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[Fenster Mayhew]

Jeremy and I each edit our own episodes, but during recordings (except for the most recent episode, when I was out sick), my eyes are on the Garageband--the program we use to record and edit--for 90% of the recording. And yes, I do always get levels, and constantly adjust them throughout as the conversation merits.

We've had maybe three episodes where I felt the sound levels were way too low, due to a technical problem on a single session that happened to include those three recordings. With this last one, I listened to maybe 75% of it on the subway with no issues. If you're sincerely having problems with our audio, I can't administer an official hearing test, but you might want to upgrade your earbuds. We both normalize our audio in post, and I do my best to make sure the sound levels stay consistent throughout recordings.

At the very least, give us the benefit of the doubt that we know what we're doing. We spend a lot of time on this podcast for approximately zero dollars, and we honestly try for the highest quality we can achieve. Literally .0005% of our listeners have complained about audio quality, which tells me it's not the most pressing issue we've faced.

 

[runnin_blue]

Jeremy and I each edit our own episodes, but during recordings (except for the most recent episode, when I was out sick), my eyes are on the Garageband--the program we use to record and edit--for 90% of the recording. And yes, I do always get levels, and constantly adjust them throughout as the conversation merits.

We've had maybe three episodes where I felt the sound levels were way too low, due to a technical problem on a single session that happened to include those three recordings. With this last one, I listened to maybe 75% of it on the subway with no issues. If you're sincerely having problems with our audio, I can't administer an official hearing test, but you might want to upgrade your earbuds. We both normalize our audio in post, and I do my best to make sure the sound levels stay consistent throughout recordings.

At the very least, give us the benefit of the doubt that we know what we're doing. We spend a lot of time on this podcast for approximately zero dollars, and we honestly try for the highest quality we can achieve. Literally .0005% of our listeners have complained about audio quality, which tells me it's not the most pressing issue we've faced.

Get new earbuds? Wow, you guys really don't like constructive criticism, do you? Twice now I have offered constructive criticism on Retronauts and twice I have been given a smart alec answer.

I enjoy your show, but you make it increasingly difficult to keep listening sometimes.

As for "approximately zero dollars", I guess we can ignore your Patreon currently at $3304 (that's $826 per week) as well as your previous Kickstarter.

I don't mean to get petty mate, but your petulant attitude is really starting to grate a bit. No one is saying you have to be perfect, their just mentioning things and offering opinions.

Seriously, grow up.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Get new earbuds? Wow, you guys really don't like constructive criticism, do you? Twice now I have offered constructive criticism on Retronauts and twice I have been given a smart alec answer.

I enjoy your show, but you make it increasingly difficult to keep listening sometimes.

As for "approximately zero dollars", I guess we can ignore your Patreon currently at $3304 (that's $826 per week) as well as your previous Kickstarter.

I don't mean to get petty mate, but your petulant attitude is really starting to grate a bit. No one is saying you have to be perfect, their just mentioning things and offering opinions.

Seriously, grow up.

 

[Imbarkus]

Just a friendly reminder that text-based communication actually removes like more than 80% of the reciprocal information conveyed in a face to face engagement. Body posture, tone of voice, intonation, all lost or greatly muted.

The little flinches and hesitations in back-and-forth exchanges that let someone signal you are being rude or insensitive about a certain subject, all lost. Eye contact. Emotion in a real way and not the reverberations of such that we can only capture in words. I realize there is some irony in pointing this out here on a text forum, but I find it needs repeated when real people at the other ends of their screens start to get heated.

So if you're only working with less than 20% of the information of someone's intent, response, and tone, you really have an insufficient amount of information upon which to make such a judgment.

Given that this is a podcast about gaming history, maybe it's best if we keep our arguments to relevant points about gaming history (when allowed, I guess). Because, though notes and suggestions are fine, you're accusing Bob here of being petty but you might not perceive that my reading of the tone of your text is coming off petty.

 

[krae_man]

That bumper sticker should probably have a Twitter handle instead of an 800 number. That or a Facebook page.

Who calls a company to give feedback nowadays?

 

[Curufinwe]

Crybaby Bob is at it again.

Get new earbuds? Wow, you guys really don't like constructive criticism, do you? Twice now I have offered constructive criticism on Retronauts and twice I have been given a smart alec answer.

I enjoy your show, but you make it increasingly difficult to keep listening sometimes.

