An announcement

Hi all,

I’ve got a few things I want to say quickly.

As many of you are probably aware, our last episode was a bit crap. I’m sorry about that. We were plagued with an array of technical issues. We had login issues, microphone issues, laptop issues… I took a calculated risk before recording (think a 3+ with a reroll), but it flubbed at the last minute. Instead of pulling the thing and re-doing it, I decided to upload the episode anyway, and it sounded shit.

Essentially, we chat via Discord when recording (we used to use Skype, but that was even less reliable). The ‘raw’ Discord recording is usually so-so quality, but is obviously subject to any internet audio filtering and sound-gremlins that creep in. What we also do is record ourselves independently to Discord. Everyone then sends their separate audio to me and I stitch them together, making sure the volume is right, the timings are good, etc etc. When this works it sounds pretty good, especially with the new microphones we all have.

The ‘raw’ Discord file I record is very much a backup in case something goes wrong. Unfortunately, if even one of the four (or five) separate audio files doesn’t work properly, the whole thing cannot be used, so we need to rely on the Discord file.

With the last episode (Episode 47) I knew that so long as everyone recorded without issue, we’d be fine. I’d even remotely logged onto one of the casts PCs to make sure it would record properly before recording. Unfortunately, near the end of the recording (two hours in!) we had a problem. What I should have done is called it there and said we’d start again. The problem is getting everyone together for three hours, and the hanging weight of knowing how long it’s been since we last released an episode, let alone a reliable stream of weekly episodes (gosh, remember that!)

So I bit the bullet and released it anyway, and it sounded crap.

I also used the wrong file when uploading in the first instance (a single number out of place and it’ll do that!), so that didn’t help.

I am the host. The podcast was my idea, I record it, I sourced the software to do so, I do the editing (hrk), the uploads, the blog, the backups, the exports, the Discord, the Patreon, the dice projects etc. The buck stops with me, and if the episode sounds like ass, it’s my fault.

I’ve taken that episode down. I want to re-do it. I’ve communicated to the cast that I have a new plan of action with regards to recording, and I’m going to be firm with it. We want to have a fun, laid back podast, but we also want to have something that doesn’t sound fucking awful.

If I’d watched an episode of a TV show I liked that had terrible production, I’d feel let down. I don’t want that to be us. Not anymore.

So, watch this space!

-Alex/Twelf

 

*The way that Podcasts work technically means that if you have the old episode saved anywhere, you’ll still be able to listen to it, but if you delete it it’ll be gone forever. You can keep it if you want.

Audio version