#in any case the audio files are all super fun and this one came from team sharkerang which is especially cute

[timethehobo]

This part in the unlockable audio files hit me like a damn train. Words to live by tbh.

[mysticsparklewings]

Three Cheers for Harmonic Revenge (+ Time Lapse!)

________ This is what happens when you're a fan of both Winx Club and My Chemical Romance, apparently! 😂 Truly a labor of love—I started on this for an MCR album anniversary on June 8th. I so missed the date, but I had to see it through!

⭐️ AND I've got a Time Lapse of the art coming together, featuring my very rough attempt at a matchup of MCR's Helena and the Winx Club Harmonix song as backing music! It's a wild ride! ⭐️ (...There's also an unlisted version with "normal" music just in case my less-than-amateur audio editing skills are too much for anyone. 😅)

Anyway, to make a very long story a little bit shorter, a few weeks ago I ended up down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to identify likely sources of inspiration for the thing to come out of Winx Club Season 5 that the fandom at large actually kind of loves: Harmonix. I went in thinking Ballet, and despite my best efforts came out with that opinion pretty much unchanged. 

Not long after, but for the entirely unrelated reason of Being An MCR Fan on The Internet, I ended up looking at some screenshots from their Helena music video. [I think this was prompted by a Reddit post asking about the dress for cosplay purposes, I'm not sure.] 

It was then I had the thought, so simple and off-handed: "I don't see how you can look at a ballet outfit like this and not think Harmonix was ballet-inspired." 

If you've ever seen a TV show or cartoon where a character says something, and then only after the words leave their mouth do they realize the implications/meaning of what they just said, that was me in that moment. 😱

On the one hand, I want to say "I can't believe I didn't see the similarities before," but on the other...Well, I can believe it, actually. Comparing Winx and MCR in almost any capacity is not a natural thing to do, even with a Ballet connection in each. The fact that I finally did notice came largely down to the serendipity of being a fan of both and just happening upon the Helena pictures not long after spending an abnormal amount of time looking for clothes that look like Harmonix. I think there are many points leading up to that moment where if just a couple of things had gone differently, I still wouldn't have noticed. 

Either way, once the connection was made in my brain it took all of about 10 seconds for "Helena as a Harmonix Fairy" to follow. 🤩

At the time, I didn't have immediate plans to act on it. It was just an idea to be filed away on the little shelf in my brain where I keep "Things that would be fun to draw eventually." [That shelf is super full and in danger of collapse, for what it's worth. 😉]

Earlier this month, that changed when I remembered June 8th is the Anniversary for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the album that Helena comes from, and I had yet to come up with any other plans or ideas to commemorate it this year. 

Now, clearly I ended up missing that deadline, and two others I set for myself afterward. Things have just been very chaotic around my house for last 3-ish months or so, and June has been no different. Other IRL things just had to take priority. 😔

In my defense, the art itself was finished on June 12th. This description here and the Time Lapse Video (mostly the video) were what really set me back, even aside from household chaos. But it was really important to me to get a video done for this piece, so getting that done vs. getting the art out faster was the trade I made. 

But part of the reason I bring this up to underline that originally, I thought I was on a fairly tight deadline. As a result, during the planning stage I didn't really have time to tinker with refining the base design or debating details like I normally would. So I drew from the Winx's own Harmonix designs as much as possible—picking out pieces that naturally resembled the structure of Helena's dress. 

If I'd had more time to noodle around...the structure probably would've been largely the same, but the details most likely would have changed to help it feel more original, and I may have gotten crazy enough to try and find a happy [lighter] grey medium between Harmonix's pastel palettes and Helena's stark black and red. 

As it stands though, I'm not unhappy with how that all turned out, I just think it's worth noting how the visual concept may have changed if I'd had more time to toy with it. [Especially for when Future Me ends up referring back to this description; Hi there Future Mystic 👋]

Since my process for making the art can both be seen in the Time Lapse and is something you've all seen/heard me describe before by now [I think I have finally nailed down a fairly standard "Winx Art Process" over the last few months in large part thanks to Winxsona Winter—which yes, I do still intend to eventually finish], instead of taking you through the general stuff again, I'm going to do a bullet-point list similar to one I did for Sirenix. 

The main difference is this time, it's more focused my observations for what similarities exist between Harmonix and Helena's costume, as opposed to just a list of Harmonix traits and how I handled them. [Though there will still some of that too, naturally.]

Most notably, both feature "fluffy" layered skirts. Harmonix skirts don't really look like the same fabric texture, but that could be either a stylistic/animation choice or could be chalked up to there also probably being some Wedding Dress inspiration in the designs alongside the Ballet elements.  Also, at first I didn't think the train on the Harmonix skirts was a similarity, but upon a closer look at the Helena music video...Helena's skirt is definitely longer and train-like in the back, so...Cool, I was wrong! 😄 And: As it turns out, Bloom's Harmonix skirt actually does have a small section that's ruffled a bit differently from the rest—It's just really hard to tell because on her, it's all the same pastel blue color. But as you can see, referencing that part of her skirt here to incorporate the Red underlayer that peaks through on Helena's skirt worked a treat! 😊 P.S. Wow I really hated drawing a lot of really tightly-confined ruffles like this. 😤 And trying to shade them was even worse! 🙃

Both feature form-fitting tops with minimal or no straps. I more specifically saw Helena similarities in Stella's Harmonix top [with the frills over the bust and structure lines below], and later I realized the top-most portion of Musa's has an even more similar kind of frill.  To that end, Helena's is once again definitely supposed to be something transparent like tulle, but since there really aren't any transparent fabric portions of Harmonix, I chose instead to use a slightly lighter near-black to give it a similar effect without breaking that Harmonix "rule." Also, the bodice portion is a true jet black with no shading. I tried the more typical near-black grey that could be shaded at first, but it just wasn't doing it for me. I tried this on a whim and decided it looked good enough to keep.

Most of the Harmonix designs have a kind of "belt" that connects the bodice to the skirt; Perfect match for Helena's red one!  Similarly, most of those same Harmonix designs have a "belt"/ribbon just under the bust as well. Helena does not, as far as I can tell. But I chose to add a read one here for a little extra variety and helping break up all that black.

The Harmonix shoes are almost entirely ribbons winding up the legs; Helena wears black ballet slippers with, you guessed it, black strings/ribbons that wind around her feet and ankles.  Now, maybe I could have gotten away with all-black ribbons and black for the heel portion of the shoes, but 1. The Harmonix designs all use 2 colors for the ribbons and the heel is usually in the "contrasting" color. 2. I knew from the beginning that the skirt train [a mandatory aspect of Harmonix] was going to either be black or a very dark grey, and even during the Concept phase before I had a specific pose in mind, I had a feeling the ribbon tails were going to overlap with said train. So I used a dark red. Originally, it was about as bright as her sash and belt, but then I realized Bloom and Musa's pink ribbons were darker than the pink used in the bodices, a darker red would be closer to the original black anyway, and that would yet again add just a tiny bit more visual variety.  One last note about the shoes: I did my best to match the original winding of Helena's shoe ribbon, except for the very first ribbon across where the toes connect to the rest of the foot. That strap was specifically added as a nod to how Helena's proper ballet slippers outright cover the toe. 

About the train: Similar to the bodice, I started out with the train in one color, the color you currently see for the skirt itself and the very top of the train. It was fine but I was itching for some more variety, so after reassuring myself "Layla/Aisha's train has a few different shades of green instead of being solid so it's fine," I used the different tiers [taken from Flora's train] to create a little bit of a gradient from the black to a charcoal grey. It kinda works as a hint toward Harmonix's more pastel palette. Sort of. 

Aside from Tecna, all the girls' hair is at least partially pulled back in Harmonix. This sorta works out because it appears the front "bang" sections of Helena's hair are pulled back. [In my brain I call this "Doll Hair" because I personally have seen that kind of look way more often on dolls than on real people.] It's similar to the front of Bloom's Enchantix hair.  The rest of Helena's hair appears pretty thick and a little wild, so I tried to incorporate a bit of that here, but I couldn't push it too far without "breaking" the Winx Style.  And while I'm here: I did choose to make Helena's hair a very dark brown. In the video, most of the time it does just look plain black, but there are moments where my eyes pick up on a "warmth" to the color, which makes me think maybe it really is that super-dark brown hair that just looks black. Even if it isn't, I stand by my choice as slightly more fitting for the Winx style, since Winx almost never does truly black hair anyway. 

All of the Harmonix designs feature some sort of small head accessory, usually a tiara. Helena's costume very prominently features netting over the face...And there appears to be something going on towards the back of her head, presumably whatever is holding the netting in place.  I've seen fan interpretations of whatever that is being flowers [usually black roses], and since Tecna has a few flower-ish pieces as part of her Harmonix tiara, that seemed like a fair choice here.  As for the netting...You'll see very briefly in the Time Lapse that during the concept phase, I really did want to include that, but it was too hard to ignore how out of place it felt. Winx rarely does anything with netting in the first place [though a couple of rare examples do exist], and considering certain parts of Harmonix feel like it was designed to be fairly simple [but look complex at first glance, which it does]...I just couldn't do it. So instead, I...Well, it ended up being almost a copy of Layla's Harmonix tiara, but I really truly did not realize how similar what I was doing was to hers until after the full-color version was pretty much done. 😅 I thought I was doing more of an upside-down version of Musa's, and my entire goal was to just do something that came down over the forehead like the netting did. 

Speaking of Musa, if those wings look familiar, they kinda should. Remember before that I mentioned I was originally working on a pretty tight timeline for this piece? 

One of the things that has proven to take me the longest with original Winx designs since I picked up making them semi-regularly again is undoubtedly the wings. I got to really learn that the hard way with Believix at the beginning of this year. 

Because of the very limited time I thought I had and my sluggish pace with wings, when while collecting Harmonix screenshots for reference I noticed "Hey, Musa's wings would still work pretty well if they were flipped upside down..." A little bit of a lightbulb went off. 

I don't even know why exactly that thought occurred to me before I'd even really considered the wings. The best I can figure is a little hangover in my subconscious—At one point I remember reading one of the Winx's Sirenix wings are apparently upside down at the end of her transformation sequence. That stuck out to me at the time because I don't really understand how you could tell if Sirenix wings are upside down or not because of how they're shaped. 🤨

Anyway. So I found a screenshot with a fairly clear shot of one of Musa's wings, flipped it around, and really just traced right over it. 

I did make a few small tweaks, and most notably I added some..."Lines of Tears?" like Layla and Flora's have, but at the end of the day they are still really Musa's wings. 

Normally, I wouldn't have done that and instead would've just taken heavy inspiration from Musa's wings, but again, I thought I had a lot less time than I really did. And to be fair, plenty of other Winx fans re-color or otherwise re-purpose the Canon Girls' wings for their OCs and/or Fan Transformations on a regular basis anyway, so it's not like this is a totally unheard-of idea or anything. 🤷‍♀️

Much later, I also figured in a way it fits; Musa is a fairy of Music, this artwork is largely based around a specific piece of music/the band that made it; I even opted to add music note shapes like Musa's wings produce [all the Harmonix wings produce specific shapes in that way] when they move to deepen that connection after I thought of it. 

Other things worth noting [and this is again a • bullet point list because, frankly, at the moment I'm just too lazy to make this all flow together in more story-like paragraphs]:

I did my best to match Helena's skin and eyes, but her lips and eye makeup were a little trickier. Her lips ended up a bit pinker and not as close to her skin tone in the spirit of Winx, and I had to compromise and use greyish reds shaped like the Trix's eyeshadow to get a similar effect. The eyeshadow still really isn't perfect for Helena or Winx, but I was short on other ideas so, "close enough is good enough."

The shape of the mouth isn't quite what I wanted, either. You'll see in the time-lapse that I already changed it pretty drastically from the first sketch I had. I definitely wanted something open, because while Helena's mouth is not open for the entire music video or anything, it is more open at certain points and this shot in particular is pretty iconic.  But I also didn't want anything too crazy because, y'know, Winx Club.  The bared teeth and lack of upturn for a smile was my compromise. Either the mouth itself needed some more tweaking, or the eyebrows did. The whole expression is okay, I just don't think I pushed it far enough. 🤷‍♀️

There isn't really one specific pose that represents Helena more than the others [...at least not standing up/dancing], so I picked mostly from a general feeling from the music video. I did reference some official stock arts of the Winx in Ballet attire [mostly this one of Flora], but the feet had to be changed pretty notably to fit the shoes, and overall I had to make some tweaks in the anatomy where the stock art and show style differ. [These differences seem to increase from Season 5 onward, too.] 

The background was mostly inspired by Layla's Harmonix, and it might be my favorite part of the whole piece, actually!  Upon closer studying for this project, I was surprised by how much "junk" is in some of the Harmonix backgrounds. There's tons of texture in all of them and a fair bit of color variation in most...It's pretty interesting compared to past transformations and even Harmonix itself. The backgrounds end up being a lot more intense than the solid and gentle pastel dresses. [Wouldn't surprise me if that was intentional!] I had a little more work cut out for me since I couldn't just slap bright colors all over the place. I did consider just sticking with blacks/greys/white and maybe some red, but I thought it might help my version of Helena here pop a little better if I was able to change up the palette just a bit. And, of course, the warmth of the background helps add more variety and liven the whole image up.  Much more to my delight though, I was able to create the background without having to download any new Procreate brushes! 🥳 Between a couple of default ones, the ocean-themed brushes I already had from previous projects, and a couple I just happened to pick up along the way [mostly as monthly freebies from brush makers who normally charge for their work], I had all the brushes I needed already right there, it just took a little experimenting. 

I will reiterate that while it still took time, making the art itself really wasn't so bad or difficult. And it helps that this ridiculous crossover idea was something I really wanted to make—Because if I didn't, who else would, right? 🤪

It's not perfect, sure. But it's here and it still came out pretty good overall, I think. So I'm happy. 😊

Now I would also like to take a moment to explain part of why putting the Time Lapse together for this piece ended up taking longer than it probably should have, because I really didn't have room to talk about it in the video itself...though it does sorta get a mention right at the beginning: The audio. 

To once again make a very long story short(er):

I, in my infinite wisdom, decided instead of the usual royalty-free music stock, to try and create a mash-up of Helena and the Harmonix song for this video. That was more or less the visual premise for the art, so why not go all-out with the theming?

For once, I cannot take you through the full nitty-gritty because, at least to my inexperienced brain, audio editing is a pretty nebulous process. But I can tell you that aside from inexperience, the other thing that probably held me back was my choice of program to handle the task. 

I did not have the patience nor motivation to try and teach myself how to use an audio program for this one silly project, and I semi-accidentally learned at the beginning of last year that DaVinci Resolve has an entire section dedicated to just editing the audio for videos. Since I was able to fumble my way around in there for the light audio editing I wanted to do at that time, I figured that was a slightly safer bet here. It may not have saved me a ton of time, but it was at least vaguely familiar, and for me, familiarity goes a long way in making me comfortable with a program even if I still don't really know what the heck I'm doing. 

This isn't really what DaVinci is supposed to be for—as far as I can tell it doesn't even have an "audio only" export option, which did complicate things a bit—and even if it was, I'm sure any true audiophile will still probably cringe a lot at what I managed to create.😅 I did my best to make it "tolerable" for a listen or two, but I know my ears are inherently biased since I know and enjoy both songs quite a bit already. But I did manage to get feedback from two persons that know notably more about audio than I do, and they weren't horrifically appalled, so I don't feel like I'm committing a crime against music by putting it out there, at least. 

Aside from that, the video did also have to wait on me to finish this description [to a certain extent, anyway]. For smaller projects, I can usually write the on-screen notes for the video first and worry about the description later, but most of the time for a big project like this, I need the bulk of this written description done first so I have a baseline of all the things I want to mention and can pare down from there. 

I can do a fair bit of the video editing up until the point I need those notes, but once I hit that wall there's really no way around it. And in this case, I did actually use all that other video editing as a form of procrastinating on the description. 😅

Most likely because I knew there was going to be a lot to cover, I really put off like 70% of this description as long as possible. 🫣 The other 30% I actually did relatively soon after the art was ready. The plan was to go ahead and get most of it out of the way, but clearly I lost my writing mojo partway through and had to come back to it later...and I was still a little lazy with certain aspects. 

But hey, the description isn't the art, it's just meant to describe the art, so whatever works, yeah?

In any case, I think that's everything I wanted to mention about this particular process. It's been quite a ride, and I'm glad it's over. Mostly so I can go back to working on some other projects I already had cooking before this one came up, but also...I am just glad this is one of those ideas that, as I said much earlier, originally got put on an "eventually" shelf in my brain and actually got to come to fruition fairly quickly after the fact. 

Kinda gives me more hope than I previously had for some of those other "eventually" projects, which is nice. 🙂

Similarly: I don't know if I'll find a way to revisit Winx Club x MCR ever again, but I'm thrilled I I found a way to do it at least once! Doubly so that I'm happy with how it turned out! 😊 With that in mind, you never know. It's possible I'll figure out another way to do it again someday. 

In the meantime, I leave you Sparklers to enjoy this one and the time lapse [whether you're brave enough for the mash-up version or opt for the "easy listening" one instead]. 😉 s usual, I'm off to those other projects I mentioned shortly ago...

_______

Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings Winx Club © Rainbow S.p.A.

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and associated concepts © My Chemical Romance

[semi-sketchy]

I did it. I'm done with the Final Horizon.

The side stories...alright did anyone else run into issues where voice lines would randomly not play or was that just me? I had to keep reloading saves because it would glitch and be dead silent for like 10 seconds until the next audio file came up.

I heard lots of people didn't really like the writing in this update, but it really was just more of the same from Frontiers. Nothing scenes with poor character voice. Yeah, there were bad lines, but base game had those, too. The cyber corruption Sonic's friends go through is also just as meaningless here as it was in base game.

The biggest part I didn't like was how much this felt like an afterthought, which is because it WAS an afterthought. I didn't think the base ending was spectacular, but it also felt more in line with how the rest of the story was built.

Here, the first cutscene literally just tries to undo the Rhea island scene and everything is so tacked on. Sonic's friends face cyber corruption from interacting with cyberspace? But they're also TRAPPED in cyberspace, so why is this any different to what they've been doing? Weren't they technically helping Sonic get the Emeralds on the other islands, hence getting Emerald rewards for quests?

It's just a lot of fluff masking this basic "earn the respect of the Ancient's pilots to get a new super form that can deal with The End" and...alright. I've never been concerned over power scaling. You don't NEED to go bigger and better every time, all you have to do is make me care about the stakes and you have a good narrative. That final battle made regular Super Sonic look like a pussy so Hyper Sonic Super Sonic 2 could look so much more powerful. And I know why. This is the exact thing Ian Flynn said he wanted, only he skirted around the no Hyper decision by just changing Sonic's eye color.

But really, you have invincible Super Sonic here, WINCING and getting his hands YANKED AROUND by the cyber energy.

TWO ISLANDS AGO he was swinging a giant sword.

But now, he can't even DENT the boss without this power up. This either makes Super Sonic look weak or this stupidly easy titan tied to a rock mightier than a god.

The Sonic X reference though wasn't lost on me and I admit, I thought it was cool. Even if Super Sonic with blue eyes is a bit uncanny.

The fight itself though is...not very well choreographed. I lost my first attempt and still kinda fumbled around because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Seriously, when was quick cyloop EVER useful in one of these fights? And now I'm required to do it twice with the penalty of failing being forced to redo the Supreme fight AGAIN?

This is a case where Sonic's friends would've been helpful. I know, I know, I got sick of "THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT" very quickly, but a little thing like "Sever that connection!" or "It's down! Get the gun!" would've helped.

Though, I liked the fight alright and it certainly had the spectacle Supreme lacked.

New music was good, though! The vocal theme for I'm With You is 10x better than Dear Father and I LOVED the I'm Here remix.

Overall, I'm...conflicted. I don't think I liked the update? Really I'm trying to recall having fun with it at any point. There were a few cool moments, the Cyclone having that fuck u laser from SA2 was definitely one, but there wasn't a high point, it was just baseline and lower.

It really upset me at a few points and I couldn't even get performatively angry, it broke me and I was just sad, though I kept going. I think I've grown numb to the bullshit. Really, this was just more of Frontiers with some added jank and difficulty.

The worst parts were challenges 2 and 5. Aside from that, there's not really difficulty as much as bullshit and cheap design. Even my brother came in and asked why they stuck this platform you have to glide to at an angle that causes you to slide off. I rage quit 4-H because they ask you to do PRECISE platforming on tiny angled boxes. With physics that make that near impossible. That's bullshit design and not a difficulty issue.

