During the recording of episode #70 of The Crazy Canucks, I made a quick screenshot of what I see on my end of the conversation to sort of share what it takes to put our podcast together.

What you see are three basic components: Mac OS X 10.5, Ubercaster, and Skype. Conference calling from computer to computer, recording local mics and remote mics on two separate tracks, and I like to keep the sound preferences open in the event that I need to check on something or make any changes.

What you are missing is the only other application in the overall process of editing, Levelator. Then we make the post on the site using WordPress, the RSS feed gets updated, and the podcast episode ends up in your ears, depending on how you listen to it.

I know I’ve posted about this before, but at this point in the overall history of TCC, the process of knowing what it takes to whip together an episode is getting easier to setup, record, edit, and publish. It never ceases to amaze me as to how much fun it is to talk hockey with this crew.

When Rebecca and I went to Kansas City this past summer, something happened with my mobile recording setup. By something, I mean the whole setup vanished. The 2G iPod nano, Belkin TuneTalk Stereo, windscreen, the nearly five year old pair of ear buds, and a sneaky lapel microphone that I never had a chance to try on the line input of the TuneTalk.

Gone. Poof. No trace, and I swear it made it all the way back to Vancouver with us. Probably one of my absolute favorite pieces of mobile recording gear that I have ever come across and the staple of both RadioZoom and The Crazy Canucks podcasts when things went mobile. It was heartbreaking to give up the search and declare all lost, if not stolen.

As I mentioned previously, I was able to replace the iPod nano with the most recent release of the 4th generation model. That was a happy day to have that apart of my daily commutes again, and the backlog of podcasts is something I’m still listening through.

Rebecca went to work and contacted Belkin about our plight. The fact is that we have been very outspoken about their TuneTalk Stereo accessory for the iPod, and I still stand by everything I’ve said about it.

It is true that it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that many audiophiles would like to have. The only functionality that you have is to record in stereo or mono, but the recordings were done in 44.1Khz, uncompressed WAV files. In plain English, that’s really good, high quality audio. It’s perfect for mobile voice recording like interviews or on location for events, and I’ve mentioned this numerous times when people ask me about the gear I use or the various speaking engagements that I’ve been apart of, such as Northern Voice or Net Tuesday.

So we were very fortunate to have this package arrive in the mail about a month or so ago.

Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

Thanks to Belkin, we have a replaced the lost TuneTalk Stereo. Even better, it works with the 4G iPod nano.

I have yet to make many ventures with the device and really test it out, but preliminary tests have been impressive. You can hear some evidence of it in episode #68 of The Crazy Canucks. Listen for the organ at the beginning and the “secret track” at the end to get some samples of some live audio I captured at GM Place.

With hope, a new episode of RadioZoom will roll out soon. With this second chance to do some great recording, I have to really see what I can do with this sucker.

Yes, it’s true that I turned 30 almost a week ago now. Age is but a number, and I hardly feel old. Lord knows I hardly act my age, so it was actually pretty nice to get numerous gift cards to Futureshop.

Being that we have absolutely no idea what happened to the 2G iPod nano shortly after our trip to Kansas City, the timing is nice. I know it made it back to Vancouver, but there is a good chance that it was stolen. In it was not only the iPod nano, but so was the USB cable, ear buds, and the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo that was so vital to our mobile podcast recording adventures.

On our way home the other day, we stopped by Futureshop and cashed in on the following.

Not bad, and it’s nice to have an iPod again, not to mention some nice ear buds with really impressive quality. Still getting used to the UI of this generation of nano, but I’m really enjoying getting caught up on podcasts. All that remains is to replace that mobile recording element, and I’m banking that the built-in support for voice recording on this 4G means good things. That will be hopefully solved shortly.

It was a nice surprise earlier this week to see how the Canucks organization was going to use some of the promotional photographs that they took of The Crazy Canucks crew that I mentioned previously, but I’m not sure that we were expecting to be apart of the launch for the Canucks Fan Zone.

A place for all Canucks fans to gather and share their love for the team. That’s pretty cool, but I’m still wondering if the possibility remains of see my face on the side of a bus or on a SkyTrain poster. Scary still, my face on the jumbotron in GM Place.

Flickr video is thanks to Rebecca.