As for "approximately zero dollars", I guess we can ignore your Patreon currently at $3304 (that's $826 per week) as well as your previous Kickstarter.

I don't mean to get petty mate, but your petulant attitude is really starting to grate a bit. No one is saying you have to be perfect, their just mentioning things and offering opinions.

Seriously, grow up.

He's unable to handle even the mildest criticism and responds with a bizarre level of aggressiveness to fans of the show who care enough to post in this thread.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Crybaby Bob is at again.

My only regret is taking that guy seriously. Also, shouldn't you follow that statement up with an adjective like "Sad!" or "Weak!"

 

[jooey]

Just a friendly reminder that text-based communication actually removes like more than 80% of the reciprocal information conveyed in a face to face engagement. Body posture, tone of voice, intonation, all lost or greatly muted.

The little flinches and hesitations in back-and-forth exchanges that let someone signal you are being rude or insensitive about a certain subject, all lost. Eye contact. Emotion in a real way and not the reverberations of such that we can only capture in words. I realize there is some irony in pointing this out here on a text forum, but I find it needs repeated when real people at the other ends of their screens start to get heated.

So if you're only working with less than 20% of the information of someone's intent, response, and tone, you really have an insufficient amount of information upon which to make such a judgment.

Given that this is a podcast about gaming history, maybe it's best if we keep our arguments to relevant points about gaming history (when allowed, I guess). Because, though notes and suggestions are fine, you're accusing Bob here of being petty but you might not perceive that my reading of the tone of your text is coming off petty.

yeah, text... you sure love text, don't you

 

[ToastyFrog]

Do you listen to the entire podcast as you edit? Because if you are just adjusting levels at the beginning and then skipping to certain points to make sure things are still in sync, you will always encounter problems you've missed.

It's annoying and time consuming but ultimately the only way to ensure that the podcast is consistent and problem free for the listener.

Yes, of course I listen to an entire episode all the way through as I edit. Who doesn't? I try to cut out any dead air, weird mouth noises, etc., from start to finish. I assume Bob does the same. We both put a lot of time into production and run each episode through several steps, including (as I said) post-editing normalization in a separate purpose-built app. I honestly have no idea why the latest episode sounds so off to you; it sounds normal to me, and I haven't seen any other complaints about it. I'm trying to remember if I uploaded a bad version and had to replace it, which has happened a few times, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case here.

 

[ToastyFrog]

Well a lot sure did happen while I was writing that reply.

 

[Curufinwe]

Repeatedly act like a thin skinned bully, then accuse others of being Trumpian.

That's the total lack of self awareness I've come to expect from him when reading this thread

 

[Imbarkus]

Anybody who creates anything seems to mostly get hate for it. Before we opened up all these faux-focus-group communication-tech floodgates... movie studios, game makers, game journalists, everybody was a bit insulated from it.

Maybe it was better when creators just didn't hear much from the audience. We keep touting the benefits of all this technology we keep rolling out, but do we have an actual measure that the benefit of the thanks and the crowd-sourcing outweighs the mental erosion of the criticism?

yeah, text... you sure love text, don't you

I love you, man.

 

[Balb]

Repeatedly act like a thin skinned bully, then accuse others of being Trumpian.

That's the total lack of self awareness I've come to expect from him when reading this thread

To be fair, "Crybaby Bob" sounds like something he'd say.

I'm not a big audio guy but I haven't had any issues with the recent shows.

 

[LayLa]

As someone with audio engineering experience the podcasts usually sound OK to me, could possibly do with a little bit more compression on the individual audio tracks by upping the ratio but that's more down to my individual tastes than anything.

 

[RoryDropkick]

I don't notice any audio issues. Only issue I have is on my end typically and that's because I'm listening to them on bluetooth headphones through my phone on a Galaxy S7 and there's issues with trying to get bluetooth audio to go past a certian level anyways.

Where can I get one of those podcast bumper stickers?

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

I don't notice any audio issues. Only issue I have is on my end typically and that's because I'm listening to them on bluetooth headphones through my phone on a Galaxy S7 and there's issues with trying to get bluetooth audio to go past a certian level anyways.

Where can I get one of those podcast bumper stickers?

Those will be the stickers for our next round of Patreon awards. Though apparently our Patreon makes so much I should start sending backers hefty bars of gold.

