A discussion about comics podcasting

[JohnMayo]

I agree with Bob that there is a time and place for unedited podcasts. There is a certain spontaneity and "winging it" vibe that could get completely lost after editing. Keeping the natural flow of the conversation is important. But, personally, I hate listening to dead air and other clear wastes of time. As such, I don't expect our listener to do so either. Hence the time spent editing.

[BobBretall]

But, personally, I hate listening to dead air and other clear wastes of time. As such, I don't expect our listener to do so either. Hence the time spent editing.

Agreed. But, as I understand it, doing the "compress silence" is a really easy thing to do, and could be done to even a conversation-cast with little real effort, and would also retain the spontaneity that would possibly be compromised through heavy editing.

[JohnMayo]

But, personally, I hate listening to dead air and other clear wastes of time. As such, I don't expect our listener to do so either. Hence the time spent editing.

Agreed. But, as I understand it, doing the "compress silence" is a really easy thing to do, and could be done to even a conversation-cast with little real effort, and would also retain the spontaneity that would possibly be compromised through heavy editing.

Yes and no. At the simplest, the compress silence function is literally as simple as clicking a menu option and waiting. It then removes any span of time that is within the threshold volume and times specified. But, if there is anything that the program considered to be "signal" then the span stays. Background noise such as computer fans and the like can sometimes cause enough volume that what you might expect to be compressed out isn't. It also doesn't do anything with the "well, um, you know" bits.

In the case of Weekly Comics Spotlight, the raw Skype conversation was 51:29. The edited version was 40:56 while the raw version after a compress silence was 45:36. So, about four and a half minutes hit the cutting room floor.

I guess it comes down to if you consider the "uhms," "you knows" and other verbal pauses to be worth keeping or not. Personally, I don't.

Spontaneity can be pretty boring sometimes...

[IanG]

For listeners (and this included podcasters): do you care is the podcast it edited?

I for one appreciate the editing. I find myself reaching for the click wheel a lot more to skip over parts when there isn't any editing. Media is so tightly edited nowadays. Have you ever tried to go back and watch some of the old TV shows from the 70's? The editing is so slow that you end up falling asleep half the time. But that's a whole other topic for another time.

[Unknown Fanboy]

I listen to podcasts but don't post much... after sitting in front of a computer all day the last thing I really want to do is come home and do that. Plus I am usually worn out from being at the gym.


I listen to podcasts while at work and during Spin classes when the instructors music sucks