This past Thursday night, Less Than Jake played the Commodore Ballroom on a double ticket with Reel Big Fish. It was like being taken back to 1998 all over again, but the show didn’t fail to deliver. RBF and LTJ can still rock it something fierce.

Even better, RadioZoom got an interview with Chris in the afternoon before the show, Rebecca being on the prowl with the recording gear. It’s a great interview explaining why they have gone the way of being an independent band on their own label as well as the type of witty banter that can only come from the front man for Less Than Jake.

The interview also gave us photo access for the show, so here are some of my favorite shots I took from the front of the stage.

It was a wicked show. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any shots of Reel Big Fish, but needless to say, they still put on a hell of a performance. I have forgotten how much fun ska/punk concerts are, mainly because of that damn corporate machine that says ska died about ten years ago. I think not.

You can see all of my photos from the night on the Flickr set.

That’s right. Early this week, we launched with the first episode of season three for The Crazy Canucks. Check it out!

We’re back. Season three of TCC kicks off with a quick gathering of the crew to has out what to expect for the coming season as well as some cool things going on with each of our various projects. We take a look back as who we’ve lost, the new faces (that we kinda think we know something about but don’t know half as much as we’d like), hash out the who does what for TV and radio play-by-play, and take assignments for new names of the team for show and tell later.

48:07 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

Things really got busy on us this past week, but I can finally stop blaming work getting in the way and start pointing the finger at hockey. More importantly, we’ve been doing some neat stuff with The Crazy Canucks podcast in anticipation of the coming season.

First and foremost, the new design for TCC has been launched. This is the first step in bringing some new elements of social media to the podcast, and it is an official design by sixty4media.

If you’re on Twitter, then be sure to add @thecrazycanucks to your twitter stream and get all the latest updates as they are published on TCC.com, plus anything else we decide to through into the stream. Also, if you’re drinking the Facebook kool-aid, join the The Crazy Canucks Facebook group and stay in touch with our army of supporters on there.

And there’s more!

Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

The Canucks (yes, the organization) brought your favorite podcast crew in for a photo shoot at GM Place to get our faces and Canucks gear for some promotional stuff that will launch later this month. We can’t be sure how, where, or to what capacity these photos and video footage will be used, but it was exciting to come in and be apart of something like this, simply because we’re all fans.

Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

Special shout out to Richard Loat, who also was invited to this promotional gathering. He’s the man (in the middle of this picture above) who created the Vancouver Canucks Fan Facebook Application. Nearly 150,000 people are using that application on their Facebook profile. Not bad for a kid barely over the age of 19.

Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

So as we hang on to the last days of summer in Vancouver, there is some satisfaction that hockey is coming. It dulls the pain of cooler days, less sunlight, and rain, but I’m certainly beginning to get excited.

Alanah and Rebecca have their posts up about this day as well, and you should stay tuned for more stuff from The Crazy Canucks. It should be a good season.

After giving my MooseCamp session at Norther Voice 2008 on Podcasting 101, I learned a lot more about how things should have gone versus how it went.

Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr

There were a variety of factors that caused me to really struggle how you give someone an introduction on podcasting within 30 minutes that doesn’t leave them feeling like a bus just drove by them and smacked them in the face because they were standing so close and didn’t see that rear view mirror sticking out as much as they just saw the bus. I only use that analogy because it almost happened to me a few weeks ago.

Rather than go through the would, should, or could haves, I’m going to make a blog post that hits the same topics, laid out in a method that will allow folks to explore tools of the medium rather than generate buzz words that you’ll forget to Google later. Plus, this will help me develop a better method of being able to do something like this again, if the virtual tomatoes haven’t already been thrown at me.

I won’t spend too much time on all the points, so let’s hit the big things when it comes to what podcasting is, how it works, and why should one podcast.

What?

The easiest way to explain what podcasting is, for me, comes from something I have to credit Dave Olson for coming up with. Short and simple, they are download-able radio programs on the internet. Podcast enthusiasts will roll their eyes reading that, but if you want to reach through to that person who has never heard of podcasting, this is the easiest, most truncated explanation that you could start with.

Building out from that, a lot of people who get interested in the concept of podcasting, be it listening or making their own podcast, is that word “pod”. They instantly associate this with the iPod, thinking that he or she needs one in order to do anything, and this is further from the truth. So to put this clear and simple, you do not need an iPod to listen to or make podcasts.