 

[krae_man]

Those will be the stickers for our next round of Patreon awards. Though apparently our Patreon makes so much I should start sending backers hefty bars of gold.

Finally something other then the Atari joystick sticker for the 8th consecutive time!

Seriously cut the stickers and pay yourself already.

You are wasting thousands of dollars a year on those things.

 

[Morfeo]

Just wanted to say that I love the show and am very happy for all for your work. I dont always agree with Bob, but I am greatly thankful for his effort. Keep up the great work guys!

 

[RadarScope1]

I listen every week. This sounded fine to me. As usual. Fully satisfied Pateron supporter here.

And as an NES/Fami lover and collector I truly enjoyed this episode. Dr S and Frank are always awesome to hear.

 

[krae_man]

Backer episode is up and is about Sonic.

Hope it lives up to the last one!

 

[PillarEN]

Backer episode is up and is about Sonic.

Hope it lives up to the last one!

lol I don't think nothing will ever top those call ins on 1up Retronauts. The best awkward comedy I ever had the pleasure of listening to.

 

[bigkrev]

The micro this week on Donkey Kong was incredible. I can't imagine how much harder it is to do these small topics compared to the full-length episodes, but I really hope you keep doing these every now and then.

 

[ToastyFrog]

Glad you enjoyed it. My (and I assume Bob's) Micros take almost as much effort to put together as a full episode, which is kind of ironic since they were meant to be lower-impact, so I'm grateful when people find value in them.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

My latest "Micro" is over an hour long, so clearly we forgot what these off-week episodes are supposed to be.

 

[krae_man]

Bob, if you hated the bonus levels in Sonic 3, just be glad you didn't play them on the Game.com

 

[charlequin]

The micro this week on Donkey Kong was incredible.

Yeah, this ep managed to teach me about a whole element of the Donkey Kong saga that I had never heard of before, which was pretty exciting.

Glad you enjoyed it. My (and I assume Bob's) Micros take almost as much effort to put together as a full episode, which is kind of ironic since they were meant to be lower-impact, so I'm grateful when people find value in them.

One of the good things about them (and I imagine this feeds into the effort needed) is that the styles are really distinct from each other. Each of you has a few different modes for the Micros that are pretty different from the main eps and from each other, and the variety from that is nice.

 

[krae_man]

New Retronauts tiers and structure is live.

$3 Early access
$6 PDF Zine 2-3 times a year
$8 Zine is now printed
$15 Retronauts Companion book PDF too
$20 Companion book is now printed
$30 2 Shirts a year too
$50 2 Original Hand drawn Retronauts Cover Art a year
$64 $30 tier plus pick 1 episode topic every 6 months.

Hopefully you guys are more efficient now and can start paying yourself. Needing like $50k+ a year to even begin to draw a minor salary always seemed off.

 

[bigkrev]

Jeremy or Bob, can you please either post the contents of the post describing the new Patreon tiers here, or unlock it on the Patreon website? I think it's a little weird that information that would be important to people who would consider becoming patreons is paywalled behind already being a patreon

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Jeremy or Bob, can you please either post the contents of the post describing the new Patreon tiers here, or unlock it on the Patreon website? I think it's a little weird that information that would be important to people who would consider becoming patreons is paywalled behind already being a patreon

All the tiers and their rewards should be visible if you're not currently a patron. (I logged out and checked out the page again to make sure.)

 

[bigkrev]

All the tiers and their rewards should be visible if you're not currently a patron. (I logged out and checked out the page again to make sure.)

Alright, yeah, it looks fine on a computer. I was on the mobile version of the website which doesn't show you reward tiers for some reason.

 

[Suzzopher]

In a bizarre coincidence yesterday morning I put on Christmas Comes to Pacland for my four year old (he's a big fan of the new Pac-Man cartoons) so I thought I'd show him what daddy watched every Christmas day from 1983 to 1990 at 5:10am on ITV. For some reason it stopped showing after 1990. We'd watch that then we were allowed to open our presents.

It may be awful but it's something I associate with Christmas, I was also four when I first saw it.

I'd love a Hanna-Barbera Pac-Man Amiibo.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Our Sonic the Hedgehog Episode is now live in the main feed:

http://www.retronauts.com/?p=1554

Also, this year's Holiday Special is live on Patreon, and will be posted to the main feed this Friday. I think it's the best one I've put together so far (or at least the most time consuming), and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks!

