Splintercast Format Wrap-up

[Chaos]

Hey guys. Splintercast Reads Words of Radiance is almost over. The last episode will be posted after midnight, so not too far away, then I think Saturday I'll post Alyx's Words of Radiance wrap-up. Given that we are almost done, I want some feedback on how it all works.

How did you like Splintercast? What should we change?

The most obvious feedback would be "stick with a schedule" and "get them iTunes". The scheduling issues were not ideal, and we're sorry. It was a combination of bad timing on both Alyx and I's part. As for iTunes, I'll work on it after the last Splintercast is up.

But other than those, what else?

Did you like the episode structure? Would you prefer shorter, more frequent episodes (say, one chapter at a time more often)? We were kind of shooting in the dark here, so I want to know

[LSU Tiger]

I thought it was great and your evil plan of hooking me on them and then holding out worked perfectly. I was forced to create an account just so I could ask for the next one. I'm pretty sure I saw several others who did the same thing.

 

As far as schedule I'm of the Brian May school of thought "I want it all and I want it now."

 

Thanks again to both of you for the work y'all did and a special thanks to Feather for sharing so much of herself with us.

[Swimmingly]

My largest problem was that Feather's voice seemed way too quiet at times. Maybe I've just got bad earbuds, but sometimes I had it boosted up to full volume with only moderate ambient noise and I couldn't hear her.

Of course, the pure awesome made up for that pretty well, but it's something to consider

[aheerema]

The format and delivery was excellent, I liked having three episodes each release, with a break in between.

 

A schedule is a good thing to keep, but personally, I've given up on keeping track of the schedules of those I follow and just use Feedly and RSS streams to keep up (reading webcomics is my morning ritual). That way when it's updated, I check it. I don't know if an RSS feed is an existing function or not here... I could probably subscribe to alerts in some way instead?

 

And, thanks so much to Eric and Alyx for the dedication you put into this project. I would love to see it happen for the following books, but would also understand if was considered unfeasible.

[Chaos]

There actually are RSS feeds on lower left on the site, if that helps. Alternatively you could use the "Follow" feature by clicking on the Shardcast tab, and then clicking Follow on the top. Then it will notify you for new episodes

[Mark Lindberg]

I'm with Swimmingly on the volume levels, although I probably also have bad earbuds, plus other hearing problems.

 

Overall, I greatly enjoyed it. Scheduling... Yeah. iTunes? I don't care so much about that. Other than that? Um... There were a few reactions where I didn't know exactly what part of the book she was talking about and had to go look it up. Episode length was fine, and thank you so much for cutting out the blank space.

 

5/5, would listen again.

[FeatherWriter]

Hmm, I can try to keep it in mind, but it's odd that they weren't loud enough. I used Audacity's amplify feature to bump up the volume as much as I could without the sound cutting out... hmm. I'm glad everyone's been enjoying these though!

[Chaos]

Hmm, I can try to keep it in mind, but it's odd that they weren't loud enough. I used Audacity's amplify feature to bump up the volume as much as I could without the sound cutting out... hmm. I'm glad everyone's been enjoying these though!

It is probably a thing you gotta set, like mic sensitivity or volume. Sound editing can only do so much after the fact.

[FeatherWriter]

I'll look into it next time I do a recording!

[BrainBreaker]

On Format:

 

I liked the format. I don't care about itunes or any of that stuff. Obviously the schedule thing would be great, but we understand that you guys have issues at times. I didn't have any issues with volume. I was able to hear everything (including the sniffing and sobbing during the emotional parts).

 

On content:

 

I really enjoyed all of the reactions. I listen to these at work and at times I had people looking at me like I was quite crazy while I was chuckling to myself. I was a little bit sad that the whole Shallan/Renarin thing tainted so many of your feelings about the end of the book, because I felt that the ending was quite spectacular.

Also on Renarin and Shallan... I feel like they are fundamentally
incompatible. I feel that spren are attracted to the core of a person.
Shallan attracted a cryptic and creates illusions because she is so skilled
at hiding or creating her own version of the truth, and Renarin is a
Truthwatcher. I feel like Truthwatchers would use their control of light to help
show the truth rather than to cover it up. I also feel like with all that we
learned about Shallan's past and how incredibly strong she is just to be able to
function after what was done to her and those she loves she needs somebody who
is straightforward. Adolin's strength and Kaladin's strength are very obvious
and I feel like she is attracted to that because it compliments her strength
which is more internal and less outwardly obvious.

Just my take on the characters. Thanks for doing these!

[FeatherWriter]

I love this new opposites attract idea for them though. (I have since re-fallen in love with the ship, though it's now one of many because Kalarin and Kadolin are also things that happen). Basically, the idea of a liar and the one who can see through lies is just absolutely fascinating me. There's a Marvel character, Verity Willis, who is in the Loki: Agent of Asgard series that I've been following, and the fact that she can see through lies and always knows when she is being lied to makes her and Loki's dynamic really fascinating to me.

 

Shallarin, from the start, has always been about shared interests and vast differences. They were an idea of playing with gender roles and flipping Vorin sensibilities about there, yet also helping each other see the values of what they were teaching. They share the Illumination surge, and I remember someone mentioning the really cool idea (that you also had above) that what if Lightweavers use it to create illusions, but Truthwatchers use it to dispel them? Just... ah, that's definitely a dynamic that appeals to me.

[Binnut]

I have loved to listen to these episodes and have listened to almost every one of them the same day that they were released. And yes, it was hard sometimes when a episode was to be released and it actually wasn't. I don't blame you the slightest, things always come up from time to time, but for next(?) time, maybe a notice about delayed episode or something would be nice.

 

The emotional parts of the shardcast was fun, but it was not the best part of it. The best thing was to listen to someone else's thoughts, get the book in another persons perspective, vastly different from mine. The one common thing that Feather and I share is a love of Brandon's Books (and probably fantasy in general), so it is very refreshing to hear her reactions, and see the book from another direction entirely. (One difference is that I never would have been able to react vocally during the end of the book, I would just have entered quiet, intense reading mode....)

 

I am very thankful for all the effort that you have put into this, and hope that you do the same for later books.

[kari-no-sugata]

I happened to come across this thread. It's a bit old but I thought I could offer some advice on sound recording - if it's unnecessary please just feel free to ignore.

 

I've experimented a bit over the years and the best option I've found (unless you want to buy pro equipment) is basically a "usb headset with external boom and noise cancellation".

 

usb = digital connection = works reliably with no (extra) noise... or not at all

headset = stays consistent distance from your mouth

external boom (ie on a little stick that comes down from headphones) = near your mouth (I wouldn't trust the in-ear ones)

noise cancellation = much less background noise

 

I've been using this sort of thing for Skype chats etc for 8 years or so. Pretty easy to get and you should be able to get something decent for $25-50 from an online retailer. I've used them on Macs and PCs and they just plug and play.

 

[FeatherWriter]

I've actually gotten a new microphone since recording these. One of my friends on tumblr, ExMakina (you guys might know her from her awesome cosmere fanart that she draws) ended up buying me a microphone just out of the blue! Maki is the most wonderful person ever, in case you didn't know.