Basically, podcasts are sound files that you download to your computer. Quite often they are MP3′s that can be played on nearly any type of computer and listened to on any portable media device. Getting the files from point A to B is a little complicated, but when explaining the what of podcasting, this is a good place to start.

How?

You know what podcasting is, but how does this all work. I’ll skip the making of podcasts because that’s a hefty, meaty topic for another time. However, how does an MP3 of a “download-able internet radio program” get from the person who made it to the person who wants to listen to it?

The secret lies with RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Anyone can upload a file to a website and make a text link for you to click on and download something onto your computer. This is something that nearly anyone on the internet is used to, but this process is manual. You have to actually make an effort to visit the web page, visually see if something new is on the page, and click the link to the MP3, granted that you actually notice that it’s there.

RSS is the reverse. Instead, you subscribe to RSS feeds in what is called an aggregator. These come in various forms, such as stand alone programs (iTunes or Juice) or web based services (Google Reader). What an aggregator does is periodically check the RSS feeds that you subscribe to for any updated items. When it sees that there is something there that you haven’t listened to or downloaded, it flags that MP3 for you to download. Personally, I have my iTunes setup to automatically download new podcasts and have them uploaded onto my iPod for my commutes to and from work.

Depending on the type of person you are, you can choose to listen to podcasts however you want because there are so many ways you can do so. In fact, on The Crazy Canucks podcast that I produce, we have it setup so you can listen to the MP3′s directly on the website, streaming the audio from the front page if the visitor chooses to do so. Even as a podcast producer, I like to make it easy for anyone, anywhere, to listen to my podcast.

Once again, this is a very basic how of podcasting works. For how to make your very own podcast in terms of actually recording something to publish to the world, look into learning methods of audio recording and editing. Every producer is going to have their own methods, and it might take a lot for you to discover what is right for you. Whatever you do, be prepared to spend some time, money, and energy in learning the methods that will be the right ones for your podcast.

Why?

This seems like a silly point, but when you look at the basic, core elements of podcasting, you have to take a slight, philosophical look at… why podcasting?

First off, what’s the point? Well, there is TiVo for television, so some have considered this as TiVo for radio. Of course, radio has noticed this and has started to podcast their live programming into RSS feeds for dedicated listeners to download for a time that is more convenient to getting their fill of their favorite radio program. This is something I am a huge fan of, so I am all for it. And chances are, this is an amazing opportunity to pick up new listeners to a station and/or program that they never knew they were missing in the first place.

The other big “why” is just as big as the first one, if not bigger. Anyone can do a podcast, and they can do it about anything they want it to be about.

That is a huge element of podcasting that should not be ignored. If you have a computer and a microphone, you can record a podcast. If you have a Blogger or WordPress blog, your feed sydicated through a service like FeedBurner (which caters to podcasters very well), and a place like Libsyn to store and distribute your MP3 to the masses, then you can make a podcast. You can even use a service like PodShow and let them do it all for you. You just have to record something and upload it to their service.

The point is that you have the freedom to create anything you want. Aside from concerns that come with the use of copyrighted music or material in your podcast (which is a huge concern for many podcasters so do your research before you venture into territory that you don’t understand the legal consequences of), the rules are how you want to make them.

This is why the “why” is so important to me when it comes to podcasting. You don’t have to follow the rules set by law makers, you are not confined by what you can or cannot say by censors, and you are free to create as much or little as you want. You’ll never have to make your podcasts cram into a forty second spot during the six o’clock news. You set your own rules, and it’s the passion to create something you want to be heard that is all you need to get started.

The final “why” is those people that actually take the time to get your podcast. They are your listeners and/or viewers, depending if you want to do audio or video respectively, and you are speaking to them directly. Sure, some people will come and go, but you can bet fairly well that those who make the effort to subscribe to your podcast are paying attention to a great deal of it.

As soon as you get a response from them, you have a community. The thing is, communities have a tendency to build, and you might even discover similar or new communities in the process. This will give fire for your podcast to build, and the more you embrace it, the more you will have to podcast about.

Then, the next thing you’ll realize is that, and it will blow you mind every time you receive an email from a listener from another continent, people are actually paying attention to you. Chances are, they are anxiously waiting until you publish your next episode, and then the whole cycle starts again.

Now what?

