MrBiffo
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NIGHTMARES IN SOUND
🕑 Added 2020-02-26 10:27:25 +0000 UTCMorning all!
I was hoping to have a new episode up for you yesterday, but... I've been having a nightmare with it. When we filmed last week, we did two days. On the first day, the excellent Chris Bullock came along to record the sound via lapel mics. Unfortunately, her professionalism butted up against my enthusiastic amateurism... and I had a repeat of the issues which plagued me when editing Digitiser The Show... where my attempts to "fix" the sound just made everything worse.
In short, it has taken me three days already to edit this latest episode, mainly trying to get the audio up to muster. It's nothing Chris did wrong - but she records sound in a way that's more appropriate for TV shows and features, whereas we usually just bumble along.
What it means is that it requires a bunch of audio post-processing before it's good enough to use, which I don't have a clue how to do. Normally, we just plug our mics in, record direct into a sound recorder, I do a bit of compression, and we're good to go. So, after pulling out my hair over it since Sunday, yesterday I finally fell on my sword, and begged her to help. Which she kindly did. Sound is now fixed, thanks to her, but of course now I have to reconstruct the episode around the new version of the sound, which is likely to be several hours more work at least.
This is the sort of behind-the-scenes toil that goes into making content for the channel!
In short: you may get it later today, which is, I'm afraid, only a day earlier than I was planning to put it out for general public consumption. I'm switching up the days Digi eps go live, as Sunday is apparently the worst day to upload to YouTube, and Thursday is, inexplicably, the best.
So, that's the plan - if I can get the ep done in time - to see if it makes a difference. The latest episode is doing well (by our standards anyway), but gaining subscribers remains hard. In the last 28 days, we're actually down 4 subscribers on balance, as of today. We've gained many new ones, but they're offset by the number we've lost.
I don't know whether we're losing people who don't like Eli Silverman (that's one correlation, inexplicable as it is to me, though he remains a guest, even if he does seem more like a regular at the minute... and I implore all of you to give Digitiser Deluxe a chance; he's utterly brilliant in them, and I don't think these episodes are anything like Cheapshow).
Or maybe, more likely, we're still steadily jettisoning the retro gaming fans, who only want retro gaming content, but I'm at a loss as to where we find our new audience, and how we grow, as over the past couple of months we've been pretty much static. It's weird, because if that is the case - that it's the retro gamers who are leaving us - it kind of reaffirms my current trajectory, even if it is a bit disheartening.
I see my fellow retro gaming YouTubers experiencing rapid growth with their channels, and I know in some respects it'd be the easy path to pander to, but I'd be forcing it. It's just not where I'm at currently.
I think I've just grown weary of the way that, for some people, retro gaming is their one thing, and if you deviate from that in any way - by being daft and surreal, not taking it seriously, or colouring outside of the lines even slightly by talking about other subjects - gets you burned at the stake. That's no judgement on what anybody likes, or the content they produce - heck, I love games - more that I struggle with the sort of militant, myopic, focus on it from some, and after 27 years I feel exhausted by that.
I know that given my history this is all a bit like the guitarist in, I dunno, Megadeth, releasing an album of cheesy europop, but if you look at what I've done outside of Digi - even going back to my old blog in the 00s - it wasn't gaming related. Heck, half the time even Digi wasn't gaming related!
I know it's a bit of an abrupt shift, but I'm committed to seeing it through because, candidly, I just feel exhausted by retro gaming, the dramas, some of the personalities in the scene, and the way retro gaming sometimes becomes an identity. I always felt like a bit of a pretender in that respect; much as I love gaming, it's not the be-all and end-all of who I am.
What remains lovely, however, is that our core audience - that's most of you - is still incredibly loyal. Digitiser Live continues to sell well (and it WILL have a retro gaming theme), and I feel we're incredibly well supported by those who get us. And I know there are more people out there who would get us too, if only we can find them.
I can't thank you enough for sticking by me, even though I know the vast majority of you are Patrons because Digitiser was originally all about the gaming.
Anyhow, this is just a bit of a brain-dump. I'm not looking for unsolicited advice - I get enough of that on Twitter (yes, I KNOW you prefer my written stuff, thanks, anonymous person, but there's not much I can do about it if I feel burnt out by it).
Onwards!
Paul
Comments
Chris JC
That Pompeii performance of that bit is definitive, Really, only the eggboxes could have improved Gilmour’s vocal performance.
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Oh, you...!
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
All very lovely to know!
RolexTharsus
Similar to Vicky above, I'm here for the Digi humour, even back in the 90s my daily reading of Digi was more for Morse & Lewis in the reveals and The Man's Daddy jokes! So far the 2 Deluxe episodes have hit a great balance between a fun structure that carries through a half hour episode with the right level of Digi daftness, and as Eli's up for debate, he really seems to be flourishing in these, having Sooz & Ash as fresh voices & a 4 person panel really works too. I'm probably odd amongst your viewers here that before Found Footage/ Digi the Show I had no idea about Cheapshow or Barshens, and having checked them out subsequently they do all feel like very different beasts, and your unique style still comes through (see Sausage Tom MySpace vs Le Chef) YouTubes/ streaming subscriptions are a strange phenomenon, and with algorithms, bots, weird suspensions etc it's a tricky thing to judge. When I used to do internet radio the station my friend set up via Mixlr had 4000 followers, but we only ever got 20 odd live listeners, we never worked out where the other 3980 came from! If there's a stagnation or fluctuation it could be down to so many more random factors rather than a response to the content. Rambling on, but basically bloody loving the stuff, and keep doing what feels right for you! :)
Dave Graves
The weirder the better. I want to see you playing a keyboard (the sad organ bit from Saucerful of Secrets, early Pink Floyd) whilst wearing an eggbox costume and singing La-la la la laaa, badly; along with it. The sublime and the ridiculous combine and...we all know where this is going...from hence the humour arises.
I feel like Digi, much like Cheapshow, is very much a case of you either get it or you don't. If you get it, you know what your getting and the surreal, subversive humour and experimental, avant garde stuff just sings on the same wavelength as the audience. If you don't get it, it grates because you are always gonna be expecting something you won't be getting, and the subversion comes off as forced and pretentious. I personally was born well after Teletext had run its course, I have no nostalgia for it, and while I am an extremely keen gamer/games enthusiast, I'm not here for gaming content. I love Digi for what it represents as mould breaking, bitingly witty fringe comedy, with a nerdy and experimental heart!
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Maybe! Thing is, characters are very much a Digi thing too, and have been since it began, 27 years ago. I've always liked weird characters. I mean, I'm my own worst enemy. This week's ep is a good example: a perfectly, nice, funny, quiz, and I go and stick in all my weird editing and cutaways! I know it makes it less palatable for some, but I'm tailoring it to my own tastes really.
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Yeah, that's essentially what I'm doing really, and have been for months. I'm not tailoring anything to anyone beyond what I want to see. If I want to go that route I'd just go with the retro gaming!
I've not done a YouTube channel, but I do webcomics and I've been told you should just do the content you want to see yourself and let your audience gather around that. Also Fat Sow and Eli are great editions, you should put them on together sometime :D
Vicky Winstanley
On the topic of fat sow, could it be a charachter thing as people may be watching digi minis and not seen the full show and are thinking "wtf?". Because it's a character that comes up few and far between episodes, does that have a difference instead? Characters are a very cheapshow thing and people in that audience get it. It might not cross over as well with digi - with the exception of beanus!
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Interesting. We had a HUGE spike of subscribers when Ashens came on, and since then we've struggled. Wonder if it's something similar. Or Ashens fans just buggering off after realising we're not him!
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
I love it when we grow on people!
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
Oh, I don't really think it's that. It's just a correlation in terms of the subs flatlining and him appearing. I mean, it's possibly a perception of the channel turning into a Cheapshow spin-off... but I dunno. Just looking for answers! I'm not going to have less Eli because of it either way, because he fits in so perfectly.
Phil Young
Another vote for Eli here, he's a great addition, and I get the impression Paul is slightly wary of him which only adds to his appeal. There's only so much retro gaming you can cover before all the retro is used up. I was playing that stuff when it was current; I don't really feel much compulsion to revisit (and in some cases sully) what were great gaming memories. When everyone is zigging, zag.
John Brown
I came to digi because of the retro gaming content initially, and the humour grew on me until I really got into it. I think you probably need to watch a few episodes to get into Digi, which is going to make getting subscribers harder work for you. However I think your subscribers will be more into what you are doing than many subscribers are of other channels. Word of mount will help you pull in subscribers as your subscribers will be far more likley to tell others about your channel.
Vicky Winstanley
I have a background and interest in gaming, I have since I was a kid, but it's not my main thing and not really the reason I got hooked on Digi. It was the surreal comedy and the on screen chemistry that you had with others that kept me coming back. YouTube and its subscribers and metrics are a strange beast. I had a surge in channel subscribers once after being featured somewhere else and as it was "unusual growth" youtube unsubbed every one of them 24 hours later. It feels like an impossible task sometimes.
I can tell when you have good sound (I am a music bore so I notice these stupid things) so I appreciate the use of lavalier mics even though it appears to be more of a pain. Most people probably wouldn't notice or care. Eli is great! I can't see him turning subscribers off, must be something else. Anyway I won't witter on with unsolicited advice as it would come from the gut, and my guts are full of shi...
Colin Jones
As for disliking Eli? How?!??! :D
Colin Jones
You're trying something new, there are bound to be teething troubles. It wasn't actually retro-gaming that brought me here, it's the utter randomness of the channel. I never know what to expect and that's what I like the most.
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
He does! But it really fits. The Digi Deluxe eps I've done with him are so, so good, because we know each other that much better. He's in his element in thm. Wait until you see this week's ep - he's having the best time!
Paul Rose (Mr Biffo)
I think Cheapshow, as I said recently, is an acquired taste. I admit, it took me a while to get it, and see past some of the graphic humour - I loved it, once I did - but Eli is nonetheless very different on Digi. He's just got funny bones! He can say anything and I find him funny. I personally don't think the drop in subscribers is down to him in the slightest, but it just started at the point he began appearing. So... I 'unno!
Kelvin Green
I hope people aren't turning off because of Eli because I think he's great fun and brings a different type of humour to the episodes.
na plz
I assume most people use YouTube differently to me, I have a bunch of things I subscribe to and very rarely does anything get taken off te list, mainly because of the effort of doing so. Even channels that rarely post things I'm interested in, I'd rather keep them around, in case they do. Imagine not liking Eli...the mind boggles
