Michael Falero

A new article makes Michael and Randolf argue whether it even matters anymore if the Internet still consists of majority human activity. Plus, Michael’s fighting space pirates, Randolf is slogging through MMO missions, and we discuss Joaquin Phoenix’s odd indie movie role in You’ve Gotta See This.

[Recorded interview with Renee Bach] /// When she was 19, Renee Bach founded a charity that went on to care for over 900 severely malnourished babies and children. Now she is being sued by two of the mothers whose children died.

[Recorded Tripp Mickle interview starting at 12:39] /// What's better: promoting e-cigarettes to help smokers quit, or restricting vaping so teens don't pick up a new nicotine addiction? Jennifer Maloney explains the challenges vaping company Juul poses to public health officials. Plus, Tripp Mickle on a mystery in the Apple App Store.

Microsoft shutting down its e-book service gets us into a discussion of when you own your content and what DRM is. Roblox is worth billions of dollars now, Justin Roiland’s got a new game, NYC experienced a blackout, and Randolf’s found a weird, wonderful subreddit featuring carbs and plants.

A 9-minute feature about the red fox population in Woods Hole, MA on Cape Cod. Completed at the Transom Story Workshop for publication on Transom.org and WCAI.

A character profile I did about a poet starting a litter cleanup group in his hometown. Part of WCAI's Ways of Life series, in partnership with the Transom Story Workshop and Atlantic Public Media.

What the hell is up with Facebook Libra? Randolf explains why we should be cautious about this buzzword-filled announcement. We’ve got some micromanagement strategy games plus a discussion of the dark series Chernobyl. Thankfully, Good Internet, Best Internet has some lighter memes and useful content we’ve found.

[Recorded three-way subject interview, starting at 1:05] /// We expect schools to prepare students by teaching them math and science and reading and writing. But what about teaching kindness?

A lot of the work of finishing your podcast once you’ve recorded it is making it sound better without the audience ever realizing you’ve changed anything. Natural-sounding podcast audio from outlets like NPR and Gimlet Media is anything but natural. To get a great podcast sound, you need to use processing tools like compressors. Today we’re explaining what compression is, why it’s important for creators to use it in every podcast episode, and how to apply it to your podcast.

With podcasts and any kind of audio, the raw sound you record is rarely going to be the end product that people hear. There are a number of post production effects, also known as FX, that can help you craft a more pleasing sound for your podcast. Today we’re explaining one of the most basic types of processing: equalization, or EQ. We’ll cover the EQ steps that every podcast creator should be taking with their vocal tracks in order to achieve a better and more professional sound.

New podcast creators often find that making a podcast involves a lot of steps. Some are expected, like using an audio editor to cut your podcast together. Some are less obvious, like normalizing your podcast’s audio. What does normalizing a podcast's levels, also called Loudness normalization, actually mean? Why should creators care about this process, and how exactly do they do it? Today, we’ll give a short explanation of what Loudness is, as well as a step-by-step guide for how to normalize your podcast.

It happens to every podcast creator eventually. You have an off week. The ideas aren’t flowing like they usually do. You’re thinking about what to make your next podcast episode about, and you’re drawing a blank. You’re out of podcast ideas! So what should you do? Today we’re going to recommend a strategy that may seem unorthodox: steal ideas from other places. In the latest in our “Thoughts from Third Coast” series, we’re talking about how you can generate new ideas for your podcast through the art of (ethical) stealing. In talking about how stealing ideas can improve your development of new podcast ideas, we’ll be drawing upon a Third Coast session by This American Life producer Chana Joffe-Walt.

There are a lot of resources on the Internet for making a podcast (we even have our own list of podcast production tools you can use). But how do you actually put all these tools together to get a finished podcast episode? When it comes to the nitty-gritty of making podcast episodes, production studios start to get vague about their process. Today, Backyard Media is going to show you how to make a podcast, using our own in-house production process as an example. We’ll walk through how we make our local politics podcast, Backyard Cambridge, and demonstrate how we’re using the tools we mentioned in our “ultimate tools” guide.

Anyone who gets into podcasting knows that audio takes a long time to edit and make. Creating a podcast is an involved process that takes a lot of organization, as we talked about in our last guide. To make your podcast production easier, we’ve gathered lots of different tools that creators can use to improve their production cycle. Below is our running list of some of the best resources - free and paid - that will make podcast production less of a hassle and hopefully more enjoyable.

[Engineered podcast interview] /// Zach talks to Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports about the Wizards' dysfunction, Boston's struggles, the Clippers, Jazz, Grizzlies, and much more.

Any creator who’s started a podcast knows that they have many moving parts to them. Making a podcast means brainstorming topics, conducting research, contacting guests and interviewees, setting up recording equipment, and then editing and mixing the audio until it’s perfect. It can be a lot to keep track of, and the reality is that the way you organize your podcast’s production cycle can have an impact on your finished product.

[Engineered 3-person interview with Baratunde Thurston, Mike Shinoda, and Dr. Gail Saltz] /// Join us for a real, raw and powerful conversation that calls on all of us to do our part in removing the shame and stigma surrounding mental illness. In the latest episode of Spit, host Baratunde Thurston discusses mental health with a trio of folks who are working every day to combat the stigma, using their expertise, their research and their platform to make a difference. In part one of this episode...

Backyard Media is always trying to think of new ways to help independent podcast creators. As a writer for Backyard Media and a podcaster myself, I’m always trying to improve my craft and learn from others in this space. To that end, I recently attended the Third Coast International Audio Festival in Chicago. Third Coast is the premiere gathering of audio professionals in the US. A three-day event full of technical sessions, social events, and networking opportunities, Third Coast is a great place for like-minded radio professionals and independent podcast creators to meet and exchange ideas about their craft.

In our final regular episode, we’re talking about how the 2016 public accommodations law is more than just a bathroom bill. We look to other states to understand how the implications of this vote on Question 3 go beyond just transgender people. What does it mean for the Commonwealth and the rest of the country if this law stays? And if it’s overturned?

Are ballot questions really a form of pure direct democracy? Or are they a more complicated process? Today, we’re unpacking some arguments you don’t hear very much - arguments against the ballot question process itself. In what ways can this process be opaque, too influenced by money, or vulnerable to intervention by state legislators? We’ll also look at a possible solution right here in Massachusetts that could improve the ballot question process for everyone.