Author Topic: Dave Shoots First -- My Wannabe Superhero Kids Book/Podcast  (Read 35284 times)

Listener

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Reply #25 on: July 25, 2008, 09:22:26 PM
Episode 3: Special Edition, is out now!  I'll try to get Episode out before next weekend's over. 
PLEASE fix the voice balance so it's more evenly spread across both channels.  It's really bothersome to have it almost completely in the left ear; sometimes when I listen I can only have one earphone and it's usually the right.

I'll work on it some more.  Honestly, I'm having a bitch of the time figuring out what the problem is.  It doesn't seem to be an equalizer problem (although it was on the first episode).  The music plays it both ears, right?  Maybe I should just record everything next time on the music track/channel.

Anyway, I will work on it.  Thanks for caring enough to mention it again and stick with it.

Perhaps you only have a mono input on your microphone/mic line in.  If that is the case, you can "force" it to become dual-channel by mixing it down.  I can do it in Adobe Audition; not so much in Audacity because I've never used that product.

If you have an audio board (you can get them at Guitar Center or similar; they have some good ones under $150) you can plug your microphone into that, and the board will spit out a stereo signal into your computer.  If your computer's mic/line-in port is stereo, this will solve the problem.  (Or, at least, it should.)  Go to a music store, talk to a production guy, ask his opinion.  (Or her opinion, if it's a girl.)  Or call a friend who works in radio.

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Reply #26 on: July 30, 2008, 05:32:08 PM
Episode 3: Special Edition, is out now!  I'll try to get Episode out before next weekend's over. 
PLEASE fix the voice balance so it's more evenly spread across both channels.  It's really bothersome to have it almost completely in the left ear; sometimes when I listen I can only have one earphone and it's usually the right.

New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt.  Listener wanted more of the freckle-faced redhead with attitude.  Here she is. 

(Does it bother anyone that I update this here? I was thinking about stopping, but it seems like I get more discussion here than I do on the actual page  :D so I keep doing it.)


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Reply #27 on: July 30, 2008, 05:45:48 PM
(Does it bother anyone that I update this here? I was thinking about stopping, but it seems like I get more discussion here than I do on the actual page  :D so I keep doing it.)

I have no problem with it.

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Listener

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Reply #28 on: July 30, 2008, 05:52:29 PM
Episode 3: Special Edition, is out now!  I'll try to get Episode out before next weekend's over. 
PLEASE fix the voice balance so it's more evenly spread across both channels.  It's really bothersome to have it almost completely in the left ear; sometimes when I listen I can only have one earphone and it's usually the right.

New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt.  Listener wanted more of the freckle-faced redhead with attitude.  Here she is. 

(Does it bother anyone that I update this here? I was thinking about stopping, but it seems like I get more discussion here than I do on the actual page  :D so I keep doing it.)

So are you actually doing write-revise-podcast?  Or are you podcasting chapters you wrote a while back while working on new ones like 5-6 down the road?

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Reply #29 on: July 30, 2008, 05:59:30 PM
New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt. 

My download in iTunes showed the title as Ep. 3 not Ep. 4.  Just an annoying little issue.

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Reply #30 on: July 30, 2008, 06:15:18 PM
New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt. 

My download in iTunes showed the title as Ep. 3 not Ep. 4.  Just an annoying little issue.

Ugh.  That is annoying.  Sorry!  I'll see if I can fix it once I get home.


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Reply #31 on: July 30, 2008, 06:17:14 PM
Episode 3: Special Edition, is out now!  I'll try to get Episode out before next weekend's over. 
PLEASE fix the voice balance so it's more evenly spread across both channels.  It's really bothersome to have it almost completely in the left ear; sometimes when I listen I can only have one earphone and it's usually the right.

New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt.  Listener wanted more of the freckle-faced redhead with attitude.  Here she is. 

(Does it bother anyone that I update this here? I was thinking about stopping, but it seems like I get more discussion here than I do on the actual page  :D so I keep doing it.)

So are you actually doing write-revise-podcast?  Or are you podcasting chapters you wrote a while back while working on new ones like 5-6 down the road?

I've got the whole book written, actually, and I'm only just polishing it up a bit before I podcast it.  Except for the next episode.  That one, I decided to totally scrap and rewrite because I wasn't happy with what I had anymore, and I thought it'd be a good little experiement for me. 

So the way it worked out with your comment was a happy accident :)


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Reply #32 on: July 30, 2008, 06:23:22 PM
Episode 3: Special Edition, is out now!  I'll try to get Episode out before next weekend's over. 
PLEASE fix the voice balance so it's more evenly spread across both channels.  It's really bothersome to have it almost completely in the left ear; sometimes when I listen I can only have one earphone and it's usually the right.

New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt.  Listener wanted more of the freckle-faced redhead with attitude.  Here she is. 

