LibriVox Community Podcast Planning

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Timothy Ferguson
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Post by Timothy Ferguson »

Some of us have done a collection of readings to celebrate Australia's National Year of Reading. Annise has been doing all the heavy lifting on it, administratively.

I'd kind of like to interview people and ask them "Why that bit? You could have read anything, so why that particular piece?"

Does it seem too parochial for a podcast?
My occasional blog is Games from Folktales
bobgon55
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Post by bobgon55 »

Timothy Ferguson wrote:Some of us have done a collection of readings to celebrate Australia's National Year of Reading. Annise has been doing all the heavy lifting on it, administratively.

I'd kind of like to interview people and ask them "Why that bit? You could have read anything, so why that particular piece?"

Does it seem too parochial for a podcast?
Not at all, Timothy! I think it would be a great feature of what has gone on in this LibriYear (Aug 10, 2011 - now). what do you think? Would you like to get that ready for the anniversary podcast coming out on Friday? Or would that be too soon? It would have to be to me by Wednesday. So probably too soon for that?

Algy Pug's doing a special podcast on The Rubaiyat due out Aug 18. After that I have none scheduled, but some ideas planned.

Do you have enough material to do an entire podcast devoted to Australia's National Year of Reading? If that's what you are thinking, I think that would be a great idea. You could host yourself or co-host with Anne or get Algy involved, since he will have hosted two by then.

Let me know what you want to do and thank you so much for contributing ideas and segments to the podcasts!

Cheers,
Bob
Timothy Ferguson
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Post by Timothy Ferguson »

bobgon55 wrote:
Timothy Ferguson wrote:Some of us have done a collection of readings to celebrate Australia's National Year of Reading. Annise has been doing all the heavy lifting on it, administratively.

I'd kind of like to interview people and ask them "Why that bit? You could have read anything, so why that particular piece?"

Does it seem too parochial for a podcast?
Not at all, Timothy! I think it would be a great feature of what has gone on in this LibriYear (Aug 10, 2011 - now). what do you think? Would you like to get that ready for the anniversary podcast coming out on Friday? Or would that be too soon? It would have to be to me by Wednesday. So probably too soon for that?

Algy Pug's doing a special podcast on The Rubaiyat due out Aug 18. After that I have none scheduled, but some ideas planned.

Do you have enough material to do an entire podcast devoted to Australia's National Year of Reading? If that's what you are thinking, I think that would be a great idea. You could host yourself or co-host with Anne or get Algy involved, since he will have hosted two by then.

Let me know what you want to do and thank you so much for contributing ideas and segments to the podcasts!

Cheers,
Bob
Oh, there's no way it could be done soon - the collection's not even full. 8) And I have yet to mention this to the participants.

Last night though I was (sorry, I know this is naughty) listening to one of the PL files. I noticed Phil had recorded Waltzing Matilda, and I wanted to see what an American would make of it. At the end, I was struck by the question "What did it mean to him to do that? Why that poem?" and I thought that when the whole thing wraps up, we might ask the various people. "So, why X? What does it mean to you?

For interviews, should I just write some questions and have people record answers, or is there a good way to record voice in real time discussions. I know you've done that sort of thing Bob...any advice?
My occasional blog is Games from Folktales
bobgon55
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Post by bobgon55 »

Hi Timothy,

I've done interviews both ways. It depends on you and also your interviewee. Some people feel more comfortable answering questions on their own and some are OK with real time conversation.

For real time, I have used Skype. Algy and I Skype once in a while anyway as friends, but we recorded me interviewing him that he will edit and use in his Rubaiyat podcast. I have had the best result with using a program called Wire Tap Studio to record Skype calls because it records both sides of the conversation evenly. It's a Mac program but I know there are plenty PC versions if you have that platform. It cost a little ($69) but it's worth it to me because I have done three interviews with it and most likely will do more. You can probably get a decent effect, though with a two sided microphone, like the Zoom line, if you have it. For other recording options, you might check with Algy, who also is adept at Skype recording.

Sending a list of questions is also effective. In order to make the interview sound a little more natural, you can do two things:

1) When you get the answers back and record your questions, add a little response to the answer you were given. something simple like, "I see," "Interesting," "That's a shocker," etc. Play around with pauses and you can put in a few stumbles to make it sound like you are making up the question in conversational volley rather than reading it off the page.

2) And I just tried this with an interview I did with catrose for the anniversary podcast. For her convenience, I not only sent her the written questions, but I sent her an audio file of them. Lucky I did, too, because she lost the written ones before it was time to record her answers (she went over the 100 PM limit), so she answered by setting her recorder going, playing my questions and answering them on the fly. There was a lot for me to edit (because she was getting interrupted by her family and tended to ramble on (in quite a charming manner, I might add) but the end was a very natural sounding interview, especially when I went back and re-recorded some of my original questions so I didn't sound as wooden (hope I succeeded!).

Anyway, that's what I have learned from experience.

By the way, just a guess, but I think Phil chose Waltzing Matilda because that's one of the most popular Australian songs we know in the States. Honestly, if it was PD, I'll bet he would have sung or recited "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport." :lol: Which is a song I remember from the radio when I was a kid. Anyway, that's the first thing I thought of when I saw he had recorded that. By the way, will the collection only be twelve pieces, like it shows now in the MW? Because I was thinking of possibly recording "The Little Red House" from C.J. Dennis A Book for Kids. I found it on PG and noted that he died in 1938 so it should be PD. I remember in one of the poetry podcast you did a great piece on Dennis and the performance of his poetry that Algy had recorded. So, will the collection be larger than 12 and is there any deadline. Because I will be getting very busy very soon and I am not absolutely positive I could have it done before September. The reason I'd like to do it is 1) to contribute to the project, 2) I like children's stories, which I haven't read in a while, and 3) I like his writing style.

