Blog 4.29.24
Friday night I recorded a lengthy interview with Nelson Valente Aguilar of the band Como Las Movies. I’m excited to share it when it’s finally edited and published. Right now I have three episodes waiting to be released – a poet, a filmmaker, and a musician. All three super talented.
The Qreative Life podcast launched late last year, and I got a bee in my bonnet this past week to up game. So I selected some new theme music and recorded a new intro/outro. On Saturday, I tried to go back and re-edit my existing episodes with the new theme, but for some reason the original files weren’t loading. I kept getting an error message from Audacity (the audacity!) saying there was data missing. I find this very strange since I had all the data files saved. But after publishing these episodes, I’ve gone back and noticed they aren’t there. Or, if they are, they’re hidden/corrupted. Anyway, trying to edit the final versions and make them sound good with the new music would be way more trouble than its worth. So, I’m going to launch Season 2 with the updated music and go from there.
Podcasting is the one creative thing I do that I can honestly say I do entirely for myself. I love it. The entire process – interviewing, editing, and promoting. I go back regularly and listen to old episodes because the conversations are so rich and I learn new things every time I re-listen. I make zero dollars from any of this, despite spending an enormous amount of time (and my own money) on it. But it’s worth it for me, and I can’t say exactly why.
When I was a kid I would spend hours making recorded “radio” shows. I’d interview my brother, make shit up and generally act a fool. I think my brother still has one of our old tapes. I ought to find a way to get that thing digitized so I can enjoy it. It’s all crap, of course. Just some weird little kid fucking around with their voice. But it kept me occupied for many hours in my youth. So I suppose it’s not surprising that I took to podcasting as an adult.
Anyway, I think a lot about this because it’s one of those things that takes work – a lot of work, actually – and yet, I’m having fun the whole time. Some people find editing audio tedious, but I tell you, it’s some of the most satisfying work I’ve ever done. You just get into a flow with it and you don’t think about anything for hours. Often when I have to stop, it’s more because of the fatigue of sitting for so long rather than feeling burned out.
I’d like to get even better at it. Right now I’m using Zoom to record which isn’t ideal. The audio file comes as one track, and the sound is meh. I use free software to edit, which I guess isn’t a bad thing, but I’m not that familiar with how to use it. There are things I need to learn, and I don’t have a ton of extra resources for classes or whatever. Everything I’ve learned about recording and editing so far I learned as part of a job I had a few years ago.
I’d love suggestions, recommendations or references for things that can help me up my game.
Meanwhile, if you’re interested in listening – my podcast is called The Qreative Life podcast, and you can find it here:
- Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/ajtOT
- Spotify: https://shorturl.at/nsxzW
- Amazon Music: https://shorturl.at/eiPXZ
- RSS Feed (manual add): https://anchor.fm/s/e9d1c128/podcast/rss