Also, who thought the rescuing animal objectives were a good idea? ESPECIALLY IN 4-H. There's a glitch where when Sonic gets the animal to safety, he stays stuck in carrying mode which means low jump, no boost, double jump, homing attack, you're basically dead in the water. It goes away at certain points, so maybe this was intentional, but also, seriously?

This was a FREE CONTENT UPDATE that they announced a month before it got pushed out, so why was it rushed so badly that the physics sliders don't even work properly for the extra characters?

At the end of the day though, replaying base Frontiers right before this and running into the EXACT same problems made me realize that it's just more of the same. Base Frontiers has some big faults and pretty BS design, it's just dialed up to 11 here.

I don't want to play Frontiers again, much less this update.

[mistchievous]

Podficcing Advice for Beginners

So, a friend of mine came to me last night and told me she wanted to try out podficcing and asked for some advice. And I realized I had a lot to say to her, so I’m going to share it all here in case it helps someone else. :)

First of all, I’m not going to get into the details of how to make a podfic. I recommend reading A Newbie’s Guide to Podficcing if you’re looking for that information! It’s very detailed and goes into a lot of what you need to know. It also links to other good resources.

This advice is more just little things I’ve learned along the way and my personal experience based on what people tend to assume about podficcing as a whole.

1. Do not get into podficcing if you’re looking for clout. I mean this in the nicest way I possibly can. I’m putting this first for a reason. If you write fanfiction especially, you’re used to getting feedback. You’re used to Kudos and Comments and lots and lots of gratitude. You will not find that here. It’s not malicious. It just kind of comes with the territory. Scroll down the Podfic tag on Ao3 and compare kudos and comments to hits if you don’t understand what I’m saying right now. People will download podfics to enjoy on walks or at work or in the car or wherever and not even consider going all the way back to where they got it to say thank you. It just doesn’t occur to them. It’s not that they’re ungrateful. It’s just the way it is. Then you of course have to take into account that podfics in general aren’t as popular as written fic, etc. etc.

2. This pretty much ties into number one. Podfic for you and you alone. If you’re going to make a podfic, it should be of something you personally enjoy and want to listen to. Because unlike with writing, a lot of the creative process for podfics is technical and therefore tedious. You will burn yourself out if you podfic things for other people that you aren’t personally interested in consuming. I might record something short for close friends, but I’m well-aware that people who do not podfic have no idea how much time and energy goes into creating one. I personally do not take requests. And I highly recommend you don’t either. Maybe it will work for you, but honestly I get fed up even doing paid narration jobs when it’s something I’m not interested in. This may be more of a personal quirk, but especially for beginners, I recommend sticking to what you’re passionate about and enjoy. Because like I said in number one, you’re not going to get much outside validation. You have to really enjoy the process, the source material, and the finished product on a personal level to really want to continue podficcing.

3. Podficcing is a very time consuming process. Be prepared for that. A lot of people seem to think podficcing is just recording yourself reading something and then posting the file, and it is not. There’s a lot more that goes into it (see the guide linked above). Following my personal process, I can expect to spend around 3.5-4x the length of a finished podfic working on creating and editing it. For example, a 20 minute podfic would probably take me about 1.5 hours of work. A ten hour podfic I posted recently took me somewhere between 35-40 hours. When I first started making podfics, it took me longer even because I didn’t really know what I was doing. Some people are probably faster than me. Some are probably slower. Idk where my process falls on the scale exactly, but please understand that you will be spending a lot of time on these. Hence why #1 and #2 are so important. Especially if you do longer fics. Most people who record podfics stick to one-shots under around 10k for a reason.

4. There’s an entire section in the guide on permissions, but on a personal note, if an author has a blanket statement that they “do not allow translations/etc. of their work so don’t ask”, I just assume they probably won’t allow podfics either (even if that’s not true) and don’t bother approaching. I don’t want to step on a possible landmine by asking about something they feel they’ve already addressed and asked people not to come to them about. As the guide will tell you, most people are super on board with having podfics done of their work. Please do not read this and think you can’t approach authors. This is just a personal thing I do when it comes to authors with blanket anti-translations statements.

5. If you have pets, please shut them out of whatever room you’re recording in. I can’t do that anymore. My cats have figured me out, and you have no idea how often I pause recording and stare at the ceiling and wish for death because there are cats wrestling three feet away from me.

6. Always test your equipment. You don’t want to waste an hour and realize your mic was never picking up any audio. Also, use a desktop computer if you have one. If you have to use a laptop, there’s a good chance that (like me) you will only be able to record when it is not plugged in. I can’t record when my laptop is plugged into the wall because even my cheapest of mics pick up audio interference because of the battery charging and it’s a mess.

7. Don’t spend a bunch of money on equipment. Seriously. I have professional equipment for audiobooks, and I use absolutely none of it for podfics. I use a $20 Logitech USB Headset. Because I don’t want podficcing to feel like work. I want it to be fun. Less formal. Not like a job. I want to be able to recline under a blanket while I read. Not lock myself up in a soundproof area with super technical equipment that picks up every breath in a 20-mile radius.

ANYWAY! These are just bits of personal advice that may help you decide if this is something you really want to do.

I hope I didn’t scare you off! We need more podficcers in the world. Hahaha! I just would much rather people know what to expect and not end up discouraged and disappointed when they decide to try this out and it turns out differently than they imagined. 

All my love, y’all. <3

[littleplebe]

Something Wonderful - Part 7

For @idontgettechnology. I promised you kisses and a manip.

Thanks @mee2themoo for hosting the Marvel Summer Fun And Fluff Fest.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

Tony’s party was being held in a room the Hulk normally used for letting off steam. The tower’s state-of-the-art gym was no match for his sheer size and strength, therefore several supply closets, file rooms and unused offices had been cleared on the vacant 40th floor where a Hulk secure room was built, fully equipped with thick, sound proof walls, fight simulations fit for the strongest Avenger, and an advanced audio system in case the big guy was in the mood for some music.

Bruce rarely ever used it, but when he did, he came out looking a lot more at ease than he did going in.

The room was good for parties too, when Tony ended up inviting a lot of people and was unwilling to grant them clearance past the business floors.

It wasn’t that big a room that you’d get lost in if you weren’t careful, but it was big enough for Steve to feel like there was a whole chasm of nothingness between him and Jane, a dark abyss that separated his corner from hers, and the only thing keeping him from falling into it was Tony’s firm, grounding grip on his arm. With each step forward, Jane seemed farther and farther away until it felt like it would take a lifetime to reach her side.

Somewhere, it occurred to him that it had taken him a lifetime to get to this point where he could look back and see no regrets. Maybe that’s what she symbolized for him, something to look forward to.

The thought made him walk faster, causing Tony to let go of his arm. The billionaire’s excitement was infectious, rolling off of him in waves until Steve himself was bubbling with it. He was still afraid Jane wouldn’t recognize him, or if she did, she’d be indifferent toward him, but that didn’t make him want to see her any less. He caught a hint of her voice as they neared and his heart skipped a beat.

“… not looking for anyone, I swear, just being alert.”

She was glancing over her shoulder with furtive eyes, a flute of champagne clutched tightly within her grasp. This close, Steve could see the beads of sweat on her neck, the restlessness in her fingers as they tapped endlessly against the glass in her hand, and the suspicious way she kept casting her eyes about as if searching for something. She didn’t see him stumble to a halt in front of her until Thor issued a greeting in his deep, God-like voice.

“Tony, Steve, I’ve missed you dearly, my friends,” he rumbled, grasping both their hands and setting in motion a chain of events that none of them could have predicted.

It started with Jane having a mini heart attack at the sound of Steve’s name. A loud, halting gasp, like the wind being knocked out of someone, tore out of her as she whipped around and caught sight of him standing before her. A little bit of her drink spilled on her hand as she jumped, and while a startled Thor managed to steady her in time, he wasn’t fast enough to save the flute of champagne she was holding from hurtling toward the floor.

In Steve’s mind, everything happened as if in slow motion. He saw the panic on Jane’s face as she made a wild grab for the falling object, her wide eyes leaving his to focus on its fall. Someone cursed and someone else cried out an unfamiliar name. Darcy. On instinct, Steve felt himself move forward and smoothly snatch the glass out of the air, saving it from certain doom.

“Here,” he murmured, holding it out to a stunned Jane.

She swallowed and took it. “Thanks.”

They held each other’s gazes and Steve knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she recognized him and was as affected by his presence as he was by hers.

After what felt like eternity, she averted her eyes with a shaky sigh and time sped up again. The sounds of the party, of people around them talking and laughing, trickled back into Steve’s consciousness and he remembered where he was. He couldn’t look away from Jane though and wished he could pull her away from the chaos to someplace secluded where they could interact without an audience.

“Are you alright, little one?” Thor asked her in concern at the same time the woman on his other side said, “Jesus, Darcy, what happened?”

“I’m fine. I’ll go clean up,” Jane mumbled, looking down at her champagne drenched hand. Her eyes flickered to Steve one last time before she hurried away on unsteady feet.

Steve stared uncomprehendingly after her, his feet frozen in place and mind reeling from what he had just witnessed. This was not how he had imagined this meeting would go.

Tony was practically vibrating beside him, barely able to contain himself. “Whew, I hope she’s okay,” he remarked, sounding entirely too gleeful to be truly concerned for her or anybody else. He was enjoying this situation a little too much and Steve wanted to smack him over the head until he dropped that annoying smug smile from his annoying smug face.

Meanwhile, the woman who had called Jane Darcy turned to Thor and worried, “I should go check on her. I don’t know what happened.”

“Of course, my love,” Thor replied. “But won’t you let me introduce you to the Captain and Tony Stark first? Everyone here has been most eager to make your acquaintance.”

“Yeah, okay.” She met Steve’s eyes with a smile, and something suddenly clicked into place in his brain.

He looked at her, really looked. At the intelligent curve of her mouth, at the way she stood molded to Thor’s side, at all the little details that told him she was a few years older than him and couldn’t have been a student at Culver just a year ago…

Tony had been right. Steve was an idiot.

“Let me guess,” he said, trying and failing to sound calm. “You’re Jane Foster.”

The real Jane Foster nodded, looking bemused by his eagerness. “And you’re Steve Rogers.”

“Yes, I am!” And without warning, Steve stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

She squeaked in surprise and braced her hands on his waist. “Wha—?”

“It’s great to see you, Dr. Foster,” Steve gushed, pulling away after a brief second. “Really, really great.”

Then he spun around and left in search of Darcy, leaving a baffled trio of people in his wake.

Tony cleared his throat. “Well, that was unexpected.”

---

He found her outside in the empty corridor, leaning with her back against the wall, eyes closed and hand over her heart. It was eerily quiet out there, the insulated walls successfully masking the sounds of the party next door. Every breath he took rang louder than normal and Steve could clearly hear the change in Darcy’s breathing when he situated himself beside her, close enough to feel the heat of her body but not enough that their shoulders brushed.

She didn’t open her eyes, so he took a moment to just drink her in, feeling all of his tension from earlier melt away with one long, shuddering exhale. She hadn’t changed much but his memory had failed to do her justice, he realized. She was more beautiful than she ever was in his dreams. Steve felt like he would have to learn her all over again to draw her better next time.

“Take a picture,” she said suddenly, her lips quirking up as if she knew what he was doing. “It’ll last longer.”

She opened her eyes and rolled her head to look at him, and Steve felt his breath hitch.

“I scared you back there,” he said apologetically, although it had stung when she had fled the party upon seeing him.

“You did,” she agreed, letting the hand on her chest drop to her side, where she proceeded to pick uncomfortably at her dress. “Thor said you were away on a mission. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

Steve nodded. He had returned early and agreed to make a token appearance at the party on Tony’s insistence. “But you were still looking for me.”

Jane—no, Darcy opened her mouth and closed it, looking none too happy about being caught. When she pointedly refused to neither confirm nor deny his statement, Steve smothered a pleased smile. “So, you know who I am.”

She gave him a look. “Everyone knows who you are.”

“Not everyone.”

“Everyone at this party does.”

Steve grimaced and scuffed the toe of his shoe over the concrete, feeling a flush climb up his cheeks. “I guess the tabloid frequenters do,” he finally acceded, hating the way it sounded. He caught the amused look on her face and rolled his eyes. “How did you find out?”

“Switched on the news channel one day and saw you fighting aliens.” Her fingers kept plucking absently at her dress and Steve’s eyes dipped to study her posture. It was stiff and awkward, and her right foot tapped restlessly against the floor. She was throwing off nervous energy in waves. “If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize you.” She met his eyes but didn’t hold them for long. “Felt a little stupid, to be honest.”

“Why?” Steve placed a steady hand over her fidgety one and watched her suck in a sharp breath. “Do I make you nervous?”

The corners of her mouth twitched up in assent. “A little.”

“Why?” he asked again, perplexed.

She didn’t respond immediately, choosing to direct her attention to their clasped hands instead, a faint smile playing over her lips. Steve looked down as well, marveling at the way her hand almost seemed to get lost in his large one. Her entire being was slight compared to his. He could wrap himself around her and engulf her whole. She looked like she would fit perfectly into him.

Her hand twisted in his grasp and their fingers entwined. She looked up, eyes bright and cheeks lightly flushed. Steve couldn’t have looked away from her if he tried.

“You’re Captain America, Steve,” she explained softly. “Most would say you’re way, way out of my league.”

“That’s crazy and they’re stupid,” Steve disputed immediately, feeling super offended at the mere idea of what she was implying. “We’re very much in each other’s leagues.” If the Captain ruined this for him, he swore to God he would give everything up and become a naked mountain hermit. “I’m still me. You know me,” he insisted.

“I really don’t,” Darcy replied.

“Enough to have kissed me that day before I left,” Steve continued undeterred. It earned him a startled laugh from her. Apparently, she hadn’t expected him to bring up the kiss anytime soon.

Well, tough luck. Steve hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since he had followed her out of the party.

“That was different,” Darcy argued, but she was smiling. “You’re really hot.”

“So are you,” Steve shot back, irritated. Couldn’t she see how breathtaking she was?

“But then I realized I made Captain America play a silly game—”

“It wasn’t a silly game.”

“And I feared you wouldn’t remember me—”

Steve wanted to laugh; she couldn’t be further from the truth. “Darcy,” her real name rolled off his tongue with surprising ease, effectively shutting her up. He turned on his feet to face her, squeezed her fingers, and murmured seriously, “I couldn’t forget you if I tried.”

His declaration was met with silence as a dizzying array of emotions flashed across Darcy’s face. She went from skeptical to hopeful to awed to something else entirely that Steve couldn’t quite decipher. Her expression softened and she looked at him in a way that now made him nervous.

“Okay?” he asked, just to make sure she understood.

“Okay,” she whispered, sounding giddy.

“Any other doubts?” His voice dropped as he stepped into her, unable to hold himself back anymore.

Darcy promptly stopped breathing and forgot to reply, her blue eyes trained intently on him, waiting.

Steve blew out a breath. She wanted this. She wanted him. The knowledge was enough to send his heart racing. Feeling rather bolstered by this realization, he brought his free hand up to cup her neck, gently tracing his thumb along her jaw and under her chin until her eyelids grew heavy and she tilted her face up to meet his. Absently, he wondered if she still tasted like monsoon and wild berries. He supposed he was going to find out in a second. Her lips parted, inches away from his, when—

The door leading to the party burst open, blasting a thunderous wave of unwanted noise into the corridor. An unassuming Jane stepped out and jumped when she saw them. “Oh, jeez!” she gasped, becoming flustered as soon as her eyes took in the sight before her. “Oh, crap! I interrupted a moment. Shit, I’m so sorry!”

Startled, Darcy wrenched her hand from Steve’s and he took a small step away from her, feeling heat rise up his cheeks. “Dr. Foster?” he prompted, sounding pained.

“No, no, consider me gone,” Jane said with a hasty step back. “I just wanted to check on Darcy. Sorry, please continue.” She scurried back the way she came, leaving behind an awkward silence.

There was a beat in which Steve glared resentfully at the spot where Jane had stood. Then, Darcy giggled, slapping a hand to her face in embarrassment. “Sorry.”

Steve turned back to her with a sigh and dropped his forehead to her shoulder, mentally cursing his luck. There was only one thing to do, he decided, as his mind weighed several options. Either they stayed where they were and likely be interrupted again, or he whisked Darcy away to a private setting and continued where they left off.

For obvious reasons, the latter sounded more appealing. But she was sliding her hand up his arm, over his shoulder and into the hair at the base of his neck, scratching lightly, and it felt so amazing, so utterly electrifying, that Steve just didn’t want to move.

“Darcy,” he breathed, suppressing a shiver of pleasure. “How long are you here for?”

“Just the weekend,” she replied. And while he wanted her to stay longer, two days were more than enough. For now.

With great effort, he pushed away from her and stated, “We shouldn’t stand here. Will you come to my place with me?”

She hesitated, but only for a second. “Yes.”

---

When Steve had moved into Stark Tower, he had assumed it’d only be for a short time. The location was convenient. S.H.I.E.L.D. offices were nearby, so were the other Avengers. Debriefing sessions lasted long and the paperwork they had to do was extremely thorough. By the end of the day, Steve was too tired to go anywhere else. The tower was being majorly revamped and renovated after the battle of New York, but Tony didn’t mind having a super soldier camped out on his couch, so Steve had decided to hang around until the shock of aliens had worn off and the city was well on its way to rebuilding.

Like him, Bruce too had moved in, setting up shop in one of Tony’s labs, and soon, Thor found his way back to Earth. It was comforting to be surrounded by people who knew what it felt like to be different.

Before he knew it, thoughts of going back to his old Brooklyn apartment bit the dust as Steve quickly became used to living in the tower. Tony, in his over-the-top generosity, presented him with an entire floor, to do with it as he pleased. And although his lavish new lifestyle filled with undeserved luxuries discomfited him in more ways than one, Steve appreciated the privacy his personal floor afforded him. No one but the Avengers, their Head of Security, and Pepper Potts had access to it.

Which is why the sight of an unfamiliar suitcase sitting suspiciously outside his door caught him unaware.

He glanced at Darcy, who was silently admiring the framed paintings hanging along the hallway, smiling every now and then when she recognized one. “Oh wow, that’s not a very good replica, is it?” She chuckled, pointing at fake Mona Lisa. “Look how wide her smirk is.”

Steve’s attention was on the suitcase. They came to a stop before it and he bent down to examine the shady item. He had never seen it before. It was brown in color, and looked and felt perfectly normal. Steve nudged it a bit, wondering if he should pick it up. He couldn’t hear anything ticking or rattling around inside.

Before he could take any drastic measures, like call security to vet the bag, Darcy let out a surprised exclamation.

“Hey, that’s mine!” She took the suitcase from his hands, staring at it in confusion. “How the hell did it get here?”

The moment she claimed it, Steve’s paranoia subsided and he knew whose foul handiwork this was. A thrill shot through him but he mostly felt embarrassed. “Tony,” he explained with a groan. “He knows about us and… well, he must have sent Happy to deliver it here.”

Darcy went red, the meaning behind Stark’s gesture not lost on her. Steve unlocked his door and waited for her to address it but all she said was, “Kind of an ass, isn’t he?” before following him inside—and really, the human heart shouldn’t be able to jump and flip like that. If it leaped any higher, it would lodge in his throat and choke him with anticipation.

“This is where you live?” Darcy whistled as they stepped into a large, sparsely furnished living room. Most of it was vacant but Steve preferred the sitting area anyway. It consisted of a plush leather couch flanked by two comfortable armchairs, a dark oak coffee table, a bookcase neatly stocked with paperbacks, a 52 inch television sitting on a multi-storage TV stand, and a number of nearly dead potted plants sitting on the window sill.

Steve dragged a hand along the back of his neck. “Yeah.” He caught her looking at the plants and explained unnecessarily, “I always forget to water them.”

Darcy chuckled. “I figured.”

“This way.” He felt a bit awkward leading her into his bedroom but there was only one bathroom and it was in there. He told her to use it if she wanted, but she beelined for the bed instead, dropping her suitcase to the floor and perching on the edge of his silk sheets to kick off her heels.

Her feet were pale, as if they hadn’t been getting any blood circulation. “Oh, God, that feels better,” she groaned, massaging them with both hands.

Steve watched her, trying not to feel out of place in his own home. He’d never had a woman in there before and Darcy seemed to fill the place in a way he hadn’t imagined possible. She was physically tiny but her presence all but surrounded and overpowered his, making it feel like they were in her house, not his. It was at once both humbling and arousing.

Unable to decide whether he should join her on the bed or pull up a chair, Steve busied himself unbuttoning his suit jacket and shrugging it off. “I searched for you,” he said the first thing that popped into his head and Darcy looked up, curious.

