Oh man oh man oh man! I’m excited for many different reasons, none of which have anything to do with my upcoming experiments for recording Skype interviews for future podcasts. This last time we had a fine time chatting with Tim Shabanowitz over in Boston Massachusetts about the weather and Serbian deli food, and we did it live, which worked well for those of us on either end. For the podcast audience, however, the audio quality did not overly impress. That’s because at the last minute I realized I had no way of recording both the incoming stream (what my sound card calls “What U Hear”, yes, with the vowel substituted for the pronoun, as if it took too long to read the entire three letters of “You”) and the incoming stream from the microphone. Forced to record the audio coming through the speakers with the microphone = Lowest. Quality. Ever.
So last night I did a bit of investigating. Turns out you can easily record both if you have a separate device or a piece of software that sadly, isn’t free. What? In this golden age of ecologically friendly vehicles and Paris Hilton and a China-compliant Google? You have to pay for software? What an outrage! Reminds me of UK artist Adam Neate who believes Art should be free. No word on whether that’s Art with a capital A or the lowerclass, lowercase, proletarian art. Annnnyway.
I believe I have a method of doing future interviews which will render a more positive listening experience for all. No, it does not involve black magic, voodoo chickens, or the cloning of Vincent Price, though it is diabolical in its simplicity.
No, I’m excited because I have a trip back to the East Coast for a few days coming up in a week and a half. My former roommate John Irwin is getting hitched, so I figured I’d come down for the free food and champagne. One can only hope they have champagne. Or at least a goodly amount of vodka. I’ve got a lot on my plate, though, so the next few weeks are going to be packed with interesting things that seem more important than they actually are.
See him adjust style sheets to effect change in his online portfolio! See him check his word count and beam in delight as the number 40,000 ticks over! See him wince as he misses yet another chance to ask the girl who came into the coffee shop three times today what her name is! She wanted me…
It feels like the last week and a half I’ve done nothing but design web sites and write paltry snippets in my novel. I feel good about it all, of course, but that’s because I’m satisfied with simple things. The pleasure of a day spent writing in the coffee shop is equatable to my love of hamburgers, which isn’t that obvious of a statement, unless you have read previously of my love for the burger. It’s intense, it is. So now you know.
And knowing is half the battle.