scottlo radio blog

Note: Below is the text from Alan’s blog post for LoDown 024. Tomorrow, I hope to return with number 25.

cc licensed ( BY SA ) flickr photo shared by Bruce McKay

When the clams and worcestershire get Scottlo too low to do his daily show, well, they can call in the Dog, that is CogDog, to lend a paw (it’s tricky fitting a pencil behind the ears). This is my first run at doing a show, and depending on how His Lowness reacts, it might be the last.

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Justing coming off today’s marathon ds106 zone radio show really energized me; I am not reviewing the shows in detail, but want to commend everyone for the work down to produce the shows, and emphasize all that stuff to get there is as much the learning as the final show. I do note the ginormous magnitude of week 4′s tasks, which is actually only half of week 4 given that the first round of movie work is due Thursday.

And the reaction? Claire and Jessica were quick to tweet the reaction

Omg. This week in #ds106 is going to be killer.

— Claire Patrick (@Cekp1234) June 10, 2013

Just looked at this weeks schedule for #ds106 #omg #somuch #dontknowwhattostartonfirst

— Jessica Ledford (@JessicaCole22) June 10, 2013

I offer some obvious advice, and outline what is important in doing video work, no matter what software used. The big thing students, is not to let your wheels spin too long, ask for help sooner than later, or not.

I took a look at the student’s who started out of the gate fast, the rest of you have 2 days to burn! Cited in the podcast are:

• Bowties and Skulls (not sure of their name, an “About” page would be nice) got a great start with Look, Listen, Analyze scene from Nightmare at 20,000 feet, Exploring Nightmare at 20000 Feet Even More, and What Are the Genres of YouTube?: “Internet Killed Television”. I note that the genre she described reminded me of maybe the first internet video peek into someone’s everyday life, back in 1996 when Jenny Cam started.
• Kelly’s Play by Play (please, aim for some more clever titles! That’s what grabs our attentionli>and her Making a scene from a horror film preperation
• Jessica’s Macarena TDC (to I Want Candy)
• Andrew Thomas Macarena (with coach in the mirror!)
• Katy’s Out of Focus Daily Create photo

Music used in LoDown 24:

• “Low” by Cracker
• “Dig The Dog” by Night Trains (hat tip to @easegill for turning me on to this song via ds106 radio)
• plus some lifted clips from LoDown 015

And that’s a wrap!

Note: Below is the text from Rochelle’s and Amber’s post for LoDown 23. Tomorrow, Alan Levine will be behind the mic to bring us LoDown 24.

Rockylou’s (Rochelle Lockridge‘s) first foray into guest hosting the DS106 LoDown (episode 17) was a success. However, the original recorded “interview” between my daughter Amber and I, chatting about our experience producing our own podcasts, provided us with almost 30 minutes of airtime. That was too long for the editing, post-production phase with the time constraints I was under. And I sense our listeners aren’t so keen on sitting down and listening to something that long either. So we decided to split it into two parts.

Amber is the author of our Obruni podcasts, based on short stories and letters she wrote as an AFS exchange student to Ghana, Africa in 2000. In part two she shares the differences in writing for reading and writing for audio. We then pick up our sound effect conversation from part 1. I was surprised to learn that her initial reaction when she sits down to decide on what sound effect goes where is:

“PANIC… I don’t know how I pulled this off last time… I’m never going to be able to do this again.”
…especially during those times when we needed to create our own sound effects like her head hitting a pillow at the end of the day, or her agitated shuffling feet as she tries to sit still on a stool during her marathon hair braiding experience.

Amber’s advice?

“You really have to go for it. You can’t hold back. It has to be like a small child trying to imitate a sound. You just have to let it rip!”
Thanks again to scottlo for giving us this opportunity to guest host not just one, but two episodes of the LoDown.

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Wesley’s recent commercial for the LoDown kicks of this 23rd installment. I love the way he brought in some audio from Professor Groom to set up his killer tag line: The LoDown is no joke. Brilliant and well executed, Wesley – thank you.

