Sound Issues

[Wally Balljacker]

I'm not a podcaster so I have no idea. I listen to quite a few podcasts that have perfectly acceptable audio quality in a wide range of fidelity so I know it can be done.

I listen to a lot of podcasts as well and I would like to let you into a little secret: TLLTS is not a podcast, it's a live radio show that is released after the fact in in podcast form. I'd be interested in hearing about any of the podcasts that you listen to that are recorded live that have better quality than TLLTS. Don't bother to list any of the TWiT shows as Leo freely admits he could never afford the bandwidth they have donated to them.

That's a cop out. The fact that it's recorded live doesn't have any bearing on the people who download the show afterwards. It's a podcast to them, not a live stream. And if you're going to put out a podcasted version of your show, I think it's fair to say that it should be up to a certain quality, or people have a right to complain. I would venture to say that the majority of listeners probably hear the show in podcast form rather than live anyway, so it seems like any solutions to improve audio fidelity should cater towards the recorded version rather than the live show.

Personally, I think TLLTS would be better off as a studio project that isn't done live so that the final product is of a much better quality and can be edited and polished accordingly.

[eddie]

Since the podcast is on their dime, one might be a wee bit more flexible. It's not like another podcast that I will not mention the name of where it is a commercial venture for them. But then I would not listen to it no matter how good it sounded since the content to me is pretty much bogus. With tllts, the content is far above the rest.

[ken_fallon]

That's a cop out. The fact that it's recorded live doesn't have any bearing on the people who download the show afterwards. It's a podcast to them, not a live stream.

I don't get you're logic here. If a football match is recored and transmitted later then it's still a live event, all be it a time shifted recording of a live event. A podcast is just a means of redistributing time shifted media and it says nothing of how that media should be produced.

Personally, I think TLLTS would be better off as a studio project that isn't done live so that the final product is of a much better quality and can be edited and polished accordingly.

I strongly disagree with you on this point. What makes you think that the parts that are edited are not the parts that others in the audience want's to hear ?

This argument keeps coming up again and again. Some people seem to be fixated on the audio quality, while others like myself feel that the content is king. There is however a simple solution to the problem that would require little additional work from the presenters but would require the audiophiles to put up or shout up. I suggest that the presenters record their end of the stream and those recordings be made available. Anyone who is concerned about the audio quality can simply take all the recordings and edit them together into a Double Ender.

[hellonorman]

This argument keeps coming up again and again. Some people seem to be fixated on the audio quality, while others like myself feel that the content is king.

Framing this as an either/or debate is wrong. Better audio quality is not some inverse proportion to content where improving audio quality lowers content.

There is however a simple solution to the problem that would require little additional work from the presenters but would require the audiophiles to put up or shout up

Another weak argument. You don't have to be an audiophile to notice the lack of audio quality.

[dann]

Hopefully we have found what a good portion of the audio problems are a result of and you will noticed improved quality with this weeks show.

Audio has always been a problem. Mayhaps as I come into some more money I will be able to get better equipment and it will improve even more.

[Linc]

Technically speaking, there is nobody that does a show the same way we do. Comparing us to ANYONE else who is doing either a live show or a "podcast" is comparing apples to oranges. I remind you we stream live, many times with more than 7 people on at a time, all coming from different places in the world on their own connection. We do this on NO BUDGET with NO STUDIO. Sure, we have audio issues and we are working out some resolutions for them. In the interim, if anyone of the armchair experts here have an actual cash contribution to make to help purchase some physical equipment to help us out, we'll be happy to accommodate you.

[zbreaker]

I think we all know what the deal is w/tllts. One listens not for the sonic fidelity but rather the content...which is never disappointing. If Dann is speaking w/out forked tongue the enhanced audio will be most welcomed...but I'm not going to lose sleep over it so to speak

[hellonorman]

Technically speaking, there is nobody that does a show the same way we do. Comparing us to ANYONE else who is doing either a live show or a "podcast" is comparing apples to oranges. I remind you we stream live, many times with more than 7 people on at a time, all coming from different places in the world on their own connection. We do this on NO BUDGET with NO STUDIO. Sure, we have audio issues and we are working out some resolutions for them. In the interim, if anyone of the armchair experts here have an actual cash contribution to make to help purchase some physical equipment to help us out, we'll be happy to accommodate you.

Well except that thousands and thousands of people stream on talkshoe all the time. But don't worry about it you are super special.

If you want donations then ask for donations. Don't wait until you are in an angry little snit.

[Snowbat]

The recording of 358 has a nice improvement in audio fidelity on speech. You've nailed the problem that bothered me most: speech was cut off above 3kHz. This time it extended up to 8kHz like the promos and opening/closing themes *normally* do (they did sound worse than usual this week but I'm sure you'll iron that out).

http://tllts.org/wiki/index.php?n=Main.NewHardwareSetup
I think this is the new setup that Dann mentioned?

This listener appreciates your work!

[dann]

I think the only way we are going to get better sound quality out of the intro, music number and outro is for me to splice the original files in. Otherwise we are at the mercy of it coming back through the asterisk conference. Before it was going directly into the mixer and then to audacity.

[dann]

Well except that thousands and thousands of people stream on talkshoe all the time. But don't worry about it you are super special.

Like skype, talkshoe uses proprietary technology we don't have access to. If you listen to a telephony call over talkshoe the quality is much lower.

Now excuses can be made all day but the plain fact is a lot of our problems were a result of interference mostly from the mixer, the electrical wiring in my house and the one laptop who's power adapter bleeds over into the audio. Taking all that out of the mix reduces those issues.

[Claudio]

Episode 358 was a significant improvement in the audio quality. The guys definitely did their due diligence IMO on squashing most of the bugs from the previous shows. As for TalkShoe, the quality on there isn't better than what the TLLTS guys are doing. In fact, I've found it to be much worse in some cases. Other shoes like h4cked which also use Asterisk get the same sound quality. If you want to whine about the audio sounding like AM radio, go listen to TWiT and deal with their pristine-sounding tripe about iPads and whatnot. I'll stick around TLLTS, h4cked, and others like them where the quality of the content more than makes up for the lower fidelity in sound.

[hellonorman]

If you want to whine about the audio sounding like AM radio, go listen to TWiT and deal with their pristine-sounding tripe about iPads and whatnot. I'll stick around TLLTS, h4cked, and others like them where the quality of the content more than makes up for the lower fidelity in sound.

Actually Twit would be better described as sounding like FM radio. If tllts sounded like AM radio or even a clear phone call most wouldn't complain because it's not really about the fidelity it's about the clarity. Dann says he found the interference issues and corrected them.