Bob
Timothy Ferguson
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Post by Timothy Ferguson »

Bob, this is more of a spontaneous thing...so Annise, who as I say is doing the heavy lifting on this, would be a better answerer for questions like "How many recordings?" and "Done by when?"

I mean, it is meant to celebrate National Year Of Reading 2012, so that seems to give it a time deadline, but the number of readers is something I'm unclear on, because I don't understand the back end of Librivox all that well.
My occasional blog is Games from Folktales
bobgon55
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Post by bobgon55 »

OK, thanks, Timothy. I'll check with Anne. I'm guessing that maybe you'll take submissions until the end of the year? But I'll find out for sure from Anne.

I hope the suggestions for interviews has helped. Feel free to ask me any other specific questions if you need.

Bob
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Post by catrose »

I know it's four months away, but has anyone thought about hosting the 8th Anniversary Podcast? If not, I'd love to do it! (I know how to, Cori explained. I was going to host a podcast earlier in the year, but plans fell through)
Cat
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A Level exams from 4th May to 30th June. I am around, just not as often. If I forget or miss anything, drop me a PM and I'll be on it like a wasp on honey!
bobgon55
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Post by bobgon55 »

That's sounds like a great idea, Charlotte! I know I won't be able to do it this year. You would be a fabulous host, I know! :D

Bob
Piotrek81
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Post by Piotrek81 »

I've been thinking about hosting a podcast. Who knows maybe we will manage to revive the tradition? I saw on the wiki that back in 2006 and 2007 you really did this on a weekly basis.

Anyway, the theme I've been thinking about is RECORDING - TIPS AND TRICKS. I remember asking Phil whether he would do a video about this and then someone said that this would be a good idea for a podcast. As no one has done one so far I thought I'd try and branch out even more :D

As to the structure I have an idea to concentrate on three areas and perhaps divide the whole podcast according to the following plan (includes my tentative suggestions) :
1. Preparing yourself; e.g the stuff you eat or drink/absolutely don't eat or drink before recording and why, your recommended position during recording, is it better to record at a particular time of day, etc.
2. Preparing your equipment; e.g tips how to effectively adjust your mike, paper stand, etc. pros and cons of printouts versus reading off the screen, etc (NOTE 1: I know there's an old podcast installment about mikes, and I intend to listen to it to see if I could recycle some bits; NOTE 2: Audacity is obviously our tool too, but as Phil has been covering it in his great videos, I'm not sure if we should get in his way; what do you think?)
3. Preparing your surroundings: I don't have anything on my mind about this one now, but if you do, don't hesitate and contribute.

What do you think about the theme and the suggested division? Thoughs? Suggestions? :)
Want to hear some PREPARATION TIPS before you press "record"? Listen to THIS and THIS
Rowland
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Post by Rowland »

I think it is a good idea and theme for a Podcast, and if I can contribute in any way, just let me know.

Good luck!
Lars :)
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Cori
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Post by Cori »

I think that sounds like a great idea! I have podcast advice coming out of my ears, but I think the key thing I would suggest is to keep it fairly simple. This is advice I did not follow for my first one, and although I really liked how it turned out, it was overplanned, with too many people involved, and therefore took too long to do.

The weekly ones, you'll notice, aren't all that complicated. They vary in length, they tend to have a central theme, but it's fairly loose about what it is, and the production quality is listenable rather than trying to be perfect. It takes quite a bit of time to produce a show even like this, let alone having lots of whistles and bells. Not to put anyone off whistles and bells if that's fun (I've done several shows like that, and it IS fun ... just, not something I could find time for once a week, or even once a month.)


Preparing surroundings -- that might be things like turning noisy equipment off (no fans, aircon, TV, bubbly boilers), making sure pets are as settled as they can be, likewise family-members ;) And perhaps experimenting with portabooths, blanket forts and so on.
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Piotrek81
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Post by Piotrek81 »

Thanks, Lars. I'll be asking for contributions in a few days' time :)
Cori wrote:The weekly ones, you'll notice, aren't all that complicated. They vary in length, they tend to have a central theme, but it's fairly loose about what it is, and the production quality is listenable rather than trying to be perfect. It takes quite a bit of time to produce a show even like this, let alone having lots of whistles and bells. Not to put anyone off whistles and bells if that's fun (I've done several shows like that, and it IS fun ... just, not something I could find time for once a week, or even once a month.)
I'd be interested in all the podcast-creating advice you can give ;)
Is it similar to editing a play? It seems to me that it is, as you get several contributions and stitch them together. I've just finished editing a play, so I sort of know "what goes where", although including various fanciful sound effects and "bells and whistles" are, as you said time-consuming to put together (though optional).

I guess that in a day or two I'll start a thread to gain some visibility for this project.
Want to hear some PREPARATION TIPS before you press "record"? Listen to THIS and THIS
msfry
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Post by msfry »

The old site home page had a link to the Community Podcasts. I can't find a link on the new site. I searched the catalog for "podcasts", "community podcasts", and get no results. How do I get to them now? Thanks.
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

I don't know where on the new site, but searching at Archive pulls them up by year:
http://archive.org/search.php?query=librivox%20community%20podcast
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Rowland
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Post by Rowland »

In the new layout it says:

To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast

And by the way, my old RSS-feed did turn me to the new pages.

Lars
Good friends are like angels... ...you don't have to see them to know they are there
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