Hypnos Podcast Series: 01_Viridian-Sun_20091118

[mgriffin]

We've been talking about doing a Hypnos podcast for over a year and finally made some progress.  Here's a roughly 75 minute free download, featuring album tracks, compilation tracks, rarities, and a never-before-released unedited studio session.

http://www.hypnos.com/audio/h.podcast.01_20091118_Viridian-Sun.mp3

It's uploading now so if you try to hit that link within the next 10 minutes you may get an error.  This is a free download of course, or you can probably stream it too, depending on your browser.

I'd love to receive feedback about what people would like to hear in future Hypnos podcasts.  I'll likely focus mostly on Hypnos music for the first few but then I'd like to branch out so it doesn't just become pure self-promotion.  It's my hope to be able to include mini-interviews, all kinds of rarities, alternate takes, remixes and enough non-album stuff to make it really special for people who have already heard the CDs, as well as a great introduction for new listeners.

[mystified]

Excellent!

[Antdude]

Listened to about half of it last night, gonna continue today. So far, I like the format, and the extended clips.

[mgriffin]

I hope people enjoy it, and also that people let me know what else they'd like to see in the future.  I've been mulling over podcasting for a LONG time and finally said to myself it was time to just put one together and learn by doing.  I'll try to make them better in future installments.

[hdibrell]

Nice!

[APK]

Just listened to it all. Enjoyed the music. Very experimental, and very much like soundtracks to strange outer-space excursions.

Look forward to more podcasts.

One note: your final statements are somewhat low in the mix.

[mgriffin]

Thanks, APK.  I didn't proof-listen to the mp3 mixdown all the way through so I'll double-check the narration at the end, and maybe I'll need to boost those levels and re-output to mp3.

Speaking of which, I used Soundtrack Pro to produce this podcast and it was a fantastic tool for the purpose.  Sort of halfway between the simplicity of Garage Band and the flexibility of Logic Pro.

[MarkJohnson]

Mike, I think a Hypnos podcast is an excellent idea, and I'm enjoying the first in the series as I type. I think that shameless self-promotion of the Hypnos label is completely acceptable in this context. Including interviews is a great idea.

Since you have a large catalog of music to choose from, I'd be interested in hearing podcasts segments dedicated to the music of certain artists combined with your stories/analyses of the recordings. I imagine you have a headful of stories to go accompany many of the Hypnos albums, and it would be great to hear what you have to say.

I think a bit of news at the beginning of the show would be a good idea - just give us a brief on what's going on, what's coming soon, what's currently in the works. I think you do this quite successfully in these forums, but that doesn't mean you couldn't include it in the podcast as well.

Also, some kind of 'new artist spotlight' would be cool. It wouldn't have to be new Hypnos artists, just any new artist that you felt compelled to share with us.

Finally, involve us listeners some how. Read out some emails, read some of the more interesting/controversial postings to this forum, allow us to send you audio recordings of album reviews, or audio clips with comments. In other words, bring the discussion to the podcast.

Again, I'm digging the first episode. I like your descriptions of the music, both musically and historically. Thanks for making this podcast and asking for our feedback. I'm looking forward to future episodes.

[petekelly]

I think this is a great idea myself. Personally, I'd like to hear a Hypnos 'best of' (according to Mike) podcast.
Voiceover is a good idea, but perhaps could do with less reverb and some LF rolloff.

cheers
Pete

[mgriffin]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions, guys. That's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for.

I have to admit this podcast was thrown together in quite a hurry -- not much preparation production-wise, or in terms of script or notes.  It was more of a quickly edited "mixtape" with off-the-cuff commentary.  Next time I'll plan a bit more and include more variety.

And I'll turn down the voiceover reverb a notch too!

[Hypnagogue]

I like it a lot. One thing that I enjoy, that I can't provide in my own podcast, is that depth of info about a release or an artist that really only the label can give. I know there's a lot of Hypnos music I may never get to, so I'm jazzed about this podcast. Keep at it. (And yes, kill the reverb.) :-)

[mgriffin]

I also realized too late that I never gave the name of the BLT label compilation which contained the VS track "Indistant" -- the compilation was called Exhibitions.



http://www.discogs.com/Various-Exhibitions/release/1687649

[1000snakes]

Mike,
  I am very excited that you have initiated a Hypnos Podcast. I enjoyed the music and the brief behind the scenes narrative (even with the 'verb  ). I look forward to future installations and hope that you will employ many of the wonderful suggestions offered here (thanks folks!). As Jim might have put it, "Cool Mike, cool indeed."
Peace, Kirk

[treibklang]

Yeah, thanks for this podcast. Very nicely done with all the information about your releases. It's a bit long for my personal taste (couldn't listen to it in one go), but the music style deserves long plays (which I couldn't, only having 30 minutes per episode).
Will be great to have more of this in near future. *thumbsup*

[mgriffin]

I appreciate all the "ear time" and feedback.  I have to say, aside from any promotional value podcasts have for a record label, or any sense it's something a label "ought to do," it was a lot of fun to put together and I look forward to doing a lot more of them.  It's the same sort of fun as putting together a mix tape for a music-knowledgeable friend, except with a one-to-many aspect that makes it even better.

[mgriffin]

In case anyone's interested I thought I'd refer to the 'action shots' of Viridian Sun recording the new album, which was previewed in the podcast.

http://www.hypnos.com/smf/index.php?topic=73.0

[Antdude]

Really enjoyed the podcast. The personal recollections give the podcast a bit more perspective into the music, and it was kinda fun that it was focused on a specific musical entity(Viridian Sun). Also a nice touch to include a raw, untitled track. Possibly future podcasts could feature more than one artist, but it seems you would have lots of material to work with (I'm guessing here, that there is a lot of interesting, but unreleased or rare material that could find its way into a podcast), and the depth of the Hypnos and HSS roster should make for a lot of variety.

[mgriffin]

I've uploaded a slightly remixed version of the same podcast, fixing the level on the final voiceover, and lowering the reverb on all the voiceovers a bit.  It's not different enough from the previous version to listen again, if you've heard it already, but I mention this in case somebody listens after today and wonders about the earlier comments about the above problems (what the hell are those guys talking about?!)

[ffcal]

The podcast sounds really nice, Mike.  I, too, like that untitled track.  Some of the earlier pieces remind of strange recordings I have heard of space sounds on the Symphonies of the Planets series.

Forrest

[9dragons]

This is great. Enjoyed listening to the music, and having the spoken info is quite interesting. I am a huge fan of podcasts from everywhere and many subjects. The audio/spoken combo is very entertaining. This has certainly piqued a deeper interest in Viridian Sun for me, amazing sounds. I will certainly be listening for the future podcasts. It would be interesting to hear interviews with current or past Hypnos artists as well...Thanks Mike.

But there must be somewhere in Tokyo where one can get a BLT...