December 22, 2007 Special Holiday Edition

29:15|Download|26.7MB|podOmatic

Deck the Halls by antifreez_
Christmas Is Cancelled (This Year) by Lojinx
Messy Bells by easternblot
Despite What Santa Said by Cortex
Xmas Won't Be Xmas by litlnemo
Sweet Chiming Bells by antifreez_
A St. Paul Christmas by Sailor Martin w/ Astro Zombie
Christmas Time for Girls and Boys by ludwig_van
Longing for Summer by ajp
Auld Lang Syne by The White Hat
Special Surprise Secret Track by ???

Vote Early, Vote Often!

If the looming specter of the 2008 Presidential election has given you an itchy voting finger - or if you just like to click things - head on over to MetaFilter Projects and cast a ballot for the podcast.

December 10, 2007

31:57|Download|29.2MB|podOmatic

There Are No Answers by edverb
Faster Peach by sleepy pete and melissa may
King of Flesh and Bone by saulgoodman
Turing Test(icles) by BoatMeme
How I Make Music with Micayetoca
-Maiquetia (Excerpt)
-Tracatacata Tun Tun (Excerpt)
-Blue Bird (Excerpt)
-Wildside (Excerpt)
-Un Murmullo (Excerpt)
-Belfast
Lullaby by nicollin

"MeFi session musicians. Awesome."

Like making music?
Like your fellow MeFites?
Like the idea of making music with your fellow MeFites?

Then you should check out the Music Collaborators entry on the MeFi Wiki. Visit this MeTa for more information and listen to some of the swell songs that have resulted from MeFites making beautiful music together!

And speaking of communal efforts of the aural variety, keep your ears peeled for the dizzyingly massive MetaFilter Music Collaboration, masterminded by goodnewsfortheinsane. Two excerpts of the tune, one of which was featured in the November 25th podcast, have been posted to MeMu thus far, and the amount of talent and hard work that has gone into the project makes it abundantly clear why MetaFilter Music is such an amazing and inspiring place.

FAQ

Who are you? And what is this?
I'm Alvy Ampersand on MetaFilter, but you can call me Layne.
This is the MetaFilter Music Podcast, a showcase for the the great songs and talented creators who frequent MetaFilter.com's brilliant music subsite. The podcast is released as a biweekly (Sorta) mp3 that usually runs about 35-45 minutes long.

So, how did this get started?
I wasn't spending as much time at MetaFilter Music as I would have liked and figured a podcast would be a great way to keep up with the site. I brought it up in this MeTa in the hopes that 'someone else' would be encouraged to give it a go.
'Someone else' turned into me, and so here we are.

Who's hosting this and how much does it cost?
The file hosting and iTunes subscription are provided by the fine folks at podOmatic. It currently costs zip thanks to podOmatic's generous free account option, so if you don't like what you hear, email me and I'll send you a full, no-quibble guaranteed refund ASAP.

Isn't having a podOmatic page and a podcast blog sort of redundant?
Despite being fine folks, podOmatic's UI is sort of ugly and can be a hassle to navigate, so all you'll find there are podcasts and subscription links. I wanted to have a centralized location to make it easier for subscribers should we ever change hosting providers, as well as a place where I could post music- and podcast-related information.
Like this FAQ! And videos! And other stuff!

Where did you get that snazzy flash audio player?
The audio player is by 1pixelout, with modifications by Mindy McAdams.

How do you make the podcast?
I use the free (Notice a trend?), open source Audacity sound editor/recorder on Windows XP. After downloading the songs for the podcast, I write a little script, record my nasal droning with a dinky mic/headset, and layer in the tracks. If a contributor has recorded a 'How I Make Music' segment for inclusion in the podcast, I listen to it a couple of times and download a bunch of their songs from MeMu. I edit that and layer in a selection of their music separately from the podcast proper before slapping everything together and uploading it to podOmatic and posting it to this here blog.
Someday I'd like to be able to include chapters and images to the podcast, but due to technical and financial limitations that day is still a ways off.

How do you decide which songs to use?
Sometimes there's a theme, sometimes they're to highlight a particular project, but mostly I just depend on my irreproachably impeccable taste in music.

What about copyrights?
All songs are © their respective owners. If you don't want your music used, please send me an email.

There are ads on the podOmatic page. Isn't it sort of slimy to be making money of off other people's hard work and talent?
The ads on the podOmatic page pay for their hosting services, so the podcast itself doesn't make any money - nor do we solicit or need any sort of financial support. If you want to show your appreciation for the great music you hear, please visit our contributors' sites in the sidebar; many of them have competitively-priced albums and songs for sale that are worth every cent.

Are you officially affiliated with MetaFilter?
No, but I do have a T-shirt. And jessamyn favorited a comment I made once.

This is pretty neat! How can I help?
If you're a subscriber, you already have!
Empty platitudes aside, you can visit our contributors' sites, support independent music whenever and where ever you can, and frequent MetaFilter Music as much as possible. Feedback is always appreciated - in the communicative sense, at least, so if you like what you hear over there, leave them a comment!
We'd also like to hear your suggestions, critiques, and compliments about the podcast, so send us an email. And if you're a frequent contributor to MeMu and have some time to spare, we're always looking for 'How I Make Music' participants.

Who's this 'We' you keep talking about? Isn't it just you making this?
It's a royal 'We'. I like to think of the podcast as being a collaborative endeavor, with the goal being the continued success and growth of MetaFilter Music.
And plus I feel silly using 'I' all the time.

Is there anyone you'd like to thank?
I'd like to thank mathowie and pb for bringing MetaFilter Music into being and MeMu's talented and diverse contributors for making the site what it is. I'd also like to say thank you to potch for his ideas and generosity, as well as his neat MeMu Player Greasemonkey script.
Merci to everyone who had kind words and great suggestions for the podcast.
And a huge thank you to micayetoca, not only for the wonderful music he's shared and for being the first 'How I Make Music' participant/guinea pig, but also for the input and enthusiasm he's brought to this project, as well as goodnewfortheinsane - no slouch in the musical department, either - for suggesting the 'HIMM' feature in the first place.

And thank you for listening.