Pilot Episode #2 — Testing, Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

This is the second pilot episode of my brand-new podcast (“Thoughts & Tribulations of a compulsive creator”). I made many changes to the recording setup. I like the results. 😊 My support templates are ready (one in Screenflow, Things and Craft) for the first real episode that should be coming soon. One last note: I discovered yesterday that Microblog will automatically generate a transcript of each episode. This is so cool! 🤯

Pilot Episode #2 — Testing, Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

Hi, this is Numeric Citizen, and you are listening to the Thoughts and Tribulation from a Compulsive Creator podcast.

This is episode number zero.

Yep, this is episode zero.

First pilot episode was terrible, but I’m working hard to improve things.

It sounded terrible because of the room configuration, my microphone setup on the iPhone, and also I think it was obvious that I was reading something.

So I think it wasn’t very good, and it wasn’t where I thought it should be.

So now I made some change to the configuration.

Now I’m recording on the Mac with ScreenFlow.

I’m using the same microphone, but this time I enabled the voice isolation feature of macOS, so it should be better.

And since I’m recording in ScreenFlow, the post-processing should be faster, but I’ll have to use a utility called Permute, which will allow me to convert the audio file from MP4 to an MP3 file, and then I’ll have to use a website called TagMP3, where I can set the ID3 meta tags required for a podcast file.

I think my experience with my first post on microblog is a success.

It’s easy to create a new blog post and attach the audio file and then set the title, which is important here to have a title to a specific episode.

And I think microblog is very simple, straightforward, and the RSS feed is taken care of.

The thing that I find a bit strange, though, is that the podcast RSS feed contains everything that you post on microblog.

I know that because I subscribe to my own feed in Reader, and I was surprised to find that the content of the feed is way more than I thought it would be.

I thought it would be only the post with an audio file.

The other thing that I am currently having a problem with is Podcast Connect, which seems to be stuck at processing the podcast details.

I’m not sure why.

I’ll let it go for a few days and see where it goes.

I hope this second try will be much better, with much better sound.

This concludes this episode number zero, and don’t be shy and share your thoughts or comments on microblog, Mastodon, and BlueSky, where this is cross-posted automatically thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.

Again, thanks for listening, and please, in this challenging and constantly in crisis world where a state of emergency is omnipresent, take care.

Until the next episode, bye.

Tempted to install macOS Sonoma Beta 6 on my shiny new 15-inch MacBook Air… I like to be at the cutting edge of software releases… on iPhone, iPad, Watch and Apple TV, betas have been rock solid for me so far (the worst is the iPad). Any advice here besides “you’re mileage may vary”, “go ahead at your own risk”, etc.?

It was fun but a bit more challenging to record and share my first podcast episode yesterday. Editing in Ferrite is hard on the iPhone. It would be much better on the iPad or the Mac. For some reason, talking to a microphone feels less natural than recording myself on camera for a YouTube video. 🤷🏻‍♂️When I shared this thought with my wife yesterday, she responded: recording yourself on camera, then delete the video track! 😳🤯 I like her.

Introducing the “Thoughts & Tribulations from a Compulsive Creator” Podcast

Hi, this is Numeric Citizen, and you are listening to a pilot episode of the upcoming podcast Thoughts and Tribulation from a Compulsive Creator.

This episode, this is episode number minus one, where I’m testing the podcast hosting feature of the excellent blog hosting service, Microblog.

This podcast is one of my many creative projects.

You might know that I’m a blogger here on Microblog, but elsewhere too, I probably have way too many websites, and I also share photos on two photo sharing platforms, Glass, and I started sharing photos more recently on Pixel Fed, which I like a lot.

This episode aims to test the publishing process to Microblog and how it goes out in a podcast player like PocketCast.

Depending on the outcome following the publication of this pilot episode, I’ll make adjustments and try another one, which should be episode number zero.

I expect to make this podcast available on Apple’s platform sooner than later, and I expect each episode to be no more than five minutes in length.

For those who are curious, recording is done using Ferrite, the excellent audio recording app for the iPhone and the iPad.

I’m recording that on my iPhone 13 Pro with a Lavalier microphone.

I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing it correctly, though.

Most of what you’ll be listening to in the future shouldn’t be scripted, but if it is scripted, I’ll be using cue cards built with IE Presenter from the makers of the excellent text editor, IE Writer, and I intend to keep post-editing to a minimum to keep the burden of podcast production at the minimum level.

Now, a few questions.

How many podcasts can Hearth sustain?

Why create another one?

Who cares?

Well, I don’t need to find an answer to this question.

I’ll do it anyway.

I’m not expecting to publish on a regular basis, only when I feel something is worth sharing about my everlasting creative journey using apps, services, and different devices, and when the audio format is the best for the content I want to share.

I think Podcast Medium is suitable for sharing some in-the-moment thoughts, and I feel it fits perfectly my microblog’s mission.

I think it could be a great complement to my blogs, too.

It’s not my first experience with podcasting.

I did have one in French a while ago, but it didn’t take off.

It required way too many takes and took way too much post-processing editing.

I had enough after only 15 episodes.

You can no longer find those episodes on the web.

That’s pretty much it for this pilot episode.

Don’t be shy and share your thoughts or comments on microblog, Mastodon, and BlueSky, where this is cross-posted thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.

Thanks for listening to the whole episode.

Either you’re just curious, or even better, you care about what I’m doing here in cyberspace.

Please, in this world constantly in crisis and in a state of emergency, take care until the next episode.

Bye.

Introducing the Thoughts & Tribulations of a Compulsive Creator Podcast

I’m excited to introduce something new: a podcast. 🎙️Something short & sweet. At least, it is one of my goals. I don’t have a grand plan, just a desire to share my thoughts and tribulations of the creator that I am in a different medium: audio. Nothing fancy. It’s done with modest technical means and a dead simple workflow. The end product: something approachable. I want to keep it that way. This is a pilot episode. Listen to learn more. Your feedback is welcome. 😊

This week, I am getting an appointment for a screen replacement on my iPhone 13 Pro (under my paid AppleCare warranty). Three highly visible scratches are bugging me big time: the trade-in value is reduced by 485 CAN$ (at the worst timing possible: iPhone 15 Ultra is approaching😩), and I always focus on the scratches when looking at my iPhone screen. 🫣 AppleCare can be a good investment.

Made some visual tweaks to the blog visuals: added tags to the list of bookmarks on the bookmarks page and made the blockquote blue instead of yellow. Eventually, this is going to be exactly how I like it.

As a subscriber to Pocket Cast, I would love to be able to use the iPad version on my Apple Silicon Mac. It’s currently not possible. Yes, there is a web version, but an app is much better. Overcast, a very popular alternative, is available for the Mac but is not native. But I’m ok with that; it’s better than nothing. How much effort does it require to make an iPad app available on the Mac without having to depend on Catalyst? 🤔