Now, I know that the way this post ends might not have all the answers you want from a beginners, “Podcasting 101″ viewpoint, but there isn’t an easy, textbook answer. It’s like music. You can’t define music as one, simple thing because there are so many different forms and methods to creating music that rules are being rewritten time and time again.

Podcasting is similar. There’s a lot out there to listen and watch, and the ways you can create that type of content is vast. If you can think something up, it can be done. For me, that’s what podcasting, in its truest form, really comes down to.

Now that you have the concept down and you want to make your own podcast, start planning. Even though podcasting is easy, pushing that button to record without figuring out what you are going to do or say will probably not go as well as you hope.

Listen to other podcasts for inspiration. Read some blogs by other people who are writing about podcasting topics like content ideas, how to edit your audio, or what sweet gadgets folks are using inside and outside the “studio” (aka living room or spare bedroom) for recording gear. Then, get cracking because the only way you are going to get better at this is by trying it out and learning from your mistakes.

And if you don’t want to be a podcaster and have just as much thrill as being a listener, then that’s pretty cool, too. And as a podcast producer, we thank you.

I’ve been invited by the intrepid Dave Olson to join him, Rob Cottingham, and Roland Tanglao to be apart of a panel for the coming Net Tuesday4 on July 8, 2008. This is in the series of events in the NetSquared project.

Our mission is to spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations. There’s a whole new generation of online tools available – tools that make it easier than ever before to collaborate, share information and mobilize support. These tools include blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, podcasting, and more. Some people describe them as “Web 2.0″; we call them the social web, because their power comes from the relationships they enable. [netsquared]

The coming panel will be about “Podcasting for Social Change“. Essentially, we are going to gather together on this panel to talk about these tools that exist for pretty much anyone to use in order to get their message out about a cause or organization that is trying to create change within a community.

Whether it’s on a local or global scale, our intention is to give you some insight on how you can use a medium like podcasting to help you get to where you want to be. The road map is fairly wide open, but I’ll do my best to share insights on how to get started, recording methods, editing tips, and how to get that podcast episode out to the world.

What: Net Tuesday4 – Podcasting for Social Change
When: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 5:30 PM!
Where: WorkSpace, 400, 21 Water St., Vancouver BC, V6B 1A1 [google maps]

Topic: Ways Non-profits/Social Change orgs can use podcasts to spread their message

To make it easy, we’ll cover:
1) planning
2) producing tips (with toys to demo)
3) publishing/promoting

panel:
dave olson – moderater/podcaster
john bollwitt – podcaster and audio engineer
rob cottingham – social change technologist
roland tanglao – mobile pundit and tech-evangelist

And to help you think about checking out the panel, check out this great promotional video that Dave made in anticipation. Gotta say that my tequila bottle mic stand is still one of my favorite podcasting engineering feats to this day. Simple and useful in oh so many ways.

I’ve been thinking about this lately, but what is the point of having a podcast when you don’t keep your episodes archived and available over the long term?

Podcasting, in its true form, is prerecorded media that is ready for download and playback, video or audio, at any given time. Unlike traditional, broadcast media, your audience doesn’t have to be there when it’s available or remember to set their recording apparatus, because the use of VCR’s is dwindling as we speak, just so they can be in the know.

When you podcast something, you publish it for the world. It’s shiny and new, ready for the devouring crowds to eat it up. Then it gets old when you publish the next one, but a month or so down the line, someone discovers it. They share it with a buddy, post a link to it on their blog or Facebook profile, or subscribe to your podcast just because they found something in your archives from a year ago. This person even goes through everything you have ever produced just to get caught up.

I’ve been doing this myself over the past month or so. I’m an admitted listener of the Daily Source Code, but I’m not a daily listener. It piles up on me, and I’ll go back to hear the conversations just because I find personal enjoyment from the conversations on that podcast.

I even do this to everything DaveO produces, get caught up on CNet News Podcasts because even though it’s from three weeks ago, I still like to hear the tech news that I might have missed while riding the bus. Remember when Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo? It was fun to listen back on how that one played out, and that’s just a sample of short term history.

Even though the Vancouver Giants missed their chance at a repeat for the Memorial Cup this year, you might find enjoyment to hear the audio adventure that DaveO took when they had a public celebration for the team at Vancouver City Hall. A very good piece of historical evidence for you right there.

