Podcast Project: Demo Session 1

So last Wednesday, we had our first podcast session, and it turned out really fun! We treated it like a demo as it was our first time and we were also planning out the topics that we'd be discussing in our all of our podcasts.

We set up a table in the middle of the live room, with a condenser microphone positioned at the centre, with everyone seated around it. Steven set up a Pro Tools session with just one audio track (the microphone) and just hit record for the whole podcast. We had our friend James join our demo podcast as well as he wanted to give us a hand with our topics, which was really helpful.

Some of the topics/segments that we noted down to have in our podcasts were Album Reviews, Misheard Lyrics, Interviews with Guests. We all came up with the idea to include guests and to have a new one every week, where we'd ask them questions about their experience with audio as well as various other questions that don't involve audio. There were a lot of laughs, casual swearing and just a lot of mucking around with topics but I really enjoyed it. I also like how my group members are very open and how we're able to voice our opinions and there will be no judgement. Our podcast being flexible and not strict on discussing audio topics makes it less stressful for me and easy to discuss different (but relevant) things on the spot, which won't bore the audience nor the speakers as well.

In general, I'm kind of terrible with discussions and debates; really anything where I have to voice my opinion so it was quite daunting for me to respond to some of the questions we were discussing around the table as I really didn't have a script. For some reason, my brain doesn't do a great job at planning out the best words for me to use to describe what I'm feeling or what I want to say so I just end up stuttering and am, literally, lost for words. I find it's so frustrating and embarrassing, especially when people have to wait for me to make sense of what I'm saying, which then would result in me having to give a second explanation.

So most of the time, I normally just listen to people's discussions and voice my own opinions in my head, which I know will be bad for the podcast. So our idea to plan out topics that will be discussed each week will really help me with explaining my thoughts in the podcasts and I'll make sure to bring notes in with key things that I'd like to point out.

I'm really happy we came up with this idea for a side project as I see it more as a fun little de-stresser for me to discuss random and relevant topics with other audio students, which will help with my communication skills which, as I've explained earlier, really need work.