“Huh?” She let her feet go and they dangled inches above the floor, still very pale.

“I Googled you,” Steve clarified. “Some time after I came back.”

“You Googled me?” she repeated, arching a brow. “What did you find?”

He shot her a dry look. “Some scientific papers by a Dr. Jane Foster who lives in New Mexico and definitely isn’t you.”

The beginnings of an impish grin bloomed on Darcy’s face. “Oops,” she said unapologetically. “If only you’d known S.H.I.E.L.D. has a file on us… hmm, no, it wouldn’t have mattered as most of the stuff is probably redacted.”

Steve frowned as he rolled up his sleeves and slowly made his way to her. He hadn’t thought of scouring S.H.I.E.L.D.’s database. “You could have told me,” he tried not to sound like he was complaining. “Before I left, you could have told me the truth.”

Darcy looked down. “You didn’t leave me much choice, did you?” she said, making him wince. “Literally jumping outta my window in your haste to get away from me.”

“Yeah. About that…” Steve began.

Darcy shook her head. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. It’s fine.”

“It’s not,” he said quickly. “And I want to.” He swayed uncertainly on the balls of his feet before deciding to just screw it and take a seat beside her. “I was running away when I met you.”

“I know,” Darcy said with a soft smile.

Steve nodded. He hadn’t exactly tried to hide his pain from her. “My life felt like a never-ending nightmare that I was constantly struggling to wake up from. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t breathe, I built a wall around myself to keep everything out because it was too difficult to handle the grief that came with acknowledging what had happened to me.”

“Oh, Steve.” He didn’t have to look at her to hear the sadness in her voice.

“Being with you,” he continued quickly, afraid he would ruin the moment if he stretched this any longer, “even if it was for one night, put a nice big crack in that wall. It was welcome but it also wasn’t. I was confused and scared. So, I did what I thought was best. I made a run for it.”

“Why?”

“I guess,” he swallowed hard, “I guess I felt like I was betraying my old life and everyone in it whom I loved. Like it’d be selfish of me to try and be happy, you know?”

Darcy didn’t respond. Steve knew she didn’t—couldn’t—understand. She never would. Because she hadn’t lived the same life he had. But when he looked up to meet her eyes, he saw himself reflected in them, bright and clear. For a moment, he was all she saw and Steve treasured being the center of her attention. He had stopped trying to make sense of why she meant so much to him and what it was about her that attracted him like a moth to flame. It wasn’t just her beauty. It was something deeper, something inexplicable that had brought her to him again. Fate, maybe.

Steve didn’t believe in soul mates but he’d be willing to make an exception just this once.

“Alright, enough moping,” Darcy said abruptly, and Steve blinked to see her heaving her suitcase onto the bed. “I’ve something to show you.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Close your eyes,” she ordered.

He didn’t think to ask why and obediently closed his eyes. Darcy was rummaging for something in her bag and whatever she pulled out wasn’t anything hard or brittle. It wasn’t food because he couldn’t smell it. It wasn’t made with paper because the sound of it was different. It wasn’t a board game because he couldn’t hear rattling. If he had to guess, he’d say it was something soft… like a piece of clothing. The sound of it whispered through the air, easily captured by his enhanced hearing, and Steve’s heart sped up. Whatever it was, smelled like her. It had to be another dress. And by the sounds of it, she was changing. Right in front of him.

Oh, God. He squeezed his eyelids tighter and imagined a hundred different outfits with a hundred different colors that she’d want to show him.

“Alright,” came her voice at last. “You can look.”

Steve opened his eyes slowly, not wanting to appear too eager. The first thing he noticed was Darcy standing before him with her arms spread wide and a big smile on her face. The second thing he noticed were bare legs. The third thing… well, shit.

“Ta-da!” Darcy exclaimed, proudly showing off a familiar flannel shirt, faded with wear. “I kept it.”

It was the same shirt Steve had left in her possession a year and a half ago, the same shirt she wore in his dreams, always managing to pull a rather visceral reaction out of him whenever he thought of her in it. The same shirt he had expected never to see again. Yet there it was, wrapped around her like a blanket, practically drowning her in its depths.

“This doesn’t mean you can have it back,” Darcy said when he failed to react. His brain had pretty much short circuited the moment he had opened his eyes and laid them on her. “It’s mine now.”

“Is that right?” Steve murmured, sweeping his eyes over her body. The shirt looked well-worn. A couple of buttons over her belly were missing and the fabric was unraveling at the seams.

Something inside him jumped at the sight. Heat sparked in his gut, shooting up his spine like electricity, and Steve acted on impulse. He grabbed a fistful of her shirt and gave it a strong tug. Darcy gasped as she stumbled forward into him, her hands flying to his shoulders for support. She ended up between his knees, head bent over his, and there was no interruption this time as Steve sunk his fingers into her hair and surged up to claim her mouth.

It was a bold move, one that hadn’t afforded her any time to think, but Steve didn’t have to worry about that at all. Darcy responded straight away, parting her lips and sighing into the kiss like she had been waiting for him to do it forever. Her hands climbed up his shoulders to cradle his jaw and she leaned further into him, tipping his head back and stealing his breath away.

It was unlike any kiss he’d ever had. Soft yet intense, innocent yet hot, brief yet infinite. Steve felt like he was losing control with every press of her lips and yet he couldn’t help giving into that feeling. It was amazing and all-encompassing and it made his blood sing. He tightened his grip on her shirt and drew her further in, dragging a breathy moan from the back of her throat. The sound went straight to his core and rippled out into a full-body shudder.

“Wow,” Darcy panted when they broke apart moments later. “I’m sure glad I let Jane talk me into coming here tonight.”

Steve grudgingly relinquished his hold on her and combed his fingers through his hair, smiling fondly. “So am I.” He eyed his—her—shirt and nodded to it. “You look beautiful in it.”

She laughed and hugged it to her body. “No, I don’t. You just like me in your clothes.”

He couldn’t argue with that. She did look beautiful though, even if she didn’t believe it.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her, because if he didn’t change the subject, he’d end up pulling her to him again. “We didn’t stay for dinner, did we?”

“We could go back,” Darcy suggested. “I can put my dress on real quick.”

Steve didn’t like that idea at all. Nobody was putting on any dresses. It was counter-productive to his plans. Not that his plans involved anything untoward. Just a lot of admiring. And kissing, if she allowed.

“I have food here,” he told her, and Darcy grinned knowingly.

“Okay.” She looked around his room as if seeing it for the first time. “Can we eat in here?”

Steve nodded. “Wherever you want. But first,” He patted the spot beside him and waited for her to sit down. “I want to show you something.”

“What is it?” She watched curiously as he bent down and pulled a box of Monopoly from under the bed. “Oh no, Steve. I hate Monopoly.”

“Look inside.” He opened the box to reveal her favorite game.

Darcy gasped. It was an exact replica of Royal Rescue done in water colors. Steve hadn’t planned on showing it to her. But he wanted her to know he didn’t think of it as a silly game. It had saved him from a nightmare once after all.

“Where did you get this?” Darcy asked, staring down at the game board in surprise.

“I made it,” Steve told her shyly. “Natasha played it once and is now obsessed with it. We often stage rescue missions for the perpetually kidnapped princess.” He paused and watched her for her reaction. “Do you like it?”

“You painted this?” Darcy asked with mingled awe and confusion. “Why?”

Steve shrugged. “I couldn’t find it in the stores or online and it led me to assume it must be a family game.”

She nodded. “It is. My gran made it.” She plucked a playing piece from the box and examined it. “You remember the green thing we played on last time? It caught on something sharp and ripped right down the middle.”

“Oh.” Good thing he had painted a new game board. Now he knew what to give her when she left for New Mexico.

“Where did you get these playing pieces?”

“Oh, I nicked them from several different games in Clint’s stash,” Steve replied, eyes twinkling with mischief. “He hasn’t figured it out yet.”

A slow smile spread across Darcy’s face till she was literally beaming with joy. “I can’t believe you did this,” she gushed, sliding the Monopoly box to the side and wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

“I can’t believe you kept my shirt,” Steve retorted, happily hugging her back.

“It’s my shirt.”

“Right.”

She pulled away to smolder at him. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

Steve cleared his throat. “And I’m going to allow that, but only ‘cause you asked ni—”

Darcy laughed and tackled him down on the bed, pressing her lips to his in a sound kiss.

Maybe it was just as well that Steve was reborn in the 21st century. It wasn’t as bad as he had feared it’d be.

The  End

[kyotakumrau]

MIND-V vol.13 sukekiyo interview

to infinity

sukekiyo = a super talented group led by Kyo from DIR EN GREY will release a new audio and video collection ‘INFINITUM’.

As at the time of the interview for our magazine they were just finishing the work on the new material, we would like to deliver you the words of the 5 members who will tell you about the real image of the band at the moment as we will touch upon the outline of new work.

We would like to let you feel through this interview the atmosphere perfectly overflowing with the creativity of sukekiyo - that functions purely as a band, not as a unit or a project.

original text: Yousuke Hayakawa

photos: Takao Ogata

hair and make up: Jun Yamaguchi (EKYQ)

translation: kyotaku

(if you notice any mistakes, typos and so on please let me know 😅)

I wonder if it will become an album that doesn’t get old, place where you want to find yourself again when requiring stimuli.

－ Having in mind that at present your new audio and video collection 'INFINITUM’ is in the production stage (*interview took place mid March), I’d like to discuss the latest band image. In an earlier interview you have said that 'in case of sukekiyo, we start from breaking first’, how about this time?

Kyo: This time as well there were songs like that. For example the case of 'アナタヨリウエ -anata yori ue-’, we were doing a cover of 'Gerbera’ for MUCC’s tribute album, we have removed MUCC’s component and remade the song in our own colour at the time. I don’t think you will get that from listening, but originally the start was there.

－ It’s a song that shows sukekiyo’s peculiarity!

YUCHI: But it’s not like we’re flipping tables in anger (laughing), I think that’s the idea as well, that this band can try and rewrite the structure of the song to such extend.

－ sukekiyo members need to have really great adapting skills. You have to feel fine even when being driven into a sadistic situation.

Takumi: Yeah, it’s all very sadistic (laughing).

Kyo: Everyone in sukekiyo is pretty flexible so it’s not like everything has to be done certain way. That’s why I think the experimentation is greater this time, having songs like '沙羅螺 -sharara-’ from when we just formed and we didn’t question any ideas (everything was okay).

Takumi: 'kisses’ is a song that we were coerced to start playing live and it was also coercibly completed (laughing).

YUCHI: It was a song that we didn’t even touch during the rehearsal, but we played it on the first day, right?

Kyo: While we were on the move [to the venue] I was listening to our songs and the demo version came on, and I ended up coercing them 'this song is good. Can’t we do it?’

－ As I thought, [in sukekiyo] you have to be tough to survive (laughing).

Kyo: It was the first time I wrote the song composition down and sang while looking at it during the performance. When the intro started 'oh, A melody here’ and so on.

Mika: At the rehearsal just before the concert I made very simple notes [about tempo] like '4’ or '8’.

utA: Aah, yeah I saw that! Things like that tend to stop later during the tour, but many interesting ideas come like that.

Takumi: A way too 'early’ premiere (laughing).

－ How would you describe your new work?

Kyo: I’m hoping it will become an album that doesn’t get old. That there’s nothing quite like that… something that’s hard to classify as one genre, something that doesn’t get old, something you can’t plan to create. Something where you want to find yourself again when requiring stimuli.

－ When you create high quality music or concerts it wouldn’t be surprising if there were some disagreements during the creative process, but in case of sukekiyo I don’t think there is a negative tense feeling.

Kyo: Even when when something totally different comes up the reaction is 'I see, there’s a view like this as well’… everyone is mature so while taking in the good parts we try 'why not inserting this too?’, there is no fighting.

YUCHI: That’s why there’s no strange reservation. Enjoying our own version like 'it’s okay, let’s do it’ we’re able to create daring arrangements. We’re always sharing the stimulus/excitement.

Mika: Yeah. When first submitting songs there’s always element of surprise, and when we make arrangements it’s like mysterious cosmos/space…

－ Cosmos!

Mika: Yup (laughing). When we are exchanging data files, sounds and their sections start to appear during brushing up work. I’d think 'woah… it has an incredible space/vibe’.

Kyo: It has, hasn’t it.

YUCHI: It will just suddenly appear.

Mika: It turns out very cool, makes you like it.

Kyo: Even now there are many times when I get surprised 'woah something like that came out?!’. It’s… it’s like when playing shogi (Japanese chess) - 'where should I move next?’

Mika: It’s like deciding the next move. But instead going sideways (laughing).

Takumi: Like 'woah, going there!?’

Kyo: And like 'huh, so going there is the only option’ (laughing).

utA: That is exactly what it is like.

－ Quite a thrilling offence and defense (laughing).

Kyo: True. And recently subtracting is quite hard.

Mika: Basically, we just want to add more instead.

Kyo: Suddenly I’d notice that there are too many sounds and I’d try to listen objectively like 'this shout is unnecessary’; the last work to remove [sound/parts] is unexpectedly tough.

－ It is unheard of that you would run out of ideas. Kyo, do you feel the weight of responsibility coming from the position of the leader?

Kyo: Nope, I don’t think I’m the leader. I’m leaving that role to Takumi (laughing).

Takumi: (laughing) but I only [take charge] of the production details.

Kyo: I just expand my antenna (to collect info/data), absorb various things and present it to everyone, I want the world to know more about each good part… I have more of a promotional role.

－ A promotional role! But at the same time there’s also a position of the producer.

Kyo: A producer… maybe a half-baked producer.

Everyone: Hahahaha!

Kyo: I just make suggestions through images like 'could we veil in more emotion here?’.

Takumi: I find it helpful that we get words like those as a hint on a regular basis. Then, upon members digesting it, we can bring good side from Kyo and have sukekiyo do something new. Also, I think that the points we were strangely self-conscious about at the time of band’s formation are gone. Kyo had an image built until that point, trying to do something different… we were conscious about various things like that, but Kyo said 'people involved [in either band] are different’, and one thing that has changed is the point when I thought it’s fine not to think too much about things like that.

Kyo: About since we’ve released ADORATIO everyone stopped being concerned about various things. I kept saying on various occasions that 'sukekiyo is a band’. So it can be said that finally in all aspects it became true, that every member is even. I think fans and people who come to our concerts understand this.

－ That is true.

YUCHI: It feels like the band is becoming better and better, including the atmosphere.

utA: Talking about the point of being even, at the very beginning of the band I was submitting various types of songs, but now I only bring songs from my field of expertise. It’s not that I hate pop style songs, we do have the style of songs from YUCHI or Takumi. But thanks to that I don’t have to do it, and from now on as well I’d like to continue creating mysterious dark songs for the rest of my life. Deep inside I’m a really really dark person (laughing).

Mika: (laughing) It’s true that we have freedom to have any ideas for songs and videos, we can solely pursue what we are enthusiastic about… thanks to that we can roll in an incredibly good direction.

－ That enthusiastic mindset to pursue things is also a must.

Mika: But there’s something warm there when doing so instead of desperation. It’s not like there are restrictions or we have to do it no matter what… but we do have to make it by the deadlines (laughing).

YUCHI: It doesn’t feel like a strange obligation.

Mika: It doesn’t. There’s still this soft feeling that was there when we just started the band. It’s soft but super intense.

Kyo: That 'soft’ part as well, everyone (other people) probably cut it down. If you do that a band would become too inflexible, it wouldn’t be fun, the relations between band member would be stiff/cold, but we want to avoid that.

－ That means you can expand the possibilities of the band.

Kyo: With that feeling, I think that sukekiyo’s ideal shape from the start of the band is continuing until present. Even as the band keeps changing that’s okay as long as everyone is enjoying themselves.

－ As we talked before, it’s about the shape a band should naturally have.

Kyo: Yes. Isn’t it usually impossible for everyone to just freely pursue what they like? I think my most important job is to have everyone focus on that part, and to introduce it to various people. I’m thinking every day about what to do to be able to tell more people about it.

－ That doesn’t sound like you would be a 'band that everyone would go for’.

Kyo: Yeah. I often hear that [as a band] we’re hard to approach, but it’s not like that. There’s just one thing - it’s best to come to our concerts wearing black clothes.

Everyone: Hahahaha!

Kyo: In the venue it will be quiet. So if anything I think it is easy for people who come for the first time. You just have to stand and keep looking at the stage, there are no special moves during songs and so on, so I think it is easy. There are no things like special timing to raise hands or sing together. There might be many deterrents like feeling alienated or that it’s hard to go as there are many regular fans (fans who go to all concerts). With sukekiyo it’s absolutely okay to ignore that. Just for the hall performances, please watch the concert staying seated.

－ It’s a conversation that awakens us to the truth…! There will be sukekiyo TOUR2019 FORTY where you can experience the performance, but I have to say that the simplicity of the tour title is unexpected and mysterious.

Kyo: That’s the number of added band members birthdays. At the moment we’re working on the album jacket, it also has a geometric pattern created by combined figures of the band members birthdays and so on. It came from wanting to include more of the band members potential. I would like you to look forward to the final release, including this part.

[optimusphillip]

OptimusPhillip Reviews 28: Transformers Generations Rewind (Titans Return)

Happy Pride Month to all my LGBTQ+ followers. While I myself am cishet, I firmly support the rights of people to love whoever they want or to identify however they feel most comfortable. And in honor of Pride Month, I have decided to do something of a double feature this weekend to cover my favorite gay couple in Transformers. Today, I will be reviewing Titans Return Rewind, and tomorrow it will be Titans Return Chromedome.

Tank Mode

Starting with the mode that appears on the front of the package, Rewind transforms into what I can only describe as a super space tank. And as far as Titans Return versions of the G1 cassettes go, he comes out as a pretty solid little tank. The main body is cast in black, as one would expect from a Rewind, with the turret molded in gray to set it apart. The treads are fully molded on both the sides and the bottom, and they even molded a slight taper into the front of the tank, to give the illusion that it could get over terrain, though this effect is kind of ruined by the ridge across the bottom. Also, the front end itself is hollowed out for transformation, which is understandable, but at the same time I feel like it could’ve been done better.

In terms of deco, the wheels in the treads are picked out in a nice bright silver, which also appears on the corners of the tank’s “hood”. There’s also a red paint app picking out what I assume is the tank’s hatch, and the same red appears on the rear side panels, rounding out the visible paint apps on this mode. It’s not a lot of paint, but with how small the figure is and how well the colors play together, I think it works.

In terms of function, the tank mode is rather limited. He rolls around on three small wheels, and the main cannon can pivot up and down, but the turret itself can’t rotate due to how the figure converts. Again, however, I can forgive some shortcomings due to the small size. And of course, being a Titans Return figure means he can interact with Titan Masters. He has two pairs of pegs on his turret, so you can mount at least two Titan Masters, and up to four if you stand them just right. It’s a nice feature, though plastic tolerances may prevent some figures from mounting securely. In my case, Firedrive has no friction holding him in place, so he’s only really held on by gravity.

Overall, for a Legends Class toy, the tank mode is pretty decent. Nothing to write home about, but it's fairly robust and it looks alright. That said, I don’t see this as the figure’s main mode, so let’s move on.

Spy Tablet Mode

Removing the main cannon, rotating the turret halves to the side and then unfolding them gives what I consider this toy’s main alternate mode, the spy tablet. While less than half the size of a typical smartphone, he manages to look the part surprisingly well. The tank mode hatch now becomes the home button, and there’s an additional red paint app on the top, but most of the detail comes from the tablet screen itself. The wallpaper is obviously based on his G1 microcassette mode, but with a bit more techy detail and of course some phone icons overlaid. Across the top, he has four bars of cell service and Wi-Fi connectivity, 50-75% battery power remaining, and a running microphone. And across the bottom, he has a text editor, file manager, instant messenger, and e-mail app installed. Also, strangely enough, he has three Autobot symbols: one on top of the tablet, and two on the screen itself.

While the detailing on the screen is nice, it’s all done as sticker detailing, which does come with its fair share of problems. In addition to the problem of lifting off the plastic, the stickers may not be cut and aligned correctly. In my case, the right-hand tape reel is not a perfect circle, and the tape window is a little wider. This also means that the bottom of the cassette doesn’t line up. Also, the printing on the stickers may fade overtime with wear and tear. So while I’m glad that there’s so much detail going on, the stickers could’ve been a lot better. 

It’s still a nice mode overall, however. There’s storage for his main cannon on the side, where you’ll also find a molded power button. You can even pretend that the gun is a stylus, though I doubt this is intentional. But my favorite feature in this mode is that, on the bottom left-hand side, there is a 3.5 mm hole which can accept an aux audio cable. So you can plug in a set of headphones and roleplay this as a real smart device, though it doesn’t connect as securely as the real thing. Mileage may vary on that front, however.