If anything, it’s something that you made and long term proof for anyone to stumble upon. The longer it’s there, the better chance it gets to soak in the Google juice and be discovered. However, if you are going to take the media away, do your best to remove all traces. Nothing more disgruntling than clicking on a link to an MP3 and it being not found.

I spent a huge part of this past weekend cranking out a bunch of podcasting content for Happyfrog during EPIC in downtown Vancouver. I’ll make a post about that soon (because it was an amazing experience), but this just popped up on my Twitter feed. Since it’s all about podcasting, I couldn’t pass it up.

So here is “Podcasting in Plain English” by the great folks at CommonCraft. It’s another great creation by these folks to help explain cool internet things in much simpler ways.

A basic understanding of what podcasting is, minus the gritty details. Trust me, that’s harder said than done. Good job, Leefevers.

In light of the recent episode #61 of The Crazy Canucks at the 2008 Open Practice at GM Place, I thought I would post a few of my favorite photos from the event that I took. J.J. had some great, extra seats that we took turns checking out from behind the bench, and Rebecca scored some good shots here as well.

Rebecca poses as an Ultimate Canucks fan.

J.J. took the reigns on a 30 second shot with Scott Rintoul from TEAM 1040 on the jumbotron in GM Place. The rest of us got in on it as well in the background, including Alanah.

DaveO poses with the real MVP of the day, who was strangely missing from the event…

I have to say that it was a pretty cool day. We didn’t get to see as much of the practice as we did from press row last year, but it was a lot of fun to hang out with the guys behind the Ultimate Canucks Search, who are absolutely hilarious guys. They’re also pretty damn good at what they are trying to do.

One thing worth mentioning was the shootout competition that they had at the end of practice. Willie Mitchell pulled his jersey over his head in a headless horsemen-like fashion, skated all the way from center ice like that, and scored on Luongo. It was priceless. What a guy.

We had an amazing opportunity with The Crazy Canucks to officially be apart of the 2008 Open Practice at GM Place about a week ago. In the midst of the forced down time with strep throat, I was able to get the audio turned around pretty quickly. I think it turned out alright.

Aside from covering the usual episode topics, we hung out with and interviewed the guys from the Ultimate Canucks Search, as well as one of the Ultimate Fans, Richard Loat (of Facebook application fame).

JJ got on the microphone to interview passers-by, while we also got the chance to sit down with Kent – the voice behind the We Are All Canuckleheads podcast.

We had a blast, and it was great to have the entire gang together to record one of those rare “face to face” episodes.

45:53 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

Check out the link to the post to get pictures and more details from TCC of the event.

I gave my first ever, public speaking session at MooseCamp this morning, and things went… ok.

The truth is that I’ve been so slammed with work lately that my mind hasn’t been able to wrap itself around the talk until this morning. Around 6AM, I went running through Stanley Park and took the time to plot out a course in my head as to what I wanted to talk about. Thing is, the neurons in my brain are consistently jumping around, so I’m not sure I said everything I wanted to say or said things that made sense.

Photo credit: Duane Storey on Flickr

I wanted to make a quick post with bullet point links to the things I mentioned and name dropped. There might be additions later.

• radiozoom.net – My initial podcast
• thecrazycanucks.com – The podcast by Canucks fans and for hockey fans in general
• RSS (Wikipedia) – The one thing that makes your podcast work
• Ubercaster – The audio production program that I use to produce all my podcasts
• Castblaster – A PC based program that is great for producing podcasts as well

Northern Voice kicks off tomorrow night with the super spectacular dinner, followed by MooseCamp and then the main event on Saturday. This week has turned out to be a lot more hectic that I imagined it to be, and it’s going to be non-stop all the way through Sunday.

The Crazy Canucks will have a fairly major part in all of this madness. I’ll be leading a session for an introduction to podcasting on Friday, our session on sports blogging and podcasting is Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday has our podcast crew front and center at GM Place for the Canucks Open Practice. We’ll be on the concourse raising a ruckus and having lots of fun with fellow Canucks fans at the event, media passes and our own location on the concourse included. All brought to you by those super cool folks at the Ultimate Canucks Search.

I hope to have more time to make more detailed posts about each of these things. In case I don’t find the time, you can’t say that I didn’t mention it.