SoSHCast - Now part of Sports & Sorts!

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
We've published the first episode of what is going to be a weekly podcast from sonsofsamhorn.com. This is going to be a Sox-centric but not exclusive podcast that features two jackasses who love talking about baseball talking about... well, baseball.

If you are looking for something to add to your morning commute rotation, please give us a listen!

You can find the first episode embedded here. There is also a link directly to the Sound Cloud page that can be found there. It might not pop up immediately, as we just released the first one, but it should populate in the various podcast players soon.

Let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Edit: Here's the RSS feed for the new Sports & Shorts show. I appear every other week, mostly on Fridays.

http://sportsandsorts.libsyn.com/rss
 
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simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
4,723
Listening now. Can you guys get this up on Pocket Casts/itunes/Google Play et al?
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
First, thanks for listening. We really appreciate it.

And we are submitting the RSS feed to places, so if anyone has specific suggestions please post them here and we will make sure to get it out to those particular outlets. I know we have submitted to iTunes. I have Podcast Addict, Stitcher, Google Play and Pocket Casts on the list now.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
I'm on Downcast. Does this mean I'm from the Dark Ages?

Seriously, if I'm on an antiquated app, I would rather migrate to a better app than have our friends at the .com treat me like a special snowflake.

Sorry for the hijack. I'm hoping I won't be the only one who benefits from whatever advice this generates.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
There are dozens and dozens of podcast apps out there. We're simply not familiar with all of them. It only takes a few minutes to submit our podcast to each of them, and we only need to do it once for each app, so it's no trouble to add Downcast to the mix. I haven't used many of them but I'm really happy with Podcast Addict if you are looking for an alternative.

Edit: And it looks like some of these apps pull from other services. For example, Podcast Addict simply pulls from iTunes. So when we show up on iTunes, we'll show up there. Downcast might be similar.

Edit 2: And some services will not be reachable for us any time soon, unless they change their policies. For instance, Spotify only wants major affiliate partners like ABC, NBC, ESPN, etc.
 
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SumnerH

Malt Liquor Picker
Dope
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
31,893
Alexandria, VA
I have Podcast Addict, Stitcher, Google Play and Pocket Casts on the list now.
We're actually on Stitcher, so if you use it, search for us and subscribe, please and thank you!



I added you to Pocket Casts; they suggested:

Some of your episodes are missing a file length
Include the file length in bytes with each episode enclosure item: <enclosure url="http://www.yourhost.com/episode1.mp3" length="25209836" type="audio/mpeg" />
Until you're searchable in the app (which could take a few days), other pocket casts users can add via the direct URL:
http://pca.st/Zv1d


EDIT: I submitted you to podkicker, too; I think that and Pocket Casts are the top 2 Android podcast apps.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
Once we start showing up on iTunes, we will also populate in searches for Pocketcasts, Overcast, Podcast Addicts, Downcast, Acast, and iCatcher at the very least.

We've also submitted to Google Play and TuneIn.

We can't submit to Miro. There's an error in accepting any kind of image format or size and without being able to provide a profile image, they won't let us submit the feed. And they don't have a support team, just a forum where other users help each other, so this isn't going to be fixed.

Thank you for submitting us to Pocket Casts and podkicker, Sumner. I'll look into the file length issue.
 
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JesusQuintana

too conservative for P&G
SoSH Member
Mar 20, 2015
232
Smyrna, GA
I thought the first episode was great. Good topics, knowledgeable content, and no one who didn't know you would suspect that you live in your Moms' basements.

Looking forward to episode 2 (and beyond).
I hadn't seen this prior to today. Thanks so much, and I'll make sure to maintain my cover and not call up to my mom for any meatloaf mid-podcast.
 

Blacken

Robespierre in a Cape
SoSH Member
Jul 24, 2007
12,152
So I gave this a listen, and it's a little rough. I found it distracting enough that listening to the content was really difficult. Some suggestions:

- Don't record one side of a Skypecast if you can help it. Skype is really lossy and causes robot voices when in failure mode; yeah, the end result of a podcast is 64kbit mono, but the better your inputs, the better your output will be. You can do what's called a double-ender and record locally (have one person record the Skype cast as a backup), then edit both tracks together. (Also, if you have to record a Skype cast, do it on a wired network. It's a minor improvement, but it helps. And if you guys need to do a multiple-endpoint Skype cast...we can talk about that, as I have a multi-point setup that can handle 5-6 callers with minimal latency and about the highest quality you can reasonably expect, but Skype casts in general are starting with your foot in a bucket and they get worse with the more people you plug into it.)

