Category Archives: Podcast

question for the podcasters

Rfb_fast_working
I’ve been working on a new episode of RFB most of this morning, and I’m incredibly sad to reach the conclusion that it’s just not going to happen.

I don’t have anything original or interesting to say, but I figured it wouldn’t be the biggest deal, because the bulk of the show would be audio from the Star Trek convention and my audition on Tuesday. The big problem is, that audio is just for shit. It’s so blown out that listening to it gave me a headache and actually made me feel a little sick to my stomach by the time I gave up trying to clean it up in garageband.

I’ve been using an iRiver 795; I’ve noticed that the last few times I’ve used it, the built-in mic is so sensitive, that with the encoder set at 44 kHz and 160Kbps, unless I’m speaking very quietly or there is absolutely no ambient noise, the audio is useless at best, and painful at worst. I’ve tried the line-in with a clip-on mic, but without some sort of pre-processing, the levels are too low.

So, can any of you experienced radio people or podcasters out there suggest an extremely portable, very affordable solution to my audio problem?

(Thanks to Matt D. for catching a picture of the official RFB truck in action!)

Radio Free Burrito Episode 8

Shellymortonlogo
Today, it’s a brief political rant (you have been warned), then it’s all questions and answers, no stupid meta-talk about what I’m going to do, just getting down to it and having a good time.

A lot of people have asked if I can change the numbering of the episodes; I did that on this one. It’s called 008.RadioFreeBurrito. I hope that works for ya.

Show Notes:

  • This episode is long. In fact, it’s way over an hour, so . . . uh . . . get comfortable, I guess. It’s 25.6 MB (!)
  • If I didn’t answer your question here, it’s not a reflection on you or your question; it just means that I couldn’t think of a worthwhile answer.
  • I feel like I hit my stride somewhere around the thirty-minute mark. I could feel a change in my body, and I felt more relaxed, more entertained, and happier. I think it comes across in the show, so I thought I’d comment on it.
  • Also, at the 33-minute mark, where I’m talking about "Americanizing Shelly," Garageband band ran out of space, so I had to export, open a new file, and combine the two in Audacity (yeah, I forgot to set the time and tempo to allow for maximum talky-talky. It’s jarring, but you didn’t miss anything good, I promise.
  • A picture of me posing with Pigs-n-Space can be seen at the Muppet Wiki. Oh my. Thanks, mdstudio. I think.
  • Comments can be sent to podcast at wil wheaton dot net, questions can be sent to ask at wil wheaton dot net. Please use a descriptive subject line.
  • The image I chose for this show was sent to me by WWdN:iX reader Shelly. Thanks, Shelly!
  • Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoy it.

Download 008RadioFreeBurrito.mp3

Update: Your friendly local .torrent creator, Brian shook his magic tree and look what fell out:

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/008RadioFreeBurrito.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 13 MB):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/008RadioFreeBurrito-low.mp3.torrent

Mirror for the Low..
http://www.badmonkies.com/rfb/008RadioFreeBurrito-low.mp3

This file is one of the biggest yet, so use the mirrors and seed the .torrent, if you can. Thanks, Brian!

Updated again to add: My Odeo Channel (odeo/0d0d9ccd150172dd) (So I can claim it. Ding!)

Radio Free Burrito Episode 7

Marclogo
Well, here’s episode seven. I went over ten minutes, but I think that’s okay. This episode focuses on two things: how the ten minute challenge is going, and how the blog in general is going. Warning: I’m feeling really unhappy right now, and I talk about that, too.

Show Notes:

Here ya go:

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_seven.mp3

Update: Your friendly neighborhood torrent maker Brian has done his thing:

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_seven.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 2.8 megs):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_seven-low.mp3.torrent

Mirror for the Low..
http://www.badmonkies.com/rfb/radio_free_burrito_episode_seven-low.mp3

(Thanks, Brian!)

Radio Free Burrito Episode 6

Towerlogo
Here is Radio Free Burrito Episode Six, as the great ten-minutes-per day experiment moves on to day two. I’ve already figured out that ten minutes is just not enough time for a long-winded, tangent-prone guy like myself, so I don’t know if trading off manageable time for more content is really worth it. We’ll find out in a few days, I guess.