 

[bigkrev]

Alright, now that Chris Kohler is a free agent, what is the funding goal for the Pareon to get him as a permanent host?

I believe in our community, we can do this!

Spoiler

Chris is super talented, and will obviously get a good job somewhere, and I selfishly hope its with a company that will allow him to continue to do a podcast every now and then

 

[Imbarkus]

Good luck Bob, Jeremy, and Chris! Lots of changes this year, I've heard it told there's an old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

I hope all these changes and disruptions end with you all settled somewhere, happy, hopeful, doing what you love.

 

[DigitalRicket]

Not sure on the rules but should someone make a thread about Jeremy's desire to expand Retronauts or should it just be included in this one?

I mean, Retronauts is a niche podcast, focusing on older stuff rather than the new, so I don't see it getting those crushing pattern numbers anytime soon. However, as a subscriber to them for years, and with Jeremy's wish to make it a full-time endeavor, I think it only right to let people know of what's to come should people want it.

I know there's already a thread about Jeremy's departure from USGamer, but it didn't really include anything about the retronauts expansion.

 

[@MUWANdo]

Not sure on the rules but should someone make a thread about Jeremy's desire to expand Retronauts or should it just be included in this one?

I mean, Retronauts is a niche podcast, focusing on older stuff rather than the new, so I don't see it getting those crushing pattern numbers anytime soon. However, as a subscriber to them for years, and with Jeremy's wish to make it a full-time endeavor, I think it only right to let people know of what's to come should people want it.

I know there's already a thread about Jeremy's departure from USGamer, but it didn't really include anything about the retronauts expansion.

Have fun! http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1326609

 

[Rlan]

Solid episode for Sonic! Think you guys did a real solid job on covering the 4 main games on the Megadrive.

I like how the Sonic games kept so simple, which is probably why they were also so easy for people to get into - every button did the same thing, and you didn't really have to "aim" at an enemy. While Mario, even to the most basic of player, was hard to get into. I've seen people play Mario 1 and forget that there's a run button. With Sonic - when you jump, you're basically indestructible.

You made a real good point about how Robotnik also keeps coming at you too. Even in the more recent Mario games the Bowser / Koopa Kids bosses are basically afterthoughts and lack unique hooks like the Sonic ones did.

You could play Doomsday Zone with Sonic & Knuckles without Sonic 3, but Knuckles had different routes in Sonic 3 and sometimes different bosses, in the case of Angel Island & Marble Garden being on the ground. Sonic skips the final boss of Sonic 3 when locked on, but Knuckles fights it instead.

It's actually pretty cool just how much they jam packed into that thing.

Lastly - the end of 1993 was already Sonic crazy, to the point that looking back on it now it just kind of insane. Sonic Chaos (GG / MS), Sonic Spinball, Sonic CD and Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine all came out in the last few months of 1993.

How insane is that? And they also wanted to release Sonic 3? Just madness, really.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Sad that Kohler isn't on the Sonic episode. That's like his mostest favoritest game ever.

 

[dock]

Good Sonic episode! Ray did a great job of raining in Bob's proclamations about Sonic's game design.

The single button control remains incredibly elegant and super accessible, it's wonderful that they maintained it throughout the 2D games. Meanwhile plenty of people never even learn how to make Mario run in any game, especially as it clashes with the fireball.

The dropped rings 'life buffer' is massively forgiving, and children quickly pick up on the strategy of leaving uncollected rings to retrieve after they take a hit, and players also become experts at catching rings that are about to fall from the sky after being hit. This often affords 10 or more hits from bosses. Mario would go on to take three hits from to go from powered up to dead, but nothing beats the visual of 20+ rings bouncing around the screen.

 

[krae_man]

Sad that Kohler isn't on the Sonic episode. That's like his mostest favoritest game ever.

That should be a Patreon tier. Chris Kohler's weekly Sega segment!

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Good Sonic episode! Ray did a great job of raining in Bob's proclamations about Sonic's game design.

I'd call them "educated opinions" over "proclamations." I don't want anyone to think I regard my analyses of video games as the Absolute Truth.

 

[.JayZii]

Whew! Finally got that legit Sonic episode out of our systems. It was a good episode and I most of all enjoyed the fifth panel member: Ray's annoyed grunts.

