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I'm Against Podcasts

washingtonpost.com

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Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#71

Post by viridian »

fivre wrote: post #23
smacktoward wrote: post #5

> Podcasts are bad because podcasts sound bad — and podcasts sound bad because podcasters aren’t thinking hard enough about what their talk sounds like. But this is exactly why we should cherish podcasts! They're one of the last vestiges of the old, weird, free Internet that we have left. Podcasts (mostly) sound bad because the people making them are (mostly) amateurs, which means they don't know the ins and outs of…

Hell, I can deal with shitty microphones, I just wish people would figure out that you need to record all speakers' audio independently and not rely on Skype or Discord or whatever relaying it to a single location. Robovoice is the worst.

You don't need to necessarily have independent audio streams to have good audio, just independent sources. I did a podcast up until January, and as the person doing the editing, I found zero benefit to having one input stream per microphone, and ultimately I eventually just started outputting the multiple inputs as a single dual channel stream. Podcasts that aren't in person are rough to listen to though, for sure. The ability to read body language and respond without weird little timing idiosyncrasies just isn't there with Skype.

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#72

Post by basetop »

theshadowknows wrote: post #60

This is just an ad for a book. He wraps it inside an inflammatory opinion piece. But it’s really just an ad. Why isn’t that obvious to people?

Thank you. I wish newspapers would stop this deceptive practice or openly mark the "article" as an ad. It's far worse than clickbait titles to me since I can immediately spot the clickbait, but you won't realize the article is an ad until you've read the damn thing.

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#73

Post by jhbadger »

learc83 wrote: post #25
smacktoward wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like podcasts are similar to, but not exactly the same as, talk radio. Most talk radio formats are built around listeners calling in, for instance, which can provide a degree of spontaneity that isn't possible in a prerecorded format like a podcast. (Which gives me an excuse to link to the classic Mr. Show sketch, "Pre-Taped Call-In Show": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhVbLJvYP8s ) That being said, I do thi…

I always hated it when listeners called in on talk radio. They very rarely had anything insightful to day, and even if they did, they general weren't able to convey it clearly.

Yeah, the whole "Long time listener, first time caller" thing where they take like a minute before they get to their question, if indeed they actually have one. To be fair, I see this sort of thing in person fairly often in scientific seminars where somebody "asks a question" but spends time first complimenting the speaker on the seminar, and then spends a couple of minutes just making comments rather than actually asking an answerable question.

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#74

Post by jplayer01 »

prions wrote: post #26

This was the best quote of the article for me: Forget the lousy microphones and the dinky interstitial stock music — the thing that derails most podcasts is the blab. There are two kinds, more or less. The first is that soft, inquisitive staccato popularized by Ira Glass on “This American Life,” the source from which so much pod-voice appears to have sprung. The ubiquitous NPR Voice/Sound is really what turns me off…

So don't listen to NPR? I don't understand how any of this is a reflection of podcasts as a whole. There are so many different podcasters and organisations all doing it completely differently. It's one of the most democratic forms of media consumption that I'm aware of - you can pick any platform, you can pick whatever you want to listen to, you're not locked into a certain player or anything else. If you don't like the way one podcast sounds, listen another podcast.

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#75

Post by ianai »

bunderbunder wrote: post #33
freddie_mercury wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you're talking about "the ins and outs of audio recording". The author makes clear that's not what he's talking about. In the very next sentence after your quote he writes: >Forget the lousy microphones and the dinky interstitial stock music — the thing that derails most podcasts is the blab. And later on he explains again . >By “sound good,” I meant that I wanted podcasts to sound considered. Anyway…

I, too, dislike the "eavesdropping on other people's tipsy pub conversation" genre of podcasts. I generally don't love the professionalized "least common denominator of an NPR listening audience's tastes, delivered in carefully rehearsed NPR voice" podcasts, either. My solution is to not bother with those podcasts. There are so many others that I find to be more worthy of my time. Admittedly, it's probably a small fr…

When do people take in their podcasts? I’m thinking it’s during he work commute or at work?

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#76

Post by p0nce »

I know a few podcasters and one thing they seem not well prepared for is the extreme difficulty of voice recording and processing. In particular sibilance control and dynamics are just really difficult. Having a good vocal sound takes a lot of experience. I can't really blame them, as quality of content is probably most important.

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#77

Post by village-idiot »

.... so don’t listen to them? I don’t understand why someone’s personal media preferences require an editorial.

I’m pretty meh on TV, but you don’t see me writing a few hundred words on it because I understand that nobody gives a shit about my media preferences.

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#79

Post by bluedino »

jpm_sd wrote: post #16

I love listening to goofy podcasts that are just a few friends shooting the shit. Middling-to-low production value is part of the charm. One of my recent favorites is The Greatest Generation [0], which is about Star Trek, mostly. https://art19.com/shows/the-greatest-generation

It's not technically a podcast, but I enjoy listening to James Rolfe and friends (The Angry video Game Nerd) discuss old movies on his youtube channel (cinemassacre)

Re: I'm Against Podcasts

#80

Post by Kye »

The author needs to find better podcasts. He acknowledges this, but still remains dismissive of podcasts. The Knowledge Project and Exponent replaced every self-help babbler and tech blogger for me. My Brother, My Brother and Me and The Dollop are better entertainment than most of the best TV shows and movies.

It's interesting that this is the opposite of one of the more convincing podcast takes I've seen. I forget who it was, but they argued that podcasts and video were a return to the visual and verbal storytelling and information sharing that pervaded before the relatively limited--in some ways--written word took over. That might have been an Exponent episode...

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