Category Archives: Podcasting

Comics, Podcasting, TV

An open ice hockey rink.

This past week (while falling ill with one of the worst ear infections I have ever had as an adult) I started a short form, should-be-daily podcast called Hockey and Stuff. The podcast is about ice hockey and other stuff in my life.

A lot of people have been surprised that I’ve gone deep into ice hockey this year, but I think it was inevitable. I’ve been circling ice hockey since reviewing NHL 12 back in 2011, and then a combination of things happened this year that really got be interested:

  • I started playing more NHL 18
  • I started reading the Check, Please! web comic
  • I discovered you could sign up direct through the NHL’s website to NHL TV to watch games through either the site or their mobile app

Oh, and I am part way through getting an ice hockey tattoo on my right leg. Line work is done and I just need it coloured, which is happening later this month.

But with all that going on, and the new NHL season starting, I figured a short form podcast about ice hockey would be nice to do. Plus it saves me from clogging up my main podcast, Nerds Assemble, with talk about ice hockey – which it really isn’t suited to.

I chose Anchor, because the app and site have been calling to me for a while. With its smartphone recording ability, and it’s on phone editing and ability to add in various sound bits – it’s quite easy to use and versatile. Plus Anchor users can call in to a podcast and those calls can be used in episodes. It also can distribute to a lot of podcast platforms.

It’s best listened to on the Anchor app. You can listen to Hockey and Stuff here. The site also links to where else it’s available (Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, and more) and its RSS.

Hockey and Stuff

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Creative analysis, Marketing and PR, Podcasting

I try out new podcasts all the time. It’s something you do when you produce several of your own, to see if you’re missing a trick, to check out what competitors might be doing, to hear how different industries might be using them. I don’t often become a frequent listener, and perhaps one thing, more than anything, will definitely put me off new and established shows: talking about your products within the opening moments of your podcast.

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Don’t turn the opening minutes of your new podcast into an ad

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Creative analysis, Podcasting, Websites, Writing

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Last week I interviewed the composer for Dredd 3D and Limitless – Paul Leonard-Morgan. But it had been a tough interview to sort out. Beyond wrestling with Paul’s jam packed recording schedule (he’s quite popular at the moment) there were technical issues behind the scenes.

First I found out that the phone setup I was going to use wasn’t going to work. I’d downloadable a call recorder and found out that it wouldn’t work with my non-jail broken phone (nothing in the app’s description had said I had to root the thing). I then tried setting up the H4N with the phone and tested that at home… that gave the worst feedback imaginable and my phone was not putting out the best quality audio once the feedback was sorted.

I was running out of time before I needed to call Paul. And so there was only one more solution. I texted him and asked if we could do the interview over Skype. He said yes, I gave him my Skype handle and he replied to give him a few minutes while he set-up.

An hour of frantic testing and failing at finding solutions was resolved through Skype and one particular software recorder (I didn’t have enough time to set-up with my usual podcast rig involving the H4N and a mixer and an M-Audio box). The software? MP3SkypeRecorder, which I found out last week won’t be working with Skype come December. I’d already used the programme for last week’s Nerds Assemble after the hardware setup failed.

What I’m trying to say is that 1) that interview was hard 2) always have back-up recording options and 3) people need to find alternatives to MP3SkypeRecorder and Pamela asap. (I’m getting myself Total Recorder.)

The interview nightmare

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