Episode: 677
Title: HPR0677: THEATER OF THE IMAGINATION: PART 2
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0677/hpr0677.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-08 00:45:31

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Music
Hello, this is Lost in Bronx.
You know, as I was writing the script for this episode, it occurred to me that it was
more or less a continuation of the thoughts I expressed on an earlier HPR episode, namely
episode 0334 Theatre of the Imagination.
Therefore, this is number 2 in that series, which I didn't know was ever going to be a
series, but whatever.
I'll be expanding upon it in the future as my knowledge and inclination grow.
Now then, it's been a while since I had anything to post here on Hacker Public Radio, that's
because I've been busy, see, I got a life, see, I'm not a nerdy loser, like you, maybe
I am, but among other things, I just released a piece of dramatic audio media, technically
a dramatized story, called Blue Heaven, Chiching, Chiching.
This took me quite a while to put together, and I made a ton of mistakes.
I'm passively satisfied with the result, though, and I'm working on more dramatic audio
media for the future.
Now I figured that there must be some of you out there with an interest in presenting
your own written creative works, be they audio scripts, books, poems, whatever, in an audio
format of some kind, or that maybe there are those of you who want to get involved in
some other way, acting or sound engineering or whatever.
If so, then my missteps may very well be your gains.
I'm only at the beginning of this journey myself, so my blunders, read that, lessons
to be learned, will be many, and I invite you to learn from them as I do.
In upcoming installments, I'll delve into some meat and potatoes, regarding equipment
and software, and some of the things I've learned, or felt I needed to do, and why.
As for now, let me start with a few definitions.
These are not necessarily official, in fact, you may never even hear anyone but me using
them, nor were they so defined in episode number one of theater of the imagination since
that was what two years ago, something like.
But they are the terms that I use now, and I will use them routinely as I talk.
First, dramatic audio media.
I define this as any form of audio-based fiction.
That would include audiobooks, potty books, books on or ripped from CD, stories or shows
that have a cast of actors, along with music and sound effects, or any combination of these
things.
Basically, they are audio-based stories, shows, or even poetry.
Nothing more, nothing less.
But the key here is fictional or creative works.
Second, audio cast.
This is synonymous with podcast, yes, even a show like HPR, except that it umbrellas
this term with such oddities as, odd cast, speaks cast, net cast, odd cast, high-jezra,
and any number of others.
Be they an ag-vorbous format, or MP3, or speaks, or be they distributed via RSSV, or audible,
or iTunes, which I don't know, might be the same thing, I don't use them.
Or they are only available through direct downloads.
They are all audio-casts.
The prime distinction here is not the actual codecs involved, nor even the exact online
distribution formats, and certainly not the content itself, but rather online availability
versus radio broadcasting.
Now why make this distinction?
Because one is, at least in theory, available to the entire world whenever any individual
therein wants it.
While the other is available only within a certain broadcast radius, or broadcast network,
whenever the broadcaster makes it such.
You miss a particular radio broadcast, and you have to either find it elsewhere, often
online, or you have to hope, beg, and or plead with the broadcaster to repeat it sometime.
So as I define it, we have broadcasting, which of course is itself an umbrella term covering
many disparate things, and we have audio-casting.
Dramatic audio media can be delivered through either method.
Third, physical distribution, or PD.
Quite simply, this encompasses such things as books on CD, cassette tape, vinyl albums,
or whatever.
If you have to manually pass along or somehow obtain a piece of physical media in order
to ultimately listen to the show, then you are doing so via PD.
Once you rip it into digital, it gets reduced to its essential form, dramatic audio-media,
audio-cast, whatever.
If conversely, you commit digital content to a piece of physical media, then you are back
to PD.
Pay attention now, there'll be a quiz.
Fourth, audio-drama.
Didn't I just tell you what that was?
Actually no.
This is where it can all start to get confusing.
Audio-drama, or AD, is a generally accepted term.
You'll run into it when you go searching for content out there, I didn't make it up.
Specifically, it refers to dramatized stories, not just dramas, mind you.
This includes comedies, romances, westerns, whatever.
Very often regular series, but not necessarily, with multiple actors or multiple characters
by a single actor.
Think old-time radio.
Think BBC radio productions, that sort of thing.
You can split hairs here, obviously, and fight till a cows come home over minor distinctions,
but by and large, this is the definition most closely associated with this term.
Audio-drama, multiple distinct characters with music and sound effects.
Fifth, dramatized story.
Basically an actual story read by primarily one person with music and or sound effects
added.
My own show, Blue Heaven, though I have improperly described it before as an audio-drama,
is in fact one of these.
It's just me, with music and sound effects.
You can't find distinctions, since such things as one person stage shows exist, and they
are considered to be plays, not stories, and dramatized stories can be written to be more
like those, than like short stories or novels, but again, this is a definition that is generally
understood in which you'll encounter from time to time.
Dissolved story, one reader with music and sound effects.
Sixth, and final for now.
Podiobook.
Basically one person reading a story or novel, often with a little bit of music or more
rarely with some minor sound effects work.
In other words, an audio book or book on CD, except for the distribution method.
Podiobooks are associated with the audio cast format, and as such are usually seen as
being part of some series or other.
