15: Call-ins and recaps

September 10, 2007 3:37 PM

Show #15 of the podcast includes call-in questions from a handful of members and recaps from the last two weeks of MeFi and Ask MeFi. It was recorded on August 30, 2007 and runs about 50 minutes long.

helpful links
Podcast Feed RSS (Subscribe to the MeFi Podcast in iTunes)
Direct mp3 download (47Mb)


Q & A
learning to swim the crawl

Larry Craig "bathroom incident"

Let's learn something together

MeFi Redesign Contest

"Why is a mouse when it spins?" non-traditional joke (
Yahoo Answers, Google Answers)

AnonyMe had an affair with a celebrity.

Rick Astley, not dead! Official site aware of Rick Rolling, no comment from Rick.

MeFi threads

How to draw a head

The I-75 project

Two stunning minutes of MTV

Radical Honesty

A discovered underground city

Old Sears Catalogs scanned in


Ask MeFi threads

Cooking threads: stews and cookies

How can I be more frugal?

Building math skills as an adult

Mystery Stone found and identified

Building a clock that builds in daylight savings ("atomic" clock photo)

Polite responses to "what's it like being a female _____?"

Handgun recommendations for women [older question and meta thread]

How to identify music played on NPR


Music played (all from the August "bridge" Music Challenge)

Sheepshead Bay by emelenjr

Burn This Bridge by TwoWordReview

from the bridge by nicolin

posted by mathowie to MeFi Podcast at 3:37 PM (56 comments total)

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by BeerFilter at 3:38 PM on September 10, 2007

Am I missing something?
posted by tellurian at 3:51 PM on September 10, 2007

Right. I had a question lined up for this one, and I thought it was a decent question. See, I love to listen to these podcasts as I'm getting ready to plunge myself into the weekend; I'll have a couple of beers, comb my hair, stuff like that. And while I'm getting ready, a few of my internet acquaintances will talk about interesting stuff and I'll listen in and time will fly. Kind of like sitting in a bar, eavesdropping.

So, my question: When you started doing these podcasts, did you ever envision a perfect time and place for people tuning in?

I suppose I could wait another three weeks (fat chance) and ask you then, but I really would like to know right now. Because, you know, it's 1 AM on a tuesday morning (here in Sweden) right now and I've cracked a beer. :)

Love these podcasts. Long may they run.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 4:10 PM on September 10, 2007

WTFOMGNOJONSONBBQ!!!
posted by jonson at 4:12 PM on September 10, 2007

"Why is a mouse when it spins?"

A discovered underground city

Cooking threads: stews

I hit the trifecta!
posted by dersins at 4:14 PM on September 10, 2007

I sounded exactly the same when we met! and thanks for a very good answer that actually articulates a lot of what I find rewarding about this place.
posted by jonmc at 4:17 PM on September 10, 2007

btw, the "christ, what an asshole" was a new yorker cartoon joke reference I used yesterday. It's a joke and I wasn't 100% serious when I said it.
posted by mathowie at 4:23 PM on September 10, 2007

Oh wow, I can't believe the incredibly bad advice I gave in the anonymous celebrity thread.
posted by geoff. at 4:55 PM on September 10, 2007

I added a few more supporting links to mathowie's original list up there.
posted by jessamyn at 4:57 PM on September 10, 2007

Man, there's gotta be some way to normalize the volume on the voicemail questions.
posted by cortex at 4:58 PM on September 10, 2007

"We're gonna call you 'Founder' when we change your password."

Ha!
posted by cortex at 5:04 PM on September 10, 2007

Yeah I was going to ask that you work on the levels of the callins, it's really hard to hear at times.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:16 PM on September 10, 2007

You can adjust the time on the atomic clocks because if you can't get the signal, you need some sort of way to set the time. The signal only goes so far.
posted by zsazsa at 5:20 PM on September 10, 2007

Man, there's gotta be some way to normalize the volume on the voicemail questions.

