Another in the continuing line of posts from a podcast expo.  The next two posts deal with the sessions for  the paid conference attendees as well as the free sessions ,given that I was on the paid track I tended to gravitate towards those   though I have some thoughts on how to better handle than next year.    While audio for most of these events will be available  at the conference site over the coming months( sooner to attendees)      Podango already has the bulk of their  "unconference" up for your perusal.   

Started the morning off with Stacy Bond from Audioluxe "producing for the ear: Using the craft of audio to capture and keep the listener's attention."  I attended this one as I have a weird mix of radio in my head  which I probably should explain. I'm from the UK and  for most of my life  there was no such thing as "talk radio"  , sure we had call in shows but only if you are erudite and have a point which you can see would be a little restrictive for the US.  C span callers would be a pretty good example of the people we're talking about.  There were only 4 national radio channels , only one devoted to speech.  (Radio 4 )  add in 2 or  3  commercial stations and a regional BBC outlet and that's your lot.  Every US town  I have ever lived in has had more choice than up until recently when digitial radio has started making inroads in the UK.     I attended Perth College  ( regretably )  which had radio  tuition  but neglected to  run it since   insufficient people were interested   , it's just not as sexy as video   on the surface ..., so it was half assed , haphazard and  the gear to record and edit on?   Reel to reel , edit with razor .  Gee thanks  

I tried to escape to a dedicated radio class in Dundee but   given the chance to let them know what I thought local radio should be  had me ejected from the process since  my commitment to the community was not boring them to tears with the results from  a large marrow contest.    We now have that with podcasting I have "my own station"  many NPR and Radio 4 like programs  make the list but..  ( enough bitterness, I now have all the tech I need  and  soon as I get that talent thing nailed down... Does someone make a RTAS plugin for talent?

Here's were we get back to the content.   For people that have a narrative format  and  There's some excellent resources over at Transom.org which will teach you more than you care to know about producing public radio,  worthy radio, radio that enobles  the mind and embiggens the spirit radio RADIO SO PROFOUND YOU WILL NEED A MOMENTS GUITAR MUSIC AND QUIET REFLECTION TO ASSIMILIATE IT  type radio..    You know the last thing most people expect from podcasts 

Anyway her examples are good , well reasoned,  and for anyone that has a desire to produce quality docs, news pieces  ( as I secretly want to )  or has to write for audio  

What doesn't sit with me is  the  separation, the maintanence of the  we're the anthro's  and you are the tribe whose story we can more effectively tell.   You lose the voice and substitute  a proxy,a mediator  if you will which to me is the antithesis of what most people understand podcasting to be.   People are more credible speaking in their own voice, their own voice isn't  reading from notes and for most people it's not editing together interviews.   This  neatly segments into...

David Lawrence    I am totally biased. I admire and respect the man and his work and  he's proven to me that you can take Rand a long way ( I just don't believe the destination is possible,   what's good objectively  is er subjective to the person after all.   Randroids may be able to pull off unfailing logical consistency but  it fails my rule for a practical philosophy.. you can't write it down on the back of a fag packet. ) 

David's talk : "Instantly irrestistible and perfectly passionate: seducing listeners with your unique voice."  Starting out with a rapid fire slide show that .  Illustrating the points I  "stole" from him above re the lost in translation nature of writing for the ear  and then reading into a mic is a sure fire way to disengage the audience.    Life's unscripted after all.    Most of us not professionally involved in MSM  have a interests that  although we're not paid for them, provide  Dilletantes like myself with an escape from expectations re  having to be "formally educated for eight years just to be allowed to address others , in their own best interests ,of course. 

If you take the original root for the word Dilletante which is "delight" it's not the pejorative that it's become.Being professional, paid and miserable( yet more puritan bullshit that we have to get over.) is preferable to engaging in what you enjoy, on your terms. Thankfully David is both  delighted and well paid.The reason I bring up the latter is I see many cases of "social media" tending to gravitate towards the ..ist.   Two stand out moments.  One was highlighting what we've always known that genuine enthusiasm  and advocacy beats  ad men coming up with the latest "two C's in a K" scenario.

  Thinking back to  ye olde day radio and tv,  you would have the content,   host "walks  off" set to address the camera directly and espouse the benefits of the sponsor.  Three minutes, one sponsor and when done correctly can be as entertaining   as that which surrounds it.  It's not the coerced voice of a salesman. It's the voice of a trusted friend,  ( maybe the halo effect of tv,specially the "real" stuff  is diminished now but I don't think radio ever lost it)  passing on advice  without speaking in the contrived manner of today's  disclaimer ( hide there's a lawsuit) ridden copy.  It's a great illustration of where the strength lies in podcasting. ( I'm also doing a separate piece on that)

Secondly:  People, having watch David  interview, discuss and chat with people  his ability to slice reality to focus on the people he's engaging is fascinating to watch.  It's like the coolest cold reading show you've ever seen , without people getting hurt.   The audio will eventually be up at Gigavox  though you have to pay for it if you can't wait.

Immedietely after this talk I wandered down to the main floor where ...

David  also gave a talk at the Podango Unconference ( will post on that separately)  on  applying the cooking term "mise en place"  to  audio production.  I've not started a public podcast but  I suffered from nearly all the faults he identified and have implemented a system similar to the one he advocates here.   I have the template, the intro, the beds and exit  set , my "radio voice" settings  on the plugins and in theory all I do is start it up , Sit  for 5 minutes and 23 seconds (nearly half of 10:47 a spooky coincidence I assure you ) and hit the odd effect button  should I feel inclined.  I've lost my voice though and  how to fill that gap is stalling me.. I'm pretty damn funny , but usually in a reactive way  which makes a solo show just a tad difficult.

Podango have transcripts and audio available and certainly fit the term "good people" with their plans to program stations with related programming which seems like a smarter way to locate advertisers than individual show sponsorship.