You subscribe to them via RSS or Adam or whatever, and they get delivered to you when they're
ready, just like any other audio cast.
Though an audio book that can be directly downloaded from a site, and which has no RSS
feed of any kind, is still, or still can be considered, a Podiobook.
Most enthusiasts do think of an RSS distributed series when they hear the term.
If the show is a one shot, then it doesn't need a feed, right?
Well, if an author doesn't have a feed, a lot of listeners don't know what to do with
the show, because they don't know how to get it on to their portable media players or
phones, which is the usual method of consumption.
I know that seems absurd to the listeners of this show, but I assure you it is both true
and common.
If they can't grab their desired content with iTunes, and have it automatically loaded
onto their players, many, many, many people are lost.
Therefore, for the twin reasons of convenience and abject ignorance, Podiobooks usually
must have an RSS feed to be considered such, and when I use the term, that is what I will
also be referring to.
Now, that was all dreadfully long and probably unnecessary, but I'm done with the descriptors.
Until I'm not.
The production values, okay, I have some audio casting under my belt, but Blue Heaven
was my first real stab at dramatic audio fiction.
On the one hand, my previous experiences helped immeasurably in preparing me for the technical
considerations of producing a dramatized story.
I was already familiar with some needed recording and editing software.
I felt I understood the strengths and limitations of my hardware, and I knew I could hit a self-imposed
production deadline.
On the other hand, that experience was of no great value at all.
The reason for this, in my opinion, is because of a rather narrow interpretation of a particular
cliché that I and many other audio casters have been guilty of subscribing to.
I'm referring to that marvelous old saw, content is king.
People in the technical audio casting world, which for some unfathomable reason I seem
to have found a homin, tend to interpret that to mean only the information being relayed
within the show, formatting, editing, and decent sound, as well as music, humor, personality,
all these things are also content, it's just that geeks lust after information, and the
other considerations are at best secondary.
This is not universal, there are many exceptions, tech audio casters who take great pride in
their sound quality or entertainment value, and if you're listening to this you know
who you are.
By the same token, there are many who place those things on a lower scale of priority,
and you know who you are.
Neither approach is wrong, it just depends on the show.
Well, production value is also part of the content of dramatic audio media, but in dramatic
audio media, if your sound quality is poor, it will interfere.
Your marvel is writing, the great acting, the clever sound effects, and awesome music,
none of it matters if they can't be easily heard, that's just the way it is.
Now this doesn't mean you need BBC radio quality to put on a good show, few people have
that kind of talent skill or equipment.
If you do get into this stuff, you'll find that the quality is all over the map, in
that regard it's like tech audio casting, except for this one thing.
In dramatic audio media, if you realize that your production values can be improved somehow,
it is incumbent upon you to attempt to do so.
Whether or not you have the skill set, equipment, or time to actually pull it off, you're
supposed to want to.
The goal is for the best sounding stuff you're capable of producing.
That is a difficult hurdle to jump for me, since my audio casts thus far have been
none too great sounding.
Because of this rather steep incline going in, I was and still am very dissatisfied with
the audio quality of Blue Heaven.
I'm willing to give me a break, certainly because it's a first effort, gotta start somewhere,
and I did bust mine behind.
You know you can tweak these things until the crack of doom, so at some point you need
to set a release date and go with it.
And if you're doing a series, which I am not just yet, people do expect episodes on
a regular basis.
So like always, you have to do that tightrope walk between art and practicality.
This is just common sense stuff, but it informs a basic order of business.
You need decent equipment and software.
Now since we're all false enthusiasts here, we have the software covered, right?
Free software, audio recording, and editing applications are up to the job.
But there are caveats there, which I'll get into in future installments.
As for the equipment, do you need to spend a lot of money?
Not necessarily.
If you have a cheap mic that sounds pretty good, that's pretty good.
But most cheap mics sound like it, and if yours does, then you'll want to look at replacing
it.
If you can get good sound for low price, then all the more power to you.
But it can run into money.
Like a lot of things, you can spend as much as you want to.
But you should strive for the best equipment you can afford.
Personally, I can't afford much, so my equipment isn't awesome.
You do what you can.
But if you can, you do, got it?
Good enough, ain't good enough.
Only good as it can be under the circumstances is good enough.
And the reason for this emphasis is because as dramatic audio media people, we're not
just conveying information.
We're making art.
Your art matters, so you treat it like it does.
Production values begin inside you.
The value you place on your production.
Hold them dearly there, and they will cast their rosy glow upon your work.
Or cheat them and your work will absolutely sound like it.
Now, what some productions lack in technical quality they make up for with enthusiasm.
But everyone behind those shows, if they could make them sound better, they certainly
would choose to.
As time experience, skill, and yes, may be a little money permit.
So should you.
This has been Lost in Bronx for episode two of the HPR Series Theater of the Imagination.
Take care.
Thank you for listening to Hacker Public Radio, HPR is sponsored by Carol.net, so head
on over to C-A-R-O dot N-E-T for all of us in need.
Thank you for listening to Hacker Public Radio, Hacker Public Radio, HPR Series Theater of the Imagination.
Thank you for listening to Hacker Public Radio.
