that all of a sudden we have a timeshifted alternative to radio. Perhaps a better alternative to radio.

From what I've read, I think many of those who are downloading the podcasts expect to be consuming more of their media using podcasts because of the good experience they have had.

The internet as a delivery channel is still way under-utilized, so much more content could be delivered this way that still isn't. So I find these kinds of stories where a few baby steps are made towards using the internet more extensively quite interesting.

I can say that I'm certainly listening to far less radio since I've gotten my mp3 player for a number of reasons. I can only expect that more and more people will follow suit as they experiment with it.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 1:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2005

Finding the time to listen to podcasts, mp3's, etc.

Someone commented to me once that they weren't sure when they have the time to listen to podcasts, etc.

In trying to answer that question for myself, I set about taking my Creative Zen Micro mp3 player with me everywhere and see what worked and what didn't.

My commute to work (if I can call it that) last 5 minutes if it hit red lights. So, while it's cool to walk into work with white ear buds hanging from around your neck, I find that I don't get too far with that. Although, a few little 5-10 minutes opportunities stacked together do have a cumulative effect of getting through longer podcasts. And while going to work is a frequent activity, I discovered better ones.

(Another thing with that. I drive a Jeep and have the top down as much of the year as I can living in Canada. Unless the audio production is right on a podcast, I won't even try it with all the ambient noise I have while driving. Amplitude variances are too hard on my ears. Music works best for this application.)

What I discovered is this: while we have all might agree that we have a lot of media exposure, there is a fair amount of time remaining in our lives that can be filled that is empty right now.

Here are a couple of examples:

1. A trip to Walmart or the grocery store.

There's nothing going on but boring store specials announcements and messages to staff. There's really no need to pay attention to any of it. Look at a good 30-60 minute stretch of time here.

Caution: you may embarass yourself if you're listening to music and tend to hum and sing a little out loud. That said, if you realize that you are inadvertently looking like an idiot judging from the stares of passers by - stay the course. Better to be confident in whatever level of ability you have than flinch and stop the party just because some strangers notice you. If you're listening to a spoken word podcast, you're in the clear.

2. Mowing the lawn.

And who wants to listen to a lawnmower?

In addition to the ear buds that came with my player, I have a good set of over the ear headphones that do a good job of isolating outside noise. Actual in-ear type buds will work similarly. Normal buds won't isolate the ambient noise as well resulting in having to turn the volume up quite loud. Not so good.

Advice: if using a gas mower pay attention to the RPM of the engine by paying extra attention to the speed of the vibration on the handle. It'll help make up for some of what you miss in listening and you need to know if the engine stumbles or start working harder because the bag needs to be changed.

A good 20-30 minutes here again.

3. Trips to the rest room.

Not much to say here. We all read. Why not listen to something instead?

Time: your call.

4. Household chores.

Emptying the dishwasher. Doing laundry. Working in the yard.

There's nothing of any sonic significance going on here. Why not make it interesing for yourself, especially if the chore is mundane.

These are just a few and there's more out there but even these ones along can get hours a week of listening time without taking time away from anything else.

My biggest challenge in getting through my podcast susbscriptions is that I'd rather listen to music and be entertained than listen to a spoken word podcast, however helpful the information is.

I guess that's why pop-stars make more than university profs.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 1:10 AM | Comments (3)

May 11, 2005

Digital delivery is about to hit for real

If I made my money in DVD rentals, I'd be terrified right now. Same goes for CDs.

I was walking by HMV in the mall on the weekend and realized that ever since I signed up for Napster and Napster to Go, I haven't set foot in a music store.

The infrastructure to deliver the content online makes it unnecessary for me to go to a store. Digital delivery makes acquiring a physical CD virtually redundant.

