In this episode: two new priests; geek-week: rearranging the SQPN studio, live video Streaming; struggling with audio; Battlestar Galactica; Catholic life-hacks; sleep tips and weightloss; the Easter candle after Pentecost.
Fr. Roderick, a priest from the Netherlands, is the founder and CEO of the Star Quest Production Network and the host and producer of The Daily Breakfast, Catholic Insider and many other shows on www.sqpn.com.
Dear Fr. Roderick,
You have to see this youtube video: http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=YxjjyXhO9EA
a case of excelent new media use. The number of click it has achieve is really good.
Love the show, you inspired me to post lecturasdeldia.org
As you expected the recording does sound somewhat compressed. I’m not sure about how to fix it, but I guess it would be good to start lowering the treshold. As far as I could hear for now everything seems pretty compressed whereas it didn’t need to be compressed all the time. To find the right treshold point try listening to your mic output and try finding the point were the sound starts to sound ‘distorted’. That would be a good starting point, I guess. Attack and release times I’d set to auto (if possible) as a start and a ratio of 1:4 is ideal for speech. Hope this will help. I’m not a real pro in audio engineering but I do happen to work with stuff like this once in while.
Just wanted to bring this website (SparkPeople.com) to your attention. I was using FitDay.com to monitor my nutrition and exercise and I still believe it’s a good website. However, I much prefer SparkPeople. It has MANY tools, articles, message boards, members’ blogs, journaling option, calendar, recipes, etc. I could go on! I encourage you to check it out! This site is absolutely free and contains many motivational tools that have helped me on my health and fitness journey.
Sorry to hear your struggles with compression. It is a valuable piece of equipment for recording/broadcasting. It’s hard to offer suggestions on settings without knowing what you want to achieve. Compressors have 4 uses in broadcasting - leveling, signal saturation, ducking, and de-essing. You don’t need any de-essing. Depending on which you want, I can offer some suggestions. Ducking would actually be the most useful for your productions (IMHO) but I don’t know if your mixing board has the inputs/outputs necessary or if your compressor has sidechain capabilities. One thing I would suggest for your current setup is some EQ after the compressor to get back some depth in your voice. Let me know if I can help.
Love the podcasts, as always. I would like to comment on the compression, though.
I liked the Daily Breakfast just fine when it wasn’t compressed. As a 30-year veteran of radio, I know that many radio stations compress their audio to sound “louder” than other stations on the dial, and attract more listeners. I don’t think this is an issue with podcasts, and I’m sure it’s not the reason why you got a compressor. But the down side of this kind of compression is that it can be fatiguing to the listener. It literally becomes difficult to listen to.
For me, the only time when levels have been an issue on the Daily Breakfast is when you had to crank up the volume to play some faint audio feedback, and
then forgot to lower it before playing the next jingle. It sounded like World War Three! Ouch!
I don’t know what model of compressor you have, (If you list the model I can look up the instructions…) but it probably has lights that light up to show how much it’s compressing. I suggest that you lower the “input” level knob, until only one or two lights flash during the loudest sounds. That will keep the show sounding fairly “open,” but still protect the listeners against the occasional loud blast.
Hi Father Roderick,
I just wanted to suggest a possible solution for your sleeping troubles: why not just go with it - don’t fight the sunlight - just start going to bed earlier to get the proper amount of sleep since you’re getting up earlier. Hope this helps.
Well, I guess I’m not a geek
I like reading the directions to anything I receive before actually using the item!
I just have to say that I *love* the shows on SQPN. They give me such great ideas on things I can implement within my parish … I love that : )
And this podcast sounded fine to me so … Father, I don’t think you broke anything : )
Adrianne
Dear Fr. Roderick,
You have to see this youtube video: http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=YxjjyXhO9EA
a case of excelent new media use. The number of click it has achieve is really good.
Love the show, you inspired me to post lecturasdeldia.org
Edgar
As you expected the recording does sound somewhat compressed. I’m not sure about how to fix it, but I guess it would be good to start lowering the treshold. As far as I could hear for now everything seems pretty compressed whereas it didn’t need to be compressed all the time. To find the right treshold point try listening to your mic output and try finding the point were the sound starts to sound ‘distorted’. That would be a good starting point, I guess. Attack and release times I’d set to auto (if possible) as a start and a ratio of 1:4 is ideal for speech. Hope this will help. I’m not a real pro in audio engineering but I do happen to work with stuff like this once in while.
Hi Father Roderick!
Just wanted to bring this website (SparkPeople.com) to your attention. I was using FitDay.com to monitor my nutrition and exercise and I still believe it’s a good website. However, I much prefer SparkPeople. It has MANY tools, articles, message boards, members’ blogs, journaling option, calendar, recipes, etc. I could go on! I encourage you to check it out! This site is absolutely free and contains many motivational tools that have helped me on my health and fitness journey.
God bless your day and keep up the great work!
Fabiola
Sorry to hear your struggles with compression. It is a valuable piece of equipment for recording/broadcasting. It’s hard to offer suggestions on settings without knowing what you want to achieve. Compressors have 4 uses in broadcasting - leveling, signal saturation, ducking, and de-essing. You don’t need any de-essing. Depending on which you want, I can offer some suggestions. Ducking would actually be the most useful for your productions (IMHO) but I don’t know if your mixing board has the inputs/outputs necessary or if your compressor has sidechain capabilities. One thing I would suggest for your current setup is some EQ after the compressor to get back some depth in your voice. Let me know if I can help.
Greetings Father Roderick,
Love the podcasts, as always. I would like to comment on the compression, though.
I liked the Daily Breakfast just fine when it wasn’t compressed. As a 30-year veteran of radio, I know that many radio stations compress their audio to sound “louder” than other stations on the dial, and attract more listeners. I don’t think this is an issue with podcasts, and I’m sure it’s not the reason why you got a compressor. But the down side of this kind of compression is that it can be fatiguing to the listener. It literally becomes difficult to listen to.
For me, the only time when levels have been an issue on the Daily Breakfast is when you had to crank up the volume to play some faint audio feedback, and
then forgot to lower it before playing the next jingle. It sounded like World War Three! Ouch!
I don’t know what model of compressor you have, (If you list the model I can look up the instructions…) but it probably has lights that light up to show how much it’s compressing. I suggest that you lower the “input” level knob, until only one or two lights flash during the loudest sounds. That will keep the show sounding fairly “open,” but still protect the listeners against the occasional loud blast.
Happy tweaking!
Steve in Boise
(Your Tijuana correspondent)
Hi Father Roderick,
I just wanted to suggest a possible solution for your sleeping troubles: why not just go with it - don’t fight the sunlight - just start going to bed earlier to get the proper amount of sleep since you’re getting up earlier. Hope this helps.
Love your show!
Sheila