Is it worth remastering your early shows?

[TheBiblePodClass]

I have a question.

I was looking at my stats and have realized a trend in my listeners. My first show has the most hits, followed by my later shows. So it seems that for my podcast which is a series of lessons people have a tendancy to go back and listen to the first show. Or many people listen to Lesson One first. I like the content in the first show but the quality is mediocre. After the last few shows I have upgraded my hardware/software and have made great strides in the audio quality as well as upped the bit-rate. Is it worth going back and remastering the shows? I won't re-record them just remaster them with new software and up the bit-rate.

Is it worth the effort?

I'll probably redo Lesson One so here is Lesson Two

http://thebiblepodclass.com/podclasses/Lesson%20Two%20Bible%20PodClass.mp3

and here is Lesson Eight

http://thebiblepodclass.com/podclasses/The%20Bible%20Pod%20Class%20Lesson%208.mp3

[NML-Simon]

Dude that's a great question. I've been thinking about that too. But I think by leaving them the way they are shows progress, dedication, and hard work. And I think people will respect that.

[WyethDigital]

Interesting question. You could look at it as a way to improve the whole series and make it more consistent... or you could be worrying yourself over nothing, you could end up over-doing it, giving yourself way too much work to do.

[geek frenzy]Not to go too geek here, but George Lucas thought he could make his original Star Wars Trilogy "better" by going in a replacing all the effects that he couldn't get right when he made them originally. That probably would have been okay. But then he didn't stop there. He re-added scenes; he made Greedo shoot first. Then he made Han and Greedo shoot at the same time. Little details. Big details. He just couldn't stop. And now, I'd rather watch my aging VHS tapes over the slick, remastered versions he just released! AHHHHH! :x [/geek frenzy]

Anyway, if your early 'casts are still getting hits, why lose the "charm" of your first work and try to reinvent a wheel that can already roll. It may not be neccesary.

Eric

[womengrow]

My shows are very short, and episode 1, while I really like the content, has the most technical problems. I am thinking about transcribing it and re-recording it in the future. For me, the five minute program won't mean that much extra work.

Otherwise follow the Podcast411 model - Rob took his first 40 or so shows down completely since he was no longer happy with how the sound quality represented his show.

[TheBiblePodClass]

I definately agree that there is a certain "charm" to our original casts. One of my favorite podcasts is thefrenchpodclass.com (I guess you figured out where I got the name "TheBiblePodClass" from) The quality of those first casts were not that good, but the content and format was excellent. That's what makes it one of the more popular podcasts.

Also the dumbest pitfalls I could make is "overdoing" the remastering. Even worse I could spend valuble effort on the old casts that should be focused on the new.

I remastered Lesson One earlier today to see how much effort it would take and it didn't take too long. I didn't change any of the format just cleanedup the audio (adjusted the volumes, gating/compression/EQ).

One thing that concerns me is in the early episodes I had Garage Bands default reverb on, I turned if off by Lesson four and accidently turned it back on, on a later lesson and I had a listener send me an email telling me that they didn't like the reverb :shock: That's when I decided I should take the audio seriously.

The remastered lesson sounds much better, but I probably won't upload it yet. But If I do decide to create a CD of some of the shows to hand out as publicity I think I will remaster those. I don't think people outside of the podcasting/internet community will be as forgiving of the fidelity.


Thanx for the feedback.

[TheBiblePodClass]

Otherwise follow the Podcast411 model - Rob took his first 40 or so shows down completely since he was no longer happy with how the sound quality represented his show.

Good recommendation for most casts, but educational casts might have unique needs.

I need all of my podcasts available. One of the reasons I started the pod cast was when I talk to people in person, so often they say "I wish I new more about the Bible". And I didn't have time to give them a personal Bible Study, even though I would love to - so I thought this would be the next best thing. So if I drop the first few casts, then I'm missing the first five books of the Bible. :(

[TheDiva]

Why on earth would I want to relive the horror of my 1st show?? Uggh..
As it is...it took 3 Takes!!

:lol:

[TheBiblePodClass]

Why on earth would I want to relive the horror of my 1st show?? Uggh..
As it is...it took 3 Takes!!

:lol:

I wouldn't want to go through redoing any of my shows either -- yuck! I just want to clean up the audio. Remember this thread http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8975? This is what got me thinking about it.

[boneheadz]

I just finished putting together a few short "best of" shows. I went back to my first couple of show and pulled out a few rants and then created 4 shows out of them. (I didn't want an empty feed while I took a break) The originals are still there. I did clean up the original audio a bit. I can't stand the "so, and, uhms" I also took out some background stuff and used a better GB preset. But I will leave the original file as is.

daryl

[TheBiblePodClass]

…I think by leaving them the way they are shows progress, dedication, and hard work. And I think people will respect that.

Rule 1) Don’t ruin the “charm” of podcasting, let people see you grow and polish your trade.

Interesting question. You could look at it as a way to improve the whole series and make it more consistent... or you could be worrying yourself over nothing, you could end up over-doing it, giving yourself way too much work to do.

Rule 2) Remastering your early shows you could add consistency but at the risk of neglecting efforts that should be put into future shows.

My shows are very short, and episode 1, while I really like the content, has the most technical problems. I am thinking about transcribing it and re-recording it in the future. For me, the five minute program won't mean that much extra work.

Otherwise follow the Podcast411 model - Rob took his first 40 or so shows down completely since he was no longer happy with how the sound quality represented his show.

Rule 4) If the show have “timeless” material it might be worth tucking it away and reinventing them later.

Rule 5) If the show can be tossed – out with the old … in with the new.

Why on earth would I want to relive the horror of my 1st show?? Uggh..
As it is...it took 3 Takes!!

:lol:

Rule 6) Never re-record a cast.


I just finished putting together a few short "best of" shows. I went back to my first couple of show and pulled out a few rants and then created 4 shows out of them. (I didn't want an empty feed while I took a break) The originals are still there. I did clean up the original audio a bit. I can't stand the "so, and, uhms" I also took out some background stuff and used a better GB preset. But I will leave the original file as is.

daryl

Rule 7) If you feel the need to cleanup the content don’t just clean it up. Reinvent it!


Thanx all for your help. I'll keep my show as is today and reinvent it a little later.

[SamuraiShow]

Dude that's a great question. I've been thinking about that too. But I think by leaving them the way they are shows progress, dedication, and hard work. And I think people will respect that.

I agree 100%. It's great self-roasting material. When you reach 50 or 100 shows, you can do one of those dumb "Let's look back and make fun of ourselves" shows.