Bandwidth is the only technical constraint to doing the same with DVDs. (I won't comment on the matter of cooperation with the content producers). Fortunately for them, they have some more time before the technical obstacles are overcome. The immiment move to high definition output will drive bandwidth requirements (even standard definition is a problem today with existing compression and bandwidth) and consumer adoption of hardware with storage capabilities has to happen so playback devices can participate in network delivery.

The second part of the equation is content development. This is a much easier proposition for musicians than filmmakers, but it's going to really interesting to see how that turns out.

At one time, the content creation and the delivery of music was all but out of reach for the vast majority of musicians. Now quality content creation is within reach and digital delivery is a reality. Marketing is the next problem to solve.

It's going to take some time for filmmaking to catch up to this, but the content creation process isn't so different. A lot of it can be done fairly inexpensive on desktop workstations.

Content creation and delivery aside, I think the biggest challenge facing the independant entertainment industry is marketing and breaking free from the notion that we can consume independant content en masse without having to wait for the summer blockbuster from the big studios or from the next big release from a platinum selling artist.

So far, very little has changed as to where the content is created, just the method of delivery has changed.

Even that has signalled quite a change already. Think about how much has changed in the last five years in the music business and that just relates to how the delivery works. Wait until you don't buy it from the same people you always have.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)

May 5, 2005

Paris Hilton's Podcast

Combine fascination with celebrity and the whole podcasting buzz and you end up with a Paris Hilton podcast.

Earlier this even I watched the MuchMusic special with Paris Hilton and the rest of the House of Wax cast doing an appearance. I'm just watching the later evening's rebroadcast of it with the volume off and listening to several of the podcasts as I type this.

So, I've now know what is sounds like when Paris Hilton says the F word, orders a latte, signs autographs, walks the red carpet and talks to her pet dog, Tinkerbell, (who apparently wasn't able to go to Australia because of customs).

Pity.

It's part audio recording of the day's events and part narrative - sometimes mixed together in post - as an example, Dave Letterman's probing on her issue with former co-star, Nicole Richie. Letterman's interview snippet is cut back and forth with her comments she made after the show where she shares her feelings about the interview.

Apparently, Paris has a lot of iPods.

"They're hot".

I have to say, this is a lot more immersive experience than reading a blog. The inflection in the voice communicates a great deal. The ambient noise also communicates a lot of what it would be like to be there - more than you might expect. The whole red carpet experience sounds like it gets a little crazy at times with people yelling and screaming, doing a bunch of consecutive interviews and being in the middle of all the media attention.

It's remarkable how the other half live.

I normally listen to podcasts on my Creative Zen Micro but I'm listening to this on my laptop speakers (which on my new Dell Latitude D800 are much improved over the Latitude C800 I used to have).

I'm going to follow this out of some form of interest. I'm not quite sure the nature of the intrique, but I'm going to play along.

So far, the podcast has much more to do with Paris Hilton that House of Wax but it'll be interesting to see how they sound as I listen to more of the podcasts nearer to the movie release date.

I'm just listening to the most recent podcast. It's interesting to hear remarks about a broadcast event that I'm watching as I'm listening to the podcast. I didn't really realize that the whole problem of people throwing things had become the issue it had or at least it didn't really seems that watching the live broadcast. I suppose it's no surprise they try to keep things looking smooth and under control on broadcast television.

Frankly, Paris doesn't provide much narrative or really that much commentary beyond a sentence or two at a time. Despite that, just having the mic on with the right snippets spliced together at the right time seems to communicate quite a bit about what's going on.

In addition, an audio clip from the soundtrack - Prodigy's Spitfire - adds some interest.

Interesting.

I'm not sure how long the series of podcasts will go on for. I'm going to listen to the remainder and perhaps do my own assessment when it's complete.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)

May 3, 2005

Are You Sirius?

So the NYT says Adam Curry is getting his own podcasting gig on Sirius . . .

I guess that's all well and good but I have this feeling that someone's given in (notice I didn't say "sold out") to the established media a little early.

I can see why not the notion of user-contributed radio is going to resonate. It's a neat idea and something completely different.