There is; get a proper phone patch, and run it through a compressor/expander such that you can boost soft calls while loud calls are compressed below a threshold.
posted by davejay at 5:28 PM on September 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

here is a phone patch, although I don't recommend/not recommend this particular one (it's what came up when I went looking for an example) and here is a compressor/limiter (same caveat applies.)
posted by davejay at 5:32 PM on September 10, 2007

I tried to normalize the calls. The calls come in as separate wav files, but I maxed out the boost on almost all of them to try and get them to sound similar, but garageband only gives so much leeway.
posted by mathowie at 5:51 PM on September 10, 2007

I really enjoyed the gagging noises from both over the event calendar idea. Maybe someone could make a loop of these as the exit jingle?

Totally serious.
posted by Riverine at 5:56 PM on September 10, 2007

Maybe someone could make a loop of these as the exit jingle?

mathowie actually edited out about five minutes of me telling him to do that. I bet the outtakes reel from this one is fairly amusing.
posted by jessamyn at 5:57 PM on September 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the guy with that event calendar idea is a nutball.
posted by cortex at 6:02 PM on September 10, 2007

Hmm. Seems you left my music challenge song out. I'll forgive you for the convenient oversight.
posted by Item at 8:05 PM on September 10, 2007

Are you not using the Levelator on the podcasts? It's supposed to even out this stuff.
posted by kindall at 8:20 PM on September 10, 2007

It was funny that I got so many favorites for the "draw a face" post just after being "favorite bombed" by Tennyson D'San. I thought I was getting pranked.

Regarding the music picks: it's kind of a given that there will be great AskMe and FPPs, and now, great phone-ins, but the fact that there is no shortage of great music is astounding. Kudos and cheers to all!
posted by snsranch at 8:48 PM on September 10, 2007

Seems you left my music challenge song out.

There were actually 5 or 6 great songs I wanted to insert, but I put them in at the end and I only had space for three. I had no idea you played with Jad Fair (a friend did his website and I think I attended a party once with Jad years ago).
posted by mathowie at 9:13 PM on September 10, 2007

Hey jessamyn, your voice is so clear and strong it makes the iffy wav files of callers even harder to hear if you talk when they do. Please to be holding the reins of your interjecting enthusiasm (and you seemed particularly up and hyperchirpy this podcast!)
posted by peacay at 9:23 PM on September 10, 2007

I tried to normalize the calls. The calls come in as separate wav files, but I maxed out the boost on almost all of them to try and get them to sound similar, but garageband only gives so much leeway.

Sounds like you'll want to use e a compressor. I've never used GarageBand, but google indicates that there's a compression plugin.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:28 PM on September 10, 2007

I spend literally hours a day here (I know, it's a bit sad, but my employer doesn't mind), and it's like you two (by which I mean Matt and Jessamyn) are looking at a whole different website.

In general, I've actually seen and remembered like 10% of the things you point to in these podcasts, usually. Weird.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:49 PM on September 10, 2007

fuck do i really sound like that on the phone...? o.O

crap and here i figured youall would've binned that lot for the sheer babbling inanity of it. thanks for somehow making sense of that, matt.
posted by lonefrontranger at 12:22 AM on September 11, 2007

lonefrontranger: "fuck do i really sound like that on the phone...? o.O"

Yeah, I can't believe I sounded the way I did either, but then I have always hated the way my voice sounds whenever I've heard it on tape. It was one of the reasons I tried to keep my call short. That and the fact I was calling internationally on my mobile phone.

Despite the fact I hate the way my voice sounds, thanks for including my question, and great podcast as always guys. However, I'm not sure whether it makes me feel better or worse that mathowie said my accent was "cute".
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:30 AM on September 11, 2007

Phones mangle voices. Heavy filtering and compression to keep the signal small. I've gotten utterly used to hearing my voice on tape from recording projects, and I thought the same thing when I was listening. Freakin' phones.

Also, E2K's accent is totaly cute.
posted by cortex at 6:37 AM on September 11, 2007

Matt's actually got the strongest accent of the bunch.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:02 AM on September 11, 2007

Could you mention who the caller was and sum up the question, like they do at Q&A sessions at film festivals and whatever? For those of us who can't hear the fucking thing? (Assuming it's going to take the usual long while to normalize the volume.)

