Hey would-be sound designers! Educational – and quite funny – video on creating dragon sound effects by Paeter of Spirit Blade Productions (who we featured last January)

This is great stuff, if you’ve heard Spirit Blade you know he always has top notch sounds, and as you can tell from the pics of his recording setup, he’s one of us working in a well supplied home studio (no ProTools HD rigs here!)

Via Jeff Adams at Sound Stages Radio:

Sounds for Soldiers, the project by audio theater producers all over the world to send 10,000 MP3 CD’s to men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, continues to inch upward on the Pepsi Refresh project.

To remind everyone, that’s a grant Pepsi pays out to worthy causes IF they are voted in the top-ten of their category in an online poll. Everyone can vote once a day, either on the Pepsi Refresh site or by texting the number 101175 to the text number 73774.

Early in the week, we were at 184th. Then we jumped to 87th. Yesterday, we were 79th, and today we’ve climbed to 75th. That means were heading in the right direction, but going pretty slowly. The voting continues until August 31st.

Remember, this is not a “I’ll get there next week and vote,” thing – it’s a “I’ll go their EVERY DAY and vote thing.” Do it at breakfast, do it at dinner, do it as you sit down to surf the web in the evening, just do it! And the other thing? Tell your friends. Forward this message to your email list. Let everyone know.

This idea was originally put forth by veterans who told us men and women serving in forward areas depend on iPods to relax in the middle of the impossibility of combat. That’s the idea, helping the people who are helping us in a very small way.

Now you can donate from your own pocket at http://www.sounds4soldiers.org, but if you don’t want to give money, just vote daily in the Pepsi refresh project. Thanks for your time.

This is a very worthy cause, so cast your votes now!

What utter joy this morning to open my mailbox and find a little gift from ZBS, one of their new, heavy-duty, industrial strength steampunk state of mind mugs:

Mm… delicious, organic green tea goodness.

This make seem passed the point of utter geekiness, but in my house we are serious mug fanatics and most of the hot-beverage vessels that pass through the door end up on their way to goodwill because they fail to meet the important criteria of superior lip feel, heat retention, heft and general sense of zen when sipping your morning brew.

My report is that the ZBS mug meets and exceeds all criteria and will have a honored space on my writing desk for years to come (no, I was not paid to say that, and you can buy the mug yourself here).

I also just ordered one of their spankin’ new Jack Flanders tees.  What can we say?  Things are steamy:

To whet your appetite for steaminess, here’s Landy Windemere’s Brass Fantabulous, episode 5, courtesy of YouTube. We’ll be featuring this production on the ‘pod soon:

In memory today for Hiram Brown, a virtuoso of radio who created some of the most memorable and enduring radio dramas, including the incredibly creepy “Inner Sanctum” and, later, “CBS Radio Mystery Theater” (which served to haunt and inspire a new generation of listeners, such as the creators of The Grist Mill)

The New York Times reports:

While radio dramas are now celebrated as wistful nostalgia by people in their 70s and 80s, Mr. Brown never stopped believing in the form. In 1974, when radio drama was all but extinct, he began a nightly series called CBS Radio Mystery Theater that ran until 1982 and even revived the creaking door. He continued to produce radio dramas about influential Americans into his 90s for Brooklyn College’s station.

“I am firmly convinced that nothing visual can touch audio,” Mr. Brown said in a 2003 interview, his eyes sparkling. “I don’t need 200 orchestra players doing the ‘Ride of the Valkyries.’ I don’t need car chases. I don’t need mayhem. All I need to do is creak the door open, and visually your head begins to go. The magic word is imagination.”

While some of the greats from the Old Time era are no longer with us, we’re here to report that imagination is working better than ever!  Rest in peace, Mr. Brown.

At long last, FinalRune Productions is back with the original story of a man waylaid on his way somewhere else, “Waiting for a Window.” Starring an incredible cast of voice actors including Bill Dufris, Joe Duley, Charly Duley, Ed Patterson, “Man” and long-time FinalRuner, Philip Hobby. Original music by Barb Truex.

Hear the story hear first, then buy it second! Available for download only on Echo Fiction.

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Radio Drama Revival – Episode 89

It was pretty cool to stumble across this article in the Guardian Arts Blog which talks about the future of the audio theater, and features some of my opinions on the sad yet hopeful state of affairs (yes, me, quoted in a real newspaper!). I think one of the toughest things radio drama is facing right now is people not realizing its existence. So articles like this that raise awareness are incredibly appreciated!

There’s also an interesting discussion of devices to put “visual’ in the radio… which while they sound interesting, I can’t help but wonder, isn’t the joy of radio is that the only visuals are the ones in your mind?

Anyways, a really great article overall and worth a read, and maybe a comment?