- Audio outputs matter. These files should be between a quarter and a half of the size of the files you're putting up there. You should be using 64kbit monaural constant bit rate (CBR) MP3s, not 128kbit stereo VBRs. (CBR is important; don't neglect it.) Also, using LAME to encode is probably suboptimal, but that's the least of your worries.

- Levels. Damian is really low and Justin is ear-poppingly high. Get a DAW--Audacity is minimalist if fine, I use Logic--and try to pin all voices between -14dB and -10dB as a starting point. This will mean bringing some people up and some people down (though you should try to record with the microphone gain as high as you can without clipping when you laugh/get loud and without electrical hiss). You can do more stuff after that to make it sound better, but that's a start. (Some people will say "use Levelator"; Levelator is good but it's not magic and getting your audio to a consistent level is important on its own.) If both people are already being leveled similarly, more fiddling may be necessary because Justin is totally filling the audio space and the contrast with Damian's audio is just too much.

- Mic quality. Damian's audio is hissy and low, but Justin's is overmodulated and the microphone is no bueno at all. It sounds like a bad headset microphone. Decent microphones are cheap; I recommend the Samson Q2u for a podcast as it's a decent-quality USB-driven dynamic microphone and it's like sixty bucks. (I'd get a euro-style stand rather than a desk arm to get the microphone off the table, too, they're like twenty bucks.) You can do zero-latency monitoring by plugging your headphones straight into the mic, which will help you with...

- ...Mic technique. It's the roughest thing after the audio quality -- there's a lot of popping on both sides and there's some fading, as if people are moving around their microphones while they're talking. In particular (and not to pick on him), Justin shreds my ears every time he laughs; if he does the same thing I do, he does a bit of a sibilant start to a laugh so it causes a rattle before there's a heavy pop. That's death for a listening experience. Dan Benjamin has some good videos on microphone technique that are worth checking out.

- Room noise. I'm not sure if this is just microphone artifacts or it really is room noise, but room noise is going to be more of a problem anyway once you get better microphones (which you should do ASAP). Find somewhere quiet with soft objects in the room and minimal hard walls (hanging a blanket to talk towards is fine).
 
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JesusQuintana

too conservative for P&G
SoSH Member
Mar 20, 2015
232
Smyrna, GA
- Mic quality. Damian's audio is hissy and low, but Justin's is overmodulated and the microphone is no bueno at all. It sounds like a bad headset microphone. Decent microphones are cheap; I recommend the Samson Q2u for a podcast as it's a decent-quality USB-driven dynamic microphone and it's like sixty bucks. (I'd get a euro-style stand rather than a desk arm to get the microphone off the table, too, they're like twenty bucks.) You can do zero-latency monitoring by plugging your headphones straight into the mic, which will help you with...

- ...Mic technique. It's the roughest thing after the audio quality -- there's a lot of popping on both sides and there's some fading, as if people are moving around their microphones while they're talking. In particular (and not to pick on him), Justin shreds my ears every time he laughs; if he does the same thing I do, he does a bit of a sibilant start to a laugh so it causes a rattle before there's a heavy pop. That's death for a listening experience. Dan Benjamin has some good videos on microphone technique that are worth checking out.
While your entire post was super helpful I want to drill down a bit on these two points - I am using a Blue Yeti that I bought about a year ago, with my headphones directly plugged into it. Is it possible that my issue is all technique (and/or my desktop computer settings) than it is the quality of the microphone? I've tried messing with the gain and the four mode selections on the back of the mic, and it appears that whatever Damian hears directly from me through the mic does not match the actual output at the end of the day.

Basically, it seems to me that I still have some coarse adjustments to make before I even start thinking about the fine tuning.
 

sezwho

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
1,951
Isle of Plum
Great to hear a SOSH podcast, really looking forward to subsequent ones! Seems a natural evolution for SOSH to be rolling out its great content content in this format. I listened this time through the site directly but will subscribe through iTunes as soon as its available....
 

Blacken

Robespierre in a Cape
SoSH Member
Jul 24, 2007
12,152
While your entire post was super helpful I want to drill down a bit on these two points - I am using a Blue Yeti that I bought about a year ago, with my headphones directly plugged into it. Is it possible that my issue is all technique (and/or my desktop computer settings) than it is the quality of the microphone? I've tried messing with the gain and the four mode selections on the back of the mic, and it appears that whatever Damian hears directly from me through the mic does not match the actual output at the end of the day.