And of course, the big feature of this figure is that it can store in the chest of the Leader Class Blaster/Soundwave mold... which I do not own, so I cannot comment on the effectiveness of this feature. If I ever do obtain that figure, however, I will do a review of it where I follow up on this.

Conversion

Remember to remove the gun from the side of the tablet before turning into robot or tank modes! Otherwise you will bend or even break the barrel. With that little PSA out of the way, going to robot mode is more complex than going from tank to tablet, but that isn’t saying much. Simply unpeg the side panels and fold them back up like in tank mode. This will be very difficult out of the box, and comes with a real risk of breakage. This can be mitigated by filing down the corners, however. Next, split the front of the tank and unfold it to become the legs. Flip the rear wheels up to form the feet, then split the top of the tablet to form the shoulders. Rotate the biceps, then open the chest and flip out the head to complete the robot mode.

Robot Mode

Rewind’s robot mode is definitely based on his IDW appearance, with the red paint apps on his shoulders, and of course the head sculpt, complete with visor and camera unit. Some sacrifices are made for the sake of his alternate modes, but it’s very clear where the inspiration came from.

Very few new details are exposed here. The only new paint apps are the tampographs on his chest to give him his gold pecs as well as the Autobot symbol. Aside from the head sculpt, most of the new detail comes from the arms, which are actually molded somewhat asymmetrically. While his right arm looks normal, his left arm is hollowed out and has an additional piston molded in. While not a bad look once you get used to it, it’s definitely a bit weird, and seems to be purely due to plastic content restrictions, which is a bit unfortunate.

Articulation-wise, Rewind has full neck rotation, ball-jointed shoulders, bicep swivels and 90 degree elbows. No waist joint, but he does have ball-jointed hips and knees which give him a nice range of motion. Overall, the figure is very posable, though the bulky arms can clash in some poses.

For weapons, Rewind gets the main cannon from tank mode as his rifle. It has a standard 5mm handle, so he can hold it in either hand, or swap it for any other standard weapon, presumably even his G1 weapons. He also has a port on the side of his right arm. While this seems to just be an artifact of how he stores it in tablet mode, this does allow him to mount his rifle on his forearm, much like the G1 toy did. You can also partially unfold the arm and thread the gun through the same slot it stored in earlier, giving him something of an underslung cannon. Personally, however, I prefer the side mounted style.

Rewind stands about waist-high with Titans Return Deluxe Autobot cars. This does put him in comic accurate scale, which means that he will look nice alongside your other IDW figures, including, of course, Chromedome.

Final Thoughts

Titans Return Rewind is an alright figure. Nothing stellar, but very decent overall. His tank mode is surprisingly effective, his spy tablet mode is a lot of fun to just play around with, and weird arms aside, his robot mode looks and poses really well, If you can find him for around his original retail price of around US$10, I’d say you should pick him up, especially if you’re a fan of his IDW portrayal, and can also get your hands on the subject of tomorrow’s review.

[siorca]

for @madamoisellegush, who gave me the prompt: Blackarachnia/Slipstream and my take on Soulmate/Nemesis markings.

I got a little carried away with this, because this was meant to be super short, but I actually had a ton of fun writing it, especially with writing Slipstream and trying to incorporate a way to play with a concept that I don’t normally like.

Slipstream scratched at the name marking her plating, only succeeding in chipping the paint around the word. Blackarachnia still looked as elegant as ever, written in a pretty cursive that seemed to flow together effortlessly. She scowled, rubbing at her arm, the plating still smooth to the touch, slightly sticky where Blackarachnia was scrawled.

The name itself - and she concluded that it must have been a name because it didn't sound like the type of word spoken in casual conversation - sounded familiar, something that scratched at the back of her processor that she couldn't quite place. Maybe Starscream had mentioned it in passing in one of his rantings. Even if he were still alive, Slipstream would loath to ask him about it, partly because she hated him, but mostly because she’d rather seek out the information on her own. She was stubborn like that; unwilling to ask others for help even if it would aid her.

The name was a more recent phenomena, too, only appearing within the last week, which made it easier to hide from what remained of her brothers. Not that she really cared about what they would say about it. They were all a pack of idiots in her optics, anyway, and if it weren't for the begrudging feelings of kinship she felt with them, she would have abandoned them swiftly the first opportunity she got.

However, her secret was safe until just moments before, when Skywarp managed to spot the markings, swallowing his nerves enough to ask her about it. Skywarp was her favorite, only because he was easily cowered to stay out of her way. It was this fact that saved him from losing an optic. But if there was one thing that they all shared in common, it was an insatiable curiosity, and Skywarp was perhaps the worst case.

In the ensuing confrontation, Skywarp trilled something about a “destined person,” to which

Slipstream had snorted, waving him away. She didn't need fanciful, romantic notions about people she didn't even know. And she certainly didn't need her cowardly brother crowing at her about it.

She rubbed at the plating again. She knew Skywarp wouldn't tell Thundercracker nor Sunstorm about it, only because he was terrified of both of them and tended to try and avoid them. Not that she particularly cared either way, she just didn't want to deal with more nosy brothers.

It did leave her curious because she knew that none of them had one on their own arms. She did remember a name being scrawled across Starscream’s arm, but she only ever caught short glimpses of it, never enough time to really decipher what it said.

At this point, her frustration was beginning to eat away at her. She hated mysteries. She hated not knowing something. Her wings twitched erratically, catching onto the subtle breeze where she stood out in the open. Perhaps a long flight will help burn off some of the excess energy she was building up.

--

One of the more frustrating things about living as a rogue was the lack of a proper database. Slipstream barely held enough resources to keep her and her brothers safe, yet alone the ability to maintain a supercomputer. The abandoned ship they've huddled into was corroded enough already, bits of it falling off almost every day. There was no thought put into piecing together the old teletran outside of the basics - making sure it could still work the lights and the energon dispenser for one. The practical part of Slipstream was perfectly fine with that. But her current situation left her lacking in rationale. She couldn't help but bemoan the lack of actual information.

Flying helped keep her mind steady, if only for a short while. She attempted to keep herself blank, only focusing on the changing air pressure and the feel of gathering raindrops on her wingtips. It worked, up until a blip on her radar had her sensors on high alert.

She descended a fraction from her high altitude, ever careful of an Autobot ambush. It was remote enough where she was that it was unlikely for her to run into one, but she didn't want to test that theory. She circled around the trigger, gauging that it was an abandoned outpost of some kind - Cybertronian by the looks of it. One more fly-by of the vicinity only provided that no life signs were detected.

As she descended further, she picked up on the fact that the place looked well maintained, at least for an object that was meant to be abandoned. It unsettled her, but she was driven on by an idea. This place was bound to have a decent database, hopefully one that was equally as well kept as the outside of the base. Her answers may lay right behind the heavy door.

She transformed, her blasters held out in front of her while she surveyed the grounds. When nothing out of the ordinary happened, she relaxed minutely, strutting up to the door with her usual confidence. It was pried open easy enough and she walked into the darkness.

--

The lights overhead were automatic, turning on only as she walked under them. It made for a very perilous runway; only knowing what was immediately in front of her. She walked slowly, her audios tuned to pick up every little sound. It was deceptively quiet, only the clicking of her thrusters haunting the hallways, only heightening her growing feelings of unease.

The facility was large, with twisting hallways that led to nowhere. A dead end here, a looping corner there. She grew impatient after the first twenty minutes, small growling noises of frustration escaping her vocalizer.

Huffing, she turned another corner, miraculously coming across a deep set of stairs that traveled far below the base. The space was narrow, barely big enough to contain her wings. Cringing, she pressed on.

It was a long trip down. She felt claustrophobic, every little scrape against her wings made her grit her dentae. Her peripheral sensors were receiving interference, too, only worsening the further down she went, making it twice as difficult to navigate. She fought the urge to panic, even as the stairway gave way to a brightly lit room, glossy with freshly polished gunmetal walls.

The room around her was some sort of command center, large with several monitors dotting the walls. Each one was fuzzy with distortion, creating an otherworldly effect. Her wings stretched imperceptibly as she walked the circumference. Each one was in perfect working order, simply not tuned to any sort of frequency. She looked at each one curiously, her optics sweeping over each one. The fuzz made her optics cross.

Finally, she came upon what she was searching for. At the center of the room was a large teletran, the screen a deep black, but the keyboard lit in a bright orange. It looked in pristine condition, clean and shiny, with only a few small chips marring the screen to show its age. Her audios picked up on a pleasant, inviting him coming from it.

Slipstream smirked. In a few quick strides, she was in front of the monitor, her talons skimming delicately over the keys. The blackness faded into a bright blue that washed over Slipstream in one large wave. She loaded up the archive. “This had better be worth it.”

--

There were many things that Slipstream could be researching right now. Ways to build a more efficient base, more economical ways to synthesize energon, or even a few blueprints for a choice superweapon. Yet, here she was, buried under research on a “destined person” - just like Skywarp had told her. It wounded her pride that he would know about something like this before her, but then again, the absurdity of its existence only showed how gullible he was. He had probably only known about it through one of his stupid romance novels. Or at least that's what she told herself.

She shuffled through another academic paper, scowling that science would even be involved this situation. She took what information she could from the article, between the heavy bits of jargon and occasional self-flattery from the author, and compressed it into a few short sentences to add to a file she had compiled on what she had learned.

So far, she knew that having a name was a rarity in and of itself. On the flip side, people could go their entire lives without a name, only to wake up in the throes of old age to one scrawled across their plating. Destiny was fickle that way: choosey, finicky, but most of all, random. Attempts to understand it were often met with resistance. There were plenty of theories pushed forward, but Slipstream wasn't interested in any of them. What she was interested in was the fact that the person written there was usually someone who was to play an important role at some point in their lives, usually as lover, but just as commonly as an adversary, an inconvenience, or even as a benefactor. It was impossible to predict what a meeting between two names would be like until it actually happened.

She snorted, scratching at her plating again. What absolute nonsense.

Her peaceful research was cut short however, when she found herself wrapped in a sticky substance, causing her to fall to the floor. She shrieked, her wrists and upper arms bound tightly to her chassis, while her legs were completely wrapped in white. Struggling with it only seemed to make the material tighten, which only encouraged her to shout expletives at her assailant.

“How dare you?! Get this slag off of me!”

“Hush.” Slipstream watched as a figure appeared from the minimal shadows, taking in the shape of an oddly organic looking femme. One with many eyes and sharp looking legs on her back. Slipstream shuddered. “This is my lab.” She held a blaster in her hands, pointing it squarely between Slipstream’s optics. “What are you doing here?”

“None of your business,” Slipstream said, petulantly. She flexed her talons in their prison, trying in vain to cut at the silk. She growled.

The figure smirked, walking closer to the console. This close, Slipstream could tell that she held a significant size advantage over her, but in her current state, she had no chance of overwhelming her. She had no choice but to wait this out.

“Destined person, hmm?” The femme turned to her, hand on her hips and a teasing smirk on her lips. She laid the blast on the keyboard, creating a line of keysmash through Slipstream’s document. She scrutinized Slipstream’s prone form, long and hard, almost as if analyzing her, until a spark of recognition lit up her optics. “You're one of Starscream’s clones aren't you?”

Slipstream scowled. “I'd rather not be associated with that buffoon, but yes, I am.”

She laughed. It was a small one, more of a snicker than a proper sign of amusement, ending with a sort of hissing noise. It showed off the fangs lurking in the recesses of her mouth, making Slipstream squirm uncomfortably. “You and me both.”

Slipstream raised an optic ridge at her, but the femme didn't elaborate. Rather she decided to glance through the intact part of Slipsteam’s notes, a predatory smile forming on her face. She circled her then, her figure low and intimidating. “Now why is someone like you in here, researching this of all things.”

“Wouldn't you like to know,” Slipstream said, cheekily.

“Why yes I would.” The femme grinned dangerously.She bent over Slipstream, twisting her forearm until Blackarachnia was visible. The talons gripping her were sharp, far sharper than what Slipstream was packing and Slipstream couldn't help a small sound of warning slip from her lips.

The femme’s eyes widened in surprise, before her face blossomed into a wide grin, all sharp teeth, right beside Slipstream’s face. “Why you lucky girl.” She turned her own wrist over, displaying a matching Slipstream in messy scrawl.

“You're Blackarachnia?!” Slipstream blanched.

Blackarachnia nodded. “Now, that just leaves the question: are you friend or foe?” She tilted her head, her wide grin growing more mischievous. “Or possibly something more?”

Slipstream shuttered her optics at Blackarachnia. She couldn't really tell her, didn't know much about her to really gauge an opinion. She swiped her optics over her frame and couldn't help but notice Blackarachnia preen at the subtle movement.

Slipstream smirked. “Untie me and we’ll find out.”

[danganronpadespairmadness]

The corner of the cluttered room, lying against the chipping walls, was a familiar looking robot. Although similar in design to the robotic bear that had terrorized the class for months, there was small differences. The bear’s stomach had been opened up, and inside loose wires sparked around a small device similar in nature to a tape recorder. On it read “Audio” with a small heart drawn in.

There was a button with a small triangle into indicate play, and when hit, the familiar voice of class 65 flooded through the small room. It almost sounded like the classmates were alive and laughing together in person, if not for the harsh beeping to indicate one track switching to the next. There wasn’t a single  time that the 16 students were able to just sit and enjoy one other’s company, but the small recording gave a glimpse to a time before the hotel life of mutual killing

NEW TRUTH BULLET: AUDIO FILES

Inside of a monokuma are audio files of the 16 classmates talking and “recording.” At the end is an unknown voice

 [Transcript under the cut]

Orochi as monokuma: Hello Students! Welcome to your official school life! I’m here to be helping you with your everyday activities, enriching your academic life and sucking a big fat di- wha—Kyoji!

Haruki: Wow. Stick to the script Orochi. No add-libbing.

Orochi: I-It was written right here! I swear!

Kyoji: It wasn’t my idea… Entirely. Noriko came up with it!

Orochi: Well now I have to start my lines all over again.

Ryu: Oh please, you know they didn’t prepare any real lines.

Kyoji: How would you know?

Akira: He saw me vandalize it.

Ryu: Yeah

Orochi: What?

Akira: You could say we collab-ed on the hilarious content.

Addy: So all the dick jokes?

Akira: Exactly the dick jokes

Haruki: More emotion this time. We want to know HOW you sucked the di--

Orochi: S-Stop it!

Noriko: So should I stop recording this?

Ryu: Well I mean I guess, we didn’t get anything done. We’ll do take two tomorrow.

Addy: Well I think we should keep the recording anyway!

Orochi: But we aren’t using it, right?

Haruki: Uhhhhhh yeah. Sure. Of course not.

---

Ezra: Oh shit!

Hyun: Oh no! We weren’t recording. I’m so sorry Rinko!

Rinko: It’s okay! We’ll pretend that was my practice reel.

Ezra: Are you sure you’re fine with doing it again? One of us could take the wheel from here

Rinko: Oh no, I’m sure I can do it.  

Hyun: You have been working on it for a while, it’s important to take rests and not strain yourself.

Rinko: It’s okay, I’m a movie star! Besides, I’m having fun!

---

Addy: Hi! My name’s Monokuma and welcome to jackass.

Hoshiko: Mon dieu, that reference is so outdated, mon amour.

Addy: Oh, really? I thought it was good.

Hoshiko: I guess it was pretty funny.

Addy: Hey, Hoshiko, what does Mon Dieu mean?

Hoshiko: Oh it means like My god, like a surprised expression. Like “Omg!”

Addy: Huh! That’s pretty neat! So if mon is “my” well what does amour mean?

Hoshiko: Uhm…

Addy: Like.. I’m sure I’ve heard it used before but I wanted to ask you...

Hoshiko: Well uh-

Addy: Hey doesn’t the red light mean it’s recording

---

Kyoji: Oh come on, say it

Katsumi: Hell no, it sounds cheesy.

Shujin: Someone’s gotta read the script, and I’m ill fit to.

Katsumi: Wasn’t this Orochi’s job? Get him back on that.

Rinko: He’s been reading the rest of them, It’s someone else’s turn.

Hyun: We had to give him at least a small break.

Takehiko: I can try my hand at it.

Katsumi: Oh yeah, go for i

Takehiko: You… seem in need.. Of help!

Shujin: That doesn’t sound natural. Try not relying so much on reading as you speak.

Kyoji: Well he has to read. I mean I didn’t write the script for him to not read it.

Akemi: You know what he meant.

Takehiko: You seem in need of help! Would you like me to assist you?

Katsumi: That’s great!

Hyun: I’m so proud of all of us!

Kyoji: We’re coming along so nicely with this.

---

Akemi: It’s a great idea having other languages here. So we can all give commands to Monokuma…  Even though we all speak a common language.

Hoshiko: Well it’s fun to make

Akemi: That’s the point.

Hoshiko: Hold on it’s still recording, Portatemi un-

Sound of door slamming open

Ryu in background: Life is shit! I hate everything

Akemi: We’re recording!

Hoshiko: Portatemi un po-

Ryu: Portatemi un your asses to come and sit because I have to complain.

---

Akira in a whisper: Okay three… two… one…

Akira: Hi! I’m Monokuma! You’re lovable voreable friend.

Ezra: Oh my god

Akira whispered: Okay now you go.

Ezra: Uh… Uh Hi? Is this thing on? (taps mic) Okay uhm “I’m a funky disco bear and I don’t need no man”

Ryu from far away: What the fuck are you guys doing?

Haruki entered with Ryu: I heard vore.

Ezra: We were just…

Ryu: No what the fuck i’m playing it back.

[repeat akira and ezra’s lines]

Ryu: Unbe-fucking-lievable.

Haruki: I mean, honestly, I’m impressed.

Ezra: I’m so incredibly sorry Ryu, we’ll just leave

Ryu: No this is some god damn comedy gold. I’m totally putting this in there.

--

Ryu: No come on, anywhere in the world.

Haruki: Well… God, I don’t know… Maybe… the ocean I guess. I--know it’s ridiculous.

Ryu: No, it’s definitely not ridiculous, but why the ocean?

Haruki: Well… My sister and I were going to go when I was younger. But I had an accident, and ever since then I’ve never got the chance. It’s… harder now, I guess. But I… still want to go. Experience it… How about you? Where would you go?

Ryu: I’m not even sure where I’d go. I’ve never really travelled at all because i used to be… not rich. I’ll say the ocean too.

Haruki: Haha so Why would you want to go to the ocean?

Ryu: Well… Then we can go together.

Haruki: Mm… I’d like that.

Haruki: Wait-- Oh shit! Ryu, is that recording again?

Ryu: Uh… maybe, I don’t know.

Haruki: God, I’m turning it off-

---

Orochi: Okay final recording, We only have three lines left.  I would like to thank all of you for your help. Rinko and I had to do most of it because you all goofed off with the lines. So thank you so much Rinko!

Haruki: You mispronounced “Improved the lines”.

Shujin: No, we were all almost entirely goofing off.

Ryu: Says you.

Orochi: Says me too. We needed to get this done a while ago, and in order to do that we needed everyone’s help. And I mean we were all bound to have fun with it.

Shujin: Yeah, we all definitely had our fun, but this is something that needs to be finished. I mean, we’ve been working on it for a while and it’d be great to see it finally completed, can have more fun afterwards.

Artemis: He’s right.

Ryu: Well then we didn’t need to make it super complicated. Couldn’t we have just made it the most fucking basic shit I mean, if you’re going to be the fun police about it. This isn’t an entirely serious project in case you didn’t pick up on that.

Haruki: They aren’t trying to be hostile, Ryu.

Ryu: … Right… i know

Hyun: Three lines isn’t a big deal! We can get it done in no time.

---

???: Take care of them monokuma

...---...

[hextual]

Podcast Recs

The following recs/summaries may contain light-to-moderate spoilers, though I try to keep things vague and rot13 the more specific stuff! Here is an abbreviated spoiler-free rec list, for the sensitive among you.

Night Vale Presents

The three non-WTNV shows have all finished their first seasons (and Alice Isn't Dead just started its second). They're relatively short and contain complete story arcs. 

WTNV: The ur-podcast, the light horror fiction narrative that kicked off the trend. Y'all know it or you don't. If you've somehow never heard it and don't want to start from the pilot, I recommend trying Episode 13; it's a stand-alone episode in a slightly different format than the rest, but it gives a good sense of WTNV's general aesthetic. Also it's just really really good.

Alice Isn't Dead: A surrealist horror roadtrip about a trucker searching for her wife Alice, who isn't dead. She's got nothing to lose and a lot of dangerous road to cover.

