MP3 tags and levelator

[charles.roper]

Hi Guys,

Loving the new burst of life in the Rubyology podcast. I was beginning
to worry it had gone forever. I'm enjoying what I've heard so far.

I thought I'd hop on here to make a couple of requests:

MP3 tags
It would be cool if the MP3 tags could be given a little TLC.
Specifically, it would be useful if:

the Artist tag could show the discussion participants; e.g., Aaron K.
Hawkins, Preston Lee;

the Title as the show number followed by the title; e.g., 77: Ruby in
the Enterprise, Part 2);

the Album tag as the name of the podcast; i.e., Rubyology;

the Track number as the number of the show; e.g., 77;

the Genre as Podcast

Here's an example of some nice and tidy tags:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/256478/screenshots/09-02-25-boagworld.mp3%20Properties.png

This isn't just a case of me being anal, but rather it helps keep
things organized in my MP3 player (the wonderful Sansa Clip - I
typically have a LOT of podcasts on there). At the moment, the
Rubyology podcasts sit among my music in an album called "Preston
Lee's Album". If you were to give it a Podcast genre, then it would
appear in the Podcast menu (as opposed to the Music menu) and would
then appear under the "Rubyology" album if you gave it an album tag of
the same name. I'm not sure how it would sit in other MP3 players, but
I imagine the problems caused by the current tags would be the same.

Also, are you running the podcast through Levelator? I mentioned this
to Chris a while ago and he seemed keen, but I'm not sure if it ever
happened. If you're not already using it, I'd definitely recommend it.

http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator

Thanks, and keep up the excellent work - it's really appreciated.

Cheers guys!

Charles

[Preston Lee]

Charles,

Thanks much for taking the time to provide meaningful feedback. The
MP3 meta-data thing *definitely* needs to be done. Post-production
editing has been passed around a couple times and I don't think
GarageBand (that some people are using) doesn't handle MP3 tags
incredibly well IIRC.

The "levels" inconsistency you're hearing is actually due more to
phase cancellation during production than normalization or leveling
issues during post-production. We've been using a combination of
condenser and dynamic mic equipment, and the condensers have been
exhibiting ridiculous amounts of cancelation when used in this
particular room. Much to my disappointment we're switching to a pure
dynamic setup and literally have a couple replacement mics in the mail
that should address much of this. It's driving me nuts, too :)

Preston

[Charles Roper]

2009/3/9 Preston Lee <conm...@gmail.com>:

> Thanks much for taking the time to provide meaningful feedback. The
> MP3 meta-data thing *definitely* needs to be done.

Awesome, thanks.

> The "levels" inconsistency you're hearing is actually due more to
> phase cancellation during production than normalization or leveling
> issues during post-production.

OK, that's cool, I just thought Levelator might be worth a try seeing
as it's free and seems to work magic, according the people I've heard
singing its praises on various podcasts. :)

Cheers,
Charles

[Charles Roper]

2009/3/9 Preston Lee <conm...@gmail.com>:

> The "levels" inconsistency you're hearing

Hey, I just wanted to add, after listening to ep. 75 today that the
audio, to me, generally sounds *great*; really professional sounding.
I, and I'm sure other listeners, really appreciate the obvious effort
you're putting into it, so, thanks! :)

Charles