Basically, it seems to me that I still have some coarse adjustments to make before I even start thinking about the fine tuning.
A Yeti should be fine, Blue makes good entry-level gear. If you have one, it's probably setup/technique and Skype making a hash of your audio quality in general. If you can get a clean recording that isn't made harder to figure out by Skype's compression I might be able to be more helpful. Make sure you're running it in cardioid-pattern (the heart-shaped icon, not the circular polar one) and speaking directly into the front of it, over the Blue logo.

The stand that it comes with is too low for most use cases and I'd consider getting a stand like the one I referred in order to put the microphone at a comfortable level. Probably a pop filter/sleeve, too.

(The Yeti is a condenser mic, though, and runs hot enough that it's going to pick up a lot of room noise. But you can fix that after you fix your technique.)
 
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Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
So I gave this a listen, and it's a little rough. I found it distracting enough that listening to the content was really difficult. Some suggestions:

- Don't record one side of a Skypecast if you can help it. Skype is really lossy and causes robot voices when in failure mode; yeah, the end result of a podcast is 64kbit mono, but the better your inputs, the better your output will be. You can do what's called a double-ender and record locally (have one person record the Skype cast as a backup), then edit both tracks together. (Also, if you have to record a Skype cast, do it on a wired network. It's a minor improvement, but it helps. And if you guys need to do a multiple-endpoint Skype cast...we can talk about that, as I have a multi-point setup that can handle 5-6 callers with minimal latency and about the highest quality you can reasonably expect, but Skype casts in general are starting with your foot in a bucket and they get worse with the more people you plug into it.)

- Audio outputs matter. These files should be between a quarter and a half of the size of the files you're putting up there. You should be using 64kbit monaural constant bit rate (CBR) MP3s, not 128kbit stereo VBRs. (CBR is important; don't neglect it.) Also, using LAME to encode is probably suboptimal, but that's the least of your worries.

- Levels. Damian is really low and Justin is ear-poppingly high. Get a DAW--Audacity is minimalist if fine, I use Logic--and try to pin all voices between -14dB and -10dB as a starting point. This will mean bringing some people up and some people down (though you should try to record with the microphone gain as high as you can without clipping when you laugh/get loud and without electrical hiss). You can do more stuff after that to make it sound better, but that's a start. (Some people will say "use Levelator"; Levelator is good but it's not magic and getting your audio to a consistent level is important on its own.) If both people are already being leveled similarly, more fiddling may be necessary because Justin is totally filling the audio space and the contrast with Damian's audio is just too much.

- Mic quality. Damian's audio is hissy and low, but Justin's is overmodulated and the microphone is no bueno at all. It sounds like a bad headset microphone. Decent microphones are cheap; I recommend the Samson Q2u for a podcast as it's a decent-quality USB-driven dynamic microphone and it's like sixty bucks. (I'd get a euro-style stand rather than a desk arm to get the microphone off the table, too, they're like twenty bucks.) You can do zero-latency monitoring by plugging your headphones straight into the mic, which will help you with...

- ...Mic technique. It's the roughest thing after the audio quality -- there's a lot of popping on both sides and there's some fading, as if people are moving around their microphones while they're talking. In particular (and not to pick on him), Justin shreds my ears every time he laughs; if he does the same thing I do, he does a bit of a sibilant start to a laugh so it causes a rattle before there's a heavy pop. That's death for a listening experience. Dan Benjamin has some good videos on microphone technique that are worth checking out.

- Room noise. I'm not sure if this is just microphone artifacts or it really is room noise, but room noise is going to be more of a problem anyway once you get better microphones (which you should do ASAP). Find somewhere quiet with soft objects in the room and minimal hard walls (hanging a blanket to talk towards is fine).
Thank you for all the input. We would love to improve the technical quality of the show as much as possible, so I'll be digging into this as much as I can. That said, it reads like you listened to the first episode and not the second. My audio in the first episode was recorded with a headset that I'd used on a couple episodes of another podcast that seemed to work just fine, but I think that was just because the guy recording it was capturing it better than I am with our current setup.

Regardless, I bought a Blue Snowball iCE Condense Mic after that which we used in the second episode. A lot of what you are hearing on Justin's side was a result of me being so much quieter in that first recording and having to lower his track's volume so much. The second episode was significantly improved from that, though we still have plenty of room to improve.

