August 16, 2019

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Permanently Moved 🔊

S2E20

A nice round number seemed like a good time to review where I am at.

I discuss how the show has evolved, workflow, stats, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor” and that making this weekly has done wonders for my psychological health.

 

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You can subscribe to Permanently Moved in itunes: permanentlymoved.online/itunes or search in all your favourite podcatchers.

Permanently moved is a personal podcast 301 seconds in length, written and recorded in one hour by @thejaymo

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Episode 50

50 Episodes. A bit of a milestone don’t you think? an opportunity to reflect on this experiment so far. 

Before I sat down to start making this I went back and listened to some deep cuts from the early days last year, and I realised just how far this whole thing has come. Not just in terms of quality, which is obvious from the moment you hit play on episode one. But also in terms of delivery and content.  

In the first episode I read the quote that formed the catalyst for this show. From Warren Ellis’ now defunct morning.computer where he talked about the lack of small things in his media diet and went on to say “find the shape that the piece actually fits, rather than the shape the current culture expects it to be” 

I think what’s happened the show has evolved is actually the opposite. The content now fits the shape of the 301 second hook. That first episode had no script at all and I was just free talking into the microphone with no idea of where it was going. I quite like the casual tone of voice in this first one but wouldn’t subscribe to it.

Later episodes began to have beats to hit, and I’ve got better and better at building the shape of the show. The first show that had a full script aside from the episodes where I collaged lots of quotes was episode 1809 – Remembrance. Which was about my family’s visit to my great granddad’s military grave in Belgium on the 100th anniversary of his death.

I’m so glad I made that Episode and listening back earlier I’m still really proud of it. 

Incidentally, it was also the first episode that resembles the show as it is today. Intro, music, exposition after 19 Episodes it found the shape.

As time has gone on It’s become easier and easier to sit down and write the script in 20 mins. Each show is between 850-900 words fully scripted. I spend about 15 mins non stop splurging followed by reading it back in 5 mins editing the text in one pass. 

All other edits are done after recording, dropping sentences that don’t work or moving a paragraph around. I tend to record the whole show in about 10 mins in one go, including all the multiple takes, coughing and tripping over sentences that I wrote but can’t actually say out loud. The final part of the edit usually is because the first pass to long, sometimes 5 seconds, sometimes 15. So the first thing I do is go back and take out all the breaths. If i’m still over then I start to squeeze gaps between sentences. Episode 1918 on Fortnite is one example. Louis Center describes those episodes as powerful. lol

Lastly I do a quick EQ, De-esse, high-pass filter and add compression. But that’s new since I spoke to Mike Rugnetta on Twitter about it Around episode 6 or 7 earlier this year. I now have presets saved to speed up the workflow. 

Moving on.

Some Stats

This podcast is fast closing in on the psychological milestone of 10k Uniques across all its destinations. Last week’s show got 116 downloads in the first 72 hours.

Which quite frankly isn’t too bad in the context of a weird 5 min show with no theme except whatever I decided to make when I wake up in the morning that’s had very little reach outside of my own reach. A big thanks to the folks however who have written about it in their newsletters etc. 

And of course a big thanks to my Eve for being so supportive. Even if i don’t think she listens to this all the time as she puts up with thejaymo show constantly anyway. 

But her feedback from Episode 2 last year still holds I did “Get off the couch and do something”

Lastly, Having just listened to myself in the first episode talk about 301 being an exercise in getting over my self critical nature and putting content.  I can say I set out and have achieved what I wanted to do. 

Anne Lamott is so correct when she says that “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor”. A creative tendency drilled into me as a musician at a young age: learn your flute scales, get the piece perfect for the recital, or even get the set tight for upcoming punk gigs etc

Making this show and putting it out into the world almost every week has been really cool. 

Making this show once a week as a regular weekly beat has done wonders for my psychological health. My whole week hangs around it. Hitting upload and getting over a hangup I’ve had for well over half my life is a really great feeling.

Of course I’m doing a bunch of other stuff too. But they are all much bigger projects, one of which is up to like 35 thousand words. So, one of the questions I’ve been asking myself is how do I apply this new attitude to putting other things out into the world? And what formats? I have a few ideas, the first is coming real soon. 

So that concludes the first 50 episode sprint review of permanently moved. If you’re still listening, I’d really appreciate it if you could please share your favourite show on social media with a short note why. I’d love some feedback.  

And of course a big thank you to everyone who is listening, from whatever point you joined this experiment or rated or reviewed it. I really appreciate it.