Discussion: Ideas

1) Absolutely. Should be done - the only obstacle is vacation time.

2) Difficult, but possible. How do I record a podcast for you?

3) I liked my schedule from Harriman this year. You can assume something similar for that camp. One difference is that I will surely use the Balter/Zhyk TT '2010 sprint map for a sprint relay.

2) use garageBand on your new mac. You should have it and it is nice and easy to use! Then you share the recording from there to itunes (up on the toolbar menu thing) and then from there send it out!

Audacity is also a viable program for podcasts.

Woo training motivation! Any talk of getting into relevant terrain before WOC2011 too? Or just show up as early as various folks can again? Gosh, this all requires time of work, I should get back to it then, store up brownie points for future hopeful travel... =)

I've used audacity before to create books on tape style productions. I am really looking forward to the fun communal feel of the training camp groups :) Pawtuckaway was a good camp too, and it's such a great place for control picking types of courses.

I think we could motivate for some relevant terrain for WOC 2011 too... I think the tricky part is that flying over there is a huge commitment. If we fly just before WOC then we can't train as effectively because we are trying to rest up before the event but if we fly over considerably before WOC then we really use a lot of vacation time, or we need to make two trips of it.

You're spending a large part of the winter traveling to Europe, aren't you Ali?

Yeah, the super ideal thing would be to do the second WOC 2011-focused training camp in France that's late May/early June, I think. If we all had money/time...! But also yeah, I'm in Sweden for ski-o in Dec and again late March, perhaps if snow is melted in France possible to get in relevant terrain after the March one? hmmmm....

This is probably obvious, but I certainly felt most prepared for WOC the year I went to Ukraine for a week in May with the Australian team. Ali (and others) - it's great to go over for a WOC terrain camp with your teammates, but if you happen to have time and ability to go, put the word out there, and other national teams may well be willing to adopt you for a week. That way you could piggy-back on them for logistics, training, and company.

I'll train with anyone who comes to France this year! I am not that useful a person to adopt you though (although I do speak French).

I've used Audacity for some small audio edits, and it works.

One good site if you're interested in the audio production of a podcast or a radio piece is transom.org. It was started by Jay Allison. It was lying stagnant for a while, but it's started to have regular content updates.

If you go there, click "Tools", and read the older articles, you will find that the radio production "software of choice" is ProTools, which is a software package that requires a specific hardware interface and costs a lot. There used to be a free version, but not anymore, so transom.org was looking for alternative free software for beginners. They have reviews of two alternatives for audio production: Hindenburg, and Reaper, as well as two iPhone apps for recording (and actually editing on the iPhone) called "Monle" and "Hindenburg Mobile".

I just installed "Hindenburg Lite" from the app store (which I'm guessing is the new name for the Mobile version), but I have an iPod Touch with no microphone so it won't work until I buy or make a cable to hook up a microphone. It doesn't advertise the details of the recorded file (sampling and bit rate, for example), so I don't know what it can do. I'm not planning to edit on the iPod, but to just use it as a recorder for when I don't have my good recorder with me.

This American Life produced a comic book about radio production called Radio: An Illustrated Guide. A review and short excerpt here, although it's $5, not $40. (I own a few copies.)

There's a neat book called "Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production", but it's much more about journalism and the specific jobs at NPR such as reporter, producer, editor, host, etc, than about the specifics of picking microphones and recorders. I know it's used as a textbook in university journalism courses, but I really enjoyed it (being an NPR addict for the last 17 years or so). It really opens your eyes to some of the ethical and fairness issues in media. I got a copy from the library, but I eventually bought a copy, too. (Certainly more than you need for a podcast, though...)

That's a pretty thorough run down :) thanks!

I'm currently a podcast junky, so I think my desire to have an orienteering podcast is more an extension of the phrase " to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail" rather than a feeling that orienteering naturally lends itself to the medium.

You're welcome!

Apparently the standard for podcasting is some sort of USB microphone. I bought one of transom's recommended microphones (not USB) and it was about $125. I've used the microphone jack on computers before, but I don't know how good a recording it can make.

If you want to just mess around, the one thing you can't fake is a decent microphone. I own two other microphones that are lapel (lavalier) microphones. I own a $25 Radio Shack lapel version (you can just walk into most Radio Shacks), and I own an Audio-Technica --- this one I think---that was actually cheaper, about $20. The Audio-Technica has less handling noise, which really helps, and it seems to have higher build quality. Also, it has a 20-foot cable, which is handy if you have a camcorder. I saw a website where a guy taped one of these to a boom headset (here). You could try clipping this to a pencil or something and hand-hold it like a big microphone. These really small mics aren't as good as an expensive big mic, but seriously, they're good. (Just remember to turn it off or you'll run down the battery.)

For an iPhone or Touch, you'd need an adapter cable between one of these microphones and the phone. This product ($20, or 2 for $30) mentions Droid as well, so I'm guessing there are equivalent recorder apps for Android.

What podcasts do you like? I'm very boring: Mostly NPR shows I miss because of orienteering...

While it is old (1988?), there's a fascinating orienteering tape with interviews of some top orienteers that was made by Charles Parry. He interviewed a bunch of top elite orienteers at a pre-WOC training camp in Sweden and put together some of the highlights. You might be able to find an old cassette tape or you could get in touch with Charles and see if he could find a copy. I think he is in the Boston area:

http://www.signetconsulting.com/signet_services/ab...