Orbiting Human Circus: Bizarre and magical and a little bit heartbreaking, like all good circuses should be. Julian is the janitor of a heavily fictionalized Eiffel Tower, and he desperately wants to be part of the Orbiting Human Circus show that he cleans up after every night.

Within the Wires: Dystopian sci-fi 1980s AU, told through a series of 'relaxation' cassettes. More grounded in reality than the others, though that's not saying much. The medium is also foregrounded much more in the narrative.

Hiatus

Wolf 359: SUPER dark, though you wouldn't know it from the first dozen episodes. However, the inflicting-trauma to coping-with-trauma ratio is low enough that I listened to the whole thing and will almost definitely listen to Season 4 when it's released starting this June. Also, no queerness whatsoever (making it unique on this list).  

Eos 10: Spaceship sitcom. Less artistically ambitious than most of the others on this list, which is not necessarily a point against it. 

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris: Newer sci-fi podcast that I absolutely love; it ticks all my very specific boxes (including medium-as-message) and is also just really well constructed and executed. I adore every single one of the main characters. There are only 4 episodes but I'm so hyped about it. 

The Bright Sessions: Audio files from a therapist to teens and young adults with superpowers. Everything I ever wanted X-Men to be: light on the fight scenes/explosions, heavy on exploring what it means to have superhuman powers and how that might affect your life/relationships.

The Penumbra Podcast: Cyberpunk noir pastiche that sometimes gets a little too broad for me but is generally good fun of the Thrilling Tales! variety.

Ars Paradoxica: Time travel in one of its more complex interpretations. Paradox is a major plot element. Kind of sci-fi historical fiction?

Now for the more detailed writeups, including overviews of queerness and genre. As I said before, potential spoilers are rot13′d...but Here There Be Dragons etc.

Night Vale Presents

All of these are incredibly solid shows with an otherworldly feel to them that I love, despite being otherwise quite different.

All main characters are queer; WTNV has queer side characters (including nonbinary characters), but afaik the only other explicitly queer characters in AID/ORC/WTW are love interests of the MCs. That's pretty understandable, though, given that the casts of the three non-WTNV shows are exponentially smaller, and they've aired significantly fewer episodes.

I want to mention something in a totally value-neutral way: none of the shows feature homophobia or directly discuss queerness (lowkey exception for one episode of WTNV). I actually enjoy that, personally; it's usually very restful to spend time in worlds where queerness is normalized and unremarkable. Occasionally, however, I do want a slightly more direct approach, so I wanted to make a note in case you're in that kind of mood. 

Welcome to Night Vale The first and only podcast I listened to for about a year. Honestly, do I even need to say anything about WTNV?  I do want to mention that I think it's gotten a little bogged down in continuity over the last year. AFAIK it wasn't conceived as a long-running narrative arc, and a lot of its early charm came from the total lack of context. After Year 2, I feel like it did start spending a little too much time explaining things and filling out backstory for elements that, frankly, didn't need them. YMMV ofc, and I still listen to/enjoy every new episode, but I'm not madly in love with Year 3 the way I was with Year 1-2. Queerness: Queer af! The main character gets a full same-sex romance arc; V'q pnyy vg 'unccl-raqvat' ohg vg'f fgvyy batbvat nf n ybivat naq urnygul eryngvbafuvc, juvpu vf rira orggre. Multiple side characters are queer, including a few nonbinary characters who use they/them pronouns.  Genre: tucking into a short stack at 2am in a diner in the American Southwest, slowly realizing that the woman behind the counter called you by name even though you've never been here before, and also you can't quite remember how you got here in the first place. Alice Isn't Dead Beautiful, creepy, and acted by the brilliant Jasika Nicole. I'd place this more firmly in the horror genre than the others, so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, take note; there's some suspense and a little bit of violence. That said, I am usually MASSIVELY sensitive and can't even watch trailers for horror movies (I have made my peace with never ever seeing Get Out), and I was perfectly fine with it. Queerness: The main character is a woman married to Alice, who isn't dead. It's like the opposite of the Bury Your Gays trope. Genre: driving along a nameless interstate late at night, the world around you narrowed to the section of road thrown into sharp relief by your headlights, and the occasional glint of animal eyes. The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air ORC is the most fanciful of the Night Vale family. The other shows seem like they take place in realities just a shade off from ours, but ORC completely throws any pretense of realism out the window. There's no real sense of a world outside the Circus, and why should there be? The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air has an infinitude of fantastical delights: singing saws, a bird that can mimic (almost) a full orchestra, tap-dancing mice. There's no trick or sleight of hand involved, not even a dusty tome of magic spells. ORC simply presents a world in which these wonders exist in hidden corners. The story is sometimes melancholy, and there are regular hints of a deep sadness underneath the surface, but the main character is defined by his determination and...well, 'optimism' would be too strong a word, but he has an unyielding sense of hope. He doesn't actually think things will turn out well for him (and he's so often right about that), but he clings to the hope that this time, maybe it might. Queerness: Gur znva punenpgre nyyhqrf gb na rk-oblsevraq bapr. This is one of the lighter touches of queerness in the Night Vale family. Genre: peering through a dusty velvet curtain just offstage, while brightly-costumed creatures dance to a tune you haven't heard since you were a child. Within the Wires While all Night Vale Presents shows have some kind of narrative conceit framing the audio medium (community radio station, trucker radio transmissions, broadcast wish fulfillment), those tend to be vehicles for the story and stylistic flourishes, rather than core elements of the story itself. WtW is presented as audio cassettes on full-body relaxation, and the cassettes themselves become key actors. This is not a story that could be told in any other medium, which personally I freaking love. This is also a more sci-fi show than the others, despite being set in AU 1980s, and more blatantly dystopic. The world-building's a little more evident, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing; I think it's a side effect of being more sci-fi than fantasy. Everything feels like it has an explanation, even if the explanation is not provided, and it all fits together smoothly. Also: the narrator has a mild kiwi accent, which I find incredibly soothing. Queerness: Yep. Gur znva punenpgre unf n pbzcyvpngrq ohg qrpvqrqyl abg cyngbavp (s/s) eryngvbafuvc jvgu gur jbzna gur gncrf ner vagraqrq sbe.  Genre: lying quietly in a sensory isolation tank until you inexplicably start crying for the first time in years.

On hiatus

Wolf 359 So, there are a couple voice actors in Wolf 359 that don't do a whole lot for me, performance-wise. I don't want to get more specific because YMMV and I'm also just a really picky audio consumer, but there you have it. Mostly it's not an issue, though. This is also one of the darker shows I listen to, although it starts out with more of a zany sitcom vibe. There's a fair amount of murder, murder attempts, and general people-being-horrible-in-ways-they-believe-to-be-justified. It's not something I think I could sit through again, but it is a captivating story told well. There's a lot of focus on the emotional arcs and characters dealing with trauma, which I am All About in sci-fi. 

Queerness: zero. Zip. Zilch. It doesn't feature any romance arcs at all, though, so...I found it tolerable. Honestly, if it hadn't come so highly recommended, I probably would not have given it a shot. Genre: placing your hand on a rusty, unmarked door that wasn't in the ship schematics, and knowing you must step through—you must step through. Eos 10 After my first pass at this write-up, I realized that I was being really negative—far more negative than this show deserves. So I want to be clear: I listened to and enjoyed every extant episode of Eos 10, and I'm looking forward to Season 3, whenever it's released. It's a pleasantly entertaining space sitcom and I've gotten attached to the characters; the writing's solid and the voice acting is generally pretty great. It's just not quite tailored to my specific tastes. Ok, back to what I originally wrote: This podcast feels a lot more mainstream/conventional in its tropes than the others. Unlike most of the podcasts I listen to, the medium is invisible to the characters: it's not pitched as a radio show or a voice recorder or a series of motivational tapes. To me, this adds another layer of remove between the audience and the story. It's fine, it's just very straightforward in its presentation, with no medium-specific conceit or anything. It’s not really outsider art in any sense, and could legitimately be a TV show if it had the budget. That's a pretty good description of the show as a whole, honestly. It makes no pretense at being high-concept, it just does what it does. Queerness: This one...is not very queer. One of the side characters is gay but it doesn't really come up a lot. There's also a gay minor character that gets mentioned but never appears, and it's kind of a running gag that the gay character has a thing for the main character, who insists he's straight. It's a gross trope and I kind of winced at it, but it's usually framed by other characters as "are you sure you're not interested, because [gay character] is way out of your league and you're really not going to do better," which mitigates it somewhat for me? Also, gurer ner uvagf gung gur znva punenpgre zvtug npghnyyl or vagrerfgrq va gur tnl punenpgre, but only time will tell whether it's queerbaiting or not. Look, it's not an ideal situation. If it’s a dealbreaker, I totally understand, especially since there's no clear answer to the "is this queerbaiting" question and due to some unfortunate creator health issues, we might not get one for a while. Genre: ducking out of the way as a harried-looking man in a lab coat and stethoscope pelts down the hallway, yelling "GET ME FIVE UNITS OF ALIEN SEX POLLEN, STAT!"

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris

I love this show a disproportionate amount, given that only four episodes have aired. This is a newer podcast, and one I stumbled on completely by accident! I wasn't expecting much, but it was sci-fi and the main character's last name was Liu, so I decided to give it a shot. And then it turned out to be not only awesome but also totally queer! I think I actually said "HAH! YES!" out loud when the queerness was canonized within the first few minutes. (This is why I live alone.) Plus, this is a small thing from a throwaway line, but...the main character weighs roughly the same amount as I do. Do you know how often that happens with Asian characters? Never, is how often. For possibly the first time in my life, I feel like I can legitimately headcanon a main character who looks exactly like me. I'm definitely going to do some incredibly self-indulgent fanart at some point. Unprecedented overidentifying with the main character aside: honestly, it's like this podcast was tailor-made for me. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 (and kind of 2): Vafrpher ovbybtvfg wbvaf ent-gnt perj bs fzhttyref jvgu n sbhaq-snzvyl ivor naq nyvra phygheny pynfurf, nyy senzrq va n fvavfgre zrgnaneengvir gung hfrf gur zrqvhz nf n cybg qrivpr, CYHF cbgragvny ebznapr orgjrra na Rnfg Nfvna jbzna naq n Fbhgu Nfvna jbzna? Um, sign me the fuck up.  The only downside is that this has definitely raised my expectations for new podcasts by an unreasonable amount. Every new podcast I've tried since Starship Iris has been vaguely disappointing. My podcast standards are way too high now, and it's all Starship Iris's fault.

Queerness: YES. The main character is a queer woman, there's a nonbinary alien species and the alien crew member uses they/them pronouns, and there's a trans guy. Also, this is wild speculation, but V guvax/oryvrir/ubcr gung bar bs gur bgure srznyr perj zrzoref vf orvat frg hc nf n ebznagvp vagrerfg sbe gur znva punenpgre. There's some explicit discussion of gender identity in a non-traumatic way which tbh is like water in the freaking desert.

Genre: ??? it's too new and I love it too much to assign it a genre. 

The Bright Sessions

As I said in the spoiler-free summary: this is everything I wanted X-Men to be. Hell, it's everything I ever want superhero stories to be, and it's why I've been drawn to superhero stories since I was a teenager. The Bright Sessions deals with the complex consequences of, e.g., having empathy powers as a teenager while learning how to manage your own emotions and maturity. The main character is Dr. Bright, a therapist specializing in people with superpowers, which naturally provides the perfect angle for those people to get really navel-gazey about their lives. There is an actual overarching plot with a shadowy government agency, of course, but that's definitely not what I'm here for and luckily that’s clearly just a vehicle for the feelings.

Queerness: One of the main characters has a m/m romance arc; another main character is asexual; a side character (who may soon be considered a main character?) is bisexual. Because the conceit is therapy sessions, Dr. Bright does inquire delicately about how her patients may or may not be coping with emerging/existing queer identities, but none of them find it traumatic.

Genre: telekinetically fiddling with a desk puzzle limned in afternoon sun, as the doctor asks: "And how does that make you feel?"

The Penumbra Podcast

I'd had the Penumbra Podcast on my radar/subscriptions list for a while, but I'd never quite finished the first episode...until the remastered/rewritten first story was released. The difference is astronomical. The creators talk about audio quality etc. in their reasoning for recreating the first story, but for me, the main distinction is the skill in storytelling and the confidence to create noir without relying on questionable tropes to signal "hard-boiled!!!" I sometimes think the writing and characterizations are a little broad, but that may be down to genre. Penumbra doesn't really go for 'subtle' or 'realistic.' An important format note: there's a main character with episodic adventures, but in between the two-part adventures, there are one-shots in various genres. I actually skipped most of the one-shots because I'm not great with horror or kid stories.

Queerness: The main character of the main story is queer (jvgu na qryvtugshyyl rzbgvbanyyl pbafgvcngrq z/z ebznapr nep gung'f abg va n terng cynpr evtug abj), as are numerous side characters. It's a noir pastiche, though, so the main character is pretty self-sabotaging in all areas of his life; a 'happy ending' doesn't seem incredibly likely. One of the stand-alone stories is a queer Western, which I found delightful. It's also one of the few stand-alone stories that has a bonus follow-up episode.

Genre: taking a long, slow drag on a cigarette as the rain blurs the neon lights and filth of the alien city below.

Ars Paradoxica

Ars Paradoxica shares a producer with The Bright Sessions, which is why I tried it! Like all decent time travel stories, Ars Paradoxica is meticulously planned with a lot of moving parts. The worldbuilding is intense and requires actually paying attention, which can be challenging for me since I typically listen to podcasts while multitasking.  Frankly, it moves a little slow for me...which is odd to say about a show that regularly has timeskips of months or years and literally involves time travel. I guess I feel that way because there's a lot of attention paid to the action and plot, but less to the emotional character arcs. And obviously my narrative preferences run a certain way, so I'm only really paying attention to the character stuff. Which, to be fair, certainly exists and is carried through well—it's just not in my preferred proportions. Plus, the cast is quite sprawling compared to most other podcasts, and the tone is almost Crapsack World but not quite. 

Queerness: The main character is explicitly asexual and briefly explains it, and there are a handful of queer side characters. It's semi-historical, and there's some discussion of managing visibility etc. 

Genre: staring into the dusty gears of a massive clock running backwards as the minute hand slowly approaches a blinking red light.

[virgiiniaprince]

I’m a beat maker in the same line of business, but luckily...

I’m a beat maker in the same line of business, but luckily (for you) I’ve been on your side of the pond also.

Yes, that’s right! I utilized to call myself an artist and I had this insane fantasy of becoming an effective artist. Sounds familiar?

I utilized to spend hours on Soundclick.com to search for that right track. And when I discovered it, I downloaded the totally free variation (with tags and all) and tape-recorded the next day. I wasn’t even buying the beats online! (Oops. bad example).

So without knowing a thing about blending and mastering, I bounced the track to an MP3 (In low bit-rate so that it would not take too much area on my 128MB MP3 Player) and let all my friends hear it the next day. What do you think their response was? Okay enough, let’s get back on subject and provide you these ideas for buying beats online.

1. Go to the Producer’s own site (even if it’s Soundclick!!).

So, you wish to start buying beats online for your brand-new project( s) and you finally found that heat on, for instance, YouTube or Soundcloud. (Soundclick is not mentioned because it’s slowly dying).

STOP!! Don’t you even begin composing a single word!

Make certain the beat is still readily available. You really do not wish to know the number of times I have had to disappoint a great artist by informing him or her that the beat is no longer available. If your record is actually great, that’s messed up for both of us.

Also, inspect if the site is ‘alive.’ I have whatever operating on auto-pilot so when I’m away for a month whatever still runs smoothly. Not all producers are fortunate to have such an automatic system. Just send an email saying that you want to BUY. If the site lives, you’ll see how fast they are to respond.

By the way: I’ve read some articles from producers about this topic and the suggestions they have for purchasing beats online and somehow they claim you ought to not buy from Soundclick pages. Wow, what’s that about? If the producer’s site is a Soundclick page it truly does not suggest she or he is not trustworthy.

Simply make certain you use PayPal when you’re purchasing beats online. You can constantly open a claim if a producer is not sending you the audio you have actually purchased. (HA-HA! Another tip). 2. Don’t buy the MP3 Leases if you consider yourself an Artist!

Like I mentioned, I utilized to use lousy MP3 formatted tagged files. Given that you’re checking out purchasing beats online instead of downloading them for free, it tells that you’re serious about your craft.

MP3’s are poor quality and you can really tell the difference when you start mastering the last track. Ask any audio engineer you understand.

Significant Labels and A&R’s are constantly searching the online community for possible super star artists. Even if you composed a killer hook, taped lovely harmonies and have actually developed a possible Signboard charting track, when the audio is crap they fast forward to the next track even before they come to that hook.

Tracked-Out leases are the very best alternative because they (usually) consist of the raw files from the production project and have not been restricted or compressed. Unfortunately, this is not constantly in everyone’s spending plan.

Because case; Go for the WAV instead. 3. Know your rights for both special and non-exclusive licenses.

This is pretty apparent, however still, I want to attend to 1 specific topic. You probably know about all the producers having these great overviews with what comes with a particular license and what not. Don’t be fooled!

CHECKED OUT THE PDF LICENSE ARRANGEMENT!

Everyone who establishes some type of an agreement has fine print added someplace and trust me (or better yet. don’t trust me. Simply trust no one!) it’s not going to be all up in your face while checking out the site.

4. The Online Beat Market is unclear, keep your eyes and ears open!

Wow, I stated it. However it holds true! Finding and purchasing beats online is just too damn easy. You can discover whatever you like and there are 100.000’s of producers out there that have actually produced 1.000.000’s of beats for artists worldwide. However.

MAKE CERTAIN YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE HANDLING! What are music beats? In music and music theory, the beat is the standard unit of time, the pulse (routinely duplicating event), of the mensural level (or beat level). … In popular use, beat can describe a range of associated ideas including: pulse, pace, meter, particular rhythms, and groove.

Have you ever discovered a producer who sells Exclusive OWNERSHIP for $50? I bet you do.

Those are the type of producers who are in it for the quick cash. They are offering you all the rights which is simply plain dumb of them, however likewise an unsafe person to be working with for you.

Why?

People who are driven by money and by loan only are the ones who can’t be trusted.

Whenever you’re working with an online producer, especially when it pertains to Exclusive Rights, ensure you have all the documentation reviewed prior to making payment.

Check out all the details and make certain you get a signed copy from the producer once you’ve made the purchase.

This is not an unusual thing to ask and if the producer is credible he will do that for sure. But when he begins acting all weird about it, it’s in your benefit to go out as quickly as you can.

I’m not stating that this is common for all producers who sell $50 exclusives of course! Just know who you are handling. 5. Bulk Offers– The Golden Suggestion (Producer World inside-information right here).

Okay, so state that you went on a producer’s site and you found 3 or 4 beats that you actually like, but your spending plan just enables you to buy 2 today. “Oh well, I’ll simply return later on when I get my income and acquire them then.”.

You’re super excited about it and can’t wait to acquire them and make some hits.

Okay okay, catch your breath and take a minute, because MAN (or lady). INSPECT THE BULK DEALS!

Producers have Bulk Deals going on all the time. Like, buy 1 get 2 free for instance.

You really do not wish to know on the number of celebrations artists acquired 3 licenses from my site while they could have gotten 5 instead. They simply didn’t see the advertisement to add 2 more to their cart free of charge.

I know how hyped you can be while you remain in your zone vibing to those beats. Trust me, I get it! You can’t wait to drop your magic on it but “come on!” Don’t let 2 Free Beats go to waste because of that. So now for the Golden Idea; What if the producer doesn’t have a Bulk deal going on?

SEND OUT AN E-MAIL!

United States producers are ALWAYS in to make a deal. Simply inform him that you found 4 beats, however can’t manage to purchase them all right now. Ask if he got any offers going on right now or anytime soon and if he would consider offering 4 for the cost of 2.

You will most likely get a reaction like;“ No, but I can do 4 for the price of 3.”

BOOM!! You just obtained 1 FREE license!

It does depend on how high the total rate of your order will be. Producers are probably to make a deal if the total amount that you are using is anywhere above $50. Just make a deal he can’t refuse.

Try it and you’ll see that it really works! That’s it, people!

These ideas I gave you all came from my personal experiences as both an artist and producer.

Once again; Discovering the best music for your project( s) online is ending up being far too simple. You just need to know what you’re doing and understand a little about the basics before you start purchasing beats online.

If you have any questions about this, let me know and I’ll assist you out with it!

Good luck on your Journey through music.

Nah simply kidding! Keep it fun and keep doing it for the love of music. Do that and you’ll see the opportunities crossing your course soon.