I also spent a bit of time at the end with the recent Talky Tina vs. The Monster submission from Charles. This clip provides an example of the situation I mentioned in an earlier LoDown when the difference in background noise between two recordings calls too much attention to itself. Through the use of a continuous track of another sound on another track, in this case road noise, it is possible to soften the difference between the two primary recordings.

None of this is meant as a criticism of the work Charles did. He did the hard work of deciding on the bits of dialog, collecting them and them trying to weave them together. I think you executed this remarkably well, Charles. But I also think the idea of doing this as a video mash-up with newly recorded voice overs and background music could be a winner.

Looking ahead, I’m going to take a break for the next two days. That means guest hosts. Rochelle and Amber will conclude their discussion from an earlier episode tomorrow. And on Wednesday, Alan is slated to take the mic. Both of these promise to be memorable episodes, so don’t miss them.

And hopefully, I’ll be back on Thursday with episode 25. Until then…

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It’s only because of inspiring and excellent work being done by so many folks in the ds106zone that this podcast is able to continue day after day. Two cases in point are Katy’s Watch out it’s a driveby audio assignment and Rochelle’s Reflecting on ds106 recording. And by the time tomorrow comes, there will be nearly half-a-dozen original radio plays to listen to.

I’m still not sure how and when those plays will be presented on #ds106radio. Hopefully information will be available by the time of the next LoDown.

Returning for a moment to Rochelle’s offer to help facilitate ds106zone self-reflection recordings through Skype conversations, to something pretty cool she’s been working on. Her Meet ds106 page provides an example of how the audio reflections will eventually be presented. On that page, there is a link to a form through which participants can sign up to be part of this project.

This still early days for the project. I’m not even sure if Jim knows about this yet. But I imagine he might well give it his blessing – or he might talk some more smack. One never can tell with the Bava.

Until tomorrow…

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Week three of ds106zone is soon to be a distant memory. Everyone is scrambling to pull the radio plays together. And the LoDown keeps chugging along. The effort was greatly aided today by audio contributions from John and Brian as well a thought provoking series of emails back and forth with RockyLou.

The Levelator from the Conversations Network is the audio utility that John recommended. This is a very powerful free tool that works for Mac, Linux and Windows operating systems. Basically, it is a one step automated solution to dealing with recordings that have varying volume levels. Check it out.

As mentioned in the recording, RockyLou is offering to assist students in creating a 3-5 audio piece which will serve as a reflection on the ds106zone experience. Obviously, this is an optional task (for the moment) and folks are free to do it on their as they best see fit. But Rochelle did come up with a template that might be of use in thinking about how to frame and get started with a self-reflective audio recording. I excerpt from her email below (with permission):

Hi my name is….
I’m from ….
I’m a UMW student, or an open online student/mentor, etc.
What brought you to DS106?
Why are you still here?

And as mentioned previously, get in touch with me by email if you’d like to host an entire episode of the LoDown during week 4 or week 5. The email address is mentioned in the recording.

Until tomorrow…

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It’s great to be back with another LoDown installment. This recording features a few tips for dealing with your volume levels in Audacity. Even though we are nearly done with Audio week, these principals will still apply when we turn to video next week and beyond. And they might even be of use to those of you who are just now beginning to record and edit your radio shows which are due Sunday at midnight.

I also spoke a bit near the end about a revised idea for those who would like to be a part of the LoDown. Anyone who wishes to host and produce an installment is welcome to. But you’ll need to contact me by email stating which day you want (best if I get it a few days prior). But the revised idea is to do one or two magazine type shows consisting of short self-reflective segments in which students relate something from the ds106zone experience. Details and my email address are in the recording, so check it out if interested.

Relevant Links:

• Don Wilson announcer from the Jack Benny Show
• Andrew Thomas Experience’s scottlo commercial
• Kenny Delmar announcer for the Fred Allen show in the late 40′s
• Amplify and Normalize effects in Audacity
• Envelope editing in Audacity

Until tomorrow:

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