I'll always find it funny how Sonic is the most sensitive topic on Retronauts. Everyone's tripping over themselves to not be misunderstood as sounding too negative. It makes me think the feedback from Sonic fans must be especially scary. Ray breathlessly defending certain parts of the series (because he had to keep running out to his parking meter?) adding a certain je ne sais quoi, as well.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Whew! Finally got that legit Sonic episode out of our systems. It was a good episode and I most of all enjoyed the fifth panel member: Ray's annoyed grunts.

I'll always find it funny how Sonic is the most sensitive topic on Retronauts. Everyone's tripping over themselves to not be misunderstood as sounding too negative. It makes me think the feedback from Sonic fans must be especially scary. Ray breathlessly defending certain parts of the series (because he had to keep running out to his parking meter?) adding a certain je ne sais quoi, as well.

From my perspective—and I'm not calling anyone in particular out—video game folks seem a lot more sensitive when it comes to a difference of opinions. With some of these people, there's a belief that if you say something they disagree with, you're tacitly implying any other opinion is false and bad. So, when it comes to the video game stuff I do, I have people often letting me know they disagree with me, as if I had somehow established my opinion as some universal truth.

I'm not sure what it is about video games, but this subject matter makes people especially cranky. I podcast about a lot of things and the feedback is almost universally positive compared to the comments I get on Retronauts. Even with us trying to be EXTREMELY polite about why we dislike Sonic, I still saw people congratulating Ray for "talking sense into me" or whatever.

 

[krae_man]

Last set of stickers just got mailed.

End of an era.

RIP worthless stickers.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

Man, you have to really walk on eggshells when talking about Sonic. That made for a slightly disappointing episode because nobody could really go into what makes these games good or bad. Episode was more of a book report on Sonic than an analysis of what makes Sonic work (or not). And whenever things got even remotely critical, Ray would scoff or grunt as if that were an actual response to what Bob or the others were saying. Still, it was an enjoyable listen if only for the weird tension in the room.

 

[.JayZii]

From my perspective—and I'm not calling anyone in particular out—video game folks seem a lot more sensitive when it comes to a difference of opinions. With some of these people, there's a belief that if you say something they disagree with, you're tacitly implying any other opinion is false and bad. So, when it comes to the video game stuff I do, I have people often letting me know they disagree with me, as if I had somehow established my opinion as some universal truth.

I'm not sure what it is about video games, but this subject matter makes people especially cranky. I podcast about a lot of things and the feedback is almost universally positive compared to the comments I get on Retronauts. Even with us trying to be EXTREMELY polite about why we dislike Sonic, I still saw people congratulating Ray for "talking sense into me" or whatever.

I think it's safe to assume it's because those people largely define themselves by the media they like, so when you criticize it they feel you are criticizing them as well. With video games in particular I think it's because it's so tied up with many people's nostalgia and childhood on top of that. Not a great attitude for discourse, it turns out.

I realize it's complicated when taking in and sorting through criticism from an audience, but I hate it when creators feel beholden to those sorts of people. I think trying to tiptoe around people's feelings on media tends to stifle discussions in a way that makes the show less enjoyable for the majority of listeners who wouldn't be offended by your opinions anyway.

But that's just my view on the matter, I don't want to tell anyone how to do their job. Speaking of, congratulations and good luck going forward to Jeremy and Bob with making Retronauts a more full time gig. I wish you guys all the best.

 

[ToastyFrog]

Bob was great. Ray was great. The episode was lovely. There, was that so hard?

 

[.JayZii]

Bob was great. Ray was great. The episode was lovely. There, was that so hard?

Witty, charming and good looking too.

Three compliments to every one snark is the new post regulation.

 

[ToastyFrog]

Witty, charming and good looking too.

Three compliments to every one snark is the new post regulation.

Three consecutive compliments will now be known as a boojum.

 

[Credo]

I enjoyed the episode quite a bit too. I was always the Nintendo kid whose friends had the Sega systems, so I was only able to play Sonic when I was at their houses, and I always had this weird fascination with it for that reason. My best friend had a Genesis but always insisted on playing Mutant League Football or Bill Walsh Football, so I'd have to get in quick Sonic sessions after he had fallen asleep. I always preferred Mario over it, but I think Sonic 1-3 was a pretty decent series.

I don't have much snark in me, so I guess figure out a term for four consecutive compliments.