(Does it bother anyone that I update this here? I was thinking about stopping, but it seems like I get more discussion here than I do on the actual page  :D so I keep doing it.)

So are you actually doing write-revise-podcast?  Or are you podcasting chapters you wrote a while back while working on new ones like 5-6 down the road?

I've got the whole book written, actually, and I'm only just polishing it up a bit before I podcast it.  Except for the next episode.  That one, I decided to totally scrap and rewrite because I wasn't happy with what I had anymore, and I thought it'd be a good little experiement for me. 

So the way it worked out with your comment was a happy accident :)

Indeed.  Something similar happened while I was posting "Shell Game" -- I did it 2-3 chapters in advance, and people were starting to guess about the plot developments.

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Reply #33 on: July 30, 2008, 06:33:47 PM
New episode's up now!  Girls Just Wanna Kick Butt. 

My download in iTunes showed the title as Ep. 3 not Ep. 4.  Just an annoying little issue.

Ugh.  That is annoying.  Sorry!  I'll see if I can fix it once I get home.

No problem.  I just thought you'd want to know.  

BTW I loved the episode.  Street Fighter II brought back a lot of fun memories.  My friend always played Blanca and he always kicked my butt.  For some reason, I always played E. Honda.  I think I just picked him once and liked his 100-hand slap power, so I became determined to see if I could win all the way with him, and I did, a fortune's worth of quarters later.  Sometimes I think if I would have saved all of the money I spent on comic books and video games as a kid, I'd be a rich man.

I didn't say anything last episode, but the "Telepathy?  That's a girl's power." line made me laugh.  It sounded like a perfect replay of what two boys talking about comics would say.  Very funny.

It's good not to worry about people comparing this story to your more chilling stuff.  It just shows you can write lots of different type of stuff.  I'm enjoying it.

Facehuggers don't have heads!

Come with me and Journey Into... another fun podcast


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Reply #34 on: August 21, 2008, 05:26:39 PM
The Unbelievable Origin of Cyberpunk is up!  Last episode, Dominic cracked open the very first issue of the Cyberpunk comic to share with Anne.  This episode is that comic book.  It was fun to read a slightly darker thriller in the midst of this light-hearted kids book.  And I'm obviously very happy with the way the rewrite of it all turned out. 

Thanks for your patience.  I hope it was worth your wait!


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Reply #35 on: August 21, 2008, 07:41:10 PM
What is your recording setup and your editing software?  I'm pretty sure this left channel problem is something that will make you slap yourself and go "that was the problem!!??"



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Reply #36 on: August 21, 2008, 08:06:14 PM
What is your recording setup and your editing software?  I'm pretty sure this left channel problem is something that will make you slap yourself and go "that was the problem!!??"


Are you listening to the current episode?  It should be fixed by now, but if it's not, let me know.  (It sounded okay on my headphones, at least.)  It did make me slap myself when I found out that was the problem.  (It was on stereo input instead of channel 1 or channel 2.)
« Last Edit: August 21, 2008, 08:16:07 PM by DKT »



Listener

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Reply #37 on: August 22, 2008, 01:07:43 AM
What is your recording setup and your editing software?  I'm pretty sure this left channel problem is something that will make you slap yourself and go "that was the problem!!??"


Are you listening to the current episode?  It should be fixed by now, but if it's not, let me know.  (It sounded okay on my headphones, at least.)  It did make me slap myself when I found out that was the problem.  (It was on stereo input instead of channel 1 or channel 2.)

If it persists, try mixing down your stereo voice track to a mono track, then laying it into your timeline.  When you master the 'cast as stereo, it SHOULD evenly distribute to both channels 1 and 2.

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Reply #38 on: August 22, 2008, 02:22:29 AM


Are you listening to the current episode?  It should be fixed by now, but if it's not, let me know.  (It sounded okay on my headphones, at least.)  It did make me slap myself when I found out that was the problem.  (It was on stereo input instead of channel 1 or channel 2.)

No I haven't yet, but I suspected you had it set on stereo so I'm sure it's fixed now.  :-) 



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Reply #39 on: August 23, 2008, 10:55:00 AM
I can tell from the latest chapter that you really love comics, because this really does read like an origin story... start with something horrible happening now, flash back, etc...

You called Cyberpunk "Billy Gibson" on purpose, I'm guessing, as an homage to William Gibson?

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Reply #40 on: August 23, 2008, 12:48:40 PM
The signal of success, Dave:

I get in the car the other day with my daughter and my iPod, and before I can make a selection my seven year old daughter says,"Do you have any more episodes of Superspiff and the Toothpick kid?"

Somebody out there is waiting in anticipation!  :)

As an amusing sidenote, she also commented about how much she liked the music. Imagine her surprise when I told her where it came from.  :P

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Reply #41 on: August 25, 2008, 07:58:40 PM
Just got a chance to listen to #1 & 2, and am eagerly awaiting a moment or five to listen to the next episode. So far, it's really enjoyable.

