Last week I launched my own podcast!
The Diary of Roxy Collins, a fictional romantic comedy podcast is now on iTunes.
Creating this podcast has been a blast (apart from the mild irritation encountered with some technical issues and the post-launch ‘OMG what have I done?” emotional breakdown).
The rewriting of Roxy Collins and the actual recordings have been enjoyable and very useful. For me, the writer, bringing a character to life through audio has been invaluable. I have learnt so much about characterisation in terms of mannerisms, dialogue and flow of speech. It is only when you become that character and stand in front of a microphone do you actually start to understand them as a person. So regardless of how the podcast performs I have already learnt tons.
Recording the podcasts in my kitchen, daughter’s bedroom, the living room and in our rented holiday cottage bathroom has been interesting. Obviously I don’t have the luxury of a fancy recording studio so I have had to work with what I have around me.
During the recording sessions I have encountered some unexpected sounds, and at times annoying, which I never planned for.
They resulted in my doing an eye roll, letting out a sigh, slamming the stop button, hitting rewind and re-recording. After the 13th time of re-recording one tiny clip the enjoyment does start to wear off.
I thought I would share these unexpected sounds with you:
- Church bells. You don’t know how many times I yelled ‘STOP RINGING!’ from my kitchen one Sunday morning. No one took any notice lol!
- Low flying aircraft. There is nothing like a fighter jet screaming overhead just as you are trying to record a heart warming kissing scene.
- Ticking clock. I had to take it down and remove the battery. V annoying with its loud tick tock!
- Cats keen to show off their acting skills. Our oldest cat ‘Harry Potter’ thinks he’s destined for the stage as every time I have started to record he starts meowing like crazy and purring extra loud.
- My noisy gut. Never record whilst hungry – I have learnt this the hard way.
- Washing machine. Me and my washing machine have fallen out on many an occasion during a recording. It’s ‘quiet spin’ is not what I would call quiet.
- Neighbours enjoying themselves. Every time I start to record some of my neighbours start to shriek with laughter or erupt into a loud cackle. At one point I felt like delivering some leaflets which said ‘can everyone stop enjoying themselves whilst I record this podcast?’
- Toilet sounds from upstairs. There was one occasion where a loved one had come back from the pub and they had clearly drank a lot of liquid. I was forced to sit and wait for the noise to stop. Sorry readers for raising this but it just went on and on..
- Kids squabbling. It did make me laugh as I was covering arguing children on the podcast and in real life there were kids squabbling in the background.
- Burp. I will not be recording again after drinking something fizzy…that’s all I am going to say readers!
- Wind. I will be cutting down on the fibre during recording months. Again that is all I am going to say readers!
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the unexpected sounds I encountered whilst recording my podcast.
Please share some of your own if you have had similar experiences.
Have a fabulous day!
Haha, I love this! Really enjoyed listening to your podcast, Lucy. Good luck with controlling your unexpected sounds 😉
Hey thx Shelley 🙂
Thanks, I needed that laugh!! And living close enough to a Naval Air Station to get the low flyiers…. well I sympathize with you on that point!!
Thx for reading 🙂 happy Sunday
Lol!!!
Lucy I know exactly what you mean!!!!
I recorded my Just Friends installments for a while, and I used to record them furtively in my bedroom after the kids had gone to bed.
But you’d still get the interruptions when one woke up…”muuuum, I need water!’ Or hubby deciding to come upstairs and get amorous while I was obviously doing something that requires silence, on his part, and concentration on mine!!!
I used Soundcloud and my phone… Nothing technical there lol!!
Oh Lucy, what a funny list!? Although I’m sure it wasn’t very funny at the time! I’ve had to record for various projects as well and for me it was my fridge – my big fat whiney fridge – that ended up ruining every take! (It’s as if they know you’re recording!)
Haha, this cheered me right up today. At uni, one of my modules involved oral history recordings and transcribing them verbatim. It just so happened that there were peacocks outside the offices, so every so often you’d have to insert a line break and add in *peacock screaming* so that the transcription really was verbatim. You don’t realise how much noise everything makes until you need peace and quiet.
Wonderful! This makes so much sense it hurts. This is the kind of thing that happens to me.
Can’t wait to listen to the finished article 😋😋😋😋
Very cool! I have been toying with a vlog, but could wear PJs and no makeup with a podcast. Ha! The background noises always add a cool flavor. 🙂
Hey Susie – I have recording in my PJ’s and no makeup. It is very liberating!
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
Interesting effects. I guess that outtakes of podcasts are not as much fun as outtakes of videos?
Thanks Steve – which link was not working? In blog post or on Twitter? I am not great at links
blog post
Sigh!
For this one where you have the soundcloud link it goes here https://soundcloud.com/lucy-mitchell-583672004/the-diary-of-roxy-collins-3%20on%20#SoundCloud
Thank you – much appreciated 🙂
Sorry if came across like a smart ass but if it was me I’d want someone to tell me if it was me with the broken link…or ladder in my tights 🙂
I honestly love feedback like yours so please let me know in the future. I am very grateful 🙂
Fanks! If ever you have any feedback for me then please keep it to yourself, much appreciated hahaha only kidding 🙂
LOl! I am so glad we are now in contact! Love your humour!
Thanks – I bet you say that to all the boys 🙂 Seriously though, thanks and likewise!
This gave me a proper giggle!
Thank you SB 😉
This is funny… I thought immediately of farting (being a guy that’s what you do) I was surprised it came last, but your other half coming back from the pub gave me a bigger giggle. Oh boy!
Lol Simon! I had to share it!
And rightly so!
OMG hahaha every time I’ve been interviewed on a podcast I automatically need to sneeze or cough as soon as it’s recording haha
I think they make noise dampening curtains for a room. I have a friend who used to do recordings on his computer for a radio show. The curtains cut down on outside noise, most likely your happy neighbors.
Actually I now close the curtains and you do get better sound 🙂
Reblogged this on Suzie Speaks and commented:
Lucy has turned her Diary of Roxy Collins into a podcast! It’s now available on iTunes – check out her post for things she unexpectedly discovered when recording it!
I’ve just listened to my first podcast ever! Wonderful, Lucy. I loved it.
No way!!! – Roxy says “thx Kimberly!”
This is so exciting. Just wrote down to check out. Congrats.
Upstairs toilet!!