That said, the other half of the magic of podcasting is that anyone with minimal audio production facilities and a blog can do it and it's not the usual mass media routine. That's a lot of what I like about podcasting in the first place.

So, why jump back in bed with broadcast media right away? I don't care if it is the cool end of it.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)

April 30, 2005

Podcast NYC

Just checked out the Podcast Safe area of Podcast NYC on the recommendation of the For Immediate Release podcast. What a great idea. What a super opportunity for musicians to get their music out to a larger audience.

I believe this is one of the better uses of RSS really - for musician to create a direct relationship with their end audience. I keep an very keen eye on the music industry as I think this is an industry that is still yet to make the most of the internet.

We've seen the advent of digital delivery starting to replace physical media but that is only part of the equation. We are still yet to see artists start to create direct relationships with their audience in the kind of numbers required for them to do without the record labels.

I need to blog more about this, but I really like what this effort represent in terms of empowering artist to go direct to their end audience without the encumbrances of players in the middle.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 7, 2005

Podcasting - Usability, Technical & Audio Production Suggestions

With every new channel comes the challenge of making it easy to use.

With podcasting being something of a new phenomenon and often being undertaken by those without training or experience in the area of audio production or experience in usability design, I thought it worthwhile to give some thought to some suggestions for making the content as consumable as possible.

Paying attention to some basic considerations can go a long way to improving the audio quality of a spoken word recording.

Appropriate Use of Meta Attributes
(with the common implementation for many being ID3 Tags in the mp3 file format)

Ensure you use the ID3 tag. In the absence of this, the player will only display the file name which may not be particularly communicative of the content of the podcast and may be named around entirely different considerations than its use as an plain-English description.

Recognize the character limitations of the playback devices and avoid unnecessarily long titles. In many players, longer titles will need to scroll like a horizontal marquis to reveal the entire length of the title, and at that, only when selected in the menu. So, as users will likely view several podcasts in a list, ensure the differentiating part of the podcast name (the individual program name) compared to others in the series appears relatively early in the title - saying within 20 or so characters. As a result, users can scroll through the list quickly without having to select a specific podcast name and wait the see the entire title scroll through the display to read the podcast name.

Not to pick on the For Immediate Release podcast produced by Shel Holtz & Nevill Hobson, whose program I enjoy very much and am a faithful listener of, but for the purposes of illustration and accessibility of the example to many, I'll use the For Immediate Release naming conventions as an example.

They typically are titled according to this naming convention:

For Immediate Release -- #19 -- March 28, 2004
For Immediate Release -- #20 -- March 31, 2004
For Immediate Release -- #21 -- April 4, 2004

In my player (Creative Zen Micro 5 GB) the screen cuts off after the '#' character, making it difficult to scroll through the list quickly and differentiate one podcast in the series from the rest.

The recommendation I would make is to choose a succinct podcast name that affords some characters left over to describe the individual program. This is a matter of design for the constraints and realities of the medium.

Ensure Absolute Consistency In Naming
Be sure that your podcast names are consistent to the character from one podcast to the next. As they will appear in a list in the player, any aberrations are quite noticeable and detract from usability and the visceral sense of quality of your production.

Audio Considerations

One of the benefits of mainstream radio is the level of production quality that we've become used to. Between the voice talent, writing (though not always), production proficiency and quality of equipment not to mention experience, the bar is far higher that what I would expect from many podcasters.

I expect that to hold true at this stage in the life of podcasting where the impetus for one to podcast likely has more to do with the desire to communicate than possessing technical proficiency and access to quality audio equipment. With many mp3 players having onboard microphones that can write directly to a digital file that can easily be posted as a podcast, the barrier to the lowest point of entry is quite attainable. That said, achieving a technically satisfying production and desirable content is another matter entirely.