As someone else said, the sound difficulties in the first one seem corrected, and that would have been my only negative comment. You reading is great, and your voice works quite well. The characters are well-written, very believable, and so much like my 14 year old nephew it's kind of creepy.




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Reply #42 on: August 25, 2008, 08:19:19 PM
The signal of success, Dave:

I get in the car the other day with my daughter and my iPod, and before I can make a selection my seven year old daughter says,"Do you have any more episodes of Superspiff and the Toothpick kid?"

Somebody out there is waiting in anticipation!  :)

Sweet!  That's a great compliment!  I was wondering if there were any kids out there listening somehow :)

As an amusing sidenote, she also commented about how much she liked the music. Imagine her surprise when I told her where it came from.  :P

That is HIGHLY amusing.  (For those not amused, Tangential Cold, who does the closing music for the podcast, is Anarkey's husband.)

Just got a chance to listen to #1 & 2, and am eagerly awaiting a moment or five to listen to the next episode. So far, it's really enjoyable.

As someone else said, the sound difficulties in the first one seem corrected, and that would have been my only negative comment. You reading is great, and your voice works quite well. The characters are well-written, very believable, and so much like my 14 year old nephew it's kind of creepy.



Um, actually Auntie Shwankie, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while...  ;)


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Reply #43 on: August 26, 2008, 01:14:16 PM
Good stuff, Dave:)  Just got caught up and you're doing a grand job here:)



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Reply #44 on: August 27, 2008, 04:33:33 PM
The signal of success, Dave:

I get in the car the other day with my daughter and my iPod, and before I can make a selection my seven year old daughter says,"Do you have any more episodes of Superspiff and the Toothpick kid?"

Somebody out there is waiting in anticipation!  :)

Sweet!  That's a great compliment!  I was wondering if there were any kids out there listening somehow :)

As an amusing sidenote, she also commented about how much she liked the music. Imagine her surprise when I told her where it came from.  :P

That is HIGHLY amusing.  (For those not amused, Tangential Cold, who does the closing music for the podcast, is Anarkey's husband.)

Just got a chance to listen to #1 & 2, and am eagerly awaiting a moment or five to listen to the next episode. So far, it's really enjoyable.

As someone else said, the sound difficulties in the first one seem corrected, and that would have been my only negative comment. You reading is great, and your voice works quite well. The characters are well-written, very believable, and so much like my 14 year old nephew it's kind of creepy.



Um, actually Auntie Shwankie, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while...  ;)

Hey, if it meant the kid was reading comics (or anything at all: newspapers, "Heroes wanted ads," even the back of a cereal box would be a start), I'd sew him his next costume and have 'Munths make him a ray gun.



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Reply #45 on: September 10, 2008, 03:53:40 PM
You knew it had to happen...In this episode: Superspiff vs. the Toothpick Kid.  'nuff said :)  Hope you all dig it. 

Next week's going to be a much longer episode.  I should probably start recording it, like, now.


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Reply #46 on: September 26, 2008, 04:33:41 AM
As it's my birthday (almost my belated birthday, but not quite by my time standards), I decided upon the gameplan of kicking off work early, going home, and recording the most thrilling, toupee spilling, William Shatner impersonating, ridiculous Superspiff and Toothpick Kid episode yet for all of you!  Happy Birthday to and from me, to everyone who's listening (and it looks like some of you have already snagged it, which is awesome).  Yes, I really do impersonate William Shatner in the story.  I also sing happy birthday to myself in what I think might be my best intro yet.  YMMDV (Your Mileage May Definitely Vary.)

Honestly, this was a great, creative way for me to spend a few hours of my birthday. Hope you all like it :)


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Reply #47 on: October 13, 2008, 09:11:57 PM
I got way behind with the kids being home and have been trying to get caught back up.  I'm only a couple behind now and really having fun.  I'm very glad you got your audio problems worked out.

I can't listen to it with the kids around though.  The music makes them both grab there ears and scream, "turn it off!"  What can I say?  My kids are being raised on the likes of Billy Joel, Cole Porter, and The Beatles.



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Reply #48 on: October 14, 2008, 05:35:14 AM
Aww c'mon, really???  I don't mind the music at all.
Maybe your kids are body snatchers- they tend to stop and point and start screaming at stuff a lot.... I mean, I'm just sayin.



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Reply #49 on: October 14, 2008, 06:13:25 AM
Aww c'mon, really???  I don't mind the music at all.
Maybe your kids are body snatchers- they tend to stop and point and start screaming at stuff a lot.... I mean, I'm just sayin.

My kids just prefer real instruments and not mid-80's synth pop.  It sounds like the theme song to a bad sci-fi show on ABC.