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EXTRA Hardcore History

Jan 31 2012 4:14pm

Longtime HH listeners know that for some time we have been trying to add some special shows just on a pay-for-download basis. This was always going to be my famous, never-even-close-to-being-realized "Greatest Armies of All Time" podcast.

Unfortunately, I found that it was almost impossible to do that while doing the regular free shows we do (and we always give precedence to the regular free shows in terms of importance).  Many listeners suggested a good way to make use of research and effort that was already done would be to do a "show AFTER the show" podcast that was an addition to the previous big HH episode that recently aired.

It's a great idea, and we had been considering similar ones. We always have lots of leftover good stuff ("cutting room floor" elements) and it would be a great way for me to go more into depth into the military aspects and details  that I like. We also could make corrections or clarifications and also give "what we were thinking" breakdowns of the podcast, etc.

Well, we have actually almost finished the first one of these shows. Yes...we are as astounded as you are.  We don't know how good it is (it is totally off-the-cuff...just talking about the previous show. There's no storyline or anything) but it is about an hour long.  It is for only the few among you who didn't get enough (or way, way too much!) of the subject with "Thor's Angels".  It's Extra Hardcore History for the extra hardcore among you. We sure didn't want to "pollute the feed" for all the regular listeners with this content devoted to a subject they just heard for 4+ hours! These show will need to be downloaded from our website the same way archived podcast episodes are. Itunes and the like won't help us with podcasts if they aren't free.

Finally, we wish the idea of charging money never came up at all. Everyone knows we give our newest content away for free, and that's our business model.  But we have always needed to be nimble and inventive (as all New Media producers do). We have multiple ways to scratch a living...donate buttons....Amazon Affiliate Programs...selling old archived episodes...Audible Ads...and now some cheap "extras" to our free offerings.  No one avenue of funding is going to do the job, but perhaps by diversifying we can improve things.  Many of you have advised me to do just that. "EHH" allows us to squeeze some last drops of value from the reading, research and creativity that's already been employed in crafting a big show.

We want your feedback if you hear the episode.  Tell us if you think it was worth 2 bucks.  It should be about an hour long...and as we said, it's sort of like a "Thor's Angels" post-game show.

Also, next step (and my next task after the next CS is done) is to get on the design and development of a shorter free HH offering to post on the regular feed between larger episodes. It's just more of my New Year's Resolutions obligations being fulfilled...

Wish us luck...

...and thanks for everything...






HH #41 Progress Report

Dec 26 2011 9:59pm

I figured it was past time to issue a progress report on the latest Hardcore History episode (#41)...especially since we are currently two weeks past our self-imposed deadline.

This is not only not unusual for us, it has become the norm. We consider this to be a bad thing, but we really don't know what to do to alter the state of affairs. With this current episode we instituted three or four major elements to help us get the show out sooner, and none of them worked. Today in a discussion with “Ben” (if there is a Ben... ;) ) I just blurted out “Maybe we can't do one of these shows in two months.”. And maybe we can't.

Now, most people have been extremely understanding of our situation. It's somewhat rare (but not abnormal) to get somebody warning us that this will affect our business and personally being a bit frustrated with us. More common is the increase in subscription cancellations and the like as the show gets increasingly overdue. I can't blame people though. We say “A buck a show” not “Three bucks a month...auto deducted from your PayPal account”. I stick by that though. We don't expect to be paid when shows aren't out...only when they come out. The incentive is huge (in more ways than just that) to get them out as soon as possible. But, they seem to have a life of their own.

In fact, if I weren't always so stressed and worried about it, I think I would be fascinated watching the process from a third person vantage point. The creativity is popping all the time, and stuff gets added to the show as we go (and then we sometimes go back and insert thoughts that occurred to us only after the part they fit into had been recorded). The composition of the theater of the mind elements is a true art form, and “Ben” doesn't get the credit he's due (for obvious reasons. The Man is sick...). I will laugh regularly as he takes some element from pop culture and twists and warps it in ways to form background elements to go under (and enhance) my audio. It's a blast...theoretically.