Jess: It's cappa-DOE-shuh.
posted by languagehat at 7:13 AM on September 11, 2007

Great to hear such good tunes... the bridge challenge was good.
posted by chuckdarwin at 7:33 AM on September 11, 2007

Man, I haven't even gotten to listen to the last one yet. I can't keep up with the torrent of podcasts flowing out!
posted by COBRA! at 8:32 AM on September 11, 2007

I was glad I listened, otherwise I would have missed that awesome catalog post.
posted by drezdn at 9:24 AM on September 11, 2007

Needs more cowbell.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:03 AM on September 11, 2007

I second the suggestion of Levelator to keep the volume even. Double-check its output for distortion, though.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:56 AM on September 11, 2007

Oh yeah, about the phone quality: Has anyone suggested that Matt check his net connection to make sure the tubes aren't clogged?
posted by Pronoiac at 12:02 PM on September 11, 2007

What does it take for a damn tag line?

How much do I have to pay to sponsor Matt saying "This podcast is now closed."?
posted by Argyle at 1:44 PM on September 11, 2007

At least there was a sign-off this time, Argyle.

I'm really liking the change-up in different podcasts (questions, no questions, interviews, etc.). Nice job, folks!

And damn, I have *counts* eight tabs open to check out stuff I've missed.
posted by deborah at 2:01 PM on September 11, 2007

I tried to normalize the calls. The calls come in as separate wav files, but I maxed out the boost on almost all of them to try and get them to sound similar, but garageband only gives so much leeway.

Yeah, that's why you need to go with a hardware solution, or play with compressor/limiter plugins in your audio software of choice; normalizing does nothing but increase the overall volume so that the loudest part is as loud as possible. What you really want to do is boost it so that the quietest words are loud enough, and the loudest sounds are compressed down to a similar -- albeit still louder -- level. That evens out the volume of the clip throughout, giving you the results you desire.
posted by davejay at 5:27 PM on September 11, 2007

That "Levelator" thing appears to be a compressor/limiter app, so there ya go. Ideally use it on the wav clips separately first, to get 'em boosted appropriately, then drop the wavs into your podcast and do it again for the whole thing.

You know, or not. Who wants to put that kind of time in?
posted by davejay at 5:34 PM on September 11, 2007

You know, or not. Who wants to put that kind of time in?

Unnecessary. GarageBand has a compressor adequate for Matt's needs.
posted by sparkletone at 10:14 AM on September 13, 2007

From a quick search: GarageBand's compressor looks useful but scarily complex.

Levelator would take less time. It looks a lot simpler but no less useful here.

I'd suggest using it on the clips separately, not both on clips & the whole thing.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:36 AM on September 13, 2007

Please, please sum up the question until you get the audio straightened out. If the non-hearing impaired people are having trouble, you know I'm completely lost. Also, you've previously linked the askers' names in the thread, which was really useful when I can't hear them say their own name, or understand them.
posted by desjardins at 11:03 AM on September 13, 2007

desjardins (and others) we promise we will. Even if you're not hard of hearing the modcast was muddy in places with callers. It will be fixed or at least remedied by next time.
posted by jessamyn at 12:15 PM on September 13, 2007

modcast

Yow. Huh.
posted by cortex at 12:40 PM on September 13, 2007

Yow. Huh.

Huh. Weird typo.
posted by jessamyn at 12:48 PM on September 13, 2007

Oh. Damn. I'm not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.
posted by cortex at 12:56 PM on September 13, 2007

I could pretend I meant it. Is that better?
posted by jessamyn at 12:59 PM on September 13, 2007

No, it's ruined now. I need a drink.
posted by cortex at 1:42 PM on September 13, 2007

modcast - Oh no! Commodore Amiga Retro Sounds.
posted by tellurian at 5:10 PM on September 13, 2007

Did jess snicker at Effigy2000 when he just started speaking? :)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:06 AM on September 14, 2007

No, I probably gasped. I love Australian accents.
posted by jessamyn at 12:04 PM on September 14, 2007

Cincinnati resident here and the Cincinnati Subway does exist.
posted by mmascolino at 9:20 PM on September 14, 2007

I broke down and used my headphones and could actually understand Matt and the callers. But fixing the audio would be helpful.
posted by haunted by Leonard Cohen at 7:32 PM on September 20, 2007

New podcast ever? Maybe? Please?
posted by Riverine at 6:04 PM on September 24, 2007