Very First Time Purchasing Beats Online?

I have actually been offering beats online for a number of years. Prior to I began doing anything related to making beats, I sat on the opposite of the table.

I used to rap. I used complimentary beats and I was purchasing beats from online producers.

Since I have actually sat on both sides of the table, I can think of the scenario that you’re in today. The whole reason you’ve decided to read this post.

You’re starting with music, however you’re planning to take this seriously. Or, you’ve currently been doing music for a while however things are starting to get more major. You’re looking into purchasing beats because you’re done using tagged beats. I get it, it’s distracting. Or maybe you have actually reached that level where the rational next step would be to appropriately license the beats you’re utilizing.

☝ If you recognize yourself somewhere in these lines, then you’re right where you need to be.

Because I am going to inform you everything you require to learn about buying beats online! Utilizing Free Beats

Initially, let’s discuss free beats.

The most convenient way to acknowledge a free beat is by the producer tags that you hear every 30 seconds.

When you buy a license for a beat, it will no longer have the tags in it.

If you remain in the ownership of beats without a license arrangement from the producer. Then you might think about that a totally free beat as well.

In that case, you’re not authorized to use it for business functions. Producers vs. Artists conversation on Free Beats

There’s been a conversation going on for many years. Certainly worth explaining a little more.

Producers dislike it when artists request complimentary beats. And yes, it takes place all the time.

When you’re trying to find beats on YouTube. Most of the titles you’ll find state “( FREE) BEAT” or “FREE DL.”

So, they’re providing free beats however then complain about artists utilizing their beats free of charge.

How is that NOT puzzling?.

The reason we do that pertains to marketing methods and ranking on YouTube. It’s simply click bait.

In defence of the producers, including myself. Believe me when I say that many artists are taking advantage of our craft and effort. And that is just ill-mannered if you ask me. What are music instrumentals? An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics, or singing, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as yelled backup vocals in a Big Band setting.

My music is downloaded hundreds of countless times in the last couple of years. Most of them unlawfully.

Envision the headaches …

So, I don’t feel bad about asking somebody to buy a beat with an appropriate license that includes it. It makes it simpler for all parties involved. What can you do with a totally free beat?

Very little … A minimum of, nothing commercially or rewarding.

Submitting on Facebook. Is that commercially? Nowadays, yes.

Very same chooses YouTube and Soundcloud (both are streaming services).

I offer complimentary beats to let artists …

Try it out prior to they purchase. Tape-record vocals and see if their vocals match the key of the beat. Record a demonstration and get feedback prior to buying a license for it.

I am permitting them to ensure that it’ll deserve the investment.

Often I do permit individuals to submit their tunes developed with my complimentary beats to Social network.

But if I want to take the tune down for no factor. It’ll be removed within minutes.

Yes, I can do that. Do not mess with free beats!

It’s amusing due to the fact that there is really no such thing as a FREE BEAT. If you are going to request for something totally free, ask for a free LICENSE.

If you’re using a beat for which you haven’t gotten a license agreement in composing from the producer. You’re unapproved to use it. And you might get in severe difficulty.

As you can see, the statutory damages for copyright violation are unbelievably high. Believe me, you don’t wish to tinker that.

Buying beats online– How does it work?

By acquiring a beat, you are purchasing audio files that are copyrighted by the producer. In return for your payment, the producer grants you several rights to use the beat.

This is what we call the License Arrangement. There is a difference in between:

Non-exclusive licenses Unique licenses.

The most significant difference is that a non-exclusive license for one beat can be offered to several artists.

Yet, an exclusive license can just be offered when and to one artist only.

In this short article, I will just resolve the subject of non-exclusive licensing.

Different licensing choices– Which one to select?

Online producers use different licensing choices. In my case, I have 3 options.

Fundamental Premium Endless

Some producers call them MP3 Lease, WAV Lease or Requirement Lease however it pretty much works the very same.

The more pricey your license, the more rights you obtain from the producer.

Also, the more costly your license, the much better quality audio files you will receive.

So, what is the very best choice?

I am not gon na lie. The majority of people that are purchasing beats online choose the cheaper licenses. One that includes fewer user-rights and low-grade audio files The user-rights approved in those cheaper licenses might be enough for them.

Yet, more notably are the quality of the audio files.

If you’re looking to develop quality music or at least wish to make music properly. Then make certain you get the Tracked Out files.

If possible, always opt for a license that features Tracked Out Files. In my case, that would be the Premium or Endless license.

Once I purchase a beat– Do I own any copyright?

When you write your lyrics and tape it over the beat, you will own the copyright to your lyrics just. And what you will develop with the beat is a Brand-new Song, also called a “Acquired Work.”

This implies that you will own and manage 50% of the so-called “Writer’s Share.”

The producer will own and manage the other 50% of writer’s share.

You do not own the master or the sound recording rights because New Tune.

You have been accredited the right to utilize the beat and commercially make use of the song you make with it. Based upon the conditions of the license arrangement you’ve purchased.

The producer will stay the sole owner and holder of all right, title, and interest in the Beat. Consisting of all copyrights to and in the sound recording. And the underlying musical compositions, written and composed by the producer.

What if I purchase a non-exclusive license, then another person acquires the exclusive license for that same beat?

When it concerns buying beats online, you’re given the rights that you received when you purchased the beat.

So, when someone else purchases the special rights, it will not (immediately) affect you.

But there are some things you need to understand …

In the old days, you were approved the user rights in the non-exclusive licenses for life. And most producers still operate in this manner.

Nowadays, some producers offer licenses that end after 2-4 years. In my case, my licenses end after 4 years.

This means that you will have to purchase a new license after that term.

If somebody purchased the unique rights throughout your term. That will only suggest that you will no longer be able to restore your license. After your term is due.

Producers don’t always reveal this details in their licensing tables. Ensure you check that before you make the purchase.

Another thing!

I’ve discovered just recently that some producers install a new term in their license arrangement.

One that grants the producer the right to end your license agreement even before your term is due.

The producer includes in their arrangements that they’re enabled to end the license contract upon composed notice to you.

In return, they will pay you double or triple of what you have actually at first spent for the beat.

That does not have to be a problem for you, however whether it is, depends entirely on the success of your song.

Always examine your agreements prior to buying beats online!

Purchasing beats online– Is it safe?

Many producers use a Beat Store Provider to sell their beats online. The most common ones are:

BeatStars.com Airbit.com

These platforms both have an excellent credibility for representing producers and their music. That’s why a lot of producers’ websites and music gamers look the same.

These music gamers have instant shipment after checkout.

After you have actually made the payment, you will be redirected to a download location. And you’ll also receive an order confirmation by email.

If you’re not sure if a producer is affiliated with among these platforms. Go to the BeatStars or Airbit site and search for the producers’ name.

If they are on it, you can make the purchase from BeatStars’ or Airbit’s Market, just to be safe.

If they’re not on these platforms, connect to the producer with any issues you have. They’ll respond as soon as you tell them that you’re interested in purchasing beats from them.

Before you connect; Ensure you have actually checked the website for a FAQ section. If you’re asking questions for which the responses are right in front of you, they do not constantly react.

Remember … On platforms like BeatStars and Airbit, producers still develop their own license agreements. They operate on their own terms.

Prior to you buy a beat, always check the full license arrangements or licensing terms.

Like I said, those flashy prices tables don’t always reveal you whatever!.

Here are some tips for purchasing beats online:.

Pay with PayPal or Stripe. Inspect if the producer sells through a BeatStars or Airbit gamer. Read the License Agreements. Reach out to the producer with your issues.

I’m a beat maker in the same line of business, but luckily... posted first on https://the4th3rd.tumblr.com

[aprilpillkington]

I’m a beat maker in the same line of business, but luckily...

I’m a beat maker in the same line of business, but luckily (for you) I’ve been on your side of the pond also.

Yes, that’s right! I utilized to call myself an artist and I had this insane fantasy of becoming an effective artist. Sounds familiar?

I utilized to spend hours on Soundclick.com to search for that right track. And when I discovered it, I downloaded the totally free variation (with tags and all) and tape-recorded the next day. I wasn’t even buying the beats online! (Oops. bad example).

So without knowing a thing about blending and mastering, I bounced the track to an MP3 (In low bit-rate so that it would not take too much area on my 128MB MP3 Player) and let all my friends hear it the next day. What do you think their response was? Okay enough, let’s get back on subject and provide you these ideas for buying beats online.

1. Go to the Producer’s own site (even if it’s Soundclick!!).

So, you wish to start buying beats online for your brand-new project( s) and you finally found that heat on, for instance, YouTube or Soundcloud. (Soundclick is not mentioned because it’s slowly dying).

STOP!! Don’t you even begin composing a single word!

Make certain the beat is still readily available. You really do not wish to know the number of times I have had to disappoint a great artist by informing him or her that the beat is no longer available. If your record is actually great, that’s messed up for both of us.

Also, inspect if the site is ‘alive.’ I have whatever operating on auto-pilot so when I’m away for a month whatever still runs smoothly. Not all producers are fortunate to have such an automatic system. Just send an email saying that you want to BUY. If the site lives, you’ll see how fast they are to respond.

By the way: I’ve read some articles from producers about this topic and the suggestions they have for purchasing beats online and somehow they claim you ought to not buy from Soundclick pages. Wow, what’s that about? If the producer’s site is a Soundclick page it truly does not suggest she or he is not trustworthy.

Simply make certain you use PayPal when you’re purchasing beats online. You can constantly open a claim if a producer is not sending you the audio you have actually purchased. (HA-HA! Another tip). 2. Don’t buy the MP3 Leases if you consider yourself an Artist!

Like I mentioned, I utilized to use lousy MP3 formatted tagged files. Given that you’re checking out purchasing beats online instead of downloading them for free, it tells that you’re serious about your craft.

MP3’s are poor quality and you can really tell the difference when you start mastering the last track. Ask any audio engineer you understand.

Significant Labels and A&R’s are constantly searching the online community for possible super star artists. Even if you composed a killer hook, taped lovely harmonies and have actually developed a possible Signboard charting track, when the audio is crap they fast forward to the next track even before they come to that hook.

Tracked-Out leases are the very best alternative because they (usually) consist of the raw files from the production project and have not been restricted or compressed. Unfortunately, this is not constantly in everyone’s spending plan.

Because case; Go for the WAV instead. 3. Know your rights for both special and non-exclusive licenses.

This is pretty apparent, however still, I want to attend to 1 specific topic. You probably know about all the producers having these great overviews with what comes with a particular license and what not. Don’t be fooled!

CHECKED OUT THE PDF LICENSE ARRANGEMENT!

Everyone who establishes some type of an agreement has fine print added someplace and trust me (or better yet. don’t trust me. Simply trust no one!) it’s not going to be all up in your face while checking out the site.

4. The Online Beat Market is unclear, keep your eyes and ears open!

Wow, I stated it. However it holds true! Finding and purchasing beats online is just too damn easy. You can discover whatever you like and there are 100.000’s of producers out there that have actually produced 1.000.000’s of beats for artists worldwide. However.

MAKE CERTAIN YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE HANDLING! What are music beats? In music and music theory, the beat is the standard unit of time, the pulse (routinely duplicating event), of the mensural level (or beat level). … In popular use, beat can describe a range of associated ideas including: pulse, pace, meter, particular rhythms, and groove.

Have you ever discovered a producer who sells Exclusive OWNERSHIP for $50? I bet you do.

Those are the type of producers who are in it for the quick cash. They are offering you all the rights which is simply plain dumb of them, however likewise an unsafe person to be working with for you.

Why?

People who are driven by money and by loan only are the ones who can’t be trusted.

Whenever you’re working with an online producer, especially when it pertains to Exclusive Rights, ensure you have all the documentation reviewed prior to making payment.

Check out all the details and make certain you get a signed copy from the producer once you’ve made the purchase.

This is not an unusual thing to ask and if the producer is credible he will do that for sure. But when he begins acting all weird about it, it’s in your benefit to go out as quickly as you can.

I’m not stating that this is common for all producers who sell $50 exclusives of course! Just know who you are handling. 5. Bulk Offers– The Golden Suggestion (Producer World inside-information right here).

Okay, so state that you went on a producer’s site and you found 3 or 4 beats that you actually like, but your spending plan just enables you to buy 2 today. “Oh well, I’ll simply return later on when I get my income and acquire them then.”.

You’re super excited about it and can’t wait to acquire them and make some hits.

Okay okay, catch your breath and take a minute, because MAN (or lady). INSPECT THE BULK DEALS!

Producers have Bulk Deals going on all the time. Like, buy 1 get 2 free for instance.

You really do not wish to know on the number of celebrations artists acquired 3 licenses from my site while they could have gotten 5 instead. They simply didn’t see the advertisement to add 2 more to their cart free of charge.

I know how hyped you can be while you remain in your zone vibing to those beats. Trust me, I get it! You can’t wait to drop your magic on it but “come on!” Don’t let 2 Free Beats go to waste because of that. So now for the Golden Idea; What if the producer doesn’t have a Bulk deal going on?

SEND OUT AN E-MAIL!

United States producers are ALWAYS in to make a deal. Simply inform him that you found 4 beats, however can’t manage to purchase them all right now. Ask if he got any offers going on right now or anytime soon and if he would consider offering 4 for the cost of 2.

You will most likely get a reaction like;“ No, but I can do 4 for the price of 3.”

BOOM!! You just obtained 1 FREE license!

It does depend on how high the total rate of your order will be. Producers are probably to make a deal if the total amount that you are using is anywhere above $50. Just make a deal he can’t refuse.

Try it and you’ll see that it really works! That’s it, people!

These ideas I gave you all came from my personal experiences as both an artist and producer.

Once again; Discovering the best music for your project( s) online is ending up being far too simple. You just need to know what you’re doing and understand a little about the basics before you start purchasing beats online.

If you have any questions about this, let me know and I’ll assist you out with it!

Good luck on your Journey through music.

Nah simply kidding! Keep it fun and keep doing it for the love of music. Do that and you’ll see the opportunities crossing your course soon.

Very First Time Purchasing Beats Online?

I have actually been offering beats online for a number of years. Prior to I began doing anything related to making beats, I sat on the opposite of the table.

I used to rap. I used complimentary beats and I was purchasing beats from online producers.

Since I have actually sat on both sides of the table, I can think of the scenario that you’re in today. The whole reason you’ve decided to read this post.

You’re starting with music, however you’re planning to take this seriously. Or, you’ve currently been doing music for a while however things are starting to get more major. You’re looking into purchasing beats because you’re done using tagged beats. I get it, it’s distracting. Or maybe you have actually reached that level where the rational next step would be to appropriately license the beats you’re utilizing.

☝ If you recognize yourself somewhere in these lines, then you’re right where you need to be.

Because I am going to inform you everything you require to learn about buying beats online! Utilizing Free Beats

Initially, let’s discuss free beats.

The most convenient way to acknowledge a free beat is by the producer tags that you hear every 30 seconds.

When you buy a license for a beat, it will no longer have the tags in it.

If you remain in the ownership of beats without a license arrangement from the producer. Then you might think about that a totally free beat as well.

In that case, you’re not authorized to use it for business functions. Producers vs. Artists conversation on Free Beats

There’s been a conversation going on for many years. Certainly worth explaining a little more.

Producers dislike it when artists request complimentary beats. And yes, it takes place all the time.

When you’re trying to find beats on YouTube. Most of the titles you’ll find state “( FREE) BEAT” or “FREE DL.”

So, they’re providing free beats however then complain about artists utilizing their beats free of charge.

How is that NOT puzzling?.

The reason we do that pertains to marketing methods and ranking on YouTube. It’s simply click bait.

In defence of the producers, including myself. Believe me when I say that many artists are taking advantage of our craft and effort. And that is just ill-mannered if you ask me. What are music instrumentals? An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics, or singing, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as yelled backup vocals in a Big Band setting.

My music is downloaded hundreds of countless times in the last couple of years. Most of them unlawfully.

Envision the headaches …

So, I don’t feel bad about asking somebody to buy a beat with an appropriate license that includes it. It makes it simpler for all parties involved. What can you do with a totally free beat?

Very little … A minimum of, nothing commercially or rewarding.

Submitting on Facebook. Is that commercially? Nowadays, yes.

Very same chooses YouTube and Soundcloud (both are streaming services).

I offer complimentary beats to let artists …

Try it out prior to they purchase. Tape-record vocals and see if their vocals match the key of the beat. Record a demonstration and get feedback prior to buying a license for it.

I am permitting them to ensure that it’ll deserve the investment.

Often I do permit individuals to submit their tunes developed with my complimentary beats to Social network.

But if I want to take the tune down for no factor. It’ll be removed within minutes.

Yes, I can do that. Do not mess with free beats!

It’s amusing due to the fact that there is really no such thing as a FREE BEAT. If you are going to request for something totally free, ask for a free LICENSE.

If you’re using a beat for which you haven’t gotten a license agreement in composing from the producer. You’re unapproved to use it. And you might get in severe difficulty.

As you can see, the statutory damages for copyright violation are unbelievably high. Believe me, you don’t wish to tinker that.

Buying beats online– How does it work?

By acquiring a beat, you are purchasing audio files that are copyrighted by the producer. In return for your payment, the producer grants you several rights to use the beat.

This is what we call the License Arrangement. There is a difference in between:

Non-exclusive licenses Unique licenses.

The most significant difference is that a non-exclusive license for one beat can be offered to several artists.

Yet, an exclusive license can just be offered when and to one artist only.

In this short article, I will just resolve the subject of non-exclusive licensing.

Different licensing choices– Which one to select?

Online producers use different licensing choices. In my case, I have 3 options.

Fundamental Premium Endless

Some producers call them MP3 Lease, WAV Lease or Requirement Lease however it pretty much works the very same.

The more pricey your license, the more rights you obtain from the producer.

Also, the more costly your license, the much better quality audio files you will receive.

So, what is the very best choice?

I am not gon na lie. The majority of people that are purchasing beats online choose the cheaper licenses. One that includes fewer user-rights and low-grade audio files The user-rights approved in those cheaper licenses might be enough for them.

Yet, more notably are the quality of the audio files.

If you’re looking to develop quality music or at least wish to make music properly. Then make certain you get the Tracked Out files.

If possible, always opt for a license that features Tracked Out Files. In my case, that would be the Premium or Endless license.

Once I purchase a beat– Do I own any copyright?

When you write your lyrics and tape it over the beat, you will own the copyright to your lyrics just. And what you will develop with the beat is a Brand-new Song, also called a “Acquired Work.”

This implies that you will own and manage 50% of the so-called “Writer’s Share.”

The producer will own and manage the other 50% of writer’s share.

You do not own the master or the sound recording rights because New Tune.

You have been accredited the right to utilize the beat and commercially make use of the song you make with it. Based upon the conditions of the license arrangement you’ve purchased.

The producer will stay the sole owner and holder of all right, title, and interest in the Beat. Consisting of all copyrights to and in the sound recording. And the underlying musical compositions, written and composed by the producer.

What if I purchase a non-exclusive license, then another person acquires the exclusive license for that same beat?

When it concerns buying beats online, you’re given the rights that you received when you purchased the beat.

So, when someone else purchases the special rights, it will not (immediately) affect you.

But there are some things you need to understand …

In the old days, you were approved the user rights in the non-exclusive licenses for life. And most producers still operate in this manner.

Nowadays, some producers offer licenses that end after 2-4 years. In my case, my licenses end after 4 years.

This means that you will have to purchase a new license after that term.

If somebody purchased the unique rights throughout your term. That will only suggest that you will no longer be able to restore your license. After your term is due.

Producers don’t always reveal this details in their licensing tables. Ensure you check that before you make the purchase.

Another thing!

I’ve discovered just recently that some producers install a new term in their license arrangement.

One that grants the producer the right to end your license agreement even before your term is due.

The producer includes in their arrangements that they’re enabled to end the license contract upon composed notice to you.

In return, they will pay you double or triple of what you have actually at first spent for the beat.

That does not have to be a problem for you, however whether it is, depends entirely on the success of your song.

Always examine your agreements prior to buying beats online!

Purchasing beats online– Is it safe?

Many producers use a Beat Store Provider to sell their beats online. The most common ones are:

BeatStars.com Airbit.com

These platforms both have an excellent credibility for representing producers and their music. That’s why a lot of producers’ websites and music gamers look the same.

These music gamers have instant shipment after checkout.

After you have actually made the payment, you will be redirected to a download location. And you’ll also receive an order confirmation by email.

If you’re not sure if a producer is affiliated with among these platforms. Go to the BeatStars or Airbit site and search for the producers’ name.

If they are on it, you can make the purchase from BeatStars’ or Airbit’s Market, just to be safe.

