Seth Nieman Show: Episode 005 from Seth Nieman on Vimeo.

~Seth

Labels: podcasts, seth nieman show

Seth Nieman Show: Episode 004 from Seth Nieman on Vimeo.



~Seth

Labels: podcasts, seth nieman show

Happy Halloween!

Now that we got that out of the way....

What the deal with Facebook right now?

About an hour ago, Colby discovered this:

Facebook's favicon mysteriously became Hulu's. Now I would chalk this up to being a cache error, but this was on Colby's high school computer - no Hulu allowed.

And then I was buying a gift for one of my friends and this happened:


So what's the deal here? If they were being festive they would have made everything orange - not green. You don't think that Facebook is abandoning it's blue scheme do ya? They wouldn't be looking at Hulu to determine a good way to implement a green color scheme would they? I couldn't image Facebook not being blue. Although, it would be a good way to separate itself from MySpace....

~Seth

Labels: design, facebook

Deathblack Flowers' first ever concert was on Tuesday night, and luckily, me and my gang got front row seats. Deathblack Flowers consists of ex-Sonna member Christopher Mackie and ex-This Great October drummer Ian Stewart. Naturally, Chris provided the soundscapes while Ian provided the percussion. They played a 5 song set and generally outlined which direction they are heading towards in their musical journey. Song one was an eerie melody of long synth pads over a bed of looped Indian chants - it was very "Christopher Flores" (then name under which he records all of his solo records). However, only in song number two, when Ian joined in, were the songs different than they were in Chris's previous efforts - and it was a great and welcome change.


It seemed the set alternated between old and new and - well, this is the point where I would add "good and bad," but I can't. You see, Chris's music is... different. Sometimes it can drone, sometimes it can drag on, but it always sounds great. I think the problem with his style of music is that the song always sounds like one long build-up to the song that never comes. That problem is rectified by his new music.

Labels: concert, music, review

My life is really boring right now, and because of that, so is my blog.

Over the next coming weeks there will be plenty to talk about, but as of right now there's not much to say.

Things I plan to talk about:

1. My podcast as a video show
2. The Halloween party preparations
3. The design and making of my board game
4. Pictures from the Halloween party
5. The special features and debut of Dewoh.com
6. Death Black Fowers live concert
7. Coverage of the Tallgrass Film Festival
   

It should be an interesting couple weeks here. I'm just saving up money to get supplies for the party, and it the meantime I'm not really doing anything. But it'll pick up. Be patient!

~Seth

Labels: blog

The show is now available for your enjoyment in both high definition audio and in standard. 

Labels: podcasts, seth nieman show

You may have read that I plan on releasing my next podcast episode in high definition, and some of you may be asking "I thought it was audio only" - it is audio only, so let me explain what "high definition audio" really is.

Many of you have no doubt heard the "HD Radio" advertisements, and you may find it shocking that the "HD" in HD Radio doesn't stand for high definition, it stands for "hybrid digital." You see, the big draw of "HD Radio" is that it's a digital signal, which means crisper highs, lower lows and more reflective midrange tones. The reason that this is possible is because the signal type that HD radio uses has a much wider frequency range than FM radio does. It gets pretty technical from there, but just take my word for it, it sounds better. The "hybrid" comes from the fact that most radio stations can broadcast in both FM and HD, meaning that they don't need 2 towers to broadcast.

So why did I say high definition? Because it sounds cool, and it's a great and easy way to say "super high quality". In a nutshell, my show will be in "HD" because it will be stereo sound at 320kps. It's a bigger file, but it'll also sound better. Like I said, if you don't want a larger (but better sounding) file, then just download the low-def file from my Blank Studios page.

So how do I create this high quality recording? It's actually not that hard. I do my show in one take, meaning I do no practicing, no editing, and no post production. What you hear is what actually happened; no studio trickery involved. Because of this I run all of my equipment through a soundboard and into my computer which is recording onto Apple's Soundtrack Pro. I record it in stereo so audio in the right channel will stay there and vice versa. The reason I record it in stereo is because music will sound a lot better and the effects that I plan on using will be better mixed in a stereo work environment. The reason I make my audio file a high bit rate is because it keeps the lows, highs, and mids all at their original broadcasted levels, meaning my voice sounds clearer and the music meshes better with everything going on.

I record everything in realtime by listening through headphones, and when I compress my show to mono in a low bit rate, it loses some of the magic and quality that I intended for you to hear. Obviously I know not all of you care that much, but for those of you who do, I wanted to make my original vision for the show available to you.

Quite honestly if I was ever to relaunch Dewoh I would do this network wide. The difference is unbelieveable. Especially in the old studio that Blank is now in. Shows would sound incredible in that studio if they were recorded in "high definition."

~Seth

Labels: podcasts, technical

Since I posted twice on my first day back, I technically only missed one day. How did you all fare without me? Horrible? I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you with this double post.

On Monday I went over to the home of Chris Mackie to see a private performance of "deathblack flowers", his new band. I've been a fan of Chris' music since he was in the instrumental group Sonna over 5 years ago, and this new music is better than anything he's ever done before. He's at the top of his game.

A little peice of the new goodness is the structure that his music has been missing. His solo albums, beautiful as they are, sound like a long jam session - with songs lasting over 10 minutes. Chris brought his ex-flowerribbons/This Great October partner Ian Stewart over to provide some percussion and electronic twitters. The addition of which gives a new dimension to his music that I think has been keeping it from being enjoyed by the masses.


His live show at the end of the month is a must see. If you don't live here in the ICT, fly in, you don't wanna miss it. I'll throw up an MP3 of a song as soon as he gets one made.

Speaking of new, my best friend Colby is now blogging (more regularly than me, by the way) over at his blog. Check it out.

And something else you guys will all want: Subscribe to The Seth Nieman Show on iTunes.

Next week's show is going to be incredible. Be sure to follow me on twitter, 'cause I'll be streaming the show live, and you won't wanna miss it.

I'll be releasing my show on my blog in high definition every Sunday , and the good folks at Blank will release it when they feel up to it and in any quality they want. Check back here on Sunday evening for the hi-def show!

~Seth

Labels: music, plug, podcasts, seth nieman show, wichita