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent in logos! Holy crap, you are a talented bunch of people. I’m going to try on lots of different ones this week, send them all out on dates with the Crushinator, and figure out which logo will be permanent via a reality tv show in the coming weeks. If you haven’t sent your logo idea in, please don’t feel like you missed the boat; I’d still love to see what you guys come up with, and there’s a very good chance I’ll be able to use more than one logo for different things.

Show Notes:

  • I am a moran. I know it’s episode six, but I say "This is episode seven" at the beginning. Numbers, like math, are hard. I blame it on the date, the rain, and a bad spot of corned beef.
  • The website I talked about is ChangeThis.com.
  • My tune is called Heroes, and it was created in GarageBand. I may release it on its own at some point in the future.
  • As I mentioned near the end of the show, I’ll be offering a signed, limited edition chapbook preview of a few stories from Do You Want Kids With That at the convention this weekend. If I have any left over after the show, I’ll sell whatever’s left through my blog.
  • The intro music is Atomic, by Blondie.
  • Comments can be sent to podcast at wil wheaton dot net, questions can be sent to ask at wil wheaton dot net. Please use a descriptive subject line.
  • The image I chose for this show was sent to me by WWdN:iX reader Chuck, from airbrushmypic.com.
  • Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
  • This episode is 10:19 and weighs in at 4.4 MB.

Anyway, here it is. Your feedback is always appreciated, and thanks for listening.

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_six.mp3

Update: Torrent Master Brian says:

Here’s Episode 6? (You start off by saying Ep 7)

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_six.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 1.8 megs):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_six-low.mp3.torrent

Mirror for the Low..
http://www.badmonkies.com/rfb/radio_free_burrito_episode_six-low.mp3

Thanks, Brian! And thanks for pointing out my lameness on the numbering. I’ve updated the show notes accordingly.

Radio Free Burrito Episode 5

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I
issued myself a challenge a few weeks ago: do one ten-minute podcast a day for a week. Then I went and got sick, and wasn’t in any shape to do begin the challenge . . . until tonight.

I thought that it would be very manageable to commit ten minutes per day to do a show, but don’t know if I like the format; ten minutes is hardly enough time to get started, let alone do an entire show, so I will thank in advance those of you who endure this little experiment with me over the next few days. I am nearly positive that by the end of the week, I’ll be back to 37 minutes at a time.

Oh, and before I get into the show notes: does someone want to do a Radio Free Burrito logo? I am thinking something simple that is inspired by the old RKO logo (a radio tower on top of the earth) or something similar like that. I’m a big fan of simple, 1940s-looking radio design, if you know what I’m talking about.

If any of you guys with crazy Photoshop or GIMP skills want to send me something, I’d love to see it. If I pick your design, I’ll give you credit by name and with a link to your website or blog, and I’ll send you an autographed book. I should probably put in some legal language, like, uh, anything you send me becomes my property, and I can do whatever I want with it, even put it into a shotgun wedding with the Crushinator. You can put "Wil Wheaton’s Radio Free Burrito" and use the tagline ". . . an interesting podcast" if you want.

Here are a few show notes for this very brief episode:

  • The music comes from Mike Doughty’s "Down on the River by the Sugar Plant," which is on Skittish and Rockity Roll. I just realized that I used a song which you can’t download from his site by mistake, so I hope he doesn’t sue me or kick my ass. In any case, I encourage you to buy his albums, because they totally fucking rule.
  • Comments can be sent to podcast at wil wheaton dot net, questions can be sent to ask at wil wheaton dot net. Please use a descriptive subject line.
  • Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
  • This episode is 10:16 and weighs in at 4.1 MB.

Okay, that’s it for today. I hope you enjoy the abbreviated Radio Free Burrito. Thanks for listening. 

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_five.mp3

(photo via flickr user Eris23)

Update – Thank to to everyone who sent in (or linked to) logos. There are so many cool logos, I will probably use several of them this week before I settle on an "official" RFB logo. I appreciate your time and creative efforts, everyone!

Also, WWdN:iX reader and Head Torrent Monkey Brian has your high and low torrent needs covered:

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_five.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 1.8 megs):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_five-low.mp3.torrent

Mirror for the Low..
http://www.badmonkies.com/rfb/radio_free_burrito_episode_five-low.mp3

Thanks, Brian!