In truth, we are stressed out about it all the time. We know we should be able to get these things out faster, and we know people aren't too pleased that we haven't done so. It's just a task that takes more time than you might think (the reading and note taking alone is a mammoth task...). It's like writing a song...a REALLY long song. And it just can't be forced...no matter how hard I try (and I try too hard sometimes...).

Here's where we are as I type this (Dec 26^th). We have an hour and forty or so minutes of audio recorded and currently in the process of being scored (theater of the mind elements being added). I see at least another forty-five minutes to an hour of audio before we are done with the story. If that sounds long, know that we are as shocked as anyone. I specifically tried to pick a topic and everything that lended itself to a shorter show. We ended up covering 1,500 or more years of history instead. Once again I proved that I am terrible at this element of the show creation process.

I love some of the stuff in the current show. It's a topic that can easily get a podcast host in trouble, but I think so far, so good on that score. If you can handle how long it is, you may like it. Remember...if you get in trouble, there's always the pause button. ;)

Thanks for your patience...we are, and have been working hard. In fact, I've never worked as hard in my life as I do as a podcaster. That's because my boss is a slave driver.

The Power of Dialog

Oct 26 2011 8:31pm

In the soon-to-be-released latest Common Sense show (#209) I bring up the idea (again...) concerning the power of a national dialog to help our problems disappear.

For those of you not familiar with my views on this, I have a longstanding belief that a number of our larger national (and international) problems would actually improve dramatically if we only had a public dialog about them and discussed them openly. The main reason they continue to be so vexing to people like me, is that we don't.

I used the example in the show about the absolute avoidance we seem to have in this country to dealing with any aspect of the national hypocrisy over what the Constitution says (and means) about the subject of war, and the way we have actually acted since 1941. 1941 was the last time Congress exercised its constitutional authority to declared war. We have obviously fought a lot of wars since then. How did we get around that little prohibition that says that the Executive governmental entity that gets granted extra wartime authority doesn't also get to be the one that decides when we go to war in the first place?We just ignore it.

How can you get away with ignoring it??? You just make it an issue that never gets addressed. How the hell does that happen? It boggles the mind...doesn't it? For seventy years we have been violating the Constitution (and ironically, one of the most celebrated aspects of it) and no one in the political class or media ever sees fit to bring this up and challenge it or remedy the situation. Have any of the candidates for President taking part in the Republican primary been asked if they would faithfully support THIS part of the Constitution if elected? Ron Paul might like that question. I bet the others wouldn't. President Obama wouldn't like it either.

Okay...they don't have to like it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. My complaint is that I am not hearing their opinion. What are their thoughts on this? Why aren't they being asked about it and why aren't they forced to stake out a public position on it? “Are you on THIS side of the issue or THAT side of it Mr. or Ms. Candidate?” How many Americans would favor changing the Constitution to strip Congress of the power to declare war and instead put it in the hands of the President alone? Very few, right? So why do we acquiesce to that reality? Because no one is being forced to defend it.

Every President takes a solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution and see that the laws are faithfully executed. Legal scholars since its writing have praised the separation of war powers as one of the most wise aspects of the Founders' constitutional wisdom. It still is. Reforming things in the 21^stCentury U.S. requires that repairs be made in places where our system has frayed over time. This is one of those places. In a sense, it's another one of those issues of the “99% against the 1%”. After all...I can't imagine the percentage of people who want the power to take the nation to war to rest with a single individual can be much higher than that in the USA. Who thinks that's a good idea? I really want to know. It would tell us a few things about them, wouldn't it?

So..let's flush them out with a public discussion on the matter. The question that must be answered. The conversation that must occur. And while we are at it, let's come up with an American definition of what constitutes “war” in constitutional terms. That way, the next time a President tries to pull a “Harry Truman” and simply rename the conflict, there will be people standing by with a legal dictionary to thwart them.

Do not doubt the power of a national dialog to change the national climate on a given issue. Hypocrisy hates the light.

The HH Audience Feedback

Oct 07 2011 10:02pm

I have finally had a chance to go through the many email suggestions from listeners in response to my recent call for audience feedback about the Hardcore History show. The comments brought a tear to my eye. You people are so incredibly generous with your praise and good wishes. I have never felt so appreciated. Thank you.

Unfortunately, it was a mixed bag in terms of any sort of consensus as to what people want. Some want short shows, some long. Many say don't change a thing while others say to feel free to experiment.