If they’re not on these platforms, connect to the producer with any issues you have. They’ll respond as soon as you tell them that you’re interested in purchasing beats from them.

Before you connect; Ensure you have actually checked the website for a FAQ section. If you’re asking questions for which the responses are right in front of you, they do not constantly react.

Remember … On platforms like BeatStars and Airbit, producers still develop their own license agreements. They operate on their own terms.

Prior to you buy a beat, always check the full license arrangements or licensing terms.

Like I said, those flashy prices tables don’t always reveal you whatever!.

Here are some tips for purchasing beats online:.

Pay with PayPal or Stripe. Inspect if the producer sells through a BeatStars or Airbit gamer. Read the License Agreements. Reach out to the producer with your issues.

I’m a beat maker in the same line of business, but luckily... published first on https://the4th3rd.tumblr.com

[infotainmentplus-blog]

Best Android phones (April 2018): our picks, plus a giveaway With Android thoroughly dominating the mobile industry, picking the best Android smartphones is almost synonymous with choosing the best smartphones, period. While Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is incredibly fierce. From sleek devices that impress with premium design, to powerhouses brimming with features, to all-around great devices, and affordable phones that punch above their weight, the Android ecosystem is populated by a staggering variety of attractive phones. Related: Refurbished phone guide | Best Android tablets | Best Android watches But “greatness” is subjective, and sometimes spec sheets and feature lists are not enough to make an idea of how good a phone really is. In this roundup, we’re looking at the absolute best — the Android phones you can’t go wrong with. Editor’s note: We will regularly update this list as new devices launch. Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL See more Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL photos The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are Google’s latest flagship smartphones, and they’re great at just about everything. They don’t have as many bells or whistles as some of the other entries on this list, but if you’re in the market for a simple Android phone, the Pixel 2 and 2 XL are great options. The Pixel 2 and 2 XL have 5- and 6-inch OLED displays, front-facing speakers, and top-of-the-line specs under the hood — a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM, as well as 64 or 128GB of on board storage. They also have two of the best Android smartphone cameras available. Not only have these phones been named two of the best smartphone cameras on the market according to DxOMark, we found the Pixel 2’s main camera to be incredibly impressive in most situations. There’s even a portrait mode on the front and back cameras, even though the phone doesn’t have a dual-camera setup. Despite the handful of issues with the Pixel 2 XL’s display, we’d still happily recommend either phone to anyone looking for the best device out there. Read more Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL review: The way Android is meant to be Google Pixel 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 8: the flagship battle Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL specs: Google’s vision for the modern flagship Google Pixel 2 cases: here are some of the best you can buy Google Pixel 2 XL cases: here are some of your best options Buy now from the Google Store Buy now from Verizon Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus See more Galaxy S9 photos The Galaxy S9 is all about refinement. Design, display, photography, and performance were all strong areas for the Galaxy S8 line, and the S9 does all of them better. The biggest improvements in the Galaxy S9 have to do with the camera. The S9 sports a single Dual Pixel 12MP autofocus sensor with OIS, along with support for two apertures at f/1.5 and f/2.4. This mechanical iris lens is able to switch between apertures depending on the lighting conditions. If you need something even more powerful, the Galaxy S9 comes with a dual-camera setup on the back. Samsung also included its own creepier version of Apple’s Animoji, called AR Emoji, allowing you to make GIFs and send cartoony videos to your friends. These are new Samsung flagships, so it’s no surprise that they feature the most top-of-the-line specs currently available. They come with 5.8- and 6.2-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED displays, 4 and 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and both are powered by either the Exynos 9810 or Snapdragon 845 SoC depending on your region. Read more Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus review: Top-notch notch-less Samsung Galaxy S9 release date, price, and availability Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus specs: All about refinements Bixby on the Samsung Galaxy S9: It’s not all bad Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs Pixel 2 XL: Two of the best Buy Galaxy S9 from Samsung Samsung Galaxy Note 8 See more Galaxy Note 8 photos After a controversial 2016, Samsung’s Galaxy Note line is back in full force. With top-of-the-line specs, a stunning design, a dual-camera setup, and new software features, the Galaxy Note 8 is still one of the best Android phones you can buy right now. Editor's Pick Best Samsung phones you can buy right now Samsung is without a doubt the biggest name in the Android world, and so if you are considering purchasing a new phone, logic dictates you may be looking to pick up a phone made by the … The Note 8’s near-bezel-less 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Infinity Display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio is one of our favorite parts about this phone. DisplayMate agrees with us too. It’s big — maybe too big for some people — but at least the company puts that screen to good use. There’s a new App Pairing feature that allows you to open up two favorited apps in multi-window at the same time, and there are a few new S Pen features that will satisfy the stylus users out there. What’s more, the dual-camera setup on the back performs incredibly well. While picture quality isn’t a huge step up from what we saw on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, the extra 12MP sensor with OIS allows you to take clear, concise photos and impressive bokeh shots in just about any situation. No, it’s not perfect, but no phone is. Samsung’s fingerprint sensor placement on the Note 8 is still super annoying (luckily it’s been fixed with the S9), and this phone is expensive. If those things don’t matter to you though, the Note 8 might be the right phone for you. Check out our full review below! Read more Samsung Galaxy Note 8 review: Do bigger things at a bigger price Samsung Galaxy Note 8 specs: Perfection on paper Samsung Galaxy Note 8 color comparison Samsung Galaxy Note 8 vs the competition Samsung Galaxy Note 8 vs Essential Phone Buy now from Verizon Buy now from Best Buy LG V30 See more LG V30 photos The V30 is the latest flagship phone from LG, which has been struggling to compete, at least in sales, with its biggest Android rival Samsung. It is also the successor to 2016’s LG V20, which included a secondary 2.1-inch screen on top for showing app shortcuts, media controls, and more. The V30 does away with that secondary display, and instead has one nearly bezel-free 6-inch screen, using LG’s new Plastic OLED (pOLED) panel. LG offers a slide-out menu on the phone’s display (called the Floating Bar) that floats around the screen as a substitute (sort for) for folks who might miss the secondary display. In terms of hardware specs, the LG V30 has everything you would expect from a flagship phone in early 2018. It has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with 4GB RAM, along with 64GB of onboard storage, a 3,300mAh battery, and a IP68 dust and water resistance rating. LG is heavily promoting the advanced camera and photography features on the V30, too. It has a dual rear camera that includes a 16MP sensor with a f/1.6 aperture, along with a 13MP sensor with a f/1.9 aperture. The rear camera has a Crystal Clear Lens instead of plastic, which should mean you should get more realistic looking photos with the V30. Video creators should have fun with software features like Cine Video, which allows users to quickly put in video effects, along with Point Zoom, which will let owners zoom into any point in a video. Audiophiles should also be happy with the LG V30, as it has support for Hi-Fi Quad DAC tuned by B&O Play. It is also the first smartphone to support MQA, which is supposed to let users stream high-res audio, but with a smaller file size and no loss in quality. Read more LG V30 review: A photography and videography dream LG V30 specs: A true multimedia machine Five reasons why the LG V30 is better than the Galaxy Note 8 LG V30 vs Galaxy Note 8: camera features Best LG V30 cases Buy LG V30 OnePlus 5T See more OnePlus 5T photos The OnePlus 5 was a solid smartphone, but it wasn’t really up to 2017’s standards on the design front. That’s why OnePlus changed things up quite a bit with the OnePlus 5T. The first thing you’ll notice with the 5T is its bit 6.01-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. This makes the device look more in line with other 2017 devices, especially because its predecessor came with a more traditional 16:9 screen. The under-the-hood specs are mostly the same as the OnePlus 5’s, but OnePlus decided to switch up the camera setup this time around. Now, in place of the OnePlus 5’s telephoto lens, the 5T sports a secondary 20 MP sensor that uses a fancy new technology called Intelligent Pixel Technology. Basically, it takes better low-light photos than before. The other big change with the 5T is in regards to biometric security. Not only has the fingerprint sensor moved around to the back, you can also unlock the 5T using face recognition. It’s super fast, but we’ve found it to miss a handful of times for some unknown reason. Perhaps the biggest missing feature on the 5T is an IP rating for dust and water resistance, which is a feature pretty much every other flagship device has. If you can get past that, the OnePlus 5T will be a great option for most people — especially because it costs a fraction of the price of most competing smartphones. Read more OnePlus 5T review: It’s all about that screen Best OnePlus 5T cases OnePlus 5T specs: 18:9 display and still no water resistance OnePlus 5T price, release date, and deals OnePlus 5T vs OnePlus 5: worth the upgrade? Buy now from Amazon Huawei Mate 10 Pro See more Huawei Mate 10 Pro photos The Huawei Mate 10 Pro has all the features one would expect from the latest high-end flagship smartphones on the market. It has a 6-inch OLED display with an 18:9 ratio, a Full HD+ resolution of 2,160 x 1,080, and very small of bezels on the top and bottom of the display. Inside, there’s Huawei’s in-house octa-core Kirin 970 processor, along with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit for faster on-board AI processing. Huawei claims we will see more improvements in AI on the Mate 10 Pro in future updates. You can purchase this phone with either 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage, or upgrade to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s no microSD card for adding additional storage, by the way, nor does it have a 3.5mm headphone jack (the slightly smaller Mate 10 has both). The Mate 10 Pro ships with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, too. The Mate 10 Pro also comes with an IP67 dust- and water-resistance rating, as well as a large 4,000mAh battery which supports Huawei Supercharge. This allows the Mate 10 Pro to go up to nearly a full charge in about an hour. The Mate 10 Pro also has a fantastic dual-camera setup with a 20MP monochrome sensor combined with a 12MP RGB sensor. The phone got a high 97 score for its rear camera features from the image testing DxOMark, which is right up there with the iPhone 8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8. Read more Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro review: All about promises Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro vs the competition Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro pricing and availability Huawei Mate 10 series specs: Better, faster, stronger Buy Mate 10 Pro from Amazon Cast your vote, and participate in our giveaway! There you have it — our picks from the best Android has to offer right now. Out of those listed, which do you feel is the very best? Be sure to sound off in the poll below. Each month we will also be conducting a giveaway, giving our readers a chance to win the phone with the most votes. Winner, March 2018: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (9,511 total votes) Congratulations to Kishore K. (India), winner of our March 2018 giveaway! Best Android phones (April 2018) international giveaway! Looking for something more specific? Maybe the best cheap phone, a dual-SIM phone, or something specific to your carrier? No matter what you’re looking for, we have you covered: Best cheap Android phones Best dual-SIM Android phones Best phones with expandable memory Best phones with 6GB RAM Best phones with 8GB RAM Verizon Android phones | Verizon prepaid phones AT&T Android phones | AT&T prepaid phones T-Mobile Android phones | T-Mobile prepaid phones Sprint Android phones | Sprint prepaid phones Cricket Android phones , via Android Authority https://ift.tt/2gaB737

[adaniellelife]

You know that new mobile joy? Well, I have it, in the form of the fabulous Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and I seriously can’t stop gushing about it. This is my sixth Samsung mobile in a row, I have had the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, you know the one with the phone morphed on the back of a zoom camera, the Note 3, the one with the pencil, the sleek Samsung S5 that came with all the fitness gadgets, the Samsung S6, a more performance packed version of the S5, and then the Samsung S6 Edge, like the 6 but with a curved edge, and now with the S8 Plus, with its giant 6.2-inch display it has me falling in love with the Galaxy series all over again, as I’m all for bigger and better. 

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus – Design

For some, the size might be a big no, for some, but don’t worry you can go for the slightly slimmer S8, but if like me you are a lover of a big phone, you can’t get any prettier than this curved, ultrasleek beauty. Once upon a time, big meant bulky, but even with its larger size, its curved screen makes it feel compact in your hand, it is kind of moulded that way, and it is still thinning than most other mobiles I’ve ever used, even with a case on. 

But this is a mobile that maximises every little bit of its larger size thanks to its ‘Infinity Display’, with all of the screen useful as Samsung has gotten rid of the buttons at the bottom, the home button is now embedded under the screen, meaning more room for its clear, larger display, a whopping 18.5:9 display ratio, which means that it is great when taking and editing pictures, watching catch-up TV and even writing emails. Oh, and did I add that it’s all in crystal clear HD, seriously this display has the best colour and clarity of any smartphone I’ve ever had.

The powerful and speedy processor also helps, I’m one of those people that loves having lots of apps and internet tabs open all at once, and I’ve never had an issue with speed, or my phone just crashing, which sadly used to happen with older models.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus – Camera

Come on, we all care about design and battery life but if the camera isn’t any good what’s the point? Well, don’t worry this smartphone really has an incredibly smart autofocus front camera and 12MP F1.7 Dual Pixel rear camera, which with that aperture lets in lots of light and detail so is great for low-light, zoom and anti-blur photos.

Samsung cameras have always been impressive but this one compared to the previous smartphone is awesome and there are so many cool features I love. First off, the dual-pixel phase detection autofocus, which I have used at catwalk shows as you hit the model and it tracks her down the catwalk for great images. It also has the best selfie feature ever, a floating camera button, which means you can reach the button to snap the picture anywhere on the screen, and there is a setting to take multiple shots, which allows you to combine them into one high-quality photo, so you always get the shot you want. There is also this nifty selective focus mode, which gives you all kind of blur and depth of field that us fashion bloggers love, plus, what’s even better is that you can choose the depth of field after taking the shot to choose whichever focus you fancy: foreground, background, or both.

Oh, and if the camera wasn’t good enough, it is also jam-packed with enhanced image processing, including a special ‘food’ setting, fun hyperlapse capabilities, tons of cool Instagram-ready filters, as well as Pro controls very much like your DSLR, meaning you can change your ISO, shutter speed, exposure, colour tone, manual focus, and white balance. What I also love is that you can save your pics as RAW files so you can do extra fancy editing on them, not that you really need to as it is as good as most point-and-shoot compact cameras on the market. 

For a bit of fun, the Samsung also has lots of Snapchat-inspired faces, so you can be a rabbit or a sheep, or even add stickers to your images or add music such as Happy Birthday to a picture. 

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus – Battery 

I’ve always found Samsung to have excellent battery life, especially compared to my iPhone friends, I’m never the one down to my last 10% of juice on a long day over fashion week, and the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is better than ever. I think it has a lot to do with the auto brightness tracker, which really does stop your battery being drained by the screen display, and it also helps to quickly optimise your screen in sunny conditions. 

It also has that super-fast charging like with the S6 and S7, which FYI is a life-saver as I can plug-in on my 34-minute train journey home and it is fully charged again. Also, a crazy thing to love, the new USB Type-C charging point means there’s no up or down, the connector is the same on both sides, so no fiddling it in to get your charge started. Something so silly, but it used to always annoying the hell out me. 

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus – Security

We all know that security is important, we store so much on our phones, and the S8 Plus is built on Samsung Knox, a defence-grade security platform, which FYI, I don’t know how it actually works, just that it does, and that’s all that matters right? Oh, and for extra security, it also has biometric technologies including a fingerprint scanner, iris scanner and facial recognition – yep, you can unlock your screen by showing your face. Fancy as hell.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus – Music

We all know that our smartphones are much more than calls, Whatapp and social, they are also our music hubs, and the audio is incredible, helped by the amazing earphones you get free with the phone. Plus it comes with Google Play Music and for Samsung customers you can upload and store up to 100,000 tracks to the service’s cloud locker, making them available to stream from anywhere.  

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus – Bixby

OK, so you are probably wondering who or what the hell Bixby is, well, it’s like Samsung’s personal assistant, or will be when we finally get all the settings. Currently, it has just been operated by text, but I’ve been told that in time it will you will be able to use voice, text, or touch to say what you need and it will assist you, whether that’s to do with your schedule, making a call, answering a text, searching something on the internet or even open your camera. Also, Bixby is a smart cookie, apparently she will learn your ways. I say she as Bixby has a female voice.

Update: I’ve had an update and now my Bixby can take voice commands. It takes a little learning, don’t think she got my Northern accent, but she is finally coming around to opening the camera, calling my husband, as well as taking me through my schedule. I basically think the more you use it the better it will be.

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Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review (@samsunguk) You know that new mobile joy? Well, I have it, in the form of the fabulous…

[williamjharwick]

Top 10 Tips for Brand New Podcasters

Although podcasts have been around for over a decade, now is the best time to start one if you haven’t already.

Podcast hosts are standing out from the crowd in their niche. Brands are getting more reach and building bigger, tighter audiences. Coaches are getting more clients, and new entrepreneurs are using podcasts to launch their new businesses, or power-up their existing one.

As with any content platform, when it starts to go mainstream, a lot of people rush into it and fail to have the proper expectations and strategies to make that time worthwhile. Podcasting is an incredibly powerful medium, and these top 10 tips for brand new podcasters come from my own experience hosting several of my own shows, and helping thousands of others create their own.

1. Push the Fear Aside and Just Get Started

In December 2008 when SPI was only three months old, I published a blog post announcing my new, upcoming podcast. I even published my first audio file online, just to test my new microphone equipment.

Here is that audio file below. It’s . . . well . . . not my best work:

So that was December 2008. My first episode didn’t come out until July . . .

. . . of 2010.

Yes, that’s a year and a half later. I waited that long because, more than anything, I was scared. I was scared of recording my voice and putting it out there in the world for everyone to judge. I was scared about what people thought about my show, or me as a person, because unlike a written blog post, a recorded audio file (even though you can edit), is a lot harder to “hide behind.”

Eventually, I got over the fear, and thanks to the encouragement of dozens of other supporters, I published the first episode of The Smart Passive Income Podcast in July 2010.

Looking back, I truly wish I had started earlier.

2. Don’t Worry About the Sound of Your Voice

One thing in particular I feared was how people would respond to the sound of my voice. I didn’t like the sound, and I would always cringe when listening to my own recordings.

I still do.

Honestly, I don’t think anyone likes the sound of their own voice.

The truth is, the sound of your voice doesn’t matter. It’s the information and inspiration you share with that voice that matters. So, if you have an accent that you think is “too thick” or a voice that’s high and piercing, it doesn’t matter. You should be podcasting anyway.

And even if people didn’t like your voice for whatever reason, those aren’t the people you’re meant to serve anyway.

3. You Don’t Need a Super Expensive Setup

The most important tool a podcaster has, besides their voice, is the microphone that captures that voice.

A lot of beginners think they need a setup that costs over $1,000 to get started, which includes not only the microphone, but also the mixer, decompressor, and other metal boxes that have a ton of dials and switches that really just makes things more confusing. Perhaps that was the case back in the day when professional broadcasters were the ones starting podcasts, but nowadays, with the progression in microphone technology over the years, all you need is a quality microphone that plugs into your USB.

Professional audio engineers may cringe to hear that, but let me tell you something about pro audiophiles: they hear everything. They are so talented and involved in what they do, they can notice the difference between two microphones just like a car enthusiast could name a car just by hearing the engine.

Us regular-eared people can still hear the difference between bad audio quality and good audio quality, but with the mics available to us today, most of us can’t tell the difference between an $80 microphone and a $350 microphone.

I paid over $700 in equipment I never used when I started, which is why I was happy to find this bad boy: the Audio-Technica ATR-2100. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

I love my ATR-2100!

I remember when I found out about it too. Big thanks to Father Roderick who mentioned it on Facebook over seven years ago.

This will run you about $70 on Amazon, and it plugs directly into your computer’s USB port. This, and recording software like GarageBand or Audacity, and you’re good to go. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

You may want to upgrade later on when you start to generate an income and make a business out of your podcast, but you may find that even then, you won’t need to upgrade.

4. Plan Your Future Content. Please!

For the first few years of the life of my podcast, I had the same thought every Wednesday morning after hitting publish on that week’s podcast episode:

“Woohoo! [Small celebratory dance.] Okay, now, let’s figure out what next week’s episode is going to be about . . . UGH.”

In the beginning, those thoughts about next week’s episode came rather quickly. But over time, the minutes spent thinking about what to do next turned into hours, which turned into days until eventually I began to miss publication dates for my show.

If you allow yourself to “wonder what’s next,” you can be sure that eventually you’ll wonder what happened to your show. Taking time upfront to plan your content calendar will save you so much stress and anxiety when it comes to the production of your show.

Please, no matter where you’re at in your podcasting journey, plan ahead. At the beginning of each quarter, my team and I get together and brainstorm blog post and podcast episode topics for the next quarter. Yes, things change sometimes, but it’s so nice to have an idea of what’s coming next.

If you’ll be inviting guests on your show, it’ll make it easier to schedule. If one of those episodes requires some research, you’ll actually have time to do it. And if you’re planning a launch of a product or some special event, you can plan around that as well and have your podcast episodes support your business better.

