Little help (DOG EAR)
Little help (DOG EAR)
ou might remember that I’d written about doing a podcast with Ben Lockett. He’d agreed to host me on a podcast about Bikes And… In this case, it would be about commuting, something I’m a strong advocate for.
Well, the first attempt did not go well at all. Not only could my brother not get his Skype to work, the combination of his phone and his echoey den proved too much for audio purposes. The connection was the shits and Ben contacted me a couple of days later asking if we could redo it (assuming I could find something better than a rain barrel to broadcast from). Please note – I’m not blaming my brother – it just wasn’t the NBC Recording Studios is all.
Tried to get Skype up on my own computers, all four of them, without luck. Some would allow you to hear but not speak, some the opposite. The only one I got it to work on was my ancient HP 1010, a tinytop, which was problematic in that it was running slow and the audio was a little choppy. Pondered what to do and then remembered by friends-over-the-decades, Brian Wajda. Brian is a drummer in the Spanish rock band Espada. Brain also has a good recording room in his house, not a true soundstage but a quiet room with a lot of equipment which he uses for meetings and proposal-pitching.
With his son Ty’s headsets (from gaming) and assistance from Dave Kroll, another friends-over-the-decades who helped Brian tune his Skype days before to maximum crystal clarity, we were able to do another attempt with Ben. This time the sound was sharp, the com flawless. And I was much more at ease (Dave told me the first attempt was a rehearsal, true that). So we knocked it out and everyone was smiling. Soon as the cast goes live, I’ll post it in my links section (hell, I’ll cry it from the rooftops).
Ben also needed a picture of me for the piece. For that, I contacted Kim Warden whom I’ve worked with for years at both FedEx and Lockheed. She is a sharp photographer with her own little business, Photography by Kim Warden. She was kind enough to bring in one of her long-lens serious cameras (not a smart phone), which she used to shoot a little photo set on the parking garage roof, me and my bike against a cruel corporate setting, perfect for the image I wanted to send.
And so what’s the lesson here? I’m a small business owner (very small, since those books just trickle out). Brian and his band are working hard for recognition. And Kim’s got her own little side-business with photography. But all my friends came together to help me get this project done. They took it from the initial shambles and helped Mr. Lockett create (I hope) a funny and insightful piece). So it’s my storytelling, sound-engineering and photography coming together, and not a buck changed hands.
And you get all this for free!
So anyway, thanks to all these guys and gals for making this happen. Show your support – visit their sites, look around, and maybe do business with them. Links are…
And, as always…