So many of you have good business advice to offer as well...others have good creative council. So, here's what I think I plan to do...

I don't know what we can and can't do. So I think we need to try some things and feel like we have the freedom to see how it goes. If I thought that I could give you some history riff off the top of my head (sort of) that lasted 20 minutes or a half hour and that you would find this good and satisfying, I would love to add that to our repertoire. At the same time, I don't think I could get away from the epic shows or the shorter (epic) shows either. And heck...even the Blitz shows have turned into "epic" sized productions (wait until you see the upcoming one). If I could mix things up more in a way that kept what most people like and added something else they also liked...that would be the ultimate in a compromise solution. In addition, some have suggested splitting up the Common Sense podcast into a weekly (shorter...) version. Imagine the monologues you hear now being the WHOLE SHOW...but getting shows from us once a week. Is that a good trade off? Only one way to find out...

We really need to be releasing content more often. Shorter individual pieces seems the natural solution. Can we do that and keep the audience happy? That may take some experimenting. It is tempting to start a brand new podcast XML feed where we can experiment without screwing up the feeds that people already subscribe to. Sort of the “Dan Carlin grab bag” feed. Would you subscribe to that?

It might suck. But it wouldn't cost you any money. Just my precious reputation...that's all.

So...stay tuned for some experimentation...somehow...after this next HH show is out. It may be in the realm of HH...or maybe CS...or maybe both (or maybe neither if we set up an “experimental” feed). Regardless...we need to break out of our constraints around here and improve our output. We may have to try a few things and get your reactions to see what the best way(s) to do this are.

Thanks for your patience, your support and your wonderful notes of council and encouragement. It compensates for a lot of shortcomings in this podcasting business.

Put down the Voodoo Doll. Please.

Aug 31 2011 11:52am

It's been a wild two weeks for us around here at KBANDEN, and it isn't over yet. I thought you all deserved an update though.

First of all, I already know that you guys/gals are okay with us taking longer to get shows out due to our current problems. I appreciate that (although the canceled subscriptions always start to pile up when we are late on getting shows out). What we have gone through in the last 14 days though (or maybe even 3 weeks) is so strange that I feel like someone with a voodoo background is sticking pins in a Dan Carlin doll somewhere.

I am known for telling people to do podcasts. I am a bit of an evangelist about it. What can I say? When you find something with all the creative freedom that podcasting allows, you want to share the good news with others. It's so easy, I tell them.

Well...welcome to the not-so-easy part.

Here's what's gone down (and for those of you who always want more info on what equipment we use, this should clarify things a little).

After the last Hardcore History show the laptop that we were recording on went belly up. It was only about 2 years old, but that seems to be par for the course for us. We are hard on those devices and about 2 years seems to be the normal lifespan. No big deal...we will just buy another, right? That's one of the main things we do with those buck-a-show donations...buy equipment.

But “Ben” has been urging me for some time to get away from recording on the laptop. He has long thought (and I think he's right) that we should move to a more portable recording system that we can take and easily use anywhere. The dying of the last laptop seemed to be the logical time to upgrade our capabilities.

So, after much debate over what sort of mobile unit we should invest in, we went for a model that we thought was probably better than what we needed...just to be safe. It was about a thousand dollars. (Yes...I know I tell everyone you can easily and cheaply podcast. But once you get to the sound standards we have set, it's expensive to maintain) and it recorded directly to a flash card. We got it home and we recorded the last Common Senseshow with it. During playback “Ben” calls me in, puts headphones on me and says: “What do you hear?” I heard a very quiet clock ticking. He thought it was the unit's internal clock bleeding through into the audio. He said “I doubt people will notice it much during the CS show, but I guarantee they will for the HH podcast.”

While trying to figure out what to do about this ticking question, I kept recording stuff for Hardcore History #40. I brought a track to “Ben” and this time not only was the ticking sound there, but also hard-to-ignore distortion. It wasn't distorted every time we recorded...but about 30% of the time it randomly showed up. What the heck was going on??? We had a history deadline approaching!