For the beginner who has yet to launch their show, try to write down fifteen topics, ideas, or guests you could have on your show, and try to put them in order starting from episode one. Don’t worry about the titles yet; fine tuning that can always come later.

And if you find you can’t list fifteen topics or show ideas yet, that’s a sign that you need to put a little more research in before you light that fuse.

5. Launch Your Podcast with at Least 3 Episodes

I remember my first one-star review for my show. It was harsh, and it came almost immediately after my first episode came out.

Not a great way to begin.

The reviewer commented on the the fact that I spent time in that first episode sharing my vision of what the podcast will become.

Kind of harsh if you ask me. But it taught me a valuable lesson.

First, an introductory episode (episode #1) that shares what’s coming and gives nothing else to chew on is really just a big fat tease . . . and some people don’t like to be teased. This person had to wait an entire week to finally get the goods, which is not ideal. I should have launched with more than just a “here’s what you can look forward to.”

The launch of your show should be treated like an event, so give your listeners something to bite into! Launching with at least three episodes gives listeners more of an opportunity to dig deeper with you, and it gives them a sense of really what the show is going to be like moving forward.

For you, that means increased downloads, more calls to action inside of people’s ears, increased subscribership, and potentially even more ratings and reviews than you would have received otherwise.

A single episode alone may not resonate with a person, but if there are three, it’s much more likely one of those episodes will hit the mark.

6. Pick a Date and Make it an Event

I’ve already mentioned this in a previous tip, but it’s worth mentioning again. Before you launch your show, and even before you begin recording your first episodes, pick a launch date in the future, put it on the calendar, and make a commitment to stick to it.

Beyond that, the date you selected should be treated like it’s the day of a big event because it is!

Think about an actual in-person event that someone might host. Do they, without any notice to anyone else, open doors on the day of the event and hope people come in? Not usually!

Typically, there is quite an effort that goes into letting people know that the event is happening, and that date and the location are always mentioned. You could even set up a contest of sorts, get your friends and family involved, and make this day something fun and memorable for you and all of your new subscribers.

7. Understand the Truth About A-listers

A-listers are the top people in your space, and in terms of people to interview for an episode, they are the ones most podcasters always shoot for.

Having A-listers on your show is great. They can definitely drop some amazing knowledge for you and your audience, and the credibility that comes with interviewing an A-lister is very real. I definitely recommend trying to make that happen, but there are a number of concerns that I need to bring up, especially for the beginning podcaster:

A-listers are not always easy to convince to have on your show. They are typically being asked by many other people for their time, and most A-listers want to make sure their time is well spent. If you don’t have a relationship with the A-lister already, the answer is almost always an immediate no.

If you do happen to score a lucky interview with an A-lister, congratulations! But now you have the challenge of making sure that interview becomes something unique. Like I said, other people are probably asking this person for an interview too, so how are you going to make this one better than the rest? It can be very challenging, especially if this person is saying yes to many people.

For beginner podcasters, I recommend interviewing the following three groups of people:

B & C-listers: People in the same space who can contribute to your show and add value to your podcast. These people are potential up-and-comers, and are far more likely to say yes to an interview because they are looking for exposure too. They are bloggers, podcasters, and video content creators who are consistently coming out with great stuff. And generally, they’ll be more likely to reciprocate than an A-lister would.

Success Stories You’ve Created: This is one of the most underutilized groups of people to potentially interview in the podcasting space. That is, people in your audience who have found success because of you! There’s no better way to prove your expertise and ability to help others than to showcase a student of yours who took action. Unlike an A-lister, these people are far more relatable, and only a few steps ahead of your audience, so this will fire up your listeners like nothing else.

Success Stories that Haven’t Happened Yet: Instead of interviewing successful people and experts in your space, what about people who are on their way? This likely represents the top percentage of listeners of your show, so if you invited a person on and coached them through a specific pain or problem, that immediately demonstrates not only your knowledge and expertise, but also your love and care for your audience. If you offer any coaching, this is one of the best ways to get new clients, because your audience gets to taste test exactly what learning from you is like!

8. Use Royalty-Free Music and Audio

Lots of new podcasters have questions about using music and audio clips in their show. Even if it’s just a clip, even if that clip is only one second long, you are putting you and your business at risk by not getting permission to use other people’s intellectual property in your show.

Yes, a podcast is cool because it’s your show and you can build it and structure it in any way you wish, but you still have to follow the rules when it comes to legal stuff, or else you could get in trouble.

Not all podcasters follow the rules though, so just because you hear an audio clip or a song on another podcast doesn’t mean you can use one too. You don’t know if the other podcast licensed the use of that clip or song, which is also possible (but typically very expensive).

The best practice, especially when starting out, is to create the music yourself, hire someone to do it for you (and you own the song), or use a service that has royalty-free audio that you’re allowed to use in your podcast.

Here are a couple of resources I’m excited to share with you that may help you here at the start:

Music Radio Creative: Mike and Izabela created this service to help those who want professional, royalty-free music and voiceovers done for their show. I’ve used it for AskPat, and several other podcasters have been completely happy with their service. Even some new students of mine in the founding group for my online training course, Power-Up Podcasting, enjoyed using their services. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

Artlist.io: This is my latest find when it comes to royalty-free music, and there are actually some decent tracks on here I could imagine myself listening to in the car. I use this mainly for music that goes into my live streams to accommodate Facebook’s strict rules. But you can download, edit, and use these in your podcast episodes as well.

9. Put the Numbers into Perspective

I once asked a friend of mine how often he checked his podcast downloads stats. His answer?

At least ten times a day!

Ten! That’s a lot, but I don’t blame him. One of the funnest parts of podcasting is seeing exactly how many people are on the other end listening. At the same time, it can also be one of the most depressing podcaster rituals, because those numbers may not be as big as you want them to be.

It’s always good to want to grow, and so you should always strive for bigger download numbers, but at the same time, I want to help you put into perspective what these numbers actually mean.

A podcast with only 100 downloads an episode may seem like it’s not going anywhere. But imagine this:

A room filled with 100 people, and you’re up on stage at the front. People came there to watch you and take in every word you said. For many people, that imagery scares people to death. Why? Because that’s a lot of people to stand up in front of and deliver a message to!

To me, a podcast is no different. It’s your message, on a digital stage, that people have chosen to listen to. You may only start with small numbers, but remember those numbers represent actual human beings who are interested in you and your message, and could potentially share your message with others too.

Is there no wonder why I prefer podcasting over speaking on stage? It’s not because I don’t have to travel and I can record straight from home. That’s a plus, yes, but the amazing thing is that in order to get in front of hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of people, each week, all I need to do is record an episode from the comfort of my own home.

Imagine trying to hold a real-life event each week with that many people, and how much that would cost.

10. Create Your Podcast SOP

An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a written list of steps or requirements that you (or another person) can use for a repetitive task. When you have one for your podcast, it makes life SO much easier! After you get started, creating an episode from start to finish starts to become second nature. In the beginning, however, it’s almost like you’re learning how to walk for the first time.

As you create your episodes, write down the steps you take. Every little thing matters, from where you drop your files in the host that you choose, to your show notes and even how you promote your show on social media.

The benefit of writing this down is you don’t have to waste time thinking anymore, and you could even hand that off to someone else to produce most of it for you in the future so that all you have to do is record content, and everything else is taken care of.

A Free Checklist / SOP for Starting a Podcast

I’ve helped thousands of people start their own podcast, and I want to help thousands more. Like I said, it’s the number one content platform available to you for sharing your message in the most impactful way, and if you’re hoping to build a strong rapport with your audience, there’s no better way to do it.

I created a free podcasting cheat sheet [LINK TO PODCASTING CHEAT SHEET LEADPAGES FORM] for those of you who are interested in starting your own show. The cheat sheet includes worksheets to help you learn more about what your show is going to be about and how it’ll stand out from the crowd, getting started with your content calendar, and also a checklist for all the things you need to do to from now until launch date to get your show up on iTunes and other directories.

//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js Click here to download the podcasting cheat sheet for free, and I look forward to seeing your show up on iTunes soon! If you found this article helpful, please click here to share it!

These 10 Tips for Brand New Podcasters will help you get your podcast started! Click To Tweet

Top 10 Tips for Brand New Podcasters shared from David Homer’s Blog

[andrewmrudd79]

Top 10 Tips for Brand New Podcasters

Although podcasts have been around for over a decade, now is the best time to start one if you haven’t already.

Podcast hosts are standing out from the crowd in their niche. Brands are getting more reach and building bigger, tighter audiences. Coaches are getting more clients, and new entrepreneurs are using podcasts to launch their new businesses, or power-up their existing one.

As with any content platform, when it starts to go mainstream, a lot of people rush into it and fail to have the proper expectations and strategies to make that time worthwhile. Podcasting is an incredibly powerful medium, and these top 10 tips for brand new podcasters come from my own experience hosting several of my own shows, and helping thousands of others create their own.

1. Push the Fear Aside and Just Get Started

In December 2008 when SPI was only three months old, I published a blog post announcing my new, upcoming podcast. I even published my first audio file online, just to test my new microphone equipment.

Here is that audio file below. It’s . . . well . . . not my best work:

So that was December 2008. My first episode didn’t come out until July . . .

. . . of 2010.

Yes, that’s a year and a half later. I waited that long because, more than anything, I was scared. I was scared of recording my voice and putting it out there in the world for everyone to judge. I was scared about what people thought about my show, or me as a person, because unlike a written blog post, a recorded audio file (even though you can edit), is a lot harder to “hide behind.”

Eventually, I got over the fear, and thanks to the encouragement of dozens of other supporters, I published the first episode of The Smart Passive Income Podcast in July 2010.

Looking back, I truly wish I had started earlier.

2. Don’t Worry About the Sound of Your Voice

One thing in particular I feared was how people would respond to the sound of my voice. I didn’t like the sound, and I would always cringe when listening to my own recordings.

I still do.

Honestly, I don’t think anyone likes the sound of their own voice.

The truth is, the sound of your voice doesn’t matter. It’s the information and inspiration you share with that voice that matters. So, if you have an accent that you think is “too thick” or a voice that’s high and piercing, it doesn’t matter. You should be podcasting anyway.

And even if people didn’t like your voice for whatever reason, those aren’t the people you’re meant to serve anyway.

3. You Don’t Need a Super Expensive Setup

The most important tool a podcaster has, besides their voice, is the microphone that captures that voice.

A lot of beginners think they need a setup that costs over $1,000 to get started, which includes not only the microphone, but also the mixer, decompressor, and other metal boxes that have a ton of dials and switches that really just makes things more confusing. Perhaps that was the case back in the day when professional broadcasters were the ones starting podcasts, but nowadays, with the progression in microphone technology over the years, all you need is a quality microphone that plugs into your USB.

Professional audio engineers may cringe to hear that, but let me tell you something about pro audiophiles: they hear everything. They are so talented and involved in what they do, they can notice the difference between two microphones just like a car enthusiast could name a car just by hearing the engine.

Us regular-eared people can still hear the difference between bad audio quality and good audio quality, but with the mics available to us today, most of us can’t tell the difference between an $80 microphone and a $350 microphone.

I paid over $700 in equipment I never used when I started, which is why I was happy to find this bad boy: the Audio-Technica ATR-2100. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

I love my ATR-2100!

I remember when I found out about it too. Big thanks to Father Roderick who mentioned it on Facebook over seven years ago.

This will run you about $70 on Amazon, and it plugs directly into your computer’s USB port. This, and recording software like GarageBand or Audacity, and you’re good to go. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

You may want to upgrade later on when you start to generate an income and make a business out of your podcast, but you may find that even then, you won’t need to upgrade.

4. Plan Your Future Content. Please!

For the first few years of the life of my podcast, I had the same thought every Wednesday morning after hitting publish on that week’s podcast episode:

“Woohoo! [Small celebratory dance.] Okay, now, let’s figure out what next week’s episode is going to be about . . . UGH.”

In the beginning, those thoughts about next week’s episode came rather quickly. But over time, the minutes spent thinking about what to do next turned into hours, which turned into days until eventually I began to miss publication dates for my show.

If you allow yourself to “wonder what’s next,” you can be sure that eventually you’ll wonder what happened to your show. Taking time upfront to plan your content calendar will save you so much stress and anxiety when it comes to the production of your show.

Please, no matter where you’re at in your podcasting journey, plan ahead. At the beginning of each quarter, my team and I get together and brainstorm blog post and podcast episode topics for the next quarter. Yes, things change sometimes, but it’s so nice to have an idea of what’s coming next.

If you’ll be inviting guests on your show, it’ll make it easier to schedule. If one of those episodes requires some research, you’ll actually have time to do it. And if you’re planning a launch of a product or some special event, you can plan around that as well and have your podcast episodes support your business better.

For the beginner who has yet to launch their show, try to write down fifteen topics, ideas, or guests you could have on your show, and try to put them in order starting from episode one. Don’t worry about the titles yet; fine tuning that can always come later.

And if you find you can’t list fifteen topics or show ideas yet, that’s a sign that you need to put a little more research in before you light that fuse.

5. Launch Your Podcast with at Least 3 Episodes

I remember my first one-star review for my show. It was harsh, and it came almost immediately after my first episode came out.

Not a great way to begin.

The reviewer commented on the the fact that I spent time in that first episode sharing my vision of what the podcast will become.

Kind of harsh if you ask me. But it taught me a valuable lesson.

First, an introductory episode (episode #1) that shares what’s coming and gives nothing else to chew on is really just a big fat tease . . . and some people don’t like to be teased. This person had to wait an entire week to finally get the goods, which is not ideal. I should have launched with more than just a “here’s what you can look forward to.”

The launch of your show should be treated like an event, so give your listeners something to bite into! Launching with at least three episodes gives listeners more of an opportunity to dig deeper with you, and it gives them a sense of really what the show is going to be like moving forward.

For you, that means increased downloads, more calls to action inside of people’s ears, increased subscribership, and potentially even more ratings and reviews than you would have received otherwise.

A single episode alone may not resonate with a person, but if there are three, it’s much more likely one of those episodes will hit the mark.

6. Pick a Date and Make it an Event

I’ve already mentioned this in a previous tip, but it’s worth mentioning again. Before you launch your show, and even before you begin recording your first episodes, pick a launch date in the future, put it on the calendar, and make a commitment to stick to it.

Beyond that, the date you selected should be treated like it’s the day of a big event because it is!

Think about an actual in-person event that someone might host. Do they, without any notice to anyone else, open doors on the day of the event and hope people come in? Not usually!

Typically, there is quite an effort that goes into letting people know that the event is happening, and that date and the location are always mentioned. You could even set up a contest of sorts, get your friends and family involved, and make this day something fun and memorable for you and all of your new subscribers.

7. Understand the Truth About A-listers

A-listers are the top people in your space, and in terms of people to interview for an episode, they are the ones most podcasters always shoot for.

Having A-listers on your show is great. They can definitely drop some amazing knowledge for you and your audience, and the credibility that comes with interviewing an A-lister is very real. I definitely recommend trying to make that happen, but there are a number of concerns that I need to bring up, especially for the beginning podcaster:

A-listers are not always easy to convince to have on your show. They are typically being asked by many other people for their time, and most A-listers want to make sure their time is well spent. If you don’t have a relationship with the A-lister already, the answer is almost always an immediate no.

If you do happen to score a lucky interview with an A-lister, congratulations! But now you have the challenge of making sure that interview becomes something unique. Like I said, other people are probably asking this person for an interview too, so how are you going to make this one better than the rest? It can be very challenging, especially if this person is saying yes to many people.

For beginner podcasters, I recommend interviewing the following three groups of people:

B & C-listers: People in the same space who can contribute to your show and add value to your podcast. These people are potential up-and-comers, and are far more likely to say yes to an interview because they are looking for exposure too. They are bloggers, podcasters, and video content creators who are consistently coming out with great stuff. And generally, they’ll be more likely to reciprocate than an A-lister would.

Success Stories You’ve Created: This is one of the most underutilized groups of people to potentially interview in the podcasting space. That is, people in your audience who have found success because of you! There’s no better way to prove your expertise and ability to help others than to showcase a student of yours who took action. Unlike an A-lister, these people are far more relatable, and only a few steps ahead of your audience, so this will fire up your listeners like nothing else.

Success Stories that Haven’t Happened Yet: Instead of interviewing successful people and experts in your space, what about people who are on their way? This likely represents the top percentage of listeners of your show, so if you invited a person on and coached them through a specific pain or problem, that immediately demonstrates not only your knowledge and expertise, but also your love and care for your audience. If you offer any coaching, this is one of the best ways to get new clients, because your audience gets to taste test exactly what learning from you is like!

8. Use Royalty-Free Music and Audio

Lots of new podcasters have questions about using music and audio clips in their show. Even if it’s just a clip, even if that clip is only one second long, you are putting you and your business at risk by not getting permission to use other people’s intellectual property in your show.

Yes, a podcast is cool because it’s your show and you can build it and structure it in any way you wish, but you still have to follow the rules when it comes to legal stuff, or else you could get in trouble.

Not all podcasters follow the rules though, so just because you hear an audio clip or a song on another podcast doesn’t mean you can use one too. You don’t know if the other podcast licensed the use of that clip or song, which is also possible (but typically very expensive).

The best practice, especially when starting out, is to create the music yourself, hire someone to do it for you (and you own the song), or use a service that has royalty-free audio that you’re allowed to use in your podcast.

Here are a couple of resources I’m excited to share with you that may help you here at the start:

Music Radio Creative: Mike and Izabela created this service to help those who want professional, royalty-free music and voiceovers done for their show. I’ve used it for AskPat, and several other podcasters have been completely happy with their service. Even some new students of mine in the founding group for my online training course, Power-Up Podcasting, enjoyed using their services. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

Artlist.io: This is my latest find when it comes to royalty-free music, and there are actually some decent tracks on here I could imagine myself listening to in the car. I use this mainly for music that goes into my live streams to accommodate Facebook’s strict rules. But you can download, edit, and use these in your podcast episodes as well.

9. Put the Numbers into Perspective

I once asked a friend of mine how often he checked his podcast downloads stats. His answer?

At least ten times a day!

Ten! That’s a lot, but I don’t blame him. One of the funnest parts of podcasting is seeing exactly how many people are on the other end listening. At the same time, it can also be one of the most depressing podcaster rituals, because those numbers may not be as big as you want them to be.

It’s always good to want to grow, and so you should always strive for bigger download numbers, but at the same time, I want to help you put into perspective what these numbers actually mean.

A podcast with only 100 downloads an episode may seem like it’s not going anywhere. But imagine this:

A room filled with 100 people, and you’re up on stage at the front. People came there to watch you and take in every word you said. For many people, that imagery scares people to death. Why? Because that’s a lot of people to stand up in front of and deliver a message to!

To me, a podcast is no different. It’s your message, on a digital stage, that people have chosen to listen to. You may only start with small numbers, but remember those numbers represent actual human beings who are interested in you and your message, and could potentially share your message with others too.

Is there no wonder why I prefer podcasting over speaking on stage? It’s not because I don’t have to travel and I can record straight from home. That’s a plus, yes, but the amazing thing is that in order to get in front of hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of people, each week, all I need to do is record an episode from the comfort of my own home.

Imagine trying to hold a real-life event each week with that many people, and how much that would cost.

10. Create Your Podcast SOP

An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a written list of steps or requirements that you (or another person) can use for a repetitive task. When you have one for your podcast, it makes life SO much easier! After you get started, creating an episode from start to finish starts to become second nature. In the beginning, however, it’s almost like you’re learning how to walk for the first time.

As you create your episodes, write down the steps you take. Every little thing matters, from where you drop your files in the host that you choose, to your show notes and even how you promote your show on social media.

The benefit of writing this down is you don’t have to waste time thinking anymore, and you could even hand that off to someone else to produce most of it for you in the future so that all you have to do is record content, and everything else is taken care of.

A Free Checklist / SOP for Starting a Podcast

I’ve helped thousands of people start their own podcast, and I want to help thousands more. Like I said, it’s the number one content platform available to you for sharing your message in the most impactful way, and if you’re hoping to build a strong rapport with your audience, there’s no better way to do it.

I created a free podcasting cheat sheet [LINK TO PODCASTING CHEAT SHEET LEADPAGES FORM] for those of you who are interested in starting your own show. The cheat sheet includes worksheets to help you learn more about what your show is going to be about and how it’ll stand out from the crowd, getting started with your content calendar, and also a checklist for all the things you need to do to from now until launch date to get your show up on iTunes and other directories.

//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js Click here to download the podcasting cheat sheet for free, and I look forward to seeing your show up on iTunes soon! If you found this article helpful, please click here to share it!

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Top 10 Tips for Brand New Podcasters originally posted at Homer’s Blog