This week the podcast passed 100k downloads on Podbean, a momentous occasion worthy of celebration here at D&Ts.
We’ve been going just about four and a half years, give or take a few weeks, and we have no intentions of slowing down. There are two episodes in the can for editing and they will be numbered 79 and 80.
Ep 79 signals the arrival of one of my favourite SF novelists at BITR, Robert Sheckley who, despite being a New Yorker, was entirely unknown to Derek. So a service rendered there methinks (Derek may disagree). I picked up a few Sheckleys from Pops back in the day and we’re kicking off with possibly the most challenging. This chat also further prized open another rabbit hole that we’ll be delving into in the coming months.
Ep 80 is a return to the Elric saga in the company of Loz (plus a host of traditionally syrupy libations).
Post-recording we also reminisced about our 1994 trip to Prague when, thanks to the bravery/folly of youth, we booked flights with a return two weeks later and just decided to wing it re accommodation and everything else on arrival. Of course, we had no idea that the Czech Republic’s second language was German, with English coming around 17th on the list. Nevertheless, the locals were amazing and we got by on their positivity and our complete lack of front. Probably the most entertaining two weeks of my life. And this morning I have a slight strain from laughing so hard at the recollections.
This occasion also marked our first use of a pair of shotgun mics that I picked up off eBay. I’m always looking for ways to refine our sound where I can and this marks my first venture into using them so… Results to follow. When recording online with pards overseas or residing in Parts Unknown I also got fed up of Zoom causing issues so the last couple have been recorded using Riverside.fm and that has resulted in a better workflow. So steady improvements across the board. I had thought about revisiting older episodes recorded when I knew less and looking to upgrade the sound. I decided against though. There’s something raw about the earlier episodes and, for example, taking away the character and ambience of recording in Tash’s kitchen complete with dogs, pots and pans and the constant intrusions of her electric fag lighter would harm them I reckon. So listening to our catalogue (all soon-to-be 80 episodes) can just remain a curve as listeners can hopefully hear the results of our ongoing development.
That said, I probably worry about this far more than I need to given that the upload to podbean compresses the hell out of it all anyway. But still. I like to arse about with it all. It’s therapeutic.
Breakfast in the Ruins 