We call the manufacturer. They say it shouldn't be happening, that we need to send the unit back. We whine about our approaching deadlines. They tell us to buy ANOTHER unit while the whole return process is ongoing so that we can get back to recording right away. We do this. We pay for the overnight shipping. It arrives. We test it immediately. You hear the ticking sound on it that we sent the first unit back for. Arrggh! What were the odds? This is a professional quality piece of equipment!

“Ben” takes it all over town. He hooks it up in other studios, with different cables and mics. Tests it out in every conceivable way to make sure that WE aren't the problem in our studio. Nope. Unit does the ticking sound everywhere.

We call the manufacturer. They want us to send the new unit into them...and they want us to send the first unit that we had bought back to where we bought it. We overnight it to them (to save time). We call the day after they get it so we can find out what's wrong. They say they haven't looked at it yet...but that they should be able to get it fixed and back to us (if we will pay to overnight it again) in 14 business days. WHAAAAT????!!!

We bug the hell out of them until their will breaks down and they look at the unit right away. They can't find anything wrong. WHAAAT???!!!

Meanwhile, we had a back-up plan. We bought a Mac laptop and had a sound card system (a “Duet” for those who follow these things). We started using garageband to allow us to record stuff until we ironed out our problems with the mobile units. Almost immediately garageband starts giving us trouble.

We get an error message relating to disc space (“Disc is too slow -10005”) that stops the recording process. We look it up online. It's a rare but known problem with no clear solution. Oh my Lord...where's the guy with the voodoo doll??!?? We have layers of redundancy here so that we can always get shows out and this current problem is crashing through those layers like the buildings imploding on 9/11.

At this point I am frantic. I tell “Ben” that I just need this problem to go away. Damn the cost. We decide we need to deal directly with a human being (no more mail ordering) and call up the good people at Sweetwaters for help. They are great. They sell us one of the best mobile units available anywhere. A hideously expensive piece of equipment that is absolutely top shelf professional. We pay a fortune to have it overnighted here. It arrives...and the instructions/directions say that the unit needs to plug into the wall for 6 hours before it is used for the first time. After 6 hours we try to turn it on. Nothing.

YOU HAFTA BE KIDDING ME!!! No way. “Ben” thinks (optimistically) that it may be the power cord. He takes it home and checks it. No...the cord is working. We call the good people at Sweetwaters. They think it's an “out-of-the-box” issue (meaning it's just a bad unit. That happens...). And I am awaiting another call back from them right now.

We are stunned by how we can't seem to fix this problem. I already feel like we must sound like one big litany of excuses to you all about why this episode or that show is behind schedule. People complain all the time (look at the iTunes reviews. It's the #1 issue people dock us stars for). On the other hand, so many of the people I hear from are wonderful about it “Take your time Dan, quality over quantity” etc.). “Ben” has simply gone all metaphysical on me about it. He thinks maybe the Gods simply want me to work more on the content of the next HH show (and they may be right! This current equipment issue has been sucking up our attention...).

What it DOES show is how when you get to where we are in this podcasting realm, everything gets more expensive and the pressure gets more intense. We missed some advertising deadlines due to these recent equipment issues that will cost us money too. The last month has been hideously expensive with the overnight shipping and the many equipment purchases and such. But this is just what it takes to do this gig at this level. I may say that podcasting is easy and that many people should do it, but by the time you have an audience of nearly half a million people the pressure, headaches and expenses crank up (bandwidth for the dancarlin.com website for example is much more expensive than it used to be). Managing this beast is a full time job (and much of what we have to do is non-content related).

That having been said, I am the luckiest guy in the world to be doing this. I am fortunate beyond belief that listener generosity gave us a war chest capable of sucking up these costs and trying to spend our way out of this problem (however ineffectual this has turned out to be). We had 4 back up plans fail on us. What are the odds of that?

So, as I type this we are waiting on a call back from the good people at Sweetwaters. I like them a lot, and I think they will see us through this thing (of course...it means more overnight shipping fees. But you people are worth it ;) ). We certainly feel a bit snakebit around here right now, but as all you small business people reading this know, speed bumps in your business are just a part of the gig.

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the delay. I feel like we say that a lot around here. But just know, no matter what you may have heard, that we are not spending all our time sitting around eating bon bons and drinking palm wine. Absolutely not. That is, however, “Ben's” long term goal.

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