Audio

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #72: Musical Interlude – The Making of a Song

Episode #72: The Creation of “There’s a Wild Heart Beating”

https://archive.org/download/Podcast72_201612/Podcast%2072.mp3

This week, we’re going behind the scenes to look at the creation of a new song I’m working on at the moment called “There’s a Wild Heart Beating.”  It’s for the as-of-yet unnamed sequel to The Thirteenth Hour and is something I’ve been working on for the past few months.  If you’ve followed along on the soundtrack Instagram page, you may have caught a few brief previews.  The premise of the song is that one of the characters in the sequel is looking back on the life she created and wishing she were there right now.  That’s about as much as I can say right now without getting much into the plot, which, to be honest, is still skeletal in my mind.

But like the tracks on The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, it’s an 80s throwback done with a synthesizer backing track.  And in this week’s episode, I’m trying to create that track and was recording in real time.  In the background, I’m singing the lyrics softly to myself, but that will be for a different episode, since this episode is really just focused on the instrumental part.  I tried to edit out most the retakes and curse words.  I think you probably already know that making a song is a lot of work, sometimes a process of trial and error, so no need to belabor that point.  At the end, you can hear the final instrumental result.  The final result with vocals should be available in a few weeks on Bandcamp.

Thanks for listening!

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  • QR code email signup Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
  • Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
  • Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/  Join the mailing list for a digital free copy.  You can also get it on CD or tape.
  • Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
  • Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
  • Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book?  Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #64: Audio Recording and Editing with a Minimum of Gear Part 2

Episode #64: A Behind the Scenes Look at How the Soundtrack Was Created – Recording  and Editing Audio Cheaply and Simply (2 of 2)

https://archive.org/download/Podcast64_201610/Podcast%2064.mp3

Happy Halloween!

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about what to do with that audio file we made last week in episode #63.  Most of today’s episode discusses the use of the program Audacity, which is free and relatively easy to use.  But just because it’s free doesn’t mean you can’t use it to polish your audio track into something that is CD-worthy.  It does take some fiddling and trial and error (as all these kinds of things do), but after awhile, it gets kind of rote, and the process goes a whole lot quicker.

Here’s a link to an article I did on podcasting that may be helpful.   There’s a link to download Audacity there as well as a lot of helpful links to tutorials that discuss audio editing.  We go over some of that here, but many of the tutorials (done by people who know much more than me!) go into more detail.

As always, thanks for listening!

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  • QR code email signup Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to the new upcoming retro 80s soundtrack!
  • Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
  • Free online streaming of the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/  Stay tuned to a full 45+ min album coming 11/13/16.  Join the mailing list for a free copy.
  • Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
  • Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
  • Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book?  Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #63: Audio Recording and Editing with a Minimum of Gear Part 1

Episode #63: A Behind the Scenes Look at How the Soundtrack Was Created – Recording and Editing Audio Cheaply and Simply (1 of 2)

https://archive.org/download/Podcast64_201610/Podcast%2063.mp3

Today, we’re going to talk about how to audio record music with a minimum of fuss and equipment.  I used these methods to create the audio tracks for The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, and I certainly didn’t spend a lot of money (although, if time is money then, well …)

In any event, I used a combination of recording and editing equipment many people have (smartphone and computer – both aging at this point) as well as an old keyboard and 2 guitars.  There are some videos of the keyboard and, I think, the electric guitar on Instagram, and you can see for yourself that they’re nothing fancy.  So I think if this is something you’re interested in, don’t necessarily let the lack of money or equipment scare you off.

In this episode, I’ll talk a little about how all this worked and how you might be able to do something similar if you’re interested, culminating in a digital audio file you can then edit on a computer.  Part 2 (next week) will focus on editing that file to make it sound professional.

Here’s a link to an article I did on podcasting that may be helpful.   There’s a link to the free recording and editing program Audacity there as well as a lot of helpful links to tutorials that discuss audio recording and editing.

As always, thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

  • QR code email signup Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to the new upcoming retro 80s soundtrack!
  • Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
  • Free online streaming of the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/  Stay tuned to a full 45+ min album coming 11/13/16.  Join the mailing list for a free copy.
  • Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
  • Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
  • Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book?  Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #58: George Sirois Redux – The Making of the Excelsior Audiobook

Episode #58: Author George Sirois Returns to Discuss the Creation of His Audiobook

https://archive.org/download/Podcast58_201609/Podcast%2058.mp3

Back in episode #36, fellow author George Sirois came on the show for a great conversation, and today, he’s back!

As you’ll see in the show, George decided that the way he wanted to get his young adult scifi tale, Excelsior, out there as a audiobook was to record it himself.  Way back when I was learning about making covers for The Thirteenth Hour, I came to the realization that when it comes to things like this, it all comes down to money or time.

If you decide to go the professional route and outsource parts of the creative process, you might get a professional product but you give up some autonomy and generally pay quite a bit (that you justify to yourself as an investment in quality and peace of mind).  But if you opt to do it yourself, you have to deal with the sometimes exponentially steep learning curve of cramming years of knowledge into the bare minimum needed to shoehorn yourself into getting the job done.  There may still be significant expense (sometimes due to trial and error), and there’s the significant time sink that comes with what a professional might be able to do more efficiently.

However, one thing debates such this sometimes forget when focusing on practical talking points such as these is simply the enjoyment to be had in simply doing.  As sole proprietors of businesses (as independent authors essential are these days), it pays to understand as many different aspects of the business as possible.  There’s no better way to understand those details than by doing them yourself (at least once).

And that’s what George did to make his ideas into a reality.  There’s a lot there in his story, so like minded souls, take note.  What’s the harm in going for something you want, George says in the interview.  And why not?  At the end of the day, who else is there to give the necessary permission?

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Click on the link to check out the audiobook version of Excelsior on Amazon.

And audiobooks seem to be getting their due after years of being the red-headed stepchild of the literature.  Here’s the full text of the Wall Street Journal on the rise of audiobooks.

George will be making appearances (if you’re local to St. Louis, MO USA) at the following places in the next few wks:

-https://www.facebook.com/WritePackRadio/

-http://www.stlwritersguild.org/writersinthepark.html (now since past, though more good info if you’re a writer hoping to connect with others in and around St. Louis, near where George lives)

Connect with George online at:

blog: http://www.georgesirois.com/

GR profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4103079.George_Sirois

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+GeorgeSirois/posts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/georgesirois

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgesirois/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/excelsiorbooks/

References George discusses on the show:

No Plot? No Problem by Chris Baty, on writing a novel in 30 days

The Stressed-Out Writer’s Guide to Recording Your Own Audiobook by Kirk Hanley

On that note, as always, thanks for listening!

P.S. If you have any interest in getting into audio like George did or wanted to start your own podcast, check out this free guide here.  It’s a guest post I did for fellow author Kelly St. Clare on podcasting as cheaply as possible and has a wealth of info on audio production in general, most of which I learned by trial and error!  Check it out, and start podcasting as more than an amateur!  WIN!

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  • QR code email signup Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
  • Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
  • Free online streaming of the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/  Stay tuned to a full 45+ min album coming in the next few weeks!
  • Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
  • Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
  • Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book?  Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!