the learning curve
Just about a year ago I had a spark come through my mind. The spark, you ask, was an idea for a podcast. It took me a little while researching and looking for a hosting site that was user friendly, handled distribution and most of all was low cost… as in FREE! I have made some pretty questionable decisions in the past, diving into something with reckless abandon only to find out that all I created was a giant black hole in which to throw my ‘dage(that’s a term my brother and I use for fundage or cash). So finding something that wasn’t going to cost me anything out of pocket to start was pretty key. I mean what would happen if I started doing a podcast and had paid for something in advance to find that I hated it? Or what if it was like a shiny new toy and then I discarded it as quickly as I found it?
Turns out starting the podcast was a really good decision because it set me on a new path. Since starting the podcast I’ve started a blog, vlog and created a website. I’ve pushed beyond my comfort zone in reaching out to people to interview and had many more creative ideas pop up as a result. I am on a huge learning curve, and as far as I can tell…there’s no end in sight! To be honest, I did run a blog for a brief time a number of years ago. As a part of that I had to do some leg work on setting up the page and things of that nature. However, what I was doing then is a far cry from what I’ve been doing with all of the other branches of this tree. Then throw in the advances in social media platforms and it’s a whole new ball of wax.
“ If I hadn’t made the choice to try something new I wouldn’t have all of the awesome opportunities to learn. The coolest thing of all is that I am getting to share these experiences with all of you and I’ve learned that it’s never too late to try something new!”
I am just beginning to get an understanding of sound recording and editing and barely scratching the surface on video. Shit, to put it bluntly, I at the point where I read or watch tutorials and when their explanation of how something looks on screen or should look isn’t exactly how my program is laid out it causes a great deal of frustration. I persevere and keep looking for the answer. If I can’t find it I will take a few steps back, put it down for a minute(that usually means a day or two) and come back to it. If you think about it, that could be a good way to approach a lot of things in life. Although, life usually isn’t static and you can’t just hit save or pause. Regardless, a little bit at a time, I’ve been getting better at all of these things. I’ve learned that if I want to cut down on my mic picking up all of my inhaling that I should set a gate on decibels or turn down the gain on the input. That one thing will save me hours upon hours of sound editing and also help me stay sane. I don’t know about you, but have you ever tried to edit 2 hours of audio conversation between two people? If you’re not a professional editor, which I’m not, it takes for-fucking-ever! But in all seriousness… If I hadn’t made the choice to try something new I wouldn’t have all of the awesome opportunities to learn. The coolest thing of all is that I am getting to share these experiences with all of you and I’ve learned that it’s never too late to try something new!