Topaz Partners Podcast (PRobecast?!?) Episode 002
February 9th, 2007 by Doug
Well folks we did it again– slightly better sound (comparatively), a little music, and some interesting topics. Please please PLEASE keep sending in your suggestions for show names.
Here are the notes:
- Our New Music: Doug hates it, Tim and Adam think it’s cool
- The Name: What do we call the podcast? We have lots of comments, but keep them coming!
- John Edwards/bloggers controversy
- Snickers ad and homophobia in sports
- Wikipedia hates PR
- New Feature: “look at the Bright Side”: NASA’s female astronauts
- Things to do this weekend in the
Listen to the PRobecast (still our name for now), and leave audio comments here:
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This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 6:42 pm and is filed under PRobecast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Doug,
What about our tribute to Anna Nicole Smith!?
February 10th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Did something happen to her? I had Fox News on at the gym today and there wasn’t a peep about it (…)
February 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
No video response this week. I just can’t top the last one (which is kinda sad, really).
1. It’s time to pick a name! This week! No more identity crises!
2. The audio this week is a little over-compressed–lots of nasty weird audio insect-like compression artifacts. And the room you record in is a little echo-filled–maybe do it in one of the cubes after work hours–the fabric will absorb the echos a bit better.
3. Speaking of echo/reverb, that intro–wow. I’m a big techno/electronic fan, but a 1970s bad television theme song rendered into a ringtone? Ugh… I’ll definitely challenge…
4. NASA? Snickers? Where’s the PR relevance? Cute, fun, but the NASA section rambled on a bit, and was decidedly un PR-ish.
Love you guys–I’ll keep listening. Keep it up!
February 12th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
1. Working on it
2. Yes, I heard the over-compression– had to make a decision on what I had to work with
3. Yes, please back me up on this one
4. It was tied in with the NBA/bad PR around gay ex-player, plus tasteless ads are horrendous PR
February 13th, 2007 at 9:54 am
What’s more high-tech than NASA? What’s more PR-related than an employee charged with a crime?
The 24/7 media echo chamber worked against Lisa Nowak in the first few days after her 900 mile drive and subsequent arrest.
But due to a set of circumstances that we talk about in the podcast, things ended up better for her than they otherwise would have.
I mean, after all, let’s look at the bright side sometimes!
February 13th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Todd: some of the audio terminology in your comment intrigued me. “Compression artifacts.” “Absorb.” You’re right on the money, but to echo Doug—we know and made due with what we had in the time allowed. (A $10 omni mic in the small conference room.)
An audio source and its corresponding environment are as complex as a thickly painted impressionistic painting. While your comments in that regard were helpful, they were a bit like critiquing a painting by saying, “There’s blue in it.” A compressor in the hands of a master like George Massenburg or Tom Lord-Alge, for instance, is like a guitar to Jimmy Hendrix; it’s every bit as complex, expressive and nuanced. Before compression even becomes an issue, one needs to deal with the inevitable buildup of subharmonic frequency information in the lower frequencies—and that’s just step one. Mentioning “compression artifacts,” while not wrong, is a little-knowledge-is-a-dangerous-thing example. Compression is one of the final steps in a long chain of audio enhancement, not a buzzword.
And don’t get me started on the psychoacoustic properties of physical spaces. Before one can even begin to apply any type of audio processing, a controlled environment is a must. Controlled environments are the result of many factors, including frequency tuning, room design, wiring and the proper balance of reflective and absorptive material. Again, a comment like, “The foam of the cubes will help absorb the echoes” is not wrong, but these matters are highly complex. The foam in cubes is not nearly thick enough to absorb lower frequencies, for example, and may serve to enhance problems in that range.
And we haven’t even touched upon proper monitoring! This is CRUCIAL. Without a neutral listening environment and equipment, one cannot make any judgment on audio.
And the list goes on.
Enjoy Probecast. We’ll tweak the sound as best we can with what we’ve got as time goes on.
February 13th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Yeah, what you said, Rob!
February 13th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Me like thing go boom.
February 13th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Todd: Ha! Your comment was very funny!
It reminded me of this particular radio interview my band did once. The DJ questioned me about my writing, singing and playing, and I responded at length with an answer that touched on everything from Eastern Philosophy to modal tunings. He then posed the same question to the bass player, who had a similar long-winded, intellectually based response exploring the origins of the instrument, fretted verses fretless approaches, and much more.
He then asked the drummer about his drum philosophy.
His response?
“I go boom now!”
February 14th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Great update by MediaPost
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 by Wendy Davis
To the surprise of no one, blogger Melissa McEwan has also left the John Edwards campaign.
“This was a decision I made, with the campaign’s reluctant support, because my remaining the focus of sustained ideological attacks was inevitably making me a liability to the campaign, and making me increasingly uncomfortable with my and my family’s level of exposure,” she wrote on her personal blog, Shakespeare’s Sister.
Her former colleague, blogger Amanda Marcotte, resigned Monday in the face of pressure from Catholic League president Bill Donohue.
The whole debacle seems to indicate that politicos like Edwards haven’t quite figured out how to use online media in their campaigns. Yes, Edwards and other candidates have released videos on YouTube, bought ads on blogs, and have otherwise tried to garner support via the Internet. But whether they have a sophisticated enough understanding of the Web to use it to garner voters remains in doubt.
Consider, Hillary Clinton misfired with a blog ads buy a few weeks ago. She angered several voices in the blogosphere by purchasing ads on conservative blogs, like Powerline, HughHewitt.com, Wizbang.com, and Captain’s Quarters. Then, after determining that the ad buy was a mistake, her campaign asked to pull the ads while continuing to pay for the space; in other words, she paid the blogs to not run ads for her.
Additionally, the candidates don’t appear to be using paid search. Political consultant Michael Bassik writes on the new blog TechPresident.com that only five of 17 candidates currently are buying search ads on Yahoo and Google.
While a few candidates — like Howard Dean or Ned Lamont — have in the past been able to raise funds or awareness online, the current crop of presidential candidates so far aren’t showing much Internet savvy.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Another podcast update
It had to happen: A diaper allegedly “left behind” by astronaut Lisa Nowak is now up for sale on Ebay, complete with close-up photos. The diaper is in “unused condition” according to the posting. It features both a NASA logo and a “Warning: Biohazard” graphic. The sellers are asking $1,999.99. Undoubtedly the asking price would have been much higher if it weren’t for the tragic news of Anna Nicole Smith’s death last week.
Bid now!
February 15th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Tim Hardaway (you stupid bigot) should listen to the podcast:
Tim Hardaway - I Hate Gay People
February 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Let me make this perfectly clear:
Mr. Hardaway (and any of his disgusting defenders and PR advisors),
May you be in a pick-up basketball game where the man you’re guarding tells you he is married to another man before the last play.
May you suffer a horrible car accident and need to rely on a gay doctor.
May your house catch on fire and have a volunteer who is gay be the first to enter the building.
May your son or daughter tell you on your death bed that they have resented you their whole lives and are glad you will no longer be on the planet.
Peace, love and understanding, Adam Zand