Avoid Problematic Locations To Record
The key to being effective in this endeavour from a technical standpoint is clear and intelligible audio. Anything other than the sound of your voice works against clarity and ease of listening(unless in some instances the ambient noise of your surrounding is an important element of the content or creates a mood).

Avoid locations where there are surfaces nearby that will reflect sound back to the microphone. Flat, painted or shiny surfaces are the worst offenders for this. They will reflect sound back and give a few-millisecond echo throughout the whole recording. The use of soft materials can dramatically improve the acoustic characteristics of a space, so don't discount using bedding or blankets to improve the acoustic qualities of where you record. I may not be typical of every user, but I find a close-reflection echo quite annoying and distracting and it's a tell-tale sign of amateur production.

What's worse is that audio compression (discussed further down) which normally has an enhancing effect on a production only accentuates the presence of this type of audio problem.

Use Headphones When Recording
If you using discrete audio components i.e. not simply speaking into an mp3 player, consider wearing headphones so you can monitor what you record. You will inherently tend to speak in a manner that is more pleasing to the microphone and you will become aware of any obvious technical problem like the aforementioned slap-back echo and hopefully correct it.

Invest the Time To Experiment
Experiment with recording locations, equalization, microphone position, pace of the dialogue and your own technique for projecting your voice. A few minutes invested in this will absolutely make a difference in the quality of your recording. A few cumulative improvements will add up to a better overall production.

Maintain a consistent volume
Dramatic changes in the level of amplitude is something to be cautious of as many people listen to podcasts in their headphones. As such, dramatic amplitude changes are exaggerated and can be quite jarring for the listener.

If there is more than one person speaking, attempt for a balanced audio level between the two. Also, try the match as closely as possible the tone or tambre between the people speaking through equalization as recorded to tape or in post-production. If there are dramatic differences in tone or volume that result in one voice being louder or more easily heard, the user has to make a compromise when setting the volume of their player. If a user has to have the volume set higher due to the presence of ambient noise in their own surroundings, the level that they have to set it at to hear the quieter of the two people speaking may make the louder voice uncomfortably loud or annoying.

Compression
These days, almost all recordings have a appreciable amount of audio compression applied to them to. Among other considerations, this is done to enhance the recording to make it sound a rich and loud as possible on playback. FM stations also dramatically compress when broadcasting.

For those not familiar with audio compression, it's the process of reducing the amplitude (volume) of the peak levels in a recording. As a result, the overall level can be boosted resulting in the average volume of the recording being louder. If you listen to a compressed and an uncompressed piece of audio, even though the peak levels may be the same, the compressed audio can sound much louder than the uncompressed audio.

One of the benefits of this as a listener is that is provides a consistent volume level with no spikes or drops in volume.

If you have access to audio editing software, look and see if you can find a compressor to apply to your recording. I would suggest no more than 2 - 3db of gain reduction in most cases. After a certain point the voice no longer sounds natural.

A note of caution: using compression will elevate the level of background noise, mouth sounds and other ambient nosies that are not always desirable.

Other Potentially Useful Audio Processes
De-esser - to reduce sibilance - those ripping 's' sounds that again can be quite dramatic in ear buds
High-pass filter - this will filter out low frequencies - try a setting of 120 Hz to start to reduce popping p's (a pop filter or wind screen will also help with reducing popping on more explosive consonants . . . as does practise speaking on-mic)

And of course, it never hurts to have something worth listening to - this just makes it easier.

This is by no means comprehensive as I expect to add to this as I give this further consideration(although I didn't expect it would be this long to begin with on a first draft). I believe if these things were followed and podcasters were armed with some basic knowledge of audio production, we would be able to see the technical quality of podcast improved quite dramatically.

Many of these things listed are not difficult to accommodate. Where software is required to audio processing, it is not particularly expensive either. Any modern audio editor comes with standard audio tools to accomplish equalization, compression, de-essing, etc.

Posted by Derek Leverington at 12:28 AM | Comments (2)