Acts of Volition Radio: Session One
I’ve had the idea of doing a weekly radio show on the web floating around in my head since the Acts of Volition website started over three years ago. I like the idea of assembling a bit of music, talking about who it is and why I like it, and making it available for download. An hour show could be posted for download and those interested could listen at their convenience (much like we enjoy the Strong Bad emails at HomeStarRunner.com or a new edition of The Onion each week).
I finally got around to trying it out tonight. I’m unclear on the licensing issues, but if I have to, I will pay the appropriate licensing fees if and when I can figure out what they are.
So, here you have the first ever edition of Acts of Volition Radio:
Session One Playlist:
- The Postal Service – Nothing Better
- The Weakerthans – Manifesto
- Brad Sucks – Making Me Nervous
- Pedro the Lion – Magazine
- Apollo Sunshine – I Was On The Moon
- The Darkness – I Believe in a Thing Called Love
I really enjoyed listening to this, and it's inspired me to look for other music by your featured artists (I'm listening to Brad Sucks' collection as I write this).
A very nice change to my usual taste in music (hip-hop, soul, jazz and real R&B).
I'd certainly look forward to another edition of "acts of volition radio."
Here's a photo of my setup.
The microphone is a Shure SM-57. It's a workhorse microphone that is often used to record guitar amps. Chances are that several (or most) of your favourite guitar riffs were recorded on one of these. It also works well for voice. Shure likes to brag that the SM-57 has been used on the podium of the President of the United States for over 30 years. It happens to be cheap, at least in terms of professional recording equipment - around $150 (you can probably find it for closer to $100USD).
You probably don't need a mic like this if all you are doing is crappy amateur radio, but the mic is usually the weakest link in recording.
I have the mic running straight into to mic-in jack on my ThinkPad T30 running Windows XP. The standard mic cable is a 1/4" male jack and my sound card, like most, takes a 1/8" male jack. A $4 1/4"-to-1/8" adapter from the FutureShop does the trick.
On the software side, I have a cheap shareware-ish app called N-Track Studio. It's a multi-track recording application, like the cheaper sick/ugly cousin of ProTools, or CakeWalk. It was $49 to register (which I did).
From there, I put together a quick playlist in my favourite application and start talkin'. Each throw between songs is a separate track, and then the songs are brought in as WAV files (converted from MP3s or CD by WinAmp). I can then easily line up the song starts and ends with the speech. I used some really simple volume envelope stuff to fade some of the tracks in and out.
The whole thing probably took about an hour and a half, though it should be a bit quicker next time.
N-Track Studio can then mixdown the whole thing to a WAV file (a few hundred megabytes) and convert it into MP3 (I would like to use Ogg Vorbis, but it seems that the iPod doesn't support it and it is my secret goal to get on the iPods of all of the coolest people I know).
All-in-all, not too difficult, but not for everyone. It could be made easier if you used something like Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker or Apple's iMovie.
The feedback has been great so far (or my critics are just too cowardly to address me directly) so I hope to do more soon.
If only I had a personal sound engineer, like that nice lady through the sound-proof glass behind the sound board that makes Matt Rainnie sounds so good all the time.
As for The Darkness, I usually don't go for the joke/gimmick stuff (for example, though I appreciate the concept, I just can't get into Kiss or the WWF/WWE). That said, this just struck me as plain old awesome. He even yells “GUITAR!” before the guitar solos.
I also thought that he yelled "GUITAR" before the solo's but a friend of mine is convinced he says "GET DOWN!". Subsequent listens make me think he might be right.
That said, I might give it a try for the next session (coming soon folks!).
I think the beauty of The Darkness is that they're not a joke--they mean every word and artificial harmonic. Sure, Darkness shows are filled with hipsters wearing Ratt t-shirts and foam-mesh "trucker" hats soaked in post-modern irony, but these cats just don't get it... as usual.
Nice work on AoV Radio too, I eagerly await the next installment.
You should try to write a script of what you think you might be likely to talk about - especially your main introduction, and the intros to songs (facts about the bands etc).
Time yourself reading the script out on a run-through, and try to stick to the schedule and text. You'll sound more natural and the speech parts will flow better - especially if you write the material exactly as you would say it.
Keep it snappy!
Otherwise, this was pretty good - I'm looking forward to some more, or even a live show that we can tune in to.
I've been thinking of doing something similar - maybe not music related.
Pretty cool idea, I was especially pleased to see The Weakerthans on your set. I have Reconstruction Site and absolutely love it. I think A Plea From A Cat Named Virtue is my fav or the track with Sara Harmer....
Also, listen to Celso Fonseca's 'Origem de Felicidade'
Last night at Target, I heard a vaguely familiar song in the electronics area.... turns out they were playing The Darkness in Target . . . . my jaw dropped.
It's the devil's musak!
Especially love The Post Office ;-)