I'm using Pamela Pro to record the calls on separate channels which makes it far easier to adjust. Justin still records significantly louder than I do, so one of the things we keep trying to do is find ways to get his input down each time we record or do a test. We're chipping away at it, but again... lot's of room to improve.

I also have been outputting as a WAV file since I was having trouble with the mp3's not handling the output very well. It would sound even in audacity, then Justin would be 4x louder in the mp3. I read that a 16bit WAV would work better on one of the forums I found in googling the issue. Now that my input is much cleaner with a better mic, I can try going back to an mp3 with the output.

And I love the idea of us each recording ourselves locally with Skype and Pamela running as a backup. I can record through Audacity and Justin has an editing program as well, that I'm sure can do the same. I'd just need to find a way to "slate" it up front that both recordings will pick up on so I can sync it accurately. Any suggestions?

Even if you can only spare a couple minutes, could you play a bit of the second episode and comment on the differences? I'd greatly appreciate any input you might have on the adjustments we made.

Thanks again. I'll check out that MP3 link before the next episode and we'll continue to work to improve the technical quality, as well as our content, delivery, etc.
 

doctorogres

New Member
Aug 27, 2010
115
I do low key production on a couple of business podcasts. I'm by no means an audio engineer but one free tool we use, Levelator, seems to really help balance the audio quality of interviews. Need to give it an AIFF of just the dialogue, and then add show intro/outro to the outpout and re-encode as MP3. You should make a stab at adjustments first, and then use Levelator to finish the job.
 

SumnerH

Malt Liquor Picker
Dope
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
31,893
Alexandria, VA
(Some people will say "use Levelator"; Levelator is good but it's not magic and getting your audio to a consistent level is important on its own.)
I do low key production on a couple of business podcasts. I'm by no means an audio engineer but one free tool we use, Levelator, seems to really help balance the audio quality of interviews. Need to give it an AIFF of just the dialogue, and then add show intro/outro to the outpout and re-encode as MP3. You should make a stab at adjustments first, and then use Levelator to finish the job.
For emphasis; Levelator is a great finishing tool but it's not a substitute for proper recording and some initial adjustments beforehand.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
For emphasis; Levelator is a great finishing tool but it's not a substitute for proper recording and some initial adjustments beforehand.
Yeah, even with the improvements we made between episodes 1 and 2 I still had to do some significant editing and made some heavy adjustments to the levels.

I wouldn't expect to be able to skip any of that.
 

dirtynine

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 17, 2002
8,394
Philly
Just subscribed in Pocket Casts, looking forward to a first listen. Definitely record locally and merge the files if possible - it makes a ton of difference in sounding professional.

Also one idea for promotion - Overcast is now accepting ads for podcasts that allow users to subscribe right in the app. You can buy ads that listeners if certain user segments (like sports-podcast-listeners) will see. It may be worth exploring if you have a modest budget - raising awareness among listeners of a few key established podcasts would be a quick way to having the right folks find you.

Congrats!
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
Episode 3 is live! We talk about the WBC, more Spring Training, Henry Owens, Andrew Benintendi hitting 3rd, and the Atlanta Braves farm system.

We recorded each track locally which seems to have helped a great deal. It presented us with a new challenge, but I think it was still an improvement over week two, and a big improvement over week one.

We each used Audacity to record our own mic input while Pamela ran in the background as a backup in case either recording wasn't usable. I also used the Pamela recording to sync the other two tracks. Unfortunately, each of our Audacity recordings picked up a very faint recording of the other mic somehow and we're not quite sure how. Neither of us were using speakers. We both record with a mic and headphones, so it wasn't residual noise or feedback.

All I had to do was cut my audio when Justin was speaking since the only time it led to any echoing was when my track was supposedly quiet. Justin's may have done something similar, but it had a very low hum in the room tone which may have covered it.

If anyone has a better solution for recording locally that doesn't require Justin and I to purchase recording devices like a zoom, we'd appreciate it.

Other than that, we hope you enjoy!
 
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simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
4,723
Yeah, quality was much better on this one.

The feedback was something more than headphone bleed?
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
Yeah, quality was much better on this one.

The feedback was something more than headphone bleed?
I'm not sure. It might actually be picking it up from the Skype call itself. It's workable, since I can just drop the audio of whomever isn't speaking, but it's a little extra work. I can see if maybe being more careful about syncing will take care of it. I thought I had it lined up perfectly, but it's possible I was off by a fraction of a second which made it noticeable.

We'll keep plugging away at it. And we'll keep trying to incorporate the suggestions we are getting. We appreciate all of it.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
Thank you for the subscription. We're going to try to get an episode recorded tonight for release tomorrow, but we might have to push it back to tomorrow for recording and Tuesday morning for publication. We'll post a link here as soon as it's up!
 

Rasputin

Will outlive SeanBerry
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 4, 2001
29,422
Not here
I just subscribed on iTunes and left a review as well. The first four episodes have all been good stuff if a little ragged around the edges. You still sound like you're a little bit nervous to be doing a podcast and I imagine that will go away soon.
 

SirPsychoSquints

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 13, 2005
5,013
Pittsburgh, PA
I'm enjoying it! A couple of suggestions which may be specific to my listening experience.

The volume is lower than my other podcasts. I frequently listen in the car and have to crank the volume way up, or in the shower and I can't hear it at max volume.

There were a couple of times where you used pronouns only ("he") when discussing a player for a while. I start and stop my podcasts often and sometimes (I admit) I'm not listening fully. At those times, it can be difficult for me to track the conversation.
 

brs3

sings praises of pinstripes
SoSH Member
May 20, 2008
5,200
Jackson Heights, NYC
I like what I'm hearing. Your voices are good for podcasts. Couple of ideas:

Twitter usernames: Would you guys consider changing your usernames to be SoSH/baseball related? Immediately after you say your twitter names, I forgot them. SoSHDamian and SoSHJustin are available, for example, and way easier to remember if you're looking for potential interactions. There are lots of theories on the best way to cultivate on Twitter, but I think an easy to remember name can be a big difference. Creating a baseball-specific Twitter account isn't a bad idea either, but again,10 people will tell you 10 different ways to maximize Twitter.

Article references to SoSH Baseball: The Bartolo Colon article was posted today, but mentioning in the podcast would be great to tie it back to the site. This week's podcast is Sox heavy, but Bartolo being a former Sox seems like a natural reference article on the .com towards the end of the podcast(e.g. Where Are They Now? Old Friend Bartolo is in ATL!). I've only listened to the latest episode, so if you're already referencing articles on the .com, that's great.

Inside Baseball: Referencing Matt Barnes as a Mike Timlin comparison - it was great, but you guys agreed and let it go. Remembering Mike Timlin played for the Sox 9 years ago and there might be casual/new/young Sox fan listeners, it might be worth the 30 seconds to explain what a Mike Timlin type is. There's such great analysis in the podcast, it seems like an easy thing to include. Also it's an excuse to talk about World Champions.

Really looking forward to this this season. I'll do my part to tweet it out and share.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
Thank you for the input, both of you. The volume is something I can experiment with but there is some work put into each episode to get our levels into the same range, which might be part of what's going on there. I'll see if I can find a tweak or an adjustment that will help.

The rest are great thoughts and we will certainly take some time to discuss them before the next episode. The point about expanding on the Mike Timlin refrence is especially well taken and we'll be careful to not leave something like that hanging in the future.

Thanks for listening! We appreciate the support and the feedback.
 

JesusQuintana

too conservative for P&G
SoSH Member
Mar 20, 2015
232
Smyrna, GA
Wow, seriously thanks a lot. This is great feedback.

At the risk of agreeing too much with Snod, the Timlin point is huge - I would have been clueless that we left that out to dry had you not pointed it out. We do like going on tangents when we can, I can't believe we missed that opportunity!

Thanks for listening and making us better.
 

Rasputin

Will outlive SeanBerry
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 4, 2001
29,422
Not here
One small suggestion. As I was putting together a playlist today, I noticed that the episode name is just "Episode 6."

Most shows either put an abbreviation of the show name, a summary of what's in the episode, or both there. Something like "SOSHCast 06 -- Sam Travis is HAWT!! and Opening Day" would be in line with what I see.

It makes it easier to find which shows you want to listen to and all that fun stuff.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

Don't know him from Adam
SoSH Member
Mar 14, 2006
9,419
Kernersville, NC
One small suggestion. As I was putting together a playlist today, I noticed that the episode name is just "Episode 6."

Most shows either put an abbreviation of the show name, a summary of what's in the episode, or both there. Something like "SOSHCast 06 -- Sam Travis is HAWT!! and Opening Day" would be in line with what I see.

It makes it easier to find which shows you want to listen to and all that fun stuff.
Agreed, especially for people that want to go back and listen down the road.