Slide: The Avalanche Podcast

[bean]

I just got caught up and agree that State of the Pack isn't very relevant, other than if you use it to talk about either weird or typical conditions for a region and how they factor in to...something.

On a technical note, the audio levels are all over the place. It goes rapidly back and forth between hardly being able to hear you talk and boomingly loud.

Keep it up and I'm looking forward to more.

[summit]

On a technical note, the audio levels are all over the place. It goes rapidly back and forth between hardly being able to hear you talk and boomingly loud

This
I literally spent the entire last podcast adjusting the audio.
There is software for this. I want to focus on "Douggy Fresh Pow Thinks about Thinking" not "What did he say? OH MY EARS!"

[covert]

Sorry, general problem or just with the most recent episode?

I've normalized and compressed E7 and will repost it. Hopefully that addresses the problem.

[summit]

All but very prominent in 7

[covert]

Copy, gracias, I'll prioritize that. It's a time consuming problem with weak software solutions, yet obviously very important.

How do you listen? Headphones? Bluetooth to car audio? Bluetooth to X? I ask because, of course, I listen to all the episodes before I publish them, and I have not noticed a 'significant' problem. Maybe I am less sensitive to it, or maybe I need to change my review system.

I am also lazy about the work flow and have not normalized/compressed all the episodes. The feedback is much appreciated. I value positive commentary, but the 'this is kinda fucked up' comments are even more valuable. Content-wise and technically.

[summit]

I'm listening bluetooth -car

And thank you for the medical training microrant. It is cool to see tidbits from your threads here make it into the cast.

[cravenmorhead]

I always listen on headphones.

[covert]

I always listen on headphones.

Prominent level issues?

Regardless, I'll be doing some things differently for E8 that should improve the consistency.

[Bronic]

I'm with Summit, I seem to adjust the volume a lot. Listening through an aux cord in the car on an iPhone. I thought episode 7 was much better than 5 and 6, however.

I continue to love your humor and references. Listening to 7 tonight with my regular partner prompted us to decide to do a more critical debrief everyday.

It's can be tough sometimes to tell your best friend and roommate that the skin track they're setting fucking sucks (although some incorporated humor usually makes the conversation less awkward). I know we both really appreciated your insight and I think we both took a lot away from it. It was refreshing to hear from a professional that it's completely normal for the debrief to be awkward and sometimes insulting. But that's the reality of constructive criticism. I had just never thought of it from an avalanche decision making perspective

[cravenmorhead]

Re audio issues, I haven't had much problem with highs/lows in the recent episodes via headphones, but I dimly recall having some issues with early episodes. I agree with others that it's a boring-but-important detail; I'll only tolerate so much screwing around with volume issues regardless of how good content is.

[doebedoe]

So its not just me re:audio issues. I always assume its just my shitty van trying to drive up mtns being too loud to hear.

Love the cast though. Please keep it going.

[hop]

https://soundcloud.com/user-660921194

You can see the big volume spikes in the Soundcloud files. They usually coincide with the musical interludes, at least in the last episode.

[raisingarizona13]

"Certainty is the enemy of adaptation." I love this shit. Thanks Doug and please keep it up!

[covert]

Gracias, E8 is up, it's a shorty. The leveling issues should be fixed. Lemme know if you hear different. cheers...dk

[spraygar]

diggin the show,

I highly recommend getting a "pop filter". Amazon sells them for like 10 bucks.


It will remove the loud "P's" and "S's" from your recordings, making it easier to adjust volume level from the listeners. These are typically the spikes you get on the eq, but this doesnt require compression.

[summit]

E8 I really felt like there was a lot of good stuff, but that there were a lot of times that the series of words you associated with a concept that came in a string were hard to keep track of in my head while driving... like I needed a powerpoint slide to go along with your talk.

[covert]

Copy all,

I have a POP filter, but it's on the other side of the ocean, I'm currently using a windscreen instead. Was there a specific episode that you found had lots of plosives? Many episodes? Recent episodes? I usually listen on headphones and haven't felt that it was a prominent issue, so my attention to that has perhaps ebbed. I've become aware that the difference between listening on car audio vs. headphones is prominent. The more specificity on technical commentary the better. gracias.

Re the Teamwork episode. I've received additional feedback on the density, lists of lists issues, etc. and I take it to heart. Seems obvious in retrospect. I'll revisit the paradigm in future episodes and see if i can find a web resource to link. Paging LW

FWIW, moving forward this season the content will probably be a lot more colloquial and a lot less densely analytical. I hope that helps. I've also had a lot of feedback regarding how valuable the 'story time' is for providing a hook to hang the hard beta on. Copy that.

The podcast is getting harder and harder to keep up with as the pow stacks up and the demands of 'work' increase, but I'm on it. Thanks for your patience and support. dk

[homemadesalsa]

Jeez, I should be on retainer.

Try this as a resource:
http://www.avalanche.org/moonstone/D...rk.TAR34.2.pdf

[summit]

thanks lynn

[cravenmorhead]

I think more colloquial is more better. Most people aren't going to be sitting in a quiet classroom when listening to a podcast. Their attention is somewhat divided; maybe they're walking the dog, or driving, or waxing skis, but whatever it is, they probably have something taking away at least some of their attention. And the "story," with some sort of narrative flow and story arc, is one of the most elemental forms of communication we have. Kind of like a song, a story tends to have an internal structure that holds everything together and makes it easier to catch back up if your attention is diverted for a bit. So I think stories generally make podcasts more compelling and easier to listen to / pay attention to -- the more the better.

[covert]

FYI, I updated all the episodes to fix the leveling issues. also removed the bulk of the music from E1. gonna have to re-record the first few some day. the sound is a little rough.

[covert]

For the next three weeks, the podcast may be moving into a phase where I'm riffing on user requested content. So, if there's something you'd like to hear me spew on, say so.

Be forewarned, the reason it's moving into that phase is because I have limited time for research and soliciting outside opinions. That's why I use the word spew; content may be a touch raw. Fortunately, that's my forte. It may not be gold, but I can promise it will be shiny enough to grab your attention and hopefully make you think. If I say something you disagree with, please speak up.

Current requested topics at the top of the list are managing persistent instabilities and the role of skier compaction in our assessment process. I've also had a request for advice on how to run avalanche mitigation routes. That's pretty specific and maybe less relevant for a lot of folk, but if I can figure out how to draw parallels with bc decision-making, I'll give 'er a go.

pray for snow...dk

[adrenalated]

Just listened to ep9 and still thought that the Ps and Ss (basically anything with a lot of treble) kinda spiked in volume. This is listening in my truck with a full aftermarket sound system and FWIW I always struggle with the EQ a little bit to get the treble spikes down and the midrange up, so it may be more my problem than yours.

I'm quite looking forward to the discussion on managing persistent instabilities but I'd be interested beyond that on your thoughts on different management strategies for different avalanche problems in general. Also perhaps some discussion of leadership, as IME many groups tend to end up naturally with an informal "leader" type role - whether it be the most experienced, the one that came up with the trip idea, the one that knows the area the best, etc. I know you've touched on it a few times but any thoughts you have on how a leader can help facilitate communication and engage the rest of the group in decision making would be useful and interesting.

[covert]

Hey thanks, great content ideas. I'll get them in there. Easy to follow up a PS and DPS discussion with management of other avalanche problems, and the others are mostly easier to manage.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to further up the game on sound quality for at least another few weeks. Still slumming in rural Japan...

[cravenmorhead]

I agree that the "leader" group dynamic is something it'd be good to hear about. Particularly if we find ourselves in the "leader" role - how do we ensure we're soliciting information/feedback from the group?