The “I’m working late” blues
Me: Ugh, I’m so doomed. imagine this – Podcast Guy is out sick. Second Podcast guy just got a job at a competing company, so was booted out by security. Skennedy is now emergency podcast guy! Because there is (was) an interview in an hour and a half with the head of Indy Racing League.
Me: So. I do a good job capturing the thing. I modify everything to be awesome, save the project, save an MP3 and close the program.
Me: Mp3 – 0 bytes. Project – also 0 bytes. So now I’m left pulling up the temp files audacity makes.
Phaedra: :-(
Me: in ten. second. chunks.
Phaedra: :( :(
Me: And there are only 300 of them. which does not equate to 35 minutes.
Phaedra: oh no
Me: you can imagine my distress.
Phaedra: yes, yes I think I can
Me: On the bright side, 35 minutes is too fucking long for a podcast. :D
Phaedra: -wry-
Phaedra: The ARGNet ones are an hour
Me: Probably broken up with music and things. :D Besides, let me hold onto my one shred of clueless positivity. :) I’m up to 3 minutes recovered, so far, and lots left to go. Should at least get up to ten
waitaminute. *pulls out calculator* 36 minutes divided by 60 is 2150, divided by 10-second chunks is 215 … there should be more than enough temp files here to recreate the entire podcast. I think.
whew
It’s going to be a long evening. (It’s 6:15p, and I’m about 4 and a half minutes recovered)
EDIT: I suppose I have to be grateful for knowing computers well enough that I knew what to google for to find developer advice on this particular problem, and I knew what a potential solution might be. Otherwise, I’d have nothing to show for it at all.
EDIT2: Done. 8pm. all 36 minutes recovered. I may go die now.
…and that’s why commercial software is often a good thing. Esoteric bugs tend to get fixed more often.
*shrug* Not my laptop, software, or department, so I don’t really have any influence over the tools I’m using over there.
Wow, that’s the actual software they use for normal production?
Yep. Podcast Dude was an intern not all that long ago, and I don’t believe they make much off the podcasts, so he’s kind of lucky he has professional audio hardware (he does, they have excellent mics). I assume he chose the software.
Guh. I wouldn’t rely on Audacity for anything… I’ve had all sorts of problems with it. Not to mention that LAME used for MP3 export isn’t licensed for use in the US.
They should at least have Sound Forge or something.
Link me up. We were asked to provide a free solution, and free solution we provided. If you know of something better, please to be letting me know. :D
Sound Forge, a wave editor that is actually reliable. :)
Or, get them a Mac and use Garage Band. It’s got a whole suite of podcasting tools.
Thanks for the tip. :)
The Mac is questionable at best. I’m not opposed to them, but because they are non-standard, there is a whole political and financial aspect to things that make them damn near impossible to get. We only have three of them in the building, four if you count the G5 under my desk that mysteriously arrived when we closed our Mexico office. The previous Mac Guru at work has moved into a new job (he’s the one who enlisted Scott’s aid today, actually) and so they’ve bestowed the title of primary Mac support onto me, sans any training, I suppose because of there being so few in number. But they are all heavy production systems, so when they do go down, it’s a crisis. I got to buy a book on supporting OS X, whoo.hoo. Guess I should follow up on that training. ;)
You are far more diligent than I. I would have seen the size of the output file and then slipped out the door, never to return.
Wow…. bravo!
No dying.. not allowed
Just needed something to bring you back to life and I think loads of garlic was just the right trick ;)
That’s a pretty badass job of restoration – surely you must feel some sort of accomplishment even though the process must’ve blew.
Thanks, yeah – I just keep saying to myself